Vehicle Maintenance
What’s Dripping from My Vehicle?
Is your vehicle leaving behind puddles when you pull out of the garage? This visual guide can help you understand what those puddles/drips mean. (Green, Pink, Orange, Purple) Coolant helps regulate your engine temperature. If you see a green, pink, purple or orange puddle toward the middle of your car hood, you could have a…
Read MoreTeen Driver Vehicle Maintenance Tips
Finally having the freedom and ability to drive your own vehicle is great. But breaking down on the side of the road and potentially having to spend a lot of money on car repairs? Not so great. One way to avoid costly repairs is to focus on proper vehicle maintenance. Here are a couple basic…
Read More10 Overlooked Maintenance Services
Let’s talk about the service schedules for a minute. And particularly, the scheduled services that are sometimes forgotten. At Douglas Automotive Repair, we have a list of 10 service items that are often overlooked. They’re all very important and need appropriate attention. So here we go, in no particular order. 1. Power Steering ServiceBe honest – have…
Read MoreQuestion on Engine Failure
Question: I had my engine go out and had to have it replaced. What could I have done to prevent this? Answer: An expensive engine replacement is pretty extreme. It’s a tough situation to be in; maybe you’re still making payments on your vehicle and nobody wants to buy it with a blown engine, so you really…
Read MoreWhy You Need to Change Your Transmission Fluid
It’s easy to forget about servicing your transmission because it doesn’t need it very often, but proper transmission service keeps your vehicle running smoothly and helps you avoid costly repairs down the road. The transmission undergoes a lot of stress. The grit you see in used fluid is actually bits of clutch material. This grit…
Read MoreService Intervals
Confused about auto service intervals for various items on your car. Douglas Automotive Repair can help! The simple answer s is to follow the vehicle’s recommended service intervals listed in your owner’s manual or in your service center’s database. But the team at Douglas Automotive Repair sympathizes because of the confusing intervals for modern vehicles. The…
Read MoreAre You Driving a High Mileage Vehicle?
Wondering what you need to do to maintain your high mileage vehicle? We frequently get asked that question. The median age for vehicles on Illinois roads is now over 11 years. Regardless of your reason for keeping your vehicle around, the good news is that it’s capable of going 150,000 to 200,000 miles or more…
Read MoreOil Filter
What’s the job of the oil filter? As your engine runs, dirt gets into the oil. Oil sludge can also start to build up. Fortunately, motor oil contains detergents that clean the engine and gather up contaminates. The oil circulates through the oil filter where clumps of dirt and sludge are captured. An oil filter…
Read MoreVent Cleaning
Ever get musky odors coming from your car’s air vents? It’s fairly common. Moisture can accumulate in the air conditioning/heating ventilation system allowing mold, mildew, fungus and bacteria to grow. Disinfecting and deodorizing is a process. Depending on how bad the problem is, there are a couple of approaches Douglas Automotive Repair may take to…
Read MoreNew Email Reminder Service
Douglas Automotive Repair is pleased to be able to offer our customers another way to help you keep track of your vehicle maintenance needs. Not only do we offer you an owners website where you can access your vehicle records for the past two years, but we can also send email reminders for appointments, and…
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