What To Consistently Check Up On

1. ENGINE COOLANT AND ANTIFREEZE
How Often: Check twice yearly, once before summer and again before winter; change if coolant has brown tint or rust bits.
Pay Now: Free to check; up to $5 to top off with correct mix of water and coolant or antifreeze. If you don’t use the right coolant for your car, you could damage your engine.
Or Pay Later: Without coolant, you can damage the water pump ($50 to $100) and possibly your engine.
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If fuel is warm when it’s delivered to a station, it’ll still be warm when it’s sold a few hours later.

Some people say it’s better to buy your gasoline first thing in the morning, rather than in the heat of the day. That’s because gasoline, like all liquids, expands when heated. The basic facts are correct, but the advice is not. Gasoline does expand and contract a little depending on its temperature. When gasoline rises from 60 to 75 degrees F, for instance, it increases in volume by 1% while the energy content remains the same.
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With gasoline prices hitting record highs almost daily, you might be wondering if you can get away with filling up your expensive car with regular instead of the expensive premium gas your manufacturer recommends. The answer: Regular’s fine in most cases, but it’s best to check your owner’s manual.

There are three basic provisos for gasoline usage in owner’s manuals: when only regular gas is required, when premium is “recommended” and when premium gas is “required.” Only in the third instance will deviating from the manufacturer’s requirements potentially harm your car.
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According to a recent study by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, 73% of California drivers change their oil more frequently than required. This same scenario no doubt repeats itself across the country. Besides wasting money, this translates into unnecessary consumption of $100-a-barrel oil, much of it imported.

It’s been a misconception for years that engine oil should be changed every 3000 miles, even though most auto manufacturers now recommend oil changes at 5,000, 7,000, or even 10,000 mile intervals under normal driving conditions.
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Do You Have One In Your Car?

A roadside emergency can happen at any time, whether your car is new or old. Being prepared with a basic emergency kit can increase your safety, reduce stress, and help you get back on the road faster. Even if you have roadside-assistance coverage or an automobile-club membership with roadside assistance, you usually need access to a phone in order to contact them and you may have to wait on the side of the road for an hour or more before help arrives. That’s its recommended that drivers carry certain items in their vehicle, even if it only gets used for everyday, around-town driving.
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Question: Do you know if an engine replacement devalues a car? Does this show up on carfax?

Queen of the Road: Hello there.  If the car has aged and has a heavy number of miles, it is practical to replace the engine. However, if the car is fairly new and you replace the engine, it won’t help you sell. It’s likely to show up on Carfax if you replace the engine at a dealer or a franchise mechanics shop that reports it to carfax. Small time mechanics don’t report to carfax. So if you replace the engine with a family-owned or smaller repair shop, it may not pull up on the carfax report.

Got a parking issue with your car collection?

If you’re regular garage is already full, what’s to be done? Usually cars end up in storage garages or in public parking facilities, but the idea of a sitting investment like that in a corner somewhere under a tarp collecting dust is hardly ideal. As the market for human housing falters, developers around the country are pushing ahead with plans to build homes for four-wheeled investments. The projects are being marketed as part-garage, part-home away from home, part-clubhouse for car nuts.It’s basically a beautiful, clean condo for your vehicle(s) to live in complete with bathroom, wet bar, 24 hour security, and maybe even a private rooftop club for socializing with your car-minded condo neighbors.

Basically Everything On This Sign

Chrysler LLC said Friday it will recall an estimated 296,550 vehicles to reprogram the electronic-control unit to eliminate the potential for a momentary delay in braking when coasting up a hill. The company said the affected vehicles include: 156,796 model-year 2006-2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Commander SUVs; 90,383 model year 2007 Jeep Wrangler SUVs; and 49,371 model year 2007 Dodge Nitro SUVs.

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The Problem With “Expert Service”

A few years ago, an economics graduate student named Henry Schneider drove his dad’s old Subaru station wagon up to Montreal. He had heard about a Canadian consumer interest group that had done undercover investigations of auto-repair shops, and he wanted to try a more academic version of its experiment. He handed the Subaru over to the mechanics working for the group, the Automobile Protection Association, for a complete inspection. They found that it had a small hole in its exhaust pipe, a blown taillight and several other relatively minor problems. Mr. Schneider took careful notes. But he also did something that no ordinary car owner would do. He asked the mechanics to show him how to mess up the car in a couple of serious but obvious ways.
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Signs That It’s Time To Start Shopping For A New Car

We know some of you would love to buy a new car every year. Others want to drive the same car forever. No matter how well your car has served you, there will come a day when it’s time to let it go. It might be that your car is spending more time in the shop than on the road, or that it is no longer safe. Here are signs that could mean it’s time to say goodbye:
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1. It needs repairs costing more than its value.

Just Pull Up And They’ll To Take You

Customers who simply drop into a dealer for servicing a vehicle are generally more satisfied with their experience than those who make an appointment ahead of time. Overall satisfaction is based on six factors: service initiation, service adviser, in-dealership experience, service delivery, service quality and user-friendly service. Of the 84,000 respondents to the survey, over three-quarters report making an appointment with their dealership for repair or maintenance on their vehicle. But they’re not the ones who seem to be the happiest.
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July and August Are The Hottest Months. So How Are You Protecting Your Car?

A car, SUV, or light truck is stolen every 25.5 seconds, according to the 2005 data (the last year for which figures are available). Summertime is prime time for car thieves. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau vehicle thefts soar in July and August. If your car is stolen, there is about a 60% chance it will be recovered – although it could be missing a lot of parts. As bikes have grown in popularity, thefts have skyrocketed, up 135% from 2000 to 2005. For motorcycles, the recovery rate is only 25% to 30%. It is easy to assume that the thieves are teenagers, just wanting to take a joy ride. That does happen. But the NICB says most of the heists are done by professionals, members of organized crime rings. Gangbangers! Some stolen vehicles are sold to unsuspecting buyers. Others are sold outside the country. Most are stolen to be torn apart for parts.
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Washing A Car Is Easy… Right?

While it’s the most basic procedure in car care, it does deserve some thought. Here’s a pretty efficient system to wash you rides.
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• SOAK: The first step in cleaning the car is to rinse it. Give it a good rinsing from top to bottom, including the wheels and inside the fenders. Always clean the tires and wheels before washing the body, and don’t use the same mitt for both. This way you’ll avoid contaminating the vehicle’s paint with debris from the wheels and tires.

Yes, These Tips Are Frugal, But They Work

If the only obstacle standing in your way of a fun-filled summer road trip is whether or not you can afford to pay for gas, you shouldn’t worry. There are many things you can do, aside from going out and buying a more fuel efficient car, that will help you tremendously to cut down your gasoline expenses. Many require only minor adjustments to your driving style. Here are 10 of the 29 Tips…
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California Demands Strict Auto Emission Rules

Officials from California demanded on Tuesday that federal regulators allow the state to impose the strictest automobile and light truck emissions rules in the nation. They said that new regulations were needed to lessen the threat of global warming and threatened to sue if the government did not allow them to go forward. California’s attorney general, Jerry Brown, told an Environmental Protection Agency panel that the proposed standards on greenhouse gases were the most comprehensive effort in the nation’s history to address issues experts attribute to the gradual warming of the planet, including melting ice caps, rising sea levels and rampant wildfires. A representative of the auto industry warned that adopting the new California standards would be “counterproductive,” raising the price of cars, costing jobs and imposing inconsistent auto emissions standards around the country.
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