Today we’re going to be talking about serpentine belts for our St. Peter, MN customers. Let’s start by talking about the accessories that are driven by the serpentine belt. First is the alternator. That’s the essential device that makes electricity to power the minivan and recharge the battery. Then there’s the air conditioning compressor that makes cool air for you while you’re driving around MN in the summer.

The power steering and power brake pumps are driven by the serpentine belt in most St. Peter car owners’ vehicles. Those pumps provide important pressure that assists your steering and braking.

In many minivans, the water pump is driven by the serpentine belt. The water pump is what circulates the coolant that protects your engine. In some cars around St. Peter, MN, the water pump is driven by the timing belt.

The radiator cooling fans on some minivans are also driven by the serpentine belt. Some have separate electric motors. That’s really a lot of essential work for one belt.

But modern engine design has a single belt that snakes around the front of the engine and drives most if not all of these accessories. Serpentine belts do a lot of critical work, but they’re tough and can last St. Peter motorists for thousands of miles.

Just how long will they last? That’ll vary for each individual car in the St. Peter, MN area. Your auto maker will have a recommendation for when it should be changed, but it could need it sooner. The good news is that a visual inspection at Autotronics of ST Peter can detect a belt that’s getting close to failing.

Your knowledgeable Autotronics of ST Peter service advisor can look at the belt: if it has more than three or four cracks per inch, it needs to be replaced. A deep crack that’s more than half the depth of the belt – replace. Frayed, missing pieces, a shiny glazed look? Toss it.

What’s involved in replacing the belt at Autotronics of ST Peter? First the old belt is removed. Then a new one is fitted around all the pulleys for the accessories and the drive. There’s a special pulley called a tensioner.

This pulley is mounted to the engine block with a spring loaded arm. Its vital job is to apply the correct amount of tension to the belt to keep it from getting loose and maybe slipping off. Because the spring in the tensioner pulley wears out, AutoNetTV and the automotive professionals at Autotronics of ST Peter recommend St. Peter motorists replace them at the same time as the belt. It just makes sense.

What are the warning signs that there’s a problem with the serpentine belt? You may hear a squealing sound from under the hood when accelerating around our St. Peter streets. A loose belt might give you a slow, slapping sound.

What do you do if your belt breaks? If you’ve actually had that happen on a busy Cleveland interstate, it can be a little scary. The first thing St. Peter auto owners usually notice is that they have no power steering or power brakes. Don’t panic – you can still steer and brake, but you’ll have to do the work. It’ll be harder to steer and you’ll need more time and effort to stop, so plan accordingly.

Your dashboard will light up will all kinds of warnings. You’ll see a warning about your cooling system if you have a water pump that’s driven by the serpentine belt. This is vital because without your cooling system working, your engine will overheat. If you don’t stop you’ll have massive engine damage, maybe to the point that you need a new engine. Open your windows and turn the heater on full blast to provide a little engine cooling. Pull over as quickly as you safely can!

The battery light will come on because the alternator isn’t working. If your car’s water pump isn’t driven by the serpentine belt, you’re not in danger of overheating so you can drive a little further if necessary. But the battery will run down to the point where the car will just shut off. You don’t want that to happen while you’re driving in our local St. Peter, MN traffic.

Remember, St. Peter drivers can avoid this stressful scenario if they replace their minivan serpentine belt on schedule. Ask your knowledgeable Autotronics of ST Peter service professional to check your belts and hoses from time to time so you can take care of them if they need to be replaced prematurely.

Autotronics of ST Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290

Everyone in St. Peter MN eventually replaces their tires, whether it’s because they’re worn out or they’re just looking for something different. There are so many great tire choices in St. Peter MN, it can be difficult to sort them out. Let’s group the broad spectrum into several categories that will help in the selection process.

One category is often referred to as “summer tires”. Summer tires are designed to be driven on the road when temperatures are generally above 45 degrees. Their tread design is optimized for traction on dry roads in St. Peter MN and they’re also able to effectively displace water on rainy roads.

Now the rubber compound gets a little hard and stiff as temperatures drop below 45 degrees as it occasionally does here in St. Peter MN. And the tread which handles dry roads so well, can get packed with snow or mud – which provides very little traction in those conditions.

So if you live where its summer all year round, these tires will work well for you. If you like maximum performance in warm weather, but still live where it gets cold and snowy, you’ll want to change your summer tires for winter tires as the weather starts to change.

Summer tires can be purchased with an emphasis on handling performance, smooth ride or long life. Your St. Peter MN tire professional at Autotronics of ST Peter can help you find the right tire for the way you drive.

As you can imagine, winter tires are designed to work very well in snow and ice. Their tread is designed with many channels and grooves that throw the snow out of the tread as the wheel turns. This means the tire is always be able to bite into the snow.

The rubber compound used in winter tires is specially formulated to be flexible at temperatures below 45 degrees. This maximizes cold weather traction. When it gets warmer, the softer rubber will wear faster on warm dry pavement than summer tires, so change them out once the weather has turned.

There’s a range of tires within the winter tire category. If you live where there’s a lot of snow and ice, look for the mountain and snowflake icon that signifies a severe snow rating. If you have milder winters and still want a performance component, they make a winter tire for you as well.

For many people, an all-season tire is the answer. You will give up some of the performance at the extreme ends of the summer tire/ winter tire spectrum, but you will find a long wearing tire that gives both good highway performance and winter traction on our St. Peter MN roads.

Within the all-season category, there are many choices that you tire advisor can help you evaluate.

Autotronics of ST Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290

Outside of these three main categories, some people in St. Peter with trucks and SUVs like a tire that is designed for both on-highway and off-highway use. They can handle the rocks and bumps off-road, but still work well on the street. Again, many options depending on the relative emphasis on on-road verses off-road.

You may want new wheels to go with your new tires – well, there are hundreds and hundreds of styles to choose from. That’s a matter of personal taste. If you want to change the size of your wheels and tires, do get some professional help.

The computers on your vehicle are programmed to the size of wheel and tire combination that comes from the factory. Tire size affects various computer controlled functions like anti-lock brakes, traction and stability controls, speedometer and odometer. Of course, you want these systems to work properly. The computers can be re-programmed for different tire sizes.

And if you want to increase the size of your wheels and tires, you’ll want so help to make sure they’ll fit in the wheel wells of your vehicle without rubbing during turns or over bumps.

When your car breaks down in the St. Peter, MN area, or just needs some routine service, it can make St. Peter car owners a little nervous. Because your car’s so important to your life, you need to be back on the road as soon as possible. And with the problem fixed right the first time.

We’ve been checking into some of the important training our St. Peter MN technicians receive, and we’re very impressed. It’s amazing how much knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern car. So it’s not like when your uncle worked on his hot rod over weekend.

Today there are four cylinder engines around St. Peter that make more power than the V-8’s in luxury cars 20 years ago. A new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket’s Ferrari in a race to 60 mph.

Our engines are more and more powerful and at the same time their gas mileage keeps inching up. And they’re so reliable. This is all due to engineering. But the benefits come to St. Peter motorists at the price of simplicity. Modern cars are so much more complex from a mechanical standpoint that it makes your head spin.

Then there’s the electronics. Some cars on MN expressways area have several networked computers controlling most of the engine functions and many other vehicle functions as well. St. Peter car owners take all of this sophistication for granted – but somebody has to fix it when it breaks.

It’s a real challenge for the service professionals at  Autotronics of ST Peter and other St. Peter auto service centers to keep up. It requires a high level of commitment on the part of the auto technician and the service center as well. In addition to the training, there’s the financial commitment to purchase the diagnostic and repair tools as well.

So where do St. Peter service professionals go for training? There’re many sources. It’s usually a combination of formal classroom training, training provided in the service center by auto parts and equipment manufacturers, on-line courses and home study courses. There are many independent certifications available all the way up to Master Technician.

And AutoNetTV produces monthly training for St. Peter automotive service centers called The Pro Channel. If you were to watch the Pro Channel segment on re-flashing the engine control computer, you’d be amazed at how much is involved: special software, hardware interfaces and a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill.

Service centers in St. Peter, MN have a lot of other resources available as well. No one can know everything, so service centers like Autotronics of ST Peter subscribe to data services, technical libraries and even on-line communities that can help them with they run into a difficult problem.

It’s like those medical diagnosis shows on TV. Here are the symptoms – what’s the diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis is every bit as much an art as a science. St. Peter auto owners want everything to be simple, straight forward and cheap – and sometimes it just isn’t.

So, be more relaxed next time you take your minivan in. St. Peter car owners can trust their knowledgeable Autotronics of ST Peter techs. You’re in good hands. The more you know, the more comfortable you can be with your automotive service decisions at Autotronics of ST Peter. Visit AutoNetTV.com to see more great auto tips videos about many service topics.

At Autotronics of ST Peter, we provide quality automotive service including brake service, fuel system cleaning and used car inspection.<br><br>