Stadium Automotive

Fall is here; time to get prepared for the rains and winter. Rain, snow, and ice all come with fall and winter. Your tires are your first line of defense between you and the road. Poor tires are just plain dangerous for you and the other people on the road. Make sure your tires are in good condition. Check your tire pressure, the pressure is determined by the automobile manufacturer, not the tire company. You will find your recommended tire pressure on the driver’s door jamb, glove box lid or in your owner’s manual. Coolant check, 50-50 mixture of antifreeze/water. That will bring it down to -34 the recommended level for winter and so the cooling system doesn’t corrode and rust. Battery check. A battery receives its electric energy from chemical reactions. The colder it is, the less power a battery has. And on top of this, a cold engine requires more power to crank it over. Cold weather is a test for a battery. Get your battery checked before it deserts you. A good battery has a lif ... read more

Check engine lights and code readers I write a lot about check engine lights. It is a huge subject. Every week, it is the most sought after repair that our shops do. A code reader, called a scan tool, can very an incredible amount. I have seen a universal scan tool for $29.95. The enhanced scan tool the Mercedes uses is about $18,000. The BMW scan tool is about $10,000 with a $1,200 a year up-date fee. Between the two shops, I have over $60,000 worth of scan tools. To put it simply, the amount of information you can extract from the vehicle. Tony from Transmission told me the last week, “I work for scanners” The government has legislation that dictates that emission related trouble codes must be available for a generic scanner. For us in the business, it is like putting together a jig saw puzzle upside down only getting the generic trouble codes. The better scanners (enhanced) give us such a better look into what it really having a problem. With most new vehicles, a generic scanner d ... read more

Your vehicle and sustainability. As the earth warms, global warming and sustainability has become a big news maker. People often ask me what they can do to help fight global warming and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Some have gone so far to get a hybrid vehicle, others have taken to walking more, riding the bus while others are puzzled what they can do with little money that would make a difference. What I am going to suggest is how to get the biggest amount of good for the least amount of money. Not everyone can afford to buy a new car. The easiest way is to do very small steps. When a tire is not inflated properly, it requires more energy to make the car move and maintain speeds. An informal study found the majority of the vehicles in the US are only inflated to 80% of capacity. Property inflated tires can increase fuel mileage by 3.3%, an under inflated tires can lower fuel mileage by .4% per pound. Putting that an average driver who drives 12,000 miles per year, that would be ... read more

In the automotive business, we run across patterned failures almost daily. Just as a family will have the same health issues, cars from a particular maker can have common part-failure problems emerge over time. Back in 2002, I bought a brand new luxury car. I just loved it and still have it. At about 28000 miles, the transmission failed and deserted me in Portland. It was repaired under warranty but the whole episode kind of ruined our trip.. At about 45000 miles, I got a notice that the manufacturer who wanted to check and repair something for no change in the transmission even though I had no problem. This service was preformed. Then, as a person who faithfully maintains my vehicles, I changed the fluid with factory fluid at about 60,000 and 90,000 miles. At 97,000, the transmission fails again. The manufacturer knew that this transmission had a problem, extending the coverage to 100,000 or 6 years, whichever comes first. But I was out of time and luck. I got no help from the man ... read more