We are conveniently located 1 mile west of Interstate 90.
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Your Neighborhood Full Service Repair Facility
Closest Auto Repair Shop Off of Interstate 90 (1 Mile West)
March 13, 2022
There's nothing that radiates cool like a vehicle radiator that's helping to keep your engine running at the proper temperature. You don't have to baby it, but you can't simply ignore it, either.
Let's take a quick dive under the hood to let you know what the radiator is doing. It takes the heat your engine produces and moves that heat outside. It's not an easy job and heat is an engine's number one enemy. Now that you're thinking how nice you want to be to your radiator, we have a couple of ideas how you can take care of it.
The easiest thing is to pay attention to your vehicle's temperature gauge. If it gets in the "too hot" or "not hot enough" range, have it checked out soon. Make sure your coolant is kept at the correct level and if you see a trend that you have to add coolant more than a couple of times a year, you might have a leak.
Even if there are no obvious problems, every couple of years or so, consider taking your vehicle in for radiator maintenance. A technician can run a pressure check for leaks and ensure that the thermostat and radiator cap are working correctly. The technician will check that fans are running like they should so they can move air over the radiator and heat away from the coolant inside.
Ask your service advisor when you should have your radiator flushed and coolant replaced according to the manufacturer's recommended intervals. In addition to cooling, coolant has corrosion inhibitors which stop working after a while. Without those corrosion inhibitors, the inside of your radiator can literally start rotting away. Keep in mind that the coolant level must be kept at manufacturer's specifications since if those corrosion-preventing chemicals aren't touching the metal, they're not preventing corrosion.
Different vehicles use different coolants, so your service facility will make sure yours is getting the correct one. Keep your coolant system happy and one day, maybe you can order up a custom license plate, "RAY-D-8."
Tuffy Rockford
6574 E. Riverside
Loves Park, Illinois 61111
815.639.1239
January 26, 2025
Your parents probably taught you to have common sense. When it comes to your vehicle, common scents can also come in handy. Different smells may tell you about some conditions in your vehicle that need attention. For example, you know what rotten eggs smell like. If you smell them around your ve... More
January 19, 2025
If you have a front-wheel-drive vehicle, it has components called CV joints which enable you to turn your wheels smoothly. The CV stands for constant velocity. In essence, its a set of gears that connect a shaft that allows power from the transmission to be sent to the wheels. When you turn the ... More
January 12, 2025
We all have joints in our own skeletal system, but did you know your vehicle has some joints of its own? One of the most important is called a ball joint. One of the interesting things is that it's somewhat similar to the ball and socket joints we have in our hips and shoulders. A ball joint all... More
