More about Steve’s Auto Clinic

South Africa’s Leading Service Spacialists

Automotive passion is the driving force behind the SAC Group.

As the SAC Group we continue to spread out all over the country with our shops and related service departments. We do this to ensure that we deliver not only the highest level of service but also maintain the same level of quality.

We have been the industry leaders for more than 35 years, and we plan to continue on this path going well into the future, even though this path may at times be a difficult one to follow.

Some people will try to convince us that their vehicle was serviced recently, by when we conduct an actual check-up, the surprise is usually unbelievable, sometimes the vehicle was serviced as long as a year ago or as much as 15 000 or 20 000 km overdue for its service.

It is then not strange why vehicles break and develop underserved tags for being unreliable. It is not the vehicle; it is the owner that is not taking proper care of it.

This attitude is becoming worse and worse as more and more cars come with service and maintenance plans. Yet again, once these expire or you buy a car with a full service history, who is going to pick up the repair bill when something major fails, like the turbo? To be honest, it doesn’t really matter what you call it, what matters is that your vehicle gets properly serviced and maintained regularly.

That is why we at SAC can offer you a range of automotive service options from a simple oil change right down to a comprehensive and major service that would involve going through your vehicle from front to back. An oil change, at the very least every 10 000 km, is as essential for your car as it is taking care of your diet. Something that is not always given a lot of thought either is the quality of the oil you use.

Cheaper and lower spec oil is going to degrade far quicker than a higher grade oil, and thus it should be changed more regularly.

By allowing your car to die a slow and sludged death as a result of not changing the oil, is the same as going to gym and worrying about your muscles but never eating correctly.

No matter how good you look on the outside, your internal organs will eventually fail, just as your car will. The engine of your car is the most expensive component in your car; take care of it. Second to changing engine oil is properly maintaining your cooling system. To be safe, have the coolant checked regularly along with all the other fluids.

Coolant, even extended-life variants, although they don’t degrade easily or degrade substantially before they are scheduled to be changed, can be lost as a result of a leak or careless topping up, and then you have the incorrect water to coolant level working its way around your engine and causing serious long term damage. We have also heard of things like Brake Services, Clutch Services, Cambelt Services etc.

Is all this really necessary?

What is really necessary over and above this is regular oil changes, wheel bearing packing, CV Joint Services, Cambelt replacement, brake replacement, diff and gearbox oil changes, injector services and filter services. Even though this is some of the important stuff that needs to be done, it will ultimately also save you money.