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Archive for March 2021Muffler: Victim of Winter (Muffler Repair)Posted March 28, 2021 8:19 AMSo you almost got through the winter until, one day, your muffler started sounding like a dragster, loud and obnoxious. It's not surprising. All that road salt and brine can cause rust to punch holes in a muffler, and that should raise a big, red warning flag about the safety of your vehicle. One big concern is carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas that can drift into your cabin if your muffler is leaking. You've probably heard about people whose home furnaces have leaked carbon monoxide and overcome families inside. Carbon monoxide can first cause you to feel dizzy and nauseous. It can even render you unconscious—even kill you. So if your vehicle's muffler is leaking that gas, well, it's nothing to mess around with. Oh, and how about that noise? You may get a ticket since many municipalities have laws against noisy exhausts. Your muffler may be making a clunking or rattling sound when the engine's running or it may be spewing thick exhaust smoke. All of these symptoms are telling you to get to your vehicle service facility soon. A technician may find it's the muffler or another part of your exhaust system that is coming apart or is busted. Sometimes the repair can be as simple as replacing a section of pipe or clamps, but sometimes you'll need to replace more components. Your service advisor can recommend several different options to try to help you meet your performance and budgetary needs. You'll drive out with a vehicle that doesn't sound like a teenager trying to hotrod the family car, is a whole lot safer and sounds a lot less obnoxious in the process.
Battery Replacement at Westside Automotive in HoustonPosted March 21, 2021 11:29 AMHello, welcome to Westside Automotive. Today's focus is batteries. It seems like everything in Houston runs on batteries. Of course, the batteries we're most concerned with here at Westside Automotive are those in our customer's vehicles. Just like the batteries in our smoke detectors or TV remote, they wear out and need to be replaced . This can be thought of as the power output used to start a cold vehicle engine. The number of cold cranking amps you need depends on your vehicle and where you live in TX, specifically how cold it is. (Many Houston drivers have first-hand experience trying to start their car on a cold winter morning.) The two factors are that the colder your vehicle's engine is, the more power it takes to turn the engine over to get it started. It has all that cold, sluggish oil to contend with. So if you live where it's cold in TX, you need a battery with more cold cranking amps than you do where it's moderate or hot. The battery that originally came with your vehicle was based on averages. At Westside Automotive, we like to remind Houston drivers that they should always get at least as many cold cranking amps as their vehicle manufacturer recommends but may want to upgrade if they live where it gets real cold.
Recommended Houston Service IntervalsPosted March 14, 2021 10:20 AM
Following the vehicle manufacturer's recommended intervals can be confusing. First, there are recommendations for so many things: oil changes, transmission, coolant, air conditioning, power steering, brakes, fuel system, filters, belts, hoses, alignment, rotation, balancing ...you get the point. Westside Automotive
Another Couple of Years: Making Your Vehicle Last With Help From Westside AutomotivePosted March 7, 2021 7:56 AMA while back, the Cash for Clunkers program was all over the TX news. Houston people could trade in their old vehicle for a new one that got better gas mileage and receive a government rebate. A lot of Houston motorists had so-called clunkers that they wanted to keep. They're good commuters, grocery getters or toy haulers. They enjoy that fact that they're paid off, or soon will be. They would gladly like to keep their vehicles for 200,000 miles (320,000 kilometers) or more – as long as it's economical to do so. There are plenty of Houston drivers whose vehicles are running after 150,000 or 200,000 miles (240,000 or 320,000 kilometers). We can learn from what they're doing to keep our own vehicles on the road in TX. That may sound a bit unsophisticated, but it's really not. First off, oil is the life blood of your vehicle's engine and it needs to be clean to properly lubricate. Skipping oil changes leads to clogged oil filters and sludge that is bad for your engine. Westside Automotive | ||
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McKinley Thiede, 03/11/2024
Efficient and excellent communication. Reasonable pricing. Will be returning!