Hey St. Peter auto owners – this is something really amazing: For every gallon of gas your minivan burns, it uses 12,000 gallons of air. All of that air has to be filtered to keep your engine clean.

That’s like a hundred gallons of air every block! The engine air filter is just another example of a very important but inexpensive part that has to do a tremendous amount of work. And when it works, everything goes well. But, when it doesn’t, well, it can lead to costly problems. Of course, your vehicle manufacturer recommends how often to change your air filter. But like most service intervals, where and how you drive your car in MN affects when your filter needs to be changed.

Dusty conditions around Cleveland or polluted city driving means you’ll need to change your filter more often. Your knowledgeable Autotronics of ST Peter service professional can check your filter for you. In fact, it’s often a routine part of an oil change.

When you think about it, a clogged air filter won’t allow as much air through as a clean filter. Your minivan needs this air to efficiently burn its fuel, giving you better fuel economy and performance.

Dirtier filters don’t work as well as clean ones. A filter can only hold so much, after that, it allows dirt to pass right into your engine. Air filters come in all shapes and sizes. They also come in different grades. There are high performance air filters available for most cars. These high performance filters are a little more costly in St. Peter, but they increase horsepower and may improve fuel economy to boot.

So it’s key for St. Peter motorists to have their air filter checked. If it needs replacing, it doesn’t cost very much at Autotronics of ST Peter in St. Peter and it should easily pay for itself in better fuel efficiency before your next oil change.

Stop by Autotronics of ST Peter at 111 Jefferson Avenue, St. Peter, MN 56082, and we’ll take a look at your air filter for you. Feel free to give us a call at 507.934.9290 to make an appointment.

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

Working up a sweat is a great thing to do in a gym around St. Peter, but not in your car. When St. Peter motorists’ car’s AC System has a problem, they’ll often feel it right away. The question is, how long do you put up with it? You know, the old comfort versus cost dilemma. But a more comfortable drive around St. Peter has a lot of benefits, and keeping the AC System well maintained can help prevent expensive repairs.

A common cause for AC failure is water and air in the system. The system does not work as well with air in it. And water can cause rust that leads to damage of the A/C components. Also refrigerant, the stuff that makes the air cold, can leak out, reducing the efficiency of the system, making it work harder to try to cool the air. That is why periodically evacuating the air conditioning system and recharging it keeps the proper amount of clean refrigerant in the system for St. Peter motorists so it cools better and lasts longer.

St. Peter drivers should also run the air conditioner regularly, even in the winter, so that it lubricates itself and keeps the seals from drying out. The seals can crack and that leads to leaks. Your automobile manufacturer’s owner’s manual will have recommendations for how often to service your air conditioner. Some service centers also have this information as part of their computer databases. Your knowledgeable Autotronics of ST Peter tech can give you more information.

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

Of course, if your AC currently isn’t working right, then now is the time to get it checked. Many service centers in St. Peter such as Autotronics of ST Peter can inspect and test your air conditioning and offer evacuation and recharge services. This goes a long way to avoiding having to bring your air conditioner in for expensive repairs.

Recent environmental laws have stopped the manufacture of Freon, a refrigerant that was common in cars made before 1993. There is a very limited supply of Freon so the price is very expensive in MN. It may not be worth its weight in gold, but it probably is worth its weight in silver. If you have an older vehicle that uses Freon, you may want to consider having it retrofitted to use the new EPA-approved R134a refrigerant. It will pay for itself in the long run.

Hello, welcome to Autotronics of ST Peter. Today’s focus is batteries. It seems like everything in St. Peter runs on batteries. Of course, the batteries we’re most concerned with here at Autotronics of ST Peter are those in our customer’s vehicles. Just like the batteries in our smoke detectors or TV remote, car batteries wear out and need to be replaced. There are a couple of things St. Peter drivers should know when looking for a new battery.

Look for two measurements that come into play: cold cranking amps and reserve capacity.

Let’s start with cold cranking amps. This can be thought of as the power output used to start a cold minivan engine. The number of cold cranking amps you need depends on your vehicle and where you live in MN, specifically how cold it is. (Many MN auto owners have first-hand experience trying to start their car on a cold winter morning.) The two factors are that the colder your minivan’s engine is, the more power it takes to turn the engine over to get it started. It has all that cold, sluggish oil to contend with.

The other factor is that the chemical reaction in the battery that creates electrical energy is less efficient when the temperature dips. At Autotronics of ST Peter, we consult the table shown below. Let’s say it’s eighty degrees Fahrenheit in St. Peter. At that temperature, 100% of the battery’s power is available. At freezing, only 65% of battery power is available, but it requires 155% as much power to start the engine as it did at eighty degrees.

As you can see from the chart, the colder it gets, more power’s needed, but the available power drops.

Percent of Power Available	Celsius	Fahrenheit	Power Required
100	27	80	100
65	0	32	155
40	-22	0	210
25	-32	20	350

So if you live where it’s cold in MN, you need a battery with more cold cranking amps than you do where it’s moderate or hot. The battery that originally came with your minivan was based on averages. At Autotronics of ST Peter, we like to remind St. Peter car owners that they should always get at least as many cold cranking amps as their manufacturers recommend, but may want to upgrade if they live where it gets real cold.

And the type of engine you have will impact the battery you need: A six-cylinder engine requires more cold cranking amps than a four. An eight cylinder needs even more. And diesel minivans require more than a gasoline engine with the same number of cylinders.

Now on to reserve capacity: It’s a measurement of the number of minutes of reserve power the battery has at a given load. The number is more important to St. Peter car owners these days because of parasitic drain. Parasitic drain is the battery energy that’s used when the key is off in your minivan. So, the power drawn by the security system, the remote start system, even the power the computers require to maintain their memory.

Reserves are also needed when you make very short trips around St. Peter. You’re not driving long enough for the battery to recover the energy it used to start the engine. So go with the minimum recommended by your manufacturer or Autotronics of ST Peter and upgrade if you need more.

Talk with us at Autotronics of ST Peter about your options. If you need more from your battery, a larger, heavy-duty battery may be called for. At Autotronics of ST Peter in St. Peter, we remind our customers that it’s very important that the new battery fits your minivan: the terminals can’t be touching other parts.

Batteries are a big ticket item for most MN auto owners, so the warranty gives piece of mind. There’re two kinds of car battery warranties: pro-rated and free replacement. With the pro-rated, you get a credit for a portion of the battery if it fails during the warranty period. With a free replacement warranty, you get just that, a free replacement. Be sure to ask us at Autotronics of ST Peter about the warranty so you know what you’re getting.