Boulder Auto Repair

The energy from exploding fuel is what powers your engine. But some of the vapors from the explosions escape into the lower part of the engine, called the crankcase. The crankcase is where your engine oil hangs out. These gases are about 70% unburned fuel. If the gases were allowed to stay in the crankcase, they would quickly contaminate the oil and turn it to sludge. Sludge is one of the biggest enemies of your engine, clogging it up, eventually leading to expensive failures. Also, the pressure build up would cause seals and gaskets to blow out. Therefore, these gases need to be vented out. Gasoline engines used to simply have a hose that let the poisonous fumes vent out into the air. In 1963, the federal government required gas engines to have a special one-way valve installed to help reduce dangerous emissions. Diesel engines are not required to have these valves. The positive crankcase ventilation, or PCV, valve routes crankcase gases through a hose and back into the air intake s ... read more

We would like to give you an update on some of the things happening in automotive fluids. You know, cars are becoming more sophisticated everyday – and fluids such as, oil, coolant and transmission fluid are becoming more specialized at about the same pace. The do-it-yourselfer has to be pretty careful so that they do not actually harm their vehicle with the wrong type of fluid. That is why so many CO car owners rely on the advice of their service consultant to not only get the correct family of fluids, but to suggest the formulation that is best for their car and the way they drive. Let’s start with engine oil. If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed a number of new oil weights on the scene in the last several years. Modern engines are built to much tighter tolerances and have very complicated valve trains. The oil must be thin enough to lubricate complicated parts when the engine is cold. The weight of an oil is expressed in terms like 20-W-50 or 5-W ... read more

At John’s Auto Care we hear from a lot of people who are excited about the new diesel engines that will soon be available in passenger cars and SUV’s. But our CO friends are often curious about the preventive maintenance requirements. People may not know that diesel engines have long been used extensively in Europe and Asia. In fact, in some markets, there’re nearly as many diesel powered passenger cars as there are gasoline. Here’s who’s announced or is expected to announce new diesels for North America: BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Subaru. Of course, the US auto makers will be expanding their diesel offerings as well. Diesels will become a very big deal here in CO. You may ask, why has it taken so long getting to CO and North America? There are a bunch of reasons like fuel tax policies and such, but the biggest hurtle was that CO diesel fuel had a high sulfur content ... read more

Today we’re going to talk about power steering service in Boulder. If you took an informal poll around Boulder you’d probably find that most have never heard of power steering service. That’s not surprising. Even though power steering is standard on every vehicle, most people in Boulder aren’t aware that it needs periodic service. If you’re younger than a certain age, you’ve probably never driven a car or truck without power steering. To get an idea of the difference; if you’ve ever cut a board with a hand saw, you know it’s a lot of work. Using a power saw is easy-peasy by comparison. Without power steering, your arms have to do all the work to steer the wheels, and that’s hard, especially around downtown Boulder. That’s why old cars had such big steering wheels; to get enough leverage to steer. Most vehicles in Boulder have a hydraulic power steering system. Th ... read more

Most of our Louisville clients want to save on gas and seek our advice on improving fuel economy. At John’s Auto Care, we are frequently asked, however, just how much money Louisville motorists can actually save. Well the US government has a website dedicated to helping us use less fuel. It presents the cost savings in a way Louisville car owners can relate to and is relevant for all vehicles. Let me give you an example: Having your family car engine properly tuned, can save up to 4%. If you’re paying three-fifty for a gallon of gas, you could save fourteen cents a gallon.In today’s John’s Auto Care post, we’re going to talk about several things you can do to improve your family carfuel economy driving around Louisville. We’ll tell you the potential savings per gallon of gas at three dollars and fifty c ... read more