Express Car Care of Denver

"Denver's Best Auto Repair and Quick Lube"

Express Car Care Takes Care of Your Car’s Suspension

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As you all can imagine, if most of your driving is done on smooth highways and roads, your car’s suspension will last a lot longer.  But I’m sure you know that most roads and highways are anything but smooth, they’re usually extremely rough, especially with all the road construction that is taking place.  As drivers, we are always trying to avoid potholes and other hazards in the road.  These conditions can wreak havoc on your car’s suspension.

After so many years and miles of hazardous driving your vehicle’s suspension system components will wear out, but how long that takes depends on how well you take care of your car’s suspension.  In addition to wearing out, a car’s suspension components can be damaged in an accident or by a hard impact like a pothole, hitting a curb or a rock on a bumpy road.

Because the life span of shocks can vary so widely, your vehicle’s manufacturer recommends periodic inspections.  During an inspection, your knowledgeable Express Car Care service adviser will check for worn, broken or missing parts.

Signs for drivers that shocks or struts are wearing out:  the vehicle’s tires may have a cupped wear pattern.  This is from the shocks bouncing unevenly.  Drivers may notice a floating or drifting sensation when cornering.  If the front of your car dives excessively when stopping or rocks back and forth after you stop, your shocks may be worn out.  And if they are leaking fluid, it’s definitely time to replace them.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, come see us at Express Car Care in Denver for a suspension inspection, also if you’ve been in an accident that involved one of your vehicle’s wheels.  Worn or broken shocks can cause premature wear or failure on other suspension parts such as ball joints and other steering components as well.  If your car’s suspension actually fails, it could lead to a serious accident, so let Express Car Care take care of your car’s suspension.

When drivers replace their vehicle shocks, it’s usually best to replace all four at the same time.  That provides more even handling.  Be sure to consult with your service adviser because you don’t want a big difference between the performance of your shocks from wheel to wheel, and replacing all of them may be the safest bet.

Disc Brakes

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Question:  What are the signs that I need a brake job?

Express Car Care Answer:  Signs of brake problems often fall into one of two categories for Denver vehicles:  making noise or a pulsation in the brake pedal.  Why don’t we start with the noise.

Most brake pads have an audible brake wear indicator.  This is a small piece of metal that rubs on your brake rotor when the brake pads are worn to the point that they should be replaced.  The noise is a chirp or soft squeal.  This noise gives drivers enough warning to get their brakes serviced while there is still enough brake pad left to enable them to stop safely.

Any driver who ignores the chirp will find that the sound changes to a grinding noise.  This is more serious.  It means that the friction material on your brake pad is worn away and metal parts of the brake are grinding against the rotor when you press on the brakes.  Obviously, this metal-on-metal means that your brakes aren’t going to stop very well.  It also means that your rotor is being damaged.  It may need to be resurfaced or even replaced if it reaches this point.

Pedal pulsation is another noticeable sound.  When your rotor is not in perfect alignment, it pushes against the brake pads unevenly as you apply the brakes.  There could be a number of reasons for this, the rotor and wheel hub may not be mating well which causes the rotor to spin out of vertical alignment.  This misalignment can be caused by either the rotor or the hub, or a combination of the two.  If this persists, the rotor may even start to wear unevenly to the point that its thickness varies, causing an even more noticeable pulsation.  This uneven mating of the brake pad and the rotor when braking means less contact and a reduced braking power.

Your service center or the team at Express Car Care can determine the cause of the misalignment and remedy the problem.  Either unusual brake noise or pedal pulsation are signs for drivers that they have brake problems.  Drivers should have a tech check their brakes thoroughly and recommend any steps necessary to correct the problem.  A regular brake inspection is on every vehicles recommended list.  Ask your service adviser if it’s time for that very important brake inspection.

Fuel System

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I’d like to give our friends in Denver a quick overview of the fuel system.  It starts with the fuel pump.  The fuel pump is located inside the tank and pumps the fuel out to the engine.  Somewhere along the way is a fuel filter, it has the job of filtering out dirt before it gets to the engine.

Our focus is to discuss how to make the various components of your fuel system work well and last as long as possible.

Now the best thing you can do for your fuel pump is to use good quality fuel.  Top tier gas typically has fewer contaminants and more detergents to keep things clean.  Using good gas, or adding a fuel system cleaner to your tank, can prolong the life of your fuel pump.  Because the fuel pump lives inside your tank, it’s pretty expensive to replace, so helping it last as long as possible is a worthwhile goal.

The fuel filter catches dirt and contaminants.  When it’s clogged, your engine may not be able to get enough fuel and could start to sputter.  Many fuel filters have a bypass valve that allows unfiltered fuel past when the filter’s clogged.  This prevents your engine from dying while you’re driving, but it can’t protect your engine from dirty fuel.

Check your owner’s manual or talk with your service adviser at Express Car Care about when you should replace your fuel filter.  Fuel will cause gum and varnish to build up in the fuel intake system.  A professional fuel system cleaning will remove the gunk to keep fuel flowing freely and help prevent contamination from reaching your fuel injectors and your engine.

Fuel injectors squirt fuel into the engine and the fuel must be delivered in a precise amount, at a precise time, under exact pressure, in an exact pattern.  Pressure can range from 45 pounds per square inch to 45,000 pounds per square inch depending on the engine.  As you may guess, fuel injectors cost a lot to replace.  Allowing them to get gummed up will not only hurt your engine performance and fuel economy, it will also cause the injectors to wear out much more quickly than expected.

A professional fuel system cleaning will keep injectors clean and working correctly.  It’ll also clean deposits from the inside of the combustion chamber and off the intake valves, giving you optimum performance and mileage.

Check with your service adviser and see when he recommends you have a fuel system cleaning.

 

 

Fuel Saving Tip

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A lot of gas is wasted by Denver vehicles with dirty fuel delivery systems.  Let’s start at the tank.  The gas tank gathers tiny amounts of dirt, rust and sediment over the years of driving around.  That’s why there’s a fuel filter to clean the fuel after it leaves the tank.  A dirty filter will rob the engine of the clean gas it needs to run efficiently.

The fuel intake components get coated with gum and varnish over time.  This results in fuel being delivered inefficiently and some of that gunk getting into the engine.  A fuel system service will leave your intake as clean as a whistle.

The big fuel thief is dirty fuel injectors.  They deliver fuel to the engine at a specified pressure and in a particular spray pattern.  When they’re clogged, the fuel doesn’t get atomized the way it’s supposed to and doesn’t get burned as efficiently.

See your owner’s manual or ask your friendly and knowledgeable service adviser when a fuel system cleaning is recommended.

Quality Replacement Parts

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Let me tell you about an experience that took place at a well-established Italian restaurant that had changed hands a few months ago.  The previous owners were an Italian couple  that used old family recipes and fresh ingredients to make their pasta and sauces from scratch. They enjoyed stellar reviews for decades.

The new owners decided to take a different approach.  The cooks followed the same recipes, but were required to used bagged salads, canned sauces and vegetables, frozen meat and boxed pasta.  Needless to say, there was a night to day difference between the before and after dining experience – and their online reviews reflected the decline.  Same chefs – same recipes but not quality ingredients.

Now think of this same principle in relation to auto repair.  You can imagine how important high quality replacement parts are for vehicle repairs.  The parts need to deliver the performance you expect right from the beginning as well as over the long haul.  We feature quality NAPA auto parts and because they meet or exceed the original manufacturer specifications, they will fit and function as they should.

It’s very important for a business to stand behind its work and unfortunately rather uncommon these days, but we do everything that we can to stand behind ours.  We employ highly trained service technicians and equip them with the diagnostic and repair tools they need to keep your vehicle in tip-top shape.  And NAPA Auto Parts helps us deliver on our promises to you with high quality replacement parts that help your vehicle run safely and efficiently.

Skilled technicians and quality replacement parts is the perfect recipe for motoring satisfaction.

Water Pump

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Let’s talk water pumps for vehicles here in Denver.  The engine in your vehicle is cooled by coolant/antifreeze mixed with water.  This mixture circulates around the engine, absorbing some of the heat.  The coolant then flows through the radiator where air cools it down for the return trip back through the engine.  Your vehicle’s water pump is what drives this process.

Cooling system problems are the number one mechanical failure in Denver.  So the water pump plays a pretty important role.  You can’t get very far without a water pump.

After all the distance and years of pumping coolant, water pumps just wear out.  You might notice a whining or grinding sound coming from the water pump, or you might see coolant leaking from the pump itself.

The precise location of the water pump varies depending on the vehicle.  Some vehicles have the water pump attached to the outside of the engine where you can see it.  With these, the water pump is driven by the serpentine belt.

Some vehicles have the water pump that is driven by the timing belt.  The timing belt cover often hides the water pump when it’s set up this way, so you can’t see the pump without removing the cover.

When you have Express Car Care replace the water pump on one of these, you really should replace the timing belt at the same time.  We’ve already gotten things taken apart and it’s very likely the belt has been contaminated by coolant.  Timing belts usually need to be replaced at similar intervals anyway, so it makes a lot of sense to do both jobs at once.

The opposite is true too; when you change the timing belt on this type of engine, replace the water pump while you’re at it.  The water pump will eventually fail and getting to it is an expensive project.  For not that much more you can take care of both the timing belt and the water pump at the same time.

Come in and see us if you think you can use our services for your water pump.

Wheel Alignment

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Denver drivers ought to be concerned about wheel alignments for two primary reasons:  safety and money.  When your wheels are out of alignment, they can pull to one side, sometimes severely.  One moment of inattention could put you into on-coming traffic, a curb, or off the road.  And an improper alignment will chew up your tires very quickly when you’re driving on freeways and surface streets.

One of our customers said the wheels on his vehicle were a little out of alignment before a family vacation, but he didn’t think it was that bad, so he didn’t take care of it before he left on his trip.  A couple of days and a lot of highway driving later and his front tires were worn down to the cords.  He had to take a half day out of his mountain vacation to find a town large enough to have a tire center so he could get replacements.

All four wheels are supposed to be lined up and pointed in the same direction.  Sometimes one or more goes out of alignment and is pulling against the rest of the team.  In addition to excessive tire wear, this also hurts fuel economy.

Part of the alignment service is an inspection of the steering and suspension components.  Whatever caused the wheels to be knocked out of alignment in the first place may have also damaged important parts.  So we want to be sure to replace broken or bent parts as needed.  The process corrects alignment of each wheel along three axes:  toe, camber and caster, as well as front to rear alignment.

Your vehicle owner’s manual may have a recommendation for how often alignment should be checked.  If not, ask your helpful service adviser.  Here are some things to look for that should be a warning that you need to get in for an alignment check right away:  Your vehicle is pulling to one side, your steering wheel isn’t centered, you feel a vibration at higher speed or you see unusual tire wear.

Better Service, Better Fuel Economy

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Many of our customers would like to know how they can improve their fuel economy.  At Express Car Care, we help drivers keep their vehicles running in prime condition which makes them more efficient fuel-wise.  When your car works the way it was designed to work, it will use less fuel and you save money.

To help organize our discussion, we’ll mention the things that rob us of fuel economy in two ways:  increased friction and inefficient fuel combustion.

Friction:  Anything that increases friction increases drag or load on the engine.  The engine has to work harder to overcome the drag – and that eats up more fuel.  The first thing that can cause drag on the engine is low oil. Low oil means there isn’t enough to fully lubricate the engine and that increases the friction.

Using the wrong viscosity and grade of oil can also adversely affect fuel economy.  Talk to your helpful and knowledgeable service adviser about the right kind of oil for your vehicle.  Dirty oil won’t lubricate as well as clean oil.  The same principles apply to transmission fluid as well.  Getting your oil changed and transmission serviced on a routine schedule will reduce friction and save you money on fuel.

You might want to consider upgrading to synthetic oils in your differentials, engine and transmission to reduce friction.  Another friction related factor is under-inflated tires.  When tires are low on air, it’s like driving through sand – the engine has to work harder to move every mile.  Drivers should check or have their tire pressure checked at least once a month.

Sticking or binding brakes can also put a drag on your vehicle and can hurt fuel economy.  A simple brake inspection at Express Car Care can uncover potential problems.

Let’s move on to Fuel.  A dirty fuel system has varnish and gum interfering, and the fuel injectors may be unable to deliver the correct amount of fuel at the right pressure and in the spray pattern that the engineers intended when they designed it.  A fuel system cleaning will get all of that working correctly and will improve your fuel economy.

Your spark plugs also have to be functioning properly, so replacing worn spark plugs will help your vehicle burn its fuel efficiently and will save you money at the pump.

 

Tips on Buying a Used Car

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Here are 5 tips on buying a used car for anyone who’s in the market:

  1. Ask the seller for service records.  Most owners who document their regular maintenance service visits take good care of their vehicles.
  2. Inspect the vehicle thoroughly.  Check for uneven tire wear, poor alignment, suspension issues, strange sounds and funky odors.
  3. If everything checks out up to this point, bring it in to Express Car Care for a thorough used car inspection.  Your helpful and knowledgeable service adviser can give you a heads up on any pressing issues or emerging problems that will need to be addressed eventually.  If the seller won’t allow you to do this before you buy…move on.
  4. Buy a CarFax report.  This will show any major accidents and title status concerns including whether it is a salvaged vehicle.  You don’t want to purchase a car only to find out that it was under water for a week after a hurricane.
  5. After you have made your purchase, stay on top of regular maintenance and save those records.  Express Car Care will help keep your car running well and you will really enjoy not having a car payment.

As always, please give us a call or come in and see us if you have any specific questions.

Heater Core

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You may have wondered where the warm air in your passenger compartment comes from.  Well, as your engine starts to warm up, it also warms the coolant/antifreeze that circulates around the engine and through the radiator.  There is also a hose that carries coolant/antifreeze from the engine to the heater core and another one that takes it back into the engine.  The heater core looks like a little radiator and lives in the air blend box behind the dashboard.

When you turn on the heat, air blows over the heater core which warms it and then blows it into the cabin.  Some vehicles have a heater valve that directs coolant through the heater core when the heat is on and bypasses the heater core when the heat is off.  In other vehicles, the temperature of the air is controlled within the air blend box by how much air is directed over the heater core.

The engine cooling system also encompasses the heater core.  Things that adversely affect your radiator will also harm your heater core.  The coolant/antifreeze contains corrosion inhibitors that coat the surfaces inside the cooling system, including the heater core.  When the corrosion inhibitors are depleted, the cooling system can become corroded, filled with contaminants and may even start to leak.

There are several signs of a leaky heater core:

  • First you may notice a sweet smell from your vents.  This is coolant leaking out and getting into the air.  You may even see vapor coming out of the vents and notice a film building up inside the windows.  Of course, breathing coolant vapors isn’t good for you.
  • You may also see coolant on the driveway.  Depending on the design of your vehicle, you may even get coolant leaking out into the foot wells of the cabin.

Coolant/antifreeze leaking out through the heater core means that the overall coolant level in the system will be low and the engine is in danger of overheating – which is the most common cause of mechanical breakdown.

The good news is that the things you do to protect your cooling system also protect your heater core.  Changing your coolant/antifreeze as directed by your vehicle manufacturer or on the advice of your service technician will help ensure your coolant has enough corrosion inhibitors working to protect the system.  Also, quickly repairing any leaks and inspecting hoses for signs of internal breakdown will help keep things from becoming an emergency.

Talk with your service adviser at Express Car Care about when a cooling system service should be performed.

Brakes Service

Oil Change

Suspension

Transmision Service

Engine Service

Auto Tips & Tricks