Having trouble with your fuel system? Bring your vehicle into Autotronics of St. Peter for a check up.

In today’s Autotronics of St. Peter auto post, we’re talking about fuel system cleaning. The first thing to know is how important it is to have a clean fuel system. St. Peter residents need fuel to go, and the cleaner the fuel system, the more efficiently the fuel will burn. That means more power and better mileage .

A clean fuel system saves money for St. Peter drivers at MN gas stations. We guess you could say it all starts and ends at the pump. One of the most important things St. Peter residents can do to keep their vehicle fuel system clean is to buy good quality gas. Major brands have detergents that keep gum and varnish from rapidly building up in the fuel system.

So buying cheaper gas in MN can actually be more expensive for St. Peter drivers in the long run. Now, most cars on MN roads are more than five or six years old. That means they’ve had time for some dirt and rust to start accumulating in the fuel tank. This junk needs to be filtered out of the fuel before it hits your vehicle engine. That’s the fuel filter’s job.

When the fuel filter is clogged, the dirty fuel will bypass the filter and go on up to the engine where it can clog fuel injectors and get into the cylinders. So St. Peter residents should have their fuel filter changed when recommended. Check your owner’s manual or ask your friendly and knowledgeable Autotronics of St. Peter service advisor if your fuel filter is due for replacement.

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

Hello St. Peter resident! You would never like to drink a glass of mud, right? Well, your vehicle feels the same way. It needs a steady supply of clean fuel in order to run well and deliver good fuel economy. The fuel filter’s job is to clean dirt and rust out of the fuel before it gets to your engine. A clogged fuel filter can actually choke off the engine so that it won’t start or run. Some fuel filters have a bypass valve that allows fuel to go around the clogged filter so your vehicle will still run. But, then the contaminated fuel can clog your fuel injectors and allow particles into your engine.

A vehicle with a partially clogged fuel filter might run well around St. Peter, but sputter and strain on the because it’s starving for gas. There are two things that affect how often you need to replace the filter. They are: where you drive in MN and the gas you buy. If you drive a lot on dirt or gravel roads in rural MN, your fuel filter will have a harder time keeping the fuel clean.

And, we hate to say it, but buying the cheapest gas from bargain stations sometimes means dirtier fuel that’ll clog the filter sooner. Major brands tend to be cleaner and certainly have higher levels of detergent additives.

Of course, manufacturers recommend intervals for changing the fuel filter. But, it’s a little more complicated than that for St. Peter residents. Some manufacturers stopped listing recommended intervals for fuel filter replacement or have very long intervals like every five years or 80,000 miles (130,000 kilometers). So you may need to look to other sources for recommendations. Vehicles older than six or seven years are especially at risk because they have had time for dirt and rust to build up in the fuel tank. A clean fuel filter keeps the gas flowing. Even a partially clogged filter puts added strain on the vehicle fuel pump. That can shorten its life and result in repair.

As is often the case, spending a little money now on something as inexpensive as a fuel filter can save money for St. Peter residents down the road by improving and preventing repairs. At Autotronics of St. Peter in St. Peter, we can check your fuel filter. It is better than fixing a burned-out vehicle fuel pump or ruined fuel injectors.

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

When your vehicle has a problem or just needs some routine service, you might get a little nervous. Your vehicle’s so important to your life in St. Peter, you need to get back on the road as soon as possible – with the problem fixed right the first time.

If you’ve ever checked into some of the technician training Autotronics of St. Peter professionals receive, you may be surprised at how much specialized knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern car. For example: Today there are four cylinder engines that generate more power than the 1980s-era V-8’s. I mean a new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket’s Ferrari in a race to 60 mph/100 kph.

Our engines are more and more powerful and at the same time their fuel economy keeps inching up – even with steep St. Peter gas prices. They are also amazingly reliable: Kudos to the automotive engineers. But the advances come at the price of simplicity. The modern vehicles driven around MN are so much more complex from a mechanical standpoint that it makes your head spin – not to mention the electronics.

Some vehicles have several networked computers controlling most of the engine functions and many other vehicle operations as well. St. Peter motorists take all of this sophistication for granted, but somebody has to fix it when it breaks. It’s a real challenge for Autotronics of St. Peter in St. Peter technicians to keep up, but we work hard to stay ahead of the technology. It requires a high level of commitment on the part of the technicians and the St. Peter service centers as well.

Autotronics of St. Peter technicians receive training through a combination of formal classroom training, training provided at Autotronics of St. Peter by parts and equipment manufacturers, online courses and home study courses.

In addition to the expensive training, there’s the financial commitment for Autotronics of St. Peter to purchase the diagnostic and repair tools.

There are many independent certifications held by the pros at Autotronics of St. Peter. The ability to repair your vehicle requires a strong combination of training and resources. No one can know everything, so St. Peter auto service centers subscribe to data services, technical libraries and even online communities that can help them when 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. At Autotronics of St. Peter, we want everything to be simple, straightforward and inexpensive – but sometimes it just isn’t.

The next time you bring us your vehicle, don’t worry. You’re in good hands at Autotronics of St. Peter.

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