AUTONET TV

Does My Choice in Oil Affect Change Intervals?

Oil changes are probably the most recognized service on a vehicle. Almost all Venice residents know about them. But do we know enough?

Several decades ago, oil changes were fairly standard: every three months or 3,000 miles or 5,000 kilometers. But recent advances in both engine technology and oil quality have led to longer oil change intervals.

Delayed or skipped oil changes are a problem for Venice residents because they lead to the build-up of oil sludge in your engine. Oil sludge forms when engine oil breaks down, which happens with both time and miles. Obviously, driving will take its toll on engine oil, but the oil also breaks down even as the vehicle just sits in the garage. This is why oil change intervals are listed in both time and distance traveled, and the phrase “whichever comes first” is applicable.

Oil sludge is essentially petroleum jelly. Imagine this stuff squishing around in your vehicle engine, pushing into small engine passageways and blocking passage of oil to vital engine parts, shortening your engine's life expectancy.

To prevent sludge, you have to get your oil changed regularly, as often as the manufacturer recommends. Check your owner's manual for every vehicle you own to know the interval for each one. Don't assume they will be the same.

If you tow a trailer, haul heavy loads, make a lot of short trips around Venice, usually engage in stop-and-go (or around-the-town) driving, drive in cold or hot FL weather, or drive in polluted or dusty conditions, you may need to change your oil more frequently. Check your vehicle's owner's manual for a “severe service” recommendation.

If the manual doesn't give you the advice you need, talk to your friendly and knowledgeable Car Doc On The Island service advisor. He will be able to answer any questions about preventive maintenance or vehicle care that you may have, including how often to change your oil.

Venice residents need to get the right weight and type of oil recommended for their vehicles. More and more are using synthetic oil in their vehicles. Synthetic oil typically lasts longer and is more resistant to sludge formation than conventional motor oil. But it is also more expensive. So it can be tempting for Venice residents to ask for conventional oil, but if you replace synthetic oil with conventional oil, you will have to change your oil more often to prevent sludge build-up. In the end, you're probably not saving money at all.

Also, your engine may not be designed for the conventional oil. Check your owner's manual before replacing synthetic oil with conventional.

Talk to your Car Doc On The Island service advisor for more information.

Car Doc On The Island
419 South Tamiami Trail
Venice, FL 34285
(941) 786-1595
www.cardocontheisland.com

Technician Training at Car Doc On The Island

Your vehicle is important to you, and keeping it running properly is important to your lifestyle. That's why you're smart enough to have it serviced regularly at Car Doc On The Island in Venice. And even though it may just be routine maintenance, you want it done right by automotive professionals.

It's also very important to your Venice service center to keep you happy and on the road. You might be surprised at the amount of money our Venice auto service center spends annually to make sure our friendly and knowledgeable technicians are properly trained.

Car Doc On The Island offers a variety of automotive services for many kinds of vehicles. We need to be current on the latest techniques and parts so that we can give you quality service. Our Venice service centers subscribe to data services that list the high quality parts and fluids recommended by your manufacturer.

And each service has a checklist of standard procedures. Car Doc On The Island technicians follow these procedures so they can safely deliver a consistent level of high-quality service.

Some services at Car Doc On The Island require the use of specialized equipment. Car Doc On The Island technicians are trained extensively on this equipment so that they can service your car quickly and efficiently.

Classroom, video and hands-on training is provided by the company and outside trainers. It's not only important that friendly and knowledgeable technicians be able to perform a given task, they also need to be thoroughly trained in inspection and diagnostic techniques. One of the great services they perform is to detect potential problems before they become serious.

The automotive service industry has standards for classifying and communicating problems. For example, it's one thing to learn that your manufacturer recommends that you change your serpentine belt every 30,000 miles/48,000 km and another to learn that the belt is on the verge of failure. These standards help you understand the urgency of recommendations, letting you make better automotive service decisions.

FL folks may be interested to know that service technicians (including those at Car Doc On The Island) are trained in compliance with federal and local Venice laws and regulations, including environmental regulations regarding the disposal of used parts and fluids.

It's the goal of Car Doc On The Island to provide fast, courteous service. You should feel free to ask your friendly and knowledgeable technician or one of the managers about your service or for more information about their recommendations.

At Car Doc On The Island, well-trained service providers, established procedures, industry standards and, of course, great people, combine to give you the best auto service in Venice.

Car Doc On The Island
419 South Tamiami Trail
Venice, FL 34285
(941) 786-1595
www.cardocontheisland.com

Your Well Trained Technician at Car Doc On The Island

When your vehicle has a problem or just needs some routine service, you might get a little nervous. Your vehicle's so important to your life in Venice, you need to get back on the road as soon as possible – with the problem fixed right the first time.

If you've ever checked into some of the technician training Car Doc On The Island professionals receive, you may be surprised at how much specialized knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern car. For example: Today there are four cylinder engines that generate more power than the 1980s-era V-8's. I mean a new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket's Ferrari in a race to 60 mph/100 kph.

Our engines are more and more powerful and at the same time their fuel economy keeps inching up – even with steep Venice gas prices. They are also amazingly reliable: Kudos to the automotive engineers. But the advances come at the price of simplicity. The modern vehicles driven around FL are so much more complex from a mechanical standpoint that it makes your head spin – not to mention the electronics.

Some vehicles have several networked computers controlling most of the engine functions and many other vehicle operations as well. Venice motorists take all of this sophistication for granted, but somebody has to fix it when it breaks. It's a real challenge for Car Doc On The Island in Venice technicians to keep up, but we work hard to stay ahead of the technology. It requires a high level of commitment on the part of the technicians and the Venice service centers as well.

Car Doc On The Island technicians receive training through a combination of formal classroom training, training provided at Car Doc On The Island by parts and equipment manufacturers, online courses and home study courses.

In addition to the expensive training, there's the financial commitment for Car Doc On The Island to purchase the diagnostic and repair tools.

There are many independent certifications held by the pros at Car Doc On The Island. The ability to repair your vehicle requires a strong combination of training and resources. No one can know everything, so Venice auto service centers subscribe to data services, technical libraries and even online communities that can help them when they run into a difficult problem.

It's like those medical diagnosis shows on TV. Here are the symptoms – what's the diagnosis and treatment? Diagnosis is every bit as much an art as a science. At Car Doc On The Island, we want everything to be simple, straightforward and inexpensive – but sometimes it just isn't.

The next time you bring us your vehicle, don't worry. You're in good hands at Car Doc On The Island.

Car Doc On The Island
419 South Tamiami Trail
Venice, FL 34285
(941) 786-1595
www.cardocontheisland.com

Finding Vehicle Recall Information in Venice, FL

No matter how well they're made, vehicles in Venice, FL, will have design or manufacturing problems.

And when the government thinks a problem is really serious for people in Venice, FL, they require the manufacturer to issue a recall notice and fix the vehicle  free of charge. The manufacturer then tries to contact everyone in FL who owns that type of vehicle to get the recall work done. Perhaps you have received a postcard notifying you of a recall. The government has links on its websites, or just visit AutoNetTV for links. There are many websites with free recall information and searches. There's CarFax, AutoByTel and the DMV.

Recalls are serious but not all that common. Sometimes there are fewer issues, and for these, manufacturers issue a Technical Service Bulletin, or TSB, that tells service centers like Car Doc On The Island how to repair a frequent or difficult problem.

The pros get updated information through subscription plans, also available in consumer versions for a reasonable cost. So when recalls occur, get the work done, and keep you and yours safe.

Car Doc On The Island
419 South Tamiami Trail
Venice, FL 34285
(941) 786-1595
www.cardocontheisland.com

New School: Automotive Car Doc On The Island Technician Training

Venice consumers are demanding. We want a safe, reliable vehicle that handles well and is comfortable to ride in. Oh, and we want good fuel economy, too. We also want vehicle repairs that are cheap, fast and easy. Unfortunately, one usually comes at the cost of the other.

Today's vehicles have made significant improvements in reliability and performance over the last few decades. They also deliver more power to Venice drivers more efficiently than ever before. For example, some of today's 4-cylinder engines are equal to yesterday's V-8's. Our vehicles also offer an amazing range of features that make them more comfortable and convenient than ever before.

But all of that improvement has come at a price for Venice vehicle owners. Our vehicles are more complicated and difficult to repair than ever before. They have numerous mechanical and electrical systems. Fuel systems are so complex they have to be run by a computer. Our vehicles are covered with sensors and high-tech electronic equipment. Our dashboards rival the control panel of the first manned space flight.

With all that complicated equipment, it's no wonder we call mechanics service technicians these days. You can't learn to repair vehicles in the backyard with your dad anymore. Today's Car Doc On The Island technicians have to go to school. School may come in the form of classroom instruction, online courses or both. Technicians are also trained on-site at the Venice service centers where they work (including Car Doc On The Island) to keep them abreast of constant improvements in vehicle engineering, diagnostic equipment and repair techniques.

Today's technicians need to be certified to work on our vehicles. They can earn a variety of certifications in FL, but the highest of these is Master Technician. It's like a graduate degree in auto repair.

Vehicle repair at Car Doc On The Island in Venice requires more than just training and certification, though. It also takes information and creative thought. Venice area auto service centers subscribe to data services, technical libraries and online repair communities in order to get the information they need to: work on various makes and models of vehicles, get recommended maintenance schedules, learn about non-standard features and locate hard-to-find parts in an unusual engine. They also use this information to help diagnose rare or difficult vehicle problems. Many auto repair problems also require a bit of creative thinking for the team at Car Doc On The Island to solve. Venice service technicians at Car Doc On The Island act much like doctors in these situations. They're given a set of symptoms, and they have to come up with a diagnosis and treatment that will fix the problem. This process becomes as much of an art as it is a science.

A proper diagnosis, even by a highly qualified technician, can take time. And a technician's time is going to cost us. It's just the price of progress.

Of course, the best vehicle care for Venice vehicle owners is planned preventive auto maintenance. This is also the least costly way to keep your vehicle in good repair. Regular inspections and replacement of worn parts will prevent most repairs from ever being needed in the first place.

And with the amazing complexity of today's automobiles, isn't it good to know there's someone out there with the knowledge, training and skill to give us good auto advice? Whether we need preventive maintenance or repairs, the team of automotive professionals at Car Doc On The Island can help us keep our vehicles on the road. We just can't do it on our own anymore.

Car Doc On The Island
419 South Tamiami Trail
Venice, FL 34285
(941) 786-1595
www.cardocontheisland.com