Express Car Care of Denver

"Denver's Best Auto Repair and Quick Lube"

Burning Brakes

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Burning BrakesSummer driving in Colorado can be very challenging at times.  It is so important that we don’t forget what we learned about driving downhill on our steep mountain roads.  Heavy commercial trucks aren’t the only drivers that will experience burning brakes if they’re not careful.  We all need to drive in such a way that we aren’t relying on our brakes too much.  I see it all the time coming home from a mountain trip.  Drivers with their brakes lights flashing on and off all the way down the mountain.  Whether you are a long-time mountain driver or have recently moved to Colorado, it’s important to know how to drive safely in the mountains.  Two things are especially critical:  brakes and tires.

The brakes on automatic transmission, late-models sedans weren’t built to handle the constant braking required on the 7 to 8 percent grades of mountain passes.  This is the time to use your car’s transmission to keep your speed low enough to maneuver the hairpin curves that you’ll encounter during mountain driving and prevent those burning brakes.  Before heading downhill, shift into second gear.  Don’t shift into neutral.

Using your transmission to avoid overheating your brakes on  winding mountain roads is smart, but also has its challenges.  In summer, driving in second gear, will cause your car’s engine to reach higher RPMs and hotter temperatures.  So if you haven’t checked your coolant level, or changed it since winter, you should do it now or you might overheat.

Another thing to consider is under-inflated tires.   This will give you less control on the road, and that is never a good idea, especially on a road with no guardrail and a thousand foot drop below.  So check your tire pressure before you leave home.  Also tires without tread can cause problems, especially if you’re towing a load.  The tread helps your tires grab the road and turn rather than spin.

Be aware of gravel and rocks on the road.  Gravel will cause you to slide and perhaps lose control.  Rocks large enough to cripple your car can roll onto the road, so stay alert and free from distractions while you’re driving.  Wildlife is also a concern when you’re driving in the Colorado mountains.  They can dart into traffic in a moments notice.  So have your brakes and tires checked out before you hit the road.

Express Car Care Tech Question on Your Check Engine Light

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Express Car Care Tech Question on Your Check Engine LightExpress Car Care Tech Question:

I’m Alex.  My Check Engine Light came on in my truck and I’ve tried several things to make it go off but nothing has worked.  What should I do?

Express Car Care Answer:

Like Alex, most Denver car owners have experienced their check engine light coming on suddenly.  We get frustrated because we don’t know why.  Of course that’s perfectly understandable:  There are many reasons for the check engine light to come on – and there’s only one light.

Alex said she tried several things to get the light to go off – but it didn’t work.  Her goal was to get the light to turn off.  I would suggest that the goal should be to find out what caused the light to come on in the first place – and fix it.

You can search the internet and find millions of sites with tricks to get your truck engine light to turn off.  But what good does that do?  Whatever caused the light to come on is still wrong.  Not getting to the bottom of the problem can lead to other problems for Denver motorist – some minor and some more serious and expensive.

Your helpful Express Car Care service professional can get you started down the road of properly diagnosing the problem so you can have it repaired.  You can save yourself some time and frustration next time by having a professional diagnose the problem right away.

Simple Answers from Express Car Care in Denver: Severe Service

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Simple Answers About Severe ServiceQuestion:  What is a severe service maintenance schedule? 

Express Car Care Answer:

When I was a kid, Sunday meant having a bath, getting dressed for church and then hanging up my Sunday clothes as soon as we got home.  Mom didn’t have to wash those clothes but once a month.  Now Saturdays were a different story entirely, catching lizards, splash contests in mud puddles and crawling through the bushes with GI Joe.  Those clothes went straight into the laundry basket.  My Sunday clothes – easy use.  My Saturday clothes – hard use.  They required a different laundry schedule.

Severe service maintenance schedules are kind of like that for auto owners in Denver.  “Normal” driving has a regular schedule; “hard” driving has a severe service schedule.  Service intervals are shorter on the severe schedule.

Most owner’s manuals will describe severe service as:  Stop and go driving, short trips, low speed driving, extreme hot or cold, dusty conditions, carrying heavy loads, and towing.

For most Denver residents, some “severe” driving can be a part of their everyday routine.  You can meet with your helpful Express Car Care tech about how you drive around the Denver area and see if your routine is closer to the regular or severe definitions and then adjust your service intervals for things like oil changes, transmission and cooling system services so they fit your needs.  Give us a call and let us help.

Visual Blind Spots When Driving Around Denver

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Visual Blind Spots When Driving Around DenverWhen we drive on our Denver streets, we encounter blind spots.  We can greatly reduce our blind spots by properly adjusting our mirrors to give the widest coverage possible.  Make the adjustments to your vehicle before you start to drive.

First, adjust your rear view mirror to give the best possible view directly to the rear of your truck or other vehicle type.  You don’t need it to get a better view of either side of the car, the kids in the back seat or your dazzling smile.  The rear view mirror should look to the rear.

Next, lean your head until it almost touches the driver’s side window.  Adjust your side mirror so that you can just barely see the side of your car.

Now, lean your head to the middle of the car and adjust the outside mirror so that you can barely see the right side of the car.

With your vehicle mirrors adjusted this way, you’ll have maximum coverage.  Of course, driving in Denver is a dynamic process – things change every second.  So it’s wise to take a quick look to the side when passing to make sure that another vehicle hasn’t moved into an area you couldn’t see in your mirrors.

As you drive in the Denver area, avoid staying in other driver’s blind spots.  You can’t count on them to be watching their mirrors and looking out for you.  Pass large trucks and buses on the left whenever possible.  A trucks’ blind spot is much larger on the right.

Be attentive and wear your seat belts, and thank you for reading!

 

Car Survival

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Car SurvivalSince we have been experiencing a lot of extreme weather here in Colorado, it’s important that we prepare for the unexpected as we drive around our cities and our state.  We need to be ready for anything.  With the unpredictable nature of our weather, you never know when you might have a road close down or wash out and leave you stranded in your car longer than you intended.  Our last two summers have been filled with either fires or floods and both of these forces of nature are capable of cutting off our roads.   Are you prepared for car survival?

When it comes to packing a car for an emergency, adventurer and Expedition Wild host, Casey Anderson says he’s “like a turtle, practically carrying my entire house on my back.”

People spend a lot of time in their cars, and there are a few essentials we all need.  Anderson recommends having at least a gallon of drinkable water in your car – crucial if you are stranded for a long time.  It also has many other uses, such as first aid and putting out fires that are not chemical or electrical in origin, to name just a few.  You should also toss some energy bars in your glove compartment, along with some hard candies to pass the time and give you energy to keep a clear mind if you need to wait a while for help.  In any emergency, communication is very important.  So it’s always a good idea to keep an extra cellphone battery and a fully charged external charger in your car.

We want you to be safe in your car, so take a few steps and prepare for the unexpected.

 

Express Car Care Tech Question on Your Cooling System

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Tech Question on Your Cooling SystemExpress Car Care Tech Question:   I was driving down the freeway in my car and smoke started coming out from under the hood.  I pulled over and called my husband.  I had to be towed to my Denver mechanic.  He said my car had overheated.  What can I do to prevent that in the future?

Express Car Care Answer:  It sounds like you had a rough experience.  Unfortunately overheating is the most common engine failure for Denver motorist.  It’s also one of the easiest to prevent.

The basic idea is this:  you need to keep enough coolant/antifreeze flowing through your vehicle’s engine to keep it cool.  Problems come for Denver drivers when they develop leaks in their systems – like in the radiator or a hose – and the coolant leaks out.  Sometimes the coolant gets so contaminated that it blocks up the radiator so the coolant can’t get through.  If that happens enough you’ll end up broken down on the side of the road.

Your owner’s manual recommends a schedule for coolant replacement.  That’s because your coolant actually becomes corrosive over time and starts to eat away at the cooling system, causing leaks or blockages.  New coolant stops that process.

Ask your helpful Express Car Care technician about inspecting your vehicle’s cooling system for leaks, spongy hoses and other damage.  If it’s time to replace your coolant, hoses or other cooling system parts, have it done right away at Express Car Care in Denver.  Prevention is the key.

 

Deep Breathing in Denver: Engine Air Filter

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Deep Breathing in Denver: Engine Air FilterThe engine in your vehicle really needs clean air to operate efficiently:  it takes about twelve thousand gallons of air to burn a gallon of gas in your engine.  And clean air is much better than dirty.

When your air filter’s dirty, it simply can’t trap anymore dirt, so the dirt just passes through into your air intake system.  From there it can get into the truck engine combustion chamber and burning dust and pollen in your engine as you drive around Denver doesn’t do you or your engine any good.

The verdict:  when your engine air filter needs to be replaced; it needs to be replaced.  How often  depends entirely on how dirty the air is in Denver or wherever you drive.  A simple visual inspection by a courteous Express Car Care technician will tell you when you need a new engine air filter in your vehicle.

When you look at the air filter on your furnace in your home and see it’s all clogged up with dust and dirt, you don’t hesitate to replace it, do you?  So don’t wait until your air filter (furnace or automobile) is totally plugged – by that time you’ve been running inefficiently for a lot of miles.

When your Express Car Care service technician brings out your nasty engine air filter, you now know why you should go ahead and change it out.

Give us a call.

At Express Car Care in Denver, we install quality NAPA replacement parts.  To learn more about NAPA Auto Care, visit www.NAPAAutoCare.com

Simple Answers from Express Car Care: Exhaust Service

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Exhaust ServiceQuestion:  My car failed its emissions test – what do I need to do?

Express Car Care Answer:  First of all, let’s make this clear:  A leak in your exhaust system could be deadly!  If Denver drivers smell exhaust in the passenger cabin or hear an unusual exhaust sound, they should get their exhaust system checked and repaired as soon as possible!  Talk to your helpful Express Car Care service adviser. And this is information is critical – Carbon monoxide in your exhaust is odorless, colorless and tasteless and can be fatal to you and your passengers!  So don’t delay if you suspect an exhaust leak.

There could be a number of reasons for a failed Colorado emissions test,  so some important diagnostic work is in order.  A common reason for Denver drivers is that the catalytic converter has failed.  The catalytic converter removes some of the harmful elements in exhaust.

When a catalytic converter fails it must be replaced, which isn’t cheap for an auto owner.  Many people stop there – but the converter failed for a reason.  There may be any number of engine-run conditions that led to the failure.  It would certainly be smart to have your Express Car Care service professional diagnose the cause so that you don’t end up with another expensive catalytic converter replacement down the road.

And let’s not forget that check engine light that so many car owners ignore.  It might just be illuminated for a critical condition that could lead to catalytic converter damage.  Have your service professional get to the bottom of any check engine light situation.

Looking Down the Road in Denver: Wiper Blades

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Wiper BladesIt’s said that 90% of our driving decisions are based on visual information.  Our wiper blades play an important role in this.  Most Denver, Englewood and Littleton drivers know that a dirty or streaked windshield can catch the glare of the sun or on-coming headlights and make it nearly impossible for us to see.

Most busy car owners deal with their wiper blades from a failure perspective.  They address them only when they no longer function.  Instead, Denver drivers should think about wiper blades as an important safety system that they should maintain, rather than repair.

And let’s not get the wrong idea and think that your wiper blades will last longer because you don’t use them very often.  Remember, they live outside in the harsh sun, freezing cold, as well as ice and wind.  They will just dry out and crack over time because of these conditions.

At Express Car Care in Denver, we recommend that motorists change their wiper blades twice a year, in the spring and the fall.  That way you have functional blades for those spring showers and Colorado winter storms.  You should also consider a windshield treatment to help repel water and make it easier to clean off bugs and road grime.

Like everything else in the automotive world, there have been some big advancements in wiper blades, both in terms of the design and the materials from which the blade is made.  We can help you get the same type of blades that came with your vehicle, or if you have a need for better than average windshield wipers, you can pay some more for an upgraded wiper.

And if you live where there is a lot of snow and ice, they make special winter blades that don’t clog up and freeze like standard blades.

Give us a call for more information about wiper blades or any other automotive parts or service.

Express Car Care: Use the Correct Fluids in Your Vehicle

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Car Maintenance To Make Your Old Car Like New AgainBig advances in automotive technology have led to the development of high-tech fluids to keep pace.  A simple example of this is the cooling system.  For decades it was primarily made out of iron, steel and rubber hoses.  There was one kind of coolant that protected these components from corrosion.

Now cooling system components are made with various metal alloys and plastics.  These materials require different additives to protect them from corrosion.  Since the materials used vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, we now have a number of different kinds of coolant at Express Car Care in Denver.  And it’s important to use the right coolant for your vehicle.  If you pour in the wrong kind, it wont’ protect the cooling system and may even void the warranty.  Your helpful Express Car Care adviser will know the proper coolant to use.  If you’re concerned you may have used the wrong one, be safe and have your Express Car Care technician flush the system and start fresh with the correct fluid.

Brake fluid is confusing for some people.  For a very long time, most vehicles used Dot 3 brake fluid.  Now we have Dot 4 & 5.  Some people mistakenly think the higher numbers are an upgrade.  You know, if 3 is good then 4 must be better.  That’s not how it works.  They have different formulations to meet the requirements of differences in brake systems.  Only one of them is recommended for your vehicle.

Transmission fluid is the same thing.  With the tremendous engineering advances in automatic transmissions, there have been several new types of fluids developed to protect and lubricate them.  Nowhere are the advances in automotive fluids more evident than in motor oil.  Many new weights and formulations have been created to meet the demands of today’s modern engine design.

Modern engines have more parts and much tighter tolerances.  Every year, engines make more power and get better fuel economy.  And even with all the complexities and sophistication, they still have to be durable.  That’s where the new grades of engine oil come in.  They have to be formulated to lubricate, protect and clean all of those engine parts, big and small.  The oil has to be thin enough to get into small passages, yet resistant to vaporization.

Your vehicle may have come from the factory with synthetic oil and/or transmission, brake, differential fluid, etc.  If so, your recommended service intervals will be based on synthetic-type fluids and you should use the same type when your vehicle is serviced at Express Car Care.

Because grades of oil and types of coolant, transmission fluid, brake fluid, etc. are so carefully matched to the vehicle, take care to always use the proper fluid if you are topping off at home.  Check your vehicle owners manual or ask your Express Car Care service adviser.  The wrong fluid can cause damage.

Brakes Service

Oil Change

Suspension

Transmision Service

Engine Service

Auto Tips & Tricks