April is National Car Care Month

National Car Care Month in April is the time of year to give your car some extra attention. Basic maintenance can go a long way toward improving the safety and dependability of your vehicle, plus it helps avoid costly repairs down the road. 

“Neglected vehicle care almost always means much higher costs down the line in the form of more extensive repairs or lost resale value,” said Rich White, executive director, Car Care Council. “Chances are if you own a car, it needs some work. National Car Care Month in April is the perfect time to focus on your vehicle’s maintenance needs.”

Results of community car care events held throughout the country in 2010 show that most consumers are neglecting their cars, with seven out of 10 vehicles failing at least one component of the vehicle inspection process. (For a complete list of results, visit - www.carcare.org/NCCM.)

“These results show that the majority of vehicle owners could save money by being more proactive when it comes to their vehicle," White said. “Whether you do it yourself or take your car to a professional service technician, make sure your car is ready for the spring and summer travel season."

The Car Care Council recommends 10 basic maintenance procedures to keep your car operating at its best:

• Check the oil, filters and fluids. Oil should be checked at every fill-up and changed per the owner’s manual recommended intervals. Brake, transmission, power steering, coolant and windshield washer fluids should also be checked regularly. Your car’s filters, including those for the transmission, fuel system and interior ventilation, need regular inspection and replacement.

• Inspect hoses at each oil change and have them replaced when leaking, brittle, cracked, rusted, swollen or restricted. Check V-belts and serpentine belts for looseness and condition, and have them replaced when cracked, frayed, glazed or showing signs of excessive wear. Typically replace the timing belt between 60,000 and 90,000 miles or the interval specified in the owner’s manual to avoid a breakdown or serious engine damage.

• Check the engine brake system every year and have the brake linings, rotors and drums inspected at each oil change.

• Check that the battery connection is clean, tight and corrosion-free. The battery should be securely mounted. If it is three years old or more, the battery should be tested and replaced if necessary.

• Inspect the exhaust system for leaks, damage and broken supports or hangers if there is an unusual noise. Exhaust leaks can be dangerous and must be corrected without delay.

• Schedule a tune-up that will help the engine deliver the best balance of power and fuel economy and produce the lowest level of emissions.

• Check the car’s heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system as proper heating and cooling performance is critical for interior comfort and for safety reasons, such as defrosting.

• Inspect the steering and suspension system annually, including shock absorbers and struts, and chassis parts, such as ball joints, tie rod ends and other related components.

• Check the pressure of all tires, including the spare, at least once a month. Check the tread for uneven or irregular wear and cuts and bruises along the sidewalls. Have your car’s alignment checked at least annually to reduce tire wear and improve fuel economy and handling.

• Test exterior and interior lights and have bulbs that are not working checked immediately. Replace windshield wiper blades every six month or when cracked, cut, torn, streaking or chattering for optimum wiping performance and safety.

Thank you to our friends at Car Care Council for the great information! Check them out on facebook.

Happy Thursday! :)

Check Engine Light Diagnosis & Repair in Denver

Does your check engine light or service engine soon light stay on while you are driving? When you start your vehicle, your check engine light or service engine soon light should come on for a moment and shut off. If your check engine light stays on or comes on sometimes, like most car owners, you probably have little idea what the light is trying to tell you or what you should do. It is the most misunderstood signal on your vehicle and can mean many different things. 

Pay attention to your check engine light - it's telling you there is a problem with your vehicle. It's not going to go away on it's own. 

What the Light Means

Although your vehicle may seem to run fine, it is important to have the issue addressed right away to prevent long-term problems or damage to your vehicle. There are many sensors and computerized components that manage your vehicle's engine performance and emissions. When one of the components fail or the computer finds a problem in the electronic-control system that it can't correct, the "check engine" or "service engine soon" or "check powertrain" light is illuminated. The light could also just be a picture of an engine, possibly with the word "check". 

The light could be telling you something as simple as you have a loose gas cap to an engine with serious problems. It can also prevent you from passing an emissions test, even if the light is not on when your car takes the test.  The good news is that the problem typically can be identified by a stored code in your car's computer. 

The light doesn't mean you have to pull your vehicle over to the side of the road and call a tow truck. It does mean you should get your vehicle checked out as soon as possible to determine the issue. Ignore the light and you risk causing major damage to expensive parts of your vehicle. The light can also tell you your is emitting high levels of pollutants or getting poor fuel economy. In most cases, if there is a problem, the computer will wait to see if it corrects itself before turning on the check engine light. 

What to do

Read your owner's manual to learn the function of the check engine light and every other warning indicator and gauge on your vehicle's dashboard. Generally, you can do this by turning your key to the key-on/engine-off position. Replace any bulbs that are no longer working. If the check engine light comes on, it will either blink or stay on. Either way, you should have it checked out by a mechanic, but a blinking light means you should have your vehicle looked at immediately. In late-model cars, the blinking light typically points to an engine misfire so severe that unburned fuel is being dumped into the exhaust system, where it can quickly destroy the catalytic converter, requiring an expensive auto repair. If this happens to your vehicle, reduce power, and have it looked as soon as possible. If the light is on steady, it is not as urgent, but your vehicle should still be checked out as soon as possible. Automotive computers frequently try to compensate when there is a problem with a vehicle. You may not notice any difference or decline in your vehicle's performance, even though your fuel mileage is suffering and your vehicle is emitting pollutants. 

For a quality diagnosis for your check engine light or service engine soon light, call the auto repair professionals in Denver at Mastermind Enterprises AutoCare Center. We are conveniently located off I-25 & 58th Ave at 5770 Clarkson St, Denver, CO 80216. You can call us at 303-297-AUTO (2886). 

Contact us via email on our website, too.

For more great automotive repair tips & advice, visit our website

Buying Used Cars: Quick Ways to Spot a Lemon

by Colette Cooley, Cars for Keeps Office Manager

Lemon or lovely – that is the question when you consider buying a used vehicle. It may look gorgeous on the outside, but the inner workings determine whether or not the car will be a money pit. Here are a few tips on what to look for when test driving that little beauty:

1) Pull out the oil dipstick while the engine is running – be careful not rev the engine! Watch the dipstick's hole as the engine idles; if you hear or see any air, gas or oil escaping the dipstick holder it means the rings are worn. A slight escape of air from the dipstick is the first stage of ring failure which is not a serious problem but will get worse until gas and oil start escaping the dipstick holder. The result is less power and leaking oil in the sump. Look for white emulsification on the dipstick which would indicate a cracked cylinder head, which is a serious problem.

2) Look at the exhaust pipe while the car is running. White smoke from the exhaust indicates there's engine oil remaining on the bore that the rings haven’t scraped off, which means oil could be leaking. Black smoke means the fuel injectors are dirty on a diesel engine.

3) Remove the radiator cap and check for oil. Oil in the water also means a cracked cylinder head.

4) Have a pre-purchase inspection performed! A compression test should also be done for failing rings on any used vehicle. This test requires a trained mechanic because of the equipment used and the test is complicated. The readings must be done ‘dry’ and ‘wet’, and it even depends on if you are above or below sea level.

At Cars For Keeps, we do a bumper to bumper inspection on used vehicles before you buy it, and we have saved a lot of people from buying a ‘money pit’.

Pride Auto Care recognized for giving back to the community

We were very honored to receive this letter from Colorado State Senator Linda Newell thanking us for our donation to Rachels Challenge.

For more information on Rachels Challenge see their website here.

How to Maintain Working Hood & Trunk Latches

by Dennis Sweet, Cars for Keeps Customer Service Manager

Have you ever heard the old saying “use it or lose it”? Well this applies to working parts on our vehicles! We use the remote to change the channel on our TV, even if we are standing in front of it. We as humans are creatures of habit and convenience.

We use our vehicles' key fobs to unlock doors and trunks, and while this is convenient for us, it's not so great for the locks and latches. When the key fob is used to unlock the trunk, the trunk latch unlocks from inside the trunk, but the key cylinder never turns. Rust and corrosion builds up on the key cylinder, and when the time comes that you don’t have the key fob or it stops working and you need to unlock it with the key, it may not work.

It is important that you have your auto service center lubricate the hood and trunk latches as well as the door and trunk lock cylinder with high quality lubricant at when regular oil changes are performed. Or, if your vehicle uses synthetic oil with extended mileage intervals you, can stop in and have Cars for Keeps do this at one of our free Pit Stops.

Routine latch lubrication and maintenance doesn't only apply to your vehicle’s hood latch; it can be just as important to maintain the rest of the vehicle’s door locks. Proper lubrication and the occasional use of these important vehicle components is the best way to maintain and ensure that they work when you or your service center need them to.

Exceptional or Ordinary? You decide . . .

How do you solve math problems in your head? Perhaps a better question is, do you solve math problems in your head? With the availability of electronic devices to do it for us, I would not be surprised to learn that many people never try.

I was reading Darold Treffert’s book on savants, and I was intrigued by a few examples of savant thinking. I tried solving some of the problems in his book to get a feel for how “comprehensible” they might be to me, with no recent practice calculating. Here is a simple example:

You have a carriage with a wheel that’s six yards in circumference.How many revolutions will the wheel make while traveling two hundred twenty miles?

This is how I answer that question in my head. I’d be interested in how you might do it:

Six yards is eighteen feet. I see that as a short line.

So one hundred revolutions of a six yard wheel would take me 1,800 feet. That’s a much longer line in my head, one that curves.

Three hundred revolutions would take me 5,400 feet – more than a mile. Now the line has curved back unto itself, making a circle.

How many rotations are there to a mile? Less than three hundred. A mile is a smaller circle. I can see those circles, on inside the other.They do not quite match.

I adjust the length of the longer line that forms the big circle. Try 290 . . . that’s 5,400 less 180, or 5,220. A mile is 5,280. Now I see the line laid flat, like a straight stretch of highway. Two hundred ninety revolutions leaves us sixty feet short of a mile marker. So what’s the fraction?

Three eighteens go into that sixty-foot remainder with the same six remainder. Adding that to the 290, I see the answer is 293 and a third. The six-yard wheel does not fit a one mile line, but it fits perfectly into a three-mile ring. If you put a mark on the wagon wheel, and mark any point where it touches the big circle, those points will touch every time the wheel rolls past. I like that.

If you roll the same wheel around a one-mile ring the points will only touch every third trip around, which is unsettling to me. I like smooth fits, so I will solve the next step using three-mile units.

I can now see the answer: 880 revolutions. A perfect fit. Six yards, three miles, and eight hundred eighty turns.

How many three-mile eight-hundred-eighty revolution units are there in 220 miles? My mind visualizes stacks or piles for this next step.Seventy units reach two hundred ten miles. I quickly see how seventy-three and a third are needed to reach the two-twenty goal.

Stacking seventy-three piles of 880 in my mind takes a little time.Eventually, the stacks add up and I see the result is 64,240. Now I just have to add the third (of 880) and I’m done. To do that, I add three hundred to the pile, making 64,540, and then take back six and two-thirds.

64,533 and 1/3 is the answer to the question.

As a further experiment, I scaled up the distance, to 2450 miles and then 20,315 miles to see if I could keep scaling up the numbers. There must be some limit to that, and it certainly took me longer, but I solved those bigger problems in a few more minutes. Solving the longer distance problems involved one and then two more levels of “stacking” in my mind.

It does not seem that hard to me. I often did similar calculations as a kid, for fun. I’m sure I could do it again, pretty quickly, with some practice.

I test my answer with a calculator. The process to do that is considerably simpler.

I multiply 220 (miles) by 5,280 (feet per mile) to get 1,161,600 – the total distance in feet.

I divide that by 18 (the wheel circumference) to get 64,533.333 – the revolutions turned.

It’s a lot faster to get this answer with a calculator, for sure. But is the ability to figure this out in one’s head really exceptional? In today’s world, I would not be surprised if kids never develop these skills. When I grew up, though, pocket calculators did not yet exist and I had to know how solve problems like this. I suspect many people of my generation could solve a problem like this in their heads, but perhaps I am wrong. What do you say?

Tips For Managing Auto Repair & Maintenance Records

by Colette Cooley, Cars for Keeps Office Manager

Let’s face it - we still live in a paper oriented world. Which means for most of us that somewhere in our house sits one of those ugly file cabinets or a big box where we throw everything during the year, and at tax time it's a nightmare to sort through. It becomes a necessity to spend the $10 to get some file folders to separate subjects.

Keeping records of automotive repair and maintenance is a chore few of us relish, but keeping organized files can save us time and grief down the road. Think of these records as your car's medical records; it's important to be able to present these to your auto technician, so we know how to diagnose and "treat" your vehicle! Whether they're oil change records or transmission repair receipts, it's a good idea to keep all these records together. Things like having a record of the last timing belt replacement can save you unnecessary maintenance costs, but they can also save you from breakdowns due to overdue maintenance.

For those who find it easier to have everything at hand on your computer, there are many software programs you can get to keep track of your car's maintenance and repair schedules. Lonewolf Software is one good option. Other popular programs include Tucows and MTCPro.

Let us us not forget the obvious little helpers that are right in front of us. The little sticker Cars For Keeps puts on your windshield telling you when your car is due for its next oil change and, at your request, a paper printout listing needed and recommended repairs with a cost estimate.

Some thoughts on spark plugs

Advances in technology have lengthened the maintenance intervals for many pieces on our cars. One of those pieces – the one I am writing about today – is the spark plug. All gas engine cars have them.

When I started in the car business, it was common for plugs to need cleaning every year, and replacement by 15,000 miles. As technology improved and engines got cleaner, the plugs started lasting longer. First it was 30,000 miles, then 50,000, 60,000 miles.

Today, many of the new cars we service have 100,000-mile spark plugs installed at the factory. That 100,000-mile rating was derived by installing the plugs in test vehicles, and then driving them hard and fast to pile on the miles. At various intervals the plugs were removed and inspected for wear. After a number of engineering tweaks, Bosch, Beru, NGK, and other spark plug manufacturers came up with a plug that would last the 100,000 miles and still perform acceptably. Based on that, the carmakers established the current change interval for spark plugs.

So the question today is: How often should you change your plugs, if you have a car with the 100,000-mile change interval? Should you follow the manufacturer’s recommendation, or do something else? Why?

The first thing I point out to new clients when we discuss maintenance is that there is a time component to service as well. Spark plugs may hold up fine for 100,000 miles if driven on the highway every day, but short trips and occasional use will wear them out a lot faster. A person who drives 10-12,000 miles per year may not hit 100,000 miles for almost ten years. That’s way to long to leave a set of plugs in the car.

Carmakers recognize that. If you look in most owners manuals you will see a time specification for plugs. They’ll say something like five years or 100,000 miles. I strongly suggest you pay attention to this time limit when considering long-life wear items like spark plugs.

I have read of spark plugs breaking off in the cylinder head when removed after many years. I’ve never experienced that on a five year old car, but there may well be parts of the world where corrosion is worse (near the ocean, as an example) and it you live in such a place, you’d be wise to consider that fact and adjust your service intervals accordingly.

When changing plugs, the next decision a motorist faces is what plug to buy. If you are at the dealer, the decision is simple: you’ll get original equipment plugs. If you’re at a Bosch Car Care Center, you should get the correct Bosch plugs, and if you’re at an independent or chain store, you best find out what they propose to install to be sure you are comfortable.

Thirty years ago, selection of spark plugs was simple. A dozen part numbers would service a majority of the cars on the road. Today many cars have special plugs and it’s important to install the right one. Every parts store has cross-reference catalogs, all of which lead you to believe any “crossover” plug will work. In my experience, that’s often true for older cars but often wrong on newer vehicles. We’ve seen Land Rover, Mercedes, and BMW cars with ignition misfires that were ultimately traced to “supposedly correct” but off-brand spark plugs.

If you have a late model car, be sure you fit the right plugs.

The last point I’d like to address with spark plugs is what happens if you don’t change them in time. As plugs age, the voltage to fire them increases. A plug that needs 20,000 volts to fire when new may need 80,000 by the time it’s used up. If you go beyond that, the voltage may rise to 100,000 volts or higher. This increased voltage puts much greater stress on ignition coils and wires. Premature ignition failure is the usual result of running plugs too long.

Six spark plugs might cost $80 for your BMW or Mercedes. Six spark plugs and six coils (because you waited too long) could cost $700, maybe more. As you can see, changing plugs before the ignition fails makes very good economic sense!

Hybrid Car Engine Performance During Cold Weather

by Rob Hopp, Cars for Keeps Owner

How much does cold weather affect the performance of hybrid cars?

While in manufacturer training at different times over the years, I’ve been amazed at how much effort was put into extreme weather testing by most auto parts manufacturers.

They’ve become more aggressive and technologically adept every year. With the introduction of hybrid vehicles, every bit as much, if not more effort has gone into ensuring this new technology can exceed their customers expectations.


Cold and snow makes EVERYTHING in a vehicle work harder. So, while performance, mileage and even reliability do suffer with a hybrid in the cold, the difference is negligible and for the most part goes unnoticed. The losses are consistent with standard gasoline or diesel powered vehicles which also suffer from frigid temps.

Reliability: Hybrid cars and other hybrid vehicles seem so different that too many owners think there is something miraculous happening. It’s not. They are exposed to the same extremes in temperatures, assault on their systems from bone jarring pot holes and from normal wear.

Just as we recommend for all our clients, having your hybrid car checked out by a professional at least every season and especially before the coldest and hottest seasons is the best way to ensure your ride is safe, reliable and ready to go.

The exclusive Cars for Keeps seasonal Pit Stop is one more way we fix cars. For keeps.