Category: Uncategorized

Keeping Your Cool (Water Pump Replacement)

No matter what the temperature is outside, it’s important for your vehicle’s engine to remain cool, calm, and collected. Well, cool, anyway. If your vehicle has a gasoline engine, it’s powered by a bunch of explosions involving spark plugs, pistons, gasoline, and air. And the by-product of all those things working together? HEAT.

There’s a whole cooling system to keep everything at a tolerable temperature for your engine’s parts, and a key part of that is the water pump. Technically, it’s pumping more than water. It should actually be called the “coolant” pump since the liquid that circulates through the system is a mixture of water and coolant.

Basically, the water pump keeps this coolant moving through your engine, where it picks up the engine heat, and then is pumped into the radiator where it gets rid of that heat. When a water pump fails, the engine heat can build up. When you get a warning light on the dash (either a gauge or a light) that shows the temperature is too high, it could mean a bad water pump.

They can fail for many reasons. They have bearings in them that wear out, as does the seal between the pump and the engine. They’re often driven by a belt or chain that can go bad. Corrosion can spell the end of a water pump, too.

If a technician determines your water pump has failed, it’s time to replace it. In addition, other components of the cooling system will be inspected. The best way to avoid a water pump failure is regular maintenance of your cooling system which includes regular draining and flushing of the coolant.

Just like it’s important for you to keep your cool, the same goes for your vehicle’s engine.

Autotronics of St. Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290
http://autotronicsstpeter.com

I’m Cool With That (AC Exchange)

On a hot day, you want your vehicle’s air conditioning to work. When the air blowing out of your vents isn’t cold, it’s easy to think, “I’ll just take it by the shop and have them top off my refrigerant.” But while some people think air conditioning is that simple, it’s actually not.

If your refrigerant is low, something has to have happened for it to be depleted. Perhaps there’s a leak in the system. Or some hoses or clamps have failed. If the system isn’t evaluated by someone who knows air conditioning, it’s possible that adding refrigerant will just be a band-aid solution.

It’s also possible that contaminants have gotten into the refrigerant, such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, or air. Some of those gases do not condense like refrigerant does which can increase the pressure inside the system and strain the lines and other components. At that point, the best course of action may be to have the old refrigerant (with its contaminants) bled from the system and have your AC recharged with new refrigerant.

Bring it to us, and we can inspect and test the system and all its components. That will include a pressure test for leaks. Most vehicle manufacturers don’t have a service schedule for air conditioning systems, so one way to know when you should have it looked at is when it’s not behaving the way it used to. For example, it may not get cold as fast as it did before or even at all.

So, when hot air is exiting your vents when you want it to be cold, schedule an appointment and have a trained technician take care of it. Are you cool with that?

Autotronics of St. Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290
http://autotronicsstpeter.com

Rotation Explanation (Tire Rotation Patterns)

You may notice that when you get your vehicle’s oil changed, your service adviser may recommend that you have your tires rotated at the same time. The reasons are simple. That will allow your tires to wear more evenly and reduce the noise your tires make as you drive down the road.

There are different ways of rotating tires. If your vehicle has non-directional tires and the same size wheels at each corner, here are the different rotation patterns.

For all-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive vehicles, one is called the rearward cross pattern. The rear tires are moved to the front and stay on the same side of the vehicle, and the front tires are moved to the rear on the side opposite of where they were on the front.

For all-wheel and four-wheel drive vehicles, use the X pattern. The rear tires are moved to the front on the opposite side of the vehicle, and the fronts are moved to the rear on the opposite side of where they were on the front.

For front-wheel drive, there’s the forward cross. The front tires are moved to the rear wheels on the same side of the vehicle as they were on the front and the rear tires are moved to the opposite side of the vehicle than they were on the rear.

If you have directional tires (they only can be mounted in one direction) and the same size directional wheels, the rear tires are moved to the front on the same side of the vehicle where they were, and the front tires are moved to the rear on the same side they were on the front. And if you have tires with different sizes of non-directional tires and wheels on the front and rear, rotation will be from one side of the vehicle to the other.

If you have a spare, it’s put into the rotation using a forward cross or rearward cross.

Yep, that’s a lot to keep straight. So, we suggest letting your service advisor recommend the right rotation pattern for you at the interval your vehicle’s manufacturer specifies.

Autotronics of St. Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290
http://autotronicsstpeter.com