Let’s address a very important maintenance item for everyone in Thornton Colorado – timing belt replacement. It’s important because letting this one slide can lead to very expensive engine damage. Your timing belt choreographs the timing of your combustion process. Your pistons travel up and down in the cylinder. Intake valves open at the right…

It means that one or more of your tires has low air pressure. The dashboard warning light, which looks like a cross-section of a tire with some lines in it, comes on when the tire pressure is 20% below what the manufacturer recommends. So if your recommendation is for 35 psi (pounds per square inch),…

Regular oil, also called conventional oil, comes from dead dinosaurs. Conventional oil molecules are long hydrocarbon chains of various lengths. Imagine a bunch of pencils – some used and some brand new. Synthetic oil is often more highly refined petroleum-based oil. The molecules are shorter and closer to the same length. Think a bunch of…

When we Thornton travel around Colorado, each of us must deal with blind spots. We can greatly reduce our blind spots by properly adjusting our vehicle mirrors to give the widest coverage possible. We should make the adjustments before we pull out of our Thornton driveway. First, adjust your rear view mirror to give the…

Synthetic motor oil has been around for a long time, and more and more new vehicles are leaving factories with synthetic in their engines. But a lot of drivers don’t really know much about it. Let’s start with conventional oil – the kind folks are used to. Conventional oil is made up of naturally occurring…

First of all – your vehicle does have a differential. If it’s a rear wheel drive, your differential is on the back. If it’s front wheel drive, your differential is built into your transaxle (transmission). Thornton drivers with all wheel drive or four wheel drive will have differentials front and rear and maybe one in…

New tires are a big ticket item for most Thornton drivers. You’re not only concerned about the price, but you want to know that it’ll be a long time before you need to buy new tires again. And of course there’s the safety aspect as well. The tires do a lot of work – they…

The Check Engine Light strikes fear into the hearts of some and is totally ignored by just as many.  Just what it means is a mystery to most of us. First, if your check engine light is flashing, that means that something is wrong that could cause severe damage to the catalytic converter or other…

Let’s talk about cabin air filters. There seems to be some confusion about them in Thornton that we should be able to clear up. Much of the confusion starts because cabin air filters are relatively new. Not all vehicles in Thornton have them, so some people confuse their cabin air filter with the engine air…

MOUNTAIN VIEW AUTOMOTIVE: Signs of brake problems often fall into one of two categories for Thornton vehicles: making noise or a pulsation in the brake pedal. Let’s start with the noise. Most brake pads have an audible brake wear indicator. This is a small piece of metal that rubs on your brake rotor when the…

MOUNTAIN VIEW AUTOMOTIVE One possible cause of the problem is a worn axle. Front-wheel drive vehicles have axles that transfer power from the transmission to your front wheels. There is one for each front wheel. These axles are called constant velocity axles or CV axles for short. Rear-wheel drive vehicles have axles that are in…

MOUNTAIN VIEW AUTOMOTIVE: When that car battery finally gives up the ghost and it’s time to replace it – you have options.  First let’s be clear that you should always get a replacement battery that meets or exceeds your vehicle manufacturer’s specifications.  But you may have some special needs. When they first put the battery…