Precision Auto Repair | Albertville, Minnesota

info on common car care problems, maintenance and repairs

Precision Auto Paw Tracker Give Away

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Our existing customers know how much we love pets. In fact, Rudy and Halo (our two shop mascots) are a big part of the experience when you bring your car or truck in for scheduled maintenance or repairs to Precision Auto. They typically great you at the door, sit for a pet or two, and then maybe even lay their heads at your feet or give you a little snuggle while your oil gets changed. We love how much our customers enjoy the dogs at the shop, and that’s why we chose Crossroads Animal Shelter as the charitable organization that we give to all year long. On the St Michael Albertville Bulletin Board on Facebook, we see that quite a few dogs and cats get lost during the long winter months, more than any other time of year. It’s really crazy! We realize that when there is snow and ice on the ground and a dog darts off, it’s easy for them to get lost because they can’t track the scents they know back home. So many people are kind enough to help track them down and many pets get reunited with their families,  but sadly… there isn’t always a happy ending. And we’d like to help keep one more pet safe at home. Pet microchips work great (we highly recommend them), but they only work IF the pet gets taken to a vet to be scanned after it is found.  If a pet isn’t found in time, can’t be located or if the person who finds the pet doesn’t take them in for scanning, the chip doesn’t work. We recently discovered a gps tracker for pets that we thought was pretty cool, so we decided a paw tracker gps device and one year of service (retail value: $200) will be our February 2018 give away. 
Paw Tracker GPS Pet Locator Device
The PawTracker is one of the smallest and lightest GPS tracking devices with a mobile app, putting your pet’s location right at your fingertips – allowing you to locate your fur-child and track their activity history on your phone or tablet. The PawTracker relays location information to your mobile device no matter how far your pet has traveled. There is no distance restriction!   FEATURES:  Real Time Tracking – Allows you the ability to locate your pet’s current location Historical Route – Shows all the locations your pet has traveled for a 24 hour period Geo-Fence – Alerts you if your pet leaves a preset designated area Flashing LED Lights – Help find your pet in the dark   We’re excited for you to enter, and we thought we’d do something fun to capture entries for this contest. There are three ways to enter:
  1. Visit our page on Instagram (@precisionautorp) and follow our page. 
  2. Post a picture of your pet on Instagram and tag us (@precisionautorp) and tell us about your pet and why the gps tracker would be a good fit for you. You can do this once per day (one entry per post) until the contest ends on 2/28/18. 
  3. Post a picture of your pet on our Facebook page (@precisionautorp) and tell us about your pet and why the gps tracker would be a good fit for you. You can do this once per day (one entry per post) until the contest ends on 2/28/18. 
  4. Share our page 
  5. Share this post 
Good luck, and we hope you win!
Enter to win Precision Auto’s Pet Tracker GPS Monitoring System with one year subscription service. Drawing on 2/28/18. No purchase necessary to enter. Random drawing to win. This contest is not connected to Facebook or Instagram in any way. 
Halo and Rudy, Precision Auto Repair Mascots

Shocks and Struts Warning Signs

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Shock & Strut Warning Signs: 1. Excessive Bouncing If your vehicle is bouncing excessively or when you go over a bump or uneven roads the car continues to bounce, this is a warning that you may need to replace your shocks or struts. Shocks and struts are completely different things, but they perform similar functions. Shocks are coil springs that reside between the wheels and the frame of your vehicle. Struts are a coil spring and shock absorber in one. Your certified auto repair technician will know which product is appropriate for the make and model of your car. 2. Nose Dives/Rear End Squats Dipping When you are driving and press the brakes, if the front or back end of your car seems to go up or down, that is another sign that you at least need to get your car evaluated to replace the shocks or struts. If your car “squats” or dips when you accelerate, same thing. Have a certified auto repair technician take a look. 3. Tire “Cupping” If the struts or shocks on your vehicle are bad, the tires will literally bounce up and down as you drive. Each time the tires hit the ground, bits of rubber can get scraped off. This is commonly referred to as “cupping” or “scalloping.” So instead of having a consistent treadwear pattern across the tire, you might have some tread, a smooth patch, some tread, a smooth patch, and so on. This is because the holes left by the missing rubber tend to get smoothed over as you drive. 4. Leaking Fluid Inside every shock and strut is a piston and hydraulic fluid. When you drive over a bump or a rough stretch of road, the shocks or struts compress, causing the piston to push against the hydraulic fluid, which absorbs the force of the piston. Sometimes that fluid that can leak out of the shock or strut. Believe it or not, a little leakage is perfectly normal and will look like a small wet spot on an otherwise dry shock or strut. Leakage that you need to worry about will make most of the shock or strut look wet and oily.

My Car is Overheating

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Cars overheating are mostly a hot weather problem. Thanks to safety mechanisms in newer automobiles it is not nearly as much of a problem as it used to be, but it can still happen. The most important sign to watch for before it actually overheats is the temperature gauge on your car rising, or the temperature light comes on. Here is a list of things to do at the first sign of overheating: If you see the temperature gauge climb or the light come on, immediately shut off the air conditioner and radio and open the windows. This will decrease demand on the engine and lessen the heat being generated.
  1. Strangely enough, if it keeps overheating, turn the car heater on and turn up the fan. This will redirect heat from the engine into the seating area of the car. You won’t feel any better, but your engine will.
  2. If you can, put the car into neutral or park and then rev the engine a little bit. This will help draw more liquid and air through the radiator, helping to cool it off.
  3. If things worsen, pull off on to the shoulder of the road (safely), and open the hood. Be careful when opening the hood because of excess steam, and under any circumstances do NOT try to open the radiator cap. This can be very dangerous and result in burns, and you also do NOT want to add water to the radiator when the engine is hot. It must cool down first.
Sometimes the cause of overheating is simply the weather. However, other problems can also cause a car to overheat, especially if it isn’t extremely hot outside. Here are some likely culprits:
  • Low water and / or coolant level in the radiator
  • Leak in the cooling system
  • Malfunctioning thermostat
If you find your car overheating repeatedly or significantly, cooling it off may not be enough. At that point, we’d recommend having your car evaluated by a certified Auto Repair Technician. Schedule Appointment Now

Caring for Kids Toy Drop off Site in Albertville – Precision Auto Repair

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As a parent, one of the biggest joys of Christmas is watching your child enjoy a gift that has been chosen just for them. The reality though, is that even here in our community, many families and children go without. Even on Christmas morning. This why for the 3rd year, Precision Auto Repair is excited to be a drop off site for Caring for Kids, which is a toy drive where every item collected blesses up to 700 families in need here in Albertville, St. Michael, Hanover, and portions of Loretto and Corcoran. Precision Auto Repair will accept new, unwrapped toys and gifts for children ages birth to 17. This year our shop has chosen to focus on children’s gifts for children 2-6 years old, but of course gifts for any age are welcome. Gifts we are looking for would be things like books, stuffed animals, unwrapped age appropriate toys, educational toys and even financial contributions or gift cards. None of this generosity is possible without the donations of our community members like you, and we want you to know that your kindness is always appreciated. Stop by Precision Auto Repair and drop off your gifts Monday-Fridays through December 15th. Thank you!

Meet Zac – Precision Auto Repair Apprentice Technician

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Zac without his hat.
Today we’d like to introduce you to Zac. Zac is an Apprentice Technician here at Precision Auto Repair, and since we want our customers to get to know the technicians who work on their cars, we asked Zac a few questions so we could share the answer with you. Zac is a really great guy with an easy smile and a great attitude. We enjoy having him here at the shop, and if you are in and see any of the guys come up front to get your keys or bring your car to the front door after service is completed, he’s the one with the mustache and beard who is always wearing a stocking cap. Like, always! We had to gently “convince” him to take it off for his head shot. Ha! Tell us about your family. I’m married, have two brothers and a dog named Mandy (King Charles Cavalier). How long have you worked in this industry? 4 years Why did you choose the auto care field? It challenged me, and it still continues to do so, which I enjoy. What do you like best about your job? New experiences and figuring things out. What is your favorite repair / job you like to do on a car or truck? Weirdly, changing cabin air filters are my favorite. With or without the mouse nest? without What is one thing you’d like Precision Auto Repair customers to know? Surprisingly enough, I usually can’t fix your car without looking at it! No matter how much you’d like me to. 🙂 What’s the funniest or strangest thing you’ve ever found when working on a car? One time I found full stalks of corn with the ears still on under a truck. Also, I think it’s funny when I find cigarette butts inside cars whose owners don’t smoke because rodents are making nests. Thanks for the answers, Zac. We want to see your cute dog (we’re assuming she’s cute), and we have to say we liked your answers up until the rodents building nests part. Icky!