Boulder Auto Repair

Have you noticed an increase in price when you get a flat fixed in Boulder or your tires rotated? It might be the result of your TPMS, or Tire Pressure Monitoring System. The federal government began requiring a TPMS system on 2008 model year passenger vehicles and light trucks. Some 2006 and 2007 models may have them as well. The system has a warning light that is mounted on the dashboard that will go on if one of the tires becomes severely under inflated. Why the new requirement? Because underinflated tires are the number one cause of tire failure. Tire blowouts cause harmful and sometimes fatal accidents. Underinflated tires also need longer stopping distance and can skid, both of which also present dangers on CO roads. Many flat tires can also be prevented by proper tire inflation, and though this may seem an economic consideration, Boulder car owners who have changed a flat on the side of the road recognize that this has serious safe ... read more

For advice on how to make your family car last longer, visit us at John’s Auto Care 1900 55th St. #104 Boulder, CO 80301303.442.2932 These days many people in the Eldorado Springs area are really committed to making their cars last a long time. First thing: you’ve got to start with what you’ve got. It’d be ideal if people started with a brand new car, never missed a scheduled service item, paid attention to the severe service maintenance schedule and had regular inspections. But if you’ve had the vehicle for a while, or bought it used, its maintenance history is what it is; and that’s where you start. Go through the maintenance schedule for your family car and see what’s been done and when. Have your Boulder service advisor at John’s Auto Care do an inspection and come up with a list of stuff that needs to be done. Review the li ... read more

Every family car on CO expressways has a differential, and it is essential to the proper operation of the vehicle, but most Boulder auto owners don’t have a clue what it is. The differential compensates for differing wheel speeds. For example, when you turn, the inside tire on the turn travels a much shorter distance than the outside wheel. So the inside wheel of the family car must move at a slower speed than the outside wheel. Without a differential, the wheels would hop and scrape while turning. Have you ever seen the large bugle-shaped object in the middle of the rear axle of a truck? That’s the differential. In a rear-wheel drive vehicle, the differential is located on the back axle. Four-wheel drive vehicles and SUV’s have differentials on both the front and the rear axle. You might expect that the differential is located on the front axle of a front-wheel drive ve ... read more

 Have you ever noticed that your vehicle manufacturer has a schedule in your owner’s manual for what is called “severe service” maintenance? Let’s define what severe driving conditions aren’t: The easiest driving a vehicle experiences is traveling on the interstate for twenty miles or more at a constant rate of 65 miles per hour in 75°F weather with only passengers on board. Change any one of those parameters and you are adding stress to your engine. Change them significantly, and you are driving under severe conditions. Let’s look at the vital parameters one a time. First, the length of the trip. Short trips around Boulder are harder on an engine than longer ones. As your engine cools down, water in the air condenses onto the engine. When you heat the engine again, the water evaporates off. This is healthy. But on short trips, the engine doesn’t stay hot enough long enough for all of the water to evaporate so it star ... read more

  If the fuel system in your family car is dirty, you will be hurting your MPG and losing performance as you drive around Boulder, CO. Unless they drive a vintage car, Boulder car owners have fuel injectors which need to be properly maintained. That is why your family car owner’s manual has a schedule for cleaning your fuel injectors and other parts of your fuel system. Your cheerful service advisor at John’s Auto Care in Boulder has the tools and chemicals to do the job right. John’s Auto Care uses a process that gives your car a deep, professional fuel system cleaning. The particles, gum and varnish that build up in your fuel system are removed so that it can run cleanly and efficiently.After a professional fuel system cleaning at John’s Auto Care, you’ll notice more power, improved fuel efficiency and reduced exhaust emissions. AutoNetT ... read more