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Auto Questions and Answers |
- When should I bring my car in for an oil change? A good rule to follow is to have your oil and filter changed every 3000 miles or 3 months; check your oil every gas fill up - if you have bubbles, a milky look or a strong smell of gas have your car serviced a our local Lube Express as soon as possible.
- If I go longer between oil change intervals, do I need to have my oil filter changed more frequently or do I need a special filter? If I go longer between oil change intervals, do I need to change my oil filter more frequently? Or do I need a special filter? Continue to change your oil filter when you change your engine oil. Special filters or more frequent oil filter changes are not required. Hometown Lube Extended Performance Oil Filters provide outstanding performance during longer oil change intervals. Hometown Lube Extended Performance Oil Filters are designed to offer excellent efficiency (remove more engine oil impurities) and high capacity (60 percent greater capacity than conventional oil filters), which make them ideal candidates for longer oil change intervals.
- What should I do if I notice that my temperature indicator is pointing in the red? The fastest thing you can do is turn off your A/C and turn on your heater to high; this will draw heat away from the engine and cool your car, but you should still pull over to the side of the road and wait until the car cools down completely.
- What are the most common causes of engine overheating? Thermostat Stuck Shut- the thermostat fails to open, which can happen due to mechanical failure or if a steam pocket forms under the thermostat due to incomplete filling of the COOLING SYSTEM or coolant loss, no coolant will circulate between the engine and radiator, and the engine will quickly overheat.
Defective Fan Clutch - The clutch allows the fan to slip at high speed, which reduces the parasitic horsepower drag on the engine. If the clutch slips too much, however, the fan may not turn fast enough to keep the engine cool.
Inoperative Fan Motor - If the temperature switch or coolant sensor (or the relay that routes power to the fan motor is bad), the fan won’t come on when it is needed and the engine will overheat.
External Coolant Leaks - Leaks in radiator or heater hoses, the water pump, radiator, heater core or engine freeze plugs can allow coolant to escape. No engine can tolerate the loss of coolant for very long, so it usually overheats as soon as a leak develops.
Weak or Leaky Radiator Cap - If the spring inside the cap is weak (or the cap is the wrong one for the application), the engine will lose coolant out the overflow tube every time it gets hot.
Internal Coolant Leak - If there are no visible coolant leaks, but the engine is using coolant, there may be a crack in the cylinder head or block, or a leaky head gasket that is allowing coolant to escape into the combustion chamber or crankcase.
Bad Water Pump - In a high mileage engine, the impeller that pumps the coolant through the engine inside the water pump may be so badly corroded that the blades are loose or eaten away. If such is the case, the pump must be replaced.
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