Tag: Greenwood Auto Body

Do you fancy yourself a real automotive do-it-yourselfer?  That’s great!  Just be sure that you’re taking care of yourself while you take care of your car.  After all, you can always take your car into your Seattle body shop in a worst case scenario, but we won’t be able to do anything to fix you.

• Protect Your Eyes: Sparks, sharp objects, even blasts of hot steam or splatters of toxic chemicals; all of these represent potential hazards to your fragile eyes.  Get a set of dark-lensed goggles, or even a pair of sunglasses that fit snugly on your face and attach to a strap around the back of your head.

• Wear Gloves: It can sometimes be difficult to tell what is safe to touch inside your car.  You’ve got sharp edges, electrical systems, harsh chemicals, and metal surfaces that are prone to a lot of heat.  Get a heavy pair of gloves.

• Work in an Open Area: Chemical vapors from your car can be dangerous to breathe over an extended period of time, and gasoline is still combustible in a vapor form.  Work on your car outdoors if you can, or at least leave your garage door open.

• Secure Your Car: Set the parking brake, turn off the engine, and put the car in neutral.  Some exceptions can be made, if the particular repair you are doing requires the engine to be on, but these should be rare.

Say you’re out on the road and your oil light turns on. Do you know what to do? Take the advice of Greenwood’s Seattle body shop to avoid doing catastrophic damage to your car.

In case you don’t know which light is your oil light, it generally takes the shape of an old-fashioned oil can. This will light up in red when your car experiences a drop in pressure. When this happens, you want to pull over as soon as it is safe to do so and shut off your engine. It is not safe to continue running your car without oil pressure, for without lubrication, your engine is rapidly tearing itself to pieces.

The first thing to do after pulling over is to check under your car. Is any oil leaking out? This probably means you’ve blown a gasket, and will need to get a tow. If you don’t see any leaks, try checking and changing your oil (it helps to have an extra bottle of oil on hand). After you’ve done this, try starting up your car again and seeing if the oil light comes on. If it does, you’ll want to get your car to a proper body shop as soon as possible.

Maintaining a good tire pressure is an important part of keeping up your fuel efficiency and maintaining the integrity of your tires. Tires gradually lose air over time, and can take a sharp drop in pressure when the cold season comes around. Checking this pressure and maintaining good tires is a simple procedure that our Seattle body shop can do for you on a routine visit, but it also pays to be able to keep track of it by yourself.

All you need to check your tire pressure is a digital tire gauge. These can be bought for about fifteen dollars in many stores with an automotive section. Try checking your pressure before you drive your car first thing in the morning, and compare the pressure to the ideal tire pressure listed in your owner manual, inside your gas-filler door, or on the door jam. If the pressure is low, take your car to your gas station to get a fill-up.

Do you remember the last time you had your spark plugs changed? It’s a simple procedure, one that our Seattle body shop could have done in minutes. However, it’s still something that far too many driver’s neglect. This hurts fuel efficiency, and will eventually prevent your car from starting.

The function of the spark plug is to create an electrical spark so as to ignite your fuel when you start your engine. To do this, it forces an electrical charge to jump across a tiny gap, like a miniature bolt of lightning. Over time, this gap is getting sullied by the fuel that runs through your engine. Carbon builds up, inhibiting the flow of electricity. The more of a build up you get, the more fuel you have to burn to get your car started. Eventually, you won’t be able to get a spark going at all.

A normal spark plug will generally last between ten and twenty thousand miles. If you’re approaching that limit, don’t wait to have your plugs checked out. You’re probably saving money in the long run.

An overheating engine is a bad thing.  It can cause your car to shut down in the short term, and letting it continue to overheat is taxing on your car and can lead to more serious damage very quickly.  You’ll want to get your overheating car down to Greenwood’s Seattle body shop as soon as possible.  Meanwhile, here are some tips to cool down your car so that you don’t damage it further before you can bring it in:

• When you notice your car overheating, shut off the engine.  Give it a minute; do not open the hood if the engine is giving off steam or smoke.

• When the engine has cooled down, open the hood and check the coolant reservoir.  This is a plastic jug-like structure fitted with a hose that feeds into the radiator.  Don’t open this unless you’re confident your engine has cooled down enough, as you can burn your hand with the blast of hot steam that may shoot out at you.

• Use a rag to open the radiator cap.  Again, be careful that you’re not going to get burned by a blast of hot steam.  Fill to the top of the radiator if you need to.

• If you’re out of coolant and you don’t have access to new coolant, go ahead and use water.  This won’t last as long as coolant, but it’ll get you out of an emergency situation.

• Look at the hoses coming out of the radiator or the heater system.  Have any of them burst?

• If you’ve got the engine cooled down and the coolant replaced, try starting your car again.  Watch your temperature gauge closely.  Run the heater if you can stand to.

• If your overheating problem continues, have your car towed to the body shop.  Driving an overheated car more than you need to is only making your problem worse.