Automotive News & Information - Melvin's Auto & Truck Repair

Your drive belts run everything - your AC, power steering, alternator, and water pump are all dependent on the belts that turn them. At Melvin's Auto & Truck Repair in St Augustine, FL, our goal is to keep your truck maintained, so you’re never stuck out on the road. Drive belts are a critical part of that goal.

At Melvin's Auto & Truck Repair in St Augustine, FL, maintaining your fleet and keeping your business reliably on the road is our primary focus. As trucks wear out, and they always do, you will inevitably be faced with this dilemma - “Should I fix this truck, or replace it with a new one?” This isn’t always an easy question to answer. As your fleet specialists, our team here at Melvin's Auto & Truck Repair is here to help you decide.

While your transmission can certainly fail silently, there are certain sounds which indicate you have an issue. The sooner you catch a transmission problem the better, so Melvin's Auto & Truck Repair in St Augustine, FL wants you to know what to listen for.

The transmission in your diesel truck is built for hard work. But, after many miles and hard days on the road, inevitably the time will come to replace it. When that time comes, Melvin's Auto & Truck Repair has the professionals you need, for the best truck repair service in St Augustine.

In the diesel world, "blow-by" is a term you're bound to run across at some point if your line of work involves diesel-powered vehicles of any kind. What is blow-by, what causes it, and how concerned should you be? At Melvin's Auto & Truck Repair in St Augustine, FL, our fleet maintenance and diesel technicians see it on a regular basis. Here we'll take a quick look at blow-by, correcting it, and preventing it.

What is Blow-By? - Diesel blow-by is a term that describes an event of lost compression into the crankcase. Blow-by occurs whenever a burnt or unburnt fuel and air mixture escape from the cylinder and past the piston rings and into the crankcase. In a perfect world, the piston would be sealed tightly in the cylinder, able to move up and down but keeping all the air and fuel and exhaust that enters or exits the cylinder during the combustion process out of the crankcase. As you'll see, this perfect world doesn't exist, but it is important to minimize the amount of blow-by in a diesel engine.

In today's economic climate, people are working hard to make their dollars go further. Not only are drivers holding onto their vehicles longer, but they're also looking to improve fuel efficiency to get the most gas mileage out of every gallon of gas. You can do both by following a few simple tips from our team here at Melvin's Auto & Truck Repair!

Changing the oil in big trucks and commercial vehicles is an expensive, but necessary, part of keeping your vehicles going. You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to change your oil, but changing it too early can be a waste of time and money. Having your oil tested regularly helps us to hone in on exactly how often your oil needs to be changed, to optimize reliability and efficiency.

Is your diesel having issues starting up? Do you hear a knocking noise? Is there blue colored smoke coming from your engine? Don't ingore the signs, those could all be signs of engine failure. One of the leading issues that lead to diesel engine failure is fuel contamination. Fuel contamination comes in different forms, but always has the same result - engine trouble and fuel system failures. Here’s what you need to know about fuel contamination with diesel trucks, from Melvin's Auto & Truck Repair in St Augustine, FL.