Wheat Ridge Auto Repair

1) Leaving lights on is the most common cause of battery drain Leaving your headlights or parking lights on all night will completely drain your car battery by the next morning. A short drive is not long enough to fully recharge your battery. The best way to bring your battery back to full charge is with a real battery charger that has a reconditioning mode. The reconditioning mode will dissolve the sulfation crystals that formed when it discharged. 2) Computer parasitic battery drain is the second most common cause Computer modules draw power when they’re running. When you shut the vehicle down, the modules are programmed to enter sleep mode after a set period of time. At that point, all the modules in your car should draw less than 50-milliamps. With that small current draw, your car battery can maintain its starting power for around 4-6 weeks, depending on its condition. However, if your battery is old, that 50-millamp draw can drain it i ... read more

Check engine light on! Inside view of catalytic converter with melted ceramic structure There are two types of check engine lights: solid and flashing. A solid check engine light, in most cases, is something fairly simple. As long as the engine is starting, accelerating and the transmission is shifting normally, you can continue driving it. Make an appointment at a reputable shop to have it checked out. If you have a flashing check engine light, you should pull over and get it towed If you see a flashing check engine light, your engine has a serious misfire issue that is harmful enough to damage your catalytic converter. If you back off the pedal and the flashing stops, you can limp to the nearest shop and get it checked out. But if you can’t get the flashing check engine light to stay steady, you should pull over and call a tow truck. What can happen if you keep driving with a flashing check engine light? The catalytic con ... read more