Ft. Collins Auto Repair

We often receive calls from folks who are having a problem and want help in understanding what the problem is and how it can be corrected. This time of year it is often calls about air conditioning. The call goes something like this: “my AC is not blowing as cold as usual and I wonder how much it will cost to get the system recharged.” Now AC is not that simple of a system and when it does not blow cold it can be caused by a leak allowing the freon to escape from the system. Or, it could be caused by an electrical problem that results in the system not turning on properly. Or, it can be a mechanical problem such as a compressor failure that results in no cooling. Or, it can be &hellip

Some of our customers at All Tech are surprised to learn that there are actually two service schedules for their vehicles. One is the regular schedule and the other is the

When faced with a “no start” problem the first thing we ask is

Of all the parts on a car or truck, the ones most closely connected to the safety of the driver are, in my mind, the brakes. The braking system is what we rely on to not only stop the vehicle, but slow it down as well. The two basic types of brake systems are the pad and rotor, and the shoe and drum styles. The older of the two is the drum and shoe which employs a shoe which fits inside of a round drum and is pressed against the inside of the drum by a hydraulic component known as a wheel cylinder. The wheel cylinder is operated by the master cylinder inside the engine compartment which sends pressure by way of brake (hydraulic) fluid to the wheel cylinder pressing the shoe into the drum. The pad and rotor system is the newer of the two and consists of a set of pads which are pinched into both sides of a metal plate we call a rotor. The pinching is performed by a caliper in which the pads are mounted and which like the wheel cylinder is operated by hydraulic pressure from the master cy ... read more

There are two cooling systems in a car or truck. One has to do with the driver and we call that one air conditioning. The other is to keep the engine cool and that is the one that is the topic of this post. The Engine Cooling System consists of the the radiator up front behind the grille, the hoses from the radiator to and from the engine, the hoses to and from the radiator to the heater (known as the heater core) inside the car, and other items including the thermostat. The thermostat sits between the radiator and the engine, most often on the engine and regulates the flow of coolant through the system. It opens and closes by means of a spring which expands and contracts from the heat of the coolant. The typical coolant temperature of most vehicles is around 180 degrees F. Boiling is around 200 degrees. Since the system is sealed by a radiator cap that allows the system to become pressurized