Automotive News & Information - South Platte Auto Center LLC

Let's talk about air conditioning service and repair issues. Most of us we don't give our air conditioning a second thought as long as it's making cold air. But it's a complex and expensive system that we should think about before it starts blowing hot air in the summer months.

You've probably noticed a bunch of warning lights on your dash when you start your engine. They flash on to test the circuits and then go off if everything's OK. One of the warning lights looks like a car battery. Its job is to tell you if your battery's not charging properly.

Brakes are one of the most important safety features on your vehicle, so it’s crucial that you keep them well maintained and stay on top of any repairs. We have expert technicians who specialize in brake system repairs and our service center is fully equipped with the best diagnostic and maintenance tools. Below are a list of services and repairs that we provide for brakes. So whether you’re having an issue with your brakes or just want to keep up with the maintenance trust an automotive repair business with properly trained expert automotive repair technicians.

When driving around town, your family car engine needs clean air to burn the fuel – and it needs a lot. In fact, a typical vehicle needs about 216,000 gallons of air for every tank of gas.

All that air passes through a filter that catches the dust and dirt. Eventually the filter gets completely full. Because the filter can only hold so much, dirt starts getting through. This dirty air passes through the mass airflow sensor, and starts to accumulate on the delicate sensor element. The mass air flow sensor measures how much air is getting into your engine. When the airflow reading is incorrect, your family car engine doesn’t get the proper amount of fuel. It runs rough and doesn’t perform as well as it should.

Most auto owners come to the shop with specific services in mind and an idea of how much they’ll be spending. Sometimes, a courtesy car inspection and a review of your service history will uncover additional items that require attention. How should you react to that?

Here’s some advice: It’s not as if your service advisor is saying “Do you want fries with that?” or “Supersize for 59 cents more.” We are not recommending something extra or something you don’t need. Recommendations are either based on the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule or on a problem uncovered during an automotive analysis.

We do our best to budget for scheduled vehicle maintenance and it is hard to plan for unexpected family car repairs. The truth is that our vehicles can stay on the road longer than ever before with proper maintenance. That’s because of improved vehicle design and manufacturing quality. But some of those same improvements also lead to higher repairs costs for every family car or vehicle.

There’s a tool that can be found on Edmunds.com that you can use to prepare your service and repair budget. Let’s suppose you have a used Toyota Camry – a very popular car in the area…

When do you need to schedule maintenance for your diesel engine and what is needed each time? For your convenience, we've added the preferred maintenance listing.

Helpful Tips & Information: An average of 13,000 Americans are killed between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day, some as a result of unperformed vehicle maintenance, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Each year, neglected maintenance leads to more than 2,600 deaths, nearly 100,000 disabling injuries and more than $2 billion in lost wages, medical expenses and property damage.

Most mechanical failures can be traced to neglected maintenance. For example, the U. S. Department of Transportation reports the leading cause of mechanical breakdown on our nation's highways is overheating, a condition that is easily avoidable. Other deficiencies that are simple to detect include low antifreeze/coolant, worn or loose drive belts and defective cooling system hoses.