Santa Cruz Auto Repair

At Nate Smith’s Optimal Auto Care in Santa Cruz, we’re passionate about serving our community both on and off the road. Recently, I stepped away from the shop for a day to take part in something truly special: Monterey County’s Farm Day at the Salinas Rodeo Grounds. Alongside my trusty Border Collie, Gordy, I joined other local ranchers and farmers to help bring the world of agriculture to life for third graders from across the region. It was a refreshing change of pace, filled with the laughter and curiosity of young minds discovering the hard work and joy behind farming. This annual event is held for all third graders in Monterey County, bringing agriculture to life for thousands of young students. It’s a big event with three locations each year—Salinas, King City, and Monterey—ensuring every third grader can experience it. Each Farm Day features stations where the kids learn about different aspects of farming, from crops to livestock. I was ther ... read more

Checking Distributor Health - Bosch Distributor   This is old school information.  BMW has not used a distributor since 1981.  But many of these distributor-equipped cars are still around and I want to make sure this information does not get lost.   Make sure the point cam is lubricated with proper grease.  You need to use a specific Distributor Cam Grease.   Set point gap with a dwell meter Set dwell to the low end of specification because point cam follower wear will increase the dwell reading over time.         For example, the BMW 2002 specification is 59-65° so set to 60 ± 1°         Note this is especially critical on 2002tii where the spec is 60 ± 1°   Check for proper (free) movement of the centrifugal advance by turning the rotor in the advance direction.  It should move freely against spring tension. If it does not move correctly, you will h ... read more

Oil leak - when is it a problem? Shops often find oil leaks when doing maintenance or repair on a car. So how does the technician accurately describe the leak and how severe it is and how serious it is? Oil leaks can range across the full continuum from effectively dry to fluid continuously running out and onto the ground. One end of the continuum is not serious at all and the other end is very serious as the component itself (engine, transmission, differential) may be damaged by a lack of lubrication, leading to very expensive repairs. The severity of the oil leak needs to be described in some system that makes sense for the technician and the service advisor and then the service advisor needs to be able to relate the information to the customer in such a way that the customer can make a reasonable decision about resolving the leak now versus waiting. The Society of Automotive Engineers has previously produced this chart:   This chart is a good beginning in h ... read more