Ft. Collins Auto Repair

Smoke got you down? Just wait until your car or truck start to react to the smoke and ash. There is one and maybe even a second air filter in your vehicle. The first and most critical is the air filter which removes dust, dirt and ASH that is in the air the engine breathes. The other (and sometimes there are two) are called cabin air filters which filter the air that comes into the cabin of the car and with which we air condition and breathe. Make sure you have these critical air filters checked to ensure your car and your lungs can operate at full capacity. The last big forest fire we had here in northern Colorado we pulled out lots of really dirty, black filters and expect to see more soon. For top performance, you need all the air you can get into your engine and not have it restricted by smoke and ash residue. Same for your lungs

A customer came with us complaining that a headlight in his 2001 Lexus IS300 was out. He stated that he had replaced the bulb (retail cost $100.00!) without success. We determined that the ballast that fires up that pricey bulb was the problem and when contacting Toyota (maker of Lexus) we were informed that the whole headlamp assembly would need to be purchased for $1,000.00. Fortunately, we were able to locate a new ballast and when installed including labor the cost was a more affordable, yet very expensive $570, half part and half labor to remove the headlight assembly, replace the ballast and reinstall the assembly. The moral is that when you see a fancy new headlight or taillight assembly, it sure looks great, but if you should bump a pillar or pole in a parking lot and break one of these, you will be singing the blues. Progress? I think not

It happened to me recently. I noticed a bounce and clunk when shifting into reverse. Hmmm. I also noticed the noise when dropping into a lower gear for fast acceleration

From time to time we see vehicles at the side of the road resting on the steering and suspension with a wheel missing. It looks terrible, but in most cases it is not as bad as it looks. Wheels can come off for a number of reasons, but the most common is that the lug nuts holding the wheel in place are not properly tightened. Those lug nuts have a specified tightness, called a torque specification, to which they are to be tightened. Most of us use a special wrench (torque wrench) which measures how tight the nut has been placed to hold the wheel. Some people use what is known as a torque stick that fits on the end of a wrench and accomplishes the same thing. Either way, it is important that whenever a wheel is removed for any reason, it should be torqued down rather than being just randomly having the lug nuts wrenched on. There are a number of reasons a car or truck should have the lug nuts torqued. Most important, is safety. If the nuts are not tight enough, they can come unscrewed an ... read more

We used to charge a fee on nearly every invoice of 5% with a max of $10. Then it was brought to my attention that this is not always necessary or appropriate, and after I thought about it, YEAH, it’s not! I decided that charging some sort of random indescriminate fee was not right and we dropped it out completely several years ago. My cost for uniforms, towels, tp, water, and the like are not billed as “supplies&rdquo