BMW Repair Portland
MINI Repair Portland

The latest Hankook Tire Gauge Index survey results released in the last 60 days indicate that American drivers continue to neglect the maintenance of their vehicles. Specifically, they’re not checking their vehicles’ basic fluids, like oil and coolant, nor tire pressures; simple things that most people can perform themselves. Since not every car has indicators for oil and coolant (whether warning lights for low level or gauges for temperature), it is quite easy to overlook the early signs of fluid consumption or leakage. As a result, we often see vehicles towed in from overheating due to low coolant here at Pacific Motorsports. If you don’t know what to look for on your BMW or MINI in this regard, please ask, we’d be happy to show you how to perform these basic checks. This way you may be less likely to make “unplanned visits” to see us. Our preference here at Pacific Motorsports is towards preventive maintenance, rather than breakdown repair for ... read more

Last summer we wrote about used car prices bucking historical trends and holding steady, and even increasing, during the traditional summer pricing downturn. Now, with an entire year’s worth of data available, an even larger Covid-driven trend is being revealed regarding car prices for both the used and new markets. First, manufacturers began to stop making as many lower profit smaller cars, focusing instead on higher margin trucks and SUVs. This pushed shoppers in that segment to the used market, as their options narrowed, increasing demand. Then Covid hit, forcing factory shutdowns worldwide, limiting availability of new product (3.3 million fewer units in the US alone manufactured in 2020), reducing new car sales and trade-ins and creating further upward pressure on both new and used vehicle prices. Ad ... read more

Since we don’t sell cars here at Pacific Motorsports, and only pay occasional attention to this market, we found the following rather surprising. Data collected by the online car buying guide Edmunds reports that used car prices of all types of vehicles increased last month. They called it, “an unprecedented historical shift in the used vehicle market, where listing prices typically decrease during this time period due to depreciation.” Factors driving this change include increased consumer financial responsibility (keeping debt levels low) and decreased new car availability due to Covid-19 related production shutdowns. As always, Pacific Motorsports is here to safely service your BMW or MINI, so that you may enjoy that which you already own, and avoid this unique and abnormally high market. We respectfully remind everyone to wear a mask when visiting our facility. Thank you.  

Interior Vehicle Water Leaks - Diagnosing & Repairing One of the vehicle issues that only come up when the problem is present is interior vehicle leaks, as they do not telegraph their impending arrival. Preventive maintenance is therefore seldom in the picture, this is usually a reactive repair. There’s nothing to fix if everything is dry, after all. Water, penetrating through the bodywork, finds its way wherever it wants, and it's relentless; think the Grand Canyon, or any recent hurricane or flood. Unlike a squeaking belt or brakes, simple diagnosis and replacement of obviously broken or worn parts are unlikely to immediately follow. Properly determining the source(s) of all the leaks can be challenging. Active ongoing diagnosis can sometimes take a few hours, and, in the case of trunk leaks, possibly include a person with a flashlight inside looking while the car is being constantly showered. Modern cars are rolling computer networks, with electronic modules s ... read more