As we get into the summer season, temperatures soar, and so do the miles we put on our cars. One of the great American traditions is the family road trip. There are a few simple steps you can take to ensure that when you’re driving up the North Cascades highway, or you’re on your way to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, your vehicle does not overheat. If your vehicle has cooling system issues you will see a geyser, just not the one that you had planned on. The good news is this can all be avoided.
First, make sure that the radiator is in good shape. Rust and corrosion can cause the radiator to rot away from the inside out. Even though the radiator may not be leaking now, it will be leaking soon, which leads to overheating of the engine. When your engine isn’t cooled properly, it can easily blow a head gasket. When your engine isn’t cooled properly a cylinder head can crack or warp. Engine cooling system failure is one of the leading causes of major engine damage.
You might ask, what is a radiator? It is shaped like a small door with an opening on the top and bottom for hoses to connect to, and has another opening to add or replace its fluid. The radiator has little tubes through which the coolant flows, so that it can get cooled by the air flowing past it. This is how the engine is cooled.
It takes some experience to recognize potential upcoming cooling system problems. Fortunately, our Master Technicians at Central Automotive have years of experience with cooling systems, and can detect most cooling system failures. Our technicians here at Central Automotive will visually inspect the cooling system, and touch it to see how hard it is, to get it to crumble. They will also perform a pressure test and a chemical test on the cooling system. Unfortunately, sometimes this testing can be destructive. If the cooling system is going bad it will start to leak. But it’s much better that it happens in the shop than on the highway, right?
Another common radiator problem is a radiator that is plugged, blocking coolant from flowing through it. If this happens, you’ll notice that your engine is running hot when you’re driving up a mountain pass, or when you are in stop and go traffic, or when you turn on your AC.
A plugged radiator can be the kiss of death for your car or trucks engine. How do radiators get plugged? Rust corrosion from the engine, and deposits from water over time, will plug the small tubes just like water will plug a shower head over time. If you haven’t had your cooling system serviced every few years it’s likely that many of the little cooling tubes within the radiator core are clogged with rust. Those cooling tubes are crucial to the success of the radiator. That is how the radiator cools the engine, by passing the coolant through those channels and blowing cool air across them. So, if your radiator is plugged, it will still work, but not as well.
You’re most likely to notice the problem when the car is under the greatest demand, such as going up Snoqualmie pass with the kids in the back seat, luggage in the trunk, and maybe like the Griswold’s, your mother in law strapped to the roof of your car. If your engine ran even a little hot on the last 80 or 90-degree day, have one of our Master Technicians find the cause of it right now before it’s too late.
The function of the fuel filter is pretty self-explanatory: it filters your fuel. The 
The oil filter is one of the most important parts of the engine. Its job is to filter out any contaminates created by the normal wear and heat of the engine. When your car has the 
This may seem insignificant, but the results can be catastrophic. When you drive longer than 5,000 miles on one of the low cost filters, the filter starts to lose the ability to keep the contaminates contained and they slip into the engine bearings, causing premature wear. The eventual outcome is engine failure. It does not pay to have an inexpensive oil change and an inexpensive oil filter put on your newer model car.
Rough roads, potholes we all know how bar the roads are in Kent or anywhere in the Seattle area and the occasional smacking of a curb don’t just make for an uncomfortable ride; they can knock your wheels out of alignment. Misaligned wheels can pull your vehicle to one side and cause you to constantly correct your steering. If your vehicle pulls to one side consistently when you apply your brakes, it could be an alignment issue. As regular maintenance you should align your vehicle once a year. Without proper alignment can also cause a “shimmy” or vibration in your steering wheel when your wheel is shaking every part between your steering wheel and your tires is also shaking. Wheels that are out of alignment can also cause uneven tire wear and can do severe damage to your tires quickly. Uneven tires wear out more quickly and don’t grip the road properly; especially in bad weather and with the amount of rain that we get in Western Washington you need all of the traction you can get. A vehicle that is out of alignment will cost you time and money.
Many vehicle manufacturers now recommend Alignments as part of your regular scheduled maintenance but one thing is for sure our roads in Kent and Auburn even Covington are so rough and poorly maintained that we suggest that you have your Alignment check at least once a year, This is a quick service that can be done at the same time you get your oil changed and tires rotated. But because alignment issues are often a result of a incident, like a falling hard in to a pothole or hitting a curb or debris in the road this will knock your car or truck out of alignment. You should have your alignment checked.
