Chesapeake Auto Repair

West Service Center, Inc. Auto Service and Maintenance Videos: Knowing When Your Timing Belt Should Be Replaced The timing belt in your engine controls the opening and closing of the intake and exhaust valves. Chesapeake car owners need to replace it on a schedule to avoid failure. Timing belts are very problematic to get to, requiring quite a bit of labor to access. Timing belt replacement is one of the more pricey maintenance services, but the cost to correct an engine damaged by a broken timing belt is much, much more. The timing belt has a tensioner to help maintain proper belt tension. The tensioner should be replaced along with the timing belt and any idler pulleys at the auto manufacturer’s specified service interval. Your honest West Service Center, Inc. service specialist can help you with the timing. Give us a call West Service Center, Inc. 757-487-4420 904 Cavalier Blvd Chesapeake, Virginia 23323      

Clean Air for Your Engine: A New Engine Air Filter at West Service Center, Inc. All of us Chesapeake auto owners know we have to get the oil changed in our vans periodically. That’s just part of good car care. But when Chesapeake service professionals change your oil, they also usually inspect your air filter. That’s why they sometimes let you know that your air filter needs to be changed before releasing your van. Don’t just chock this up to trying to sell you something else. Suffolk auto owners really do need to change their air filter when it gets dirty. You can check your owner’s manual to see how often your air filter should need to be changed, but remember, if you live in an area in Virginia with poor air quality, or if you drive a lot or drive under harsh conditions in the Chesapeake area, you may need to change that filter more often than is recommended. Changing an air filter ... read more

Training Received by Technicians In Chesapeake, Virginia   When your car breaks down in the Chesapeake, Virginia area, or just needs some routine service, it can make Chesapeake drivers a little nervous. Because your car’s so important to your life, you need to be back on the road as soon as possible. And with the problem fixed right the first time. We’ve been checking into some of the critical training our Chesapeake Virginia technicians receive, and we’re very impressed. It’s amazing how much knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern car. So it’s not like when your uncle worked on his hot rod over weekend. Today there are four cylinder engines around Chesapeake that make more power than the V-8’s in luxury cars 20 years ago. A new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket’s Ferrari in a race to 60 mph. Our engines are more and more powerful and at the same time their gas mileage keeps inching up. And they ... read more

Helping Chesapeake Drivers Get the Right Tires Every Chesapeake vehicle owner has to purchase tires at some time or another, so it’s a good idea to understand what the choices are. The best seasonal performance is achieved by purchasing tires to match the season you are driving in. Summer tires are designed for hot temperatures. The tread is engineered for good traction on dry or rainy Virginia roads. But the rubber compound in summer tires gets stiff when temperatures drop below 45°F, and snow and mud can pack into the tread, reducing the traction of the tire. Winter tires are designed for good traction on snowy surfaces. The tread actually throws snow off of the tire as the wheel turns. The rubber compound in a winter tire is soft so that it will remain flexible at Chesapeake temperatures below 45°F. At higher temperatures, however, the softer rubber wears down rapidly. All-season tires sacrifice some of the extreme performance of summer or winter tires, but they main ... read more

Chesapeake Safety Systems: Tire Pressure Monitoring System   Flats, blow outs, skids and longer stopping distances can all be the result of Chesapeake drivers driving around on under-inflated tires. Admittedly, it’s hard to tell when a radial tire is under-inflated. If your car maker recommends 35 pounds of pressure, your van tire’s considered significantly under inflated at 26 pounds. The tire may not look low until it gets below 20 pounds. New laws required auto makers to include a Tire Pressure Monitoring System – or TPMS system – in all cars and light trucks by the 2008 model year. The system has a dashboard mounted warning light that goes off if one or more of the tires falls 25% below automobile manufacturer’s pressure recommendations. This technology has been used by Chesapeake race car drivers for years. They are able to head off problems from under inflation by closely monitoring tire ... read more