Windsor Locks Auto Repair

Hey WINDSOR LOCKS - this is something really amazing: Your vehicle uses 12,000 times as much air as fuel when you drive it. All of that air has to be filtered to keep your engine clean.That's like 100 gallons (380 liters) of air every block! The engine air filter is just another example of a very important but inexpensive part that has to do a tremendous amount of work. And when it works, everything goes well. But, when it doesn't, well, it can lead to problems. Of course, your vehicle manufacturer recommends how often to change your air filter. But like most service intervals, where and how you drive your vehicle in CT affects when your filter needs to be changed.Dusty conditions around WINDSOR LOCKS or polluted city driving means you'll need to change your filter more often. Our trained professionals at Scata's Auto & Truck Repair can check your filter for you. In fact, it's often a routine part of an oil change.When you think about it, a cl ... read more

Here is a questions for WINDSOR LOCKS drivers: What is a cabin air filter?Is it: A filter for a house in the middle of the woods? A fresh, piney scent? A filter for the passenger compartment of your car? Clever you, it's 3.A cabin air filter cleans the outside air before it comes into the passenger compartment. It filters out dust, pollen, spores, bacteria, pollutants, sparrows, exhaust gas and odors.These high tech filters can block particles larger than 3 microns. By contrast, a grain of sand is about 200 microns.Now not all vehicles in the WINDSOR LOCKS area have cabin filters. They are fairly new on the scene in CT. About 40 percent of new vehicles come with cabin air filters, but the number is growing every year.Cabin air filters can make for a very nice driving environment for WINDSOR LOCKS. Your car can be a haven during CT allergy season with very little dust and pollen getting into the cabin. However, like all filters, your cabin air filter e ... read more

  All WINDSOR LOCKS drivers have blind spots – and no, I'm not talking about the fact that you really don't sing like Adele. I mean the areas of the road that you can't see when you're driving around WINDSOR LOCKS.First let's talk about our own blinds spots, and then we can talk about others...To begin, we can greatly reduce blind spots by properly adjusting our mirrors to give the widest coverage possible. Make the adjustments in your vehicle before you start to drive.First, WINDSOR LOCKS drivers should adjust their rear view mirrors to give the best possible view directly to the rear of their vehicle. WINDSOR LOCKS folks don't need it to get a better view of either side of the car, the kids in the back seat or their dazzling smile. It's pretty obvious, the rear view mirror should reflect the rear.Next, lean your head until it almost touches the driver's side window. Adjust your side mirror so that you can just barely see the side of your car. Now, lean your head ... read more

What part of your vehicle has little metal balls inside that are lubricated and allow you to cruise on down the road?  They are wheel bearings, and automotive designers might argue they are human beings' second greatest invention of all time (the first is, of course, the wheel!). You have a wheel bearing at each wheel.  They allow your wheels to turn freely, minimizing friction that would ordinarily slow you down when metal meets metal.  When one of your wheel bearings starts to go bad, it lets you know. A wheel bearing does its work quietly when it's in good health but starts getting noisy when it isn't.  People describe the noise differently.  Sometimes it sounds like road noise, a pulsating, rhythmic, sound.  That pulse speeds up when your vehicle speeds up.  Here's what's happening when you hear that sound.  As mentioned, the bearing has these little metal balls inside a ring.  They have a lubricant inside to reduce friction between the ... read more

Like everything in the CT automotive market, there have been great strides in headlight technology in recent years. CT drivers can be safer at night because of it. Good headlights improve visibility on WINDSOR LOCKS roads, enabling you to see farther. They also improve your peripheral vision, helping you to see the sides more clearly. The more you can see, the more quickly you can react to road conditions. This is because nearly half of traffic fatalities take place at night. And as WINDSOR LOCKS resident population ages, everything that helps older eyes is welcome.Most new vehicles sold in CT come with halogen headlamps. A decade ago, halogens were exotic and expensive. Now that they are standard equipment, the price has come way down. Many luxury cars are equipped with high intensity discharge, or HID, headlamps. You have probably seen them on some WINDSOR LOCKS roads; they're very bright and have a bluish tint.From behind the wheel, there is no doubt that ... read more

Ever notice that your tire is covered with writing? It's like some hieroglyphic art form. Of course, WINDSOR LOCKS drivers know that it's not just graffiti, but to most of us, it might as well be. Would you like to know what all those codes on your tire mean? It won't lead you to buried treasure, but it could help you make a better tire purchase at your local WINDSOR LOCKS tire store.Prominently featured on your tire is a set of numbers and letters that looks something like this: 225 50 R 16 92 H. The first number is the width of the tire in millimeters, or the width between the sidewalls of the tire when it is fully inflated and not carrying a load. When WINDSOR LOCKS drivers replace tires, they need to match this width number, or the tires won't fit properly in the wheel wells.The 50 is the aspect ratio of the tire, which is measured by taking the height of the sidewalls and dividing it by the tread width. If you drive off-road around the WINDSOR LOCKS area, it should have a high asp ... read more

A lot of us drivers are asking ourselves the same question lately: how can we save on fuel? WINDSOR LOCKS area residents are all cutting back, if not in fuel consumption, then in other areas of our lives. Preventive Maintenance Preventive maintenance is an important way people in WINDSOR LOCKS can conserve fuel by improving fuel economy. And one of the easiest and most effective ways to do that is to keep the oil in our vehicle adequate and clean.Oil lubricates your vehicle engine and keeps it running smoothly. If you're running low, there is increased friction in your engine. Friction creates drag, which means it takes more fuel to keep the vehicle motor running. This all translates to lower fuel economy.Check your oil to make sure the engine is getting all it needs. Your owner's manual and service advisor at Scata's Auto & Truck Repair will tell you the proper weight and type of oil for your vehicle. Responsible Car Care Dirty oil grits up your ... read more

Your vehicle's engine makes a lot of heat when it's powering you down the road, so it needs a way to get rid of that energy.  That's why your vehicle has a cooling system, complete with a radiator and one or two radiator fans, also called cooling fans.  Those fans make sure air keeps moving across the radiator so that the heat stored in the coolant can be dissipated outside when the vehicle is stopped or not traveling fast. Radiator fans can develop problems and can stop working properly or stop working altogether.  Some signs to look for? If you're driving slowly and idling and you see your temperature gauge moving toward the red or hot zone, that could spell trouble.  Another thing you may notice when a radiator fan is failing is that there may be a loud noise coming from the engine compartment. There are two types of radiator fans.  One is mechanically connected to the engine and uses the engine's rotational energy to turn it.  The other is an electric ... read more

One thing all WINDSOR LOCKS drivers can do to extend the life of their battery is to keep it clean. A greasy, dirty battery holds in damaging heat. Same goes for removing corrosion from the terminals. Scata's Auto & Truck Repair can help maintain your battery.Allowing your battery to be deeply depleted – like from using your headlights when the engine is off – is very harmful to your battery. Most automotive batteries can only take that about 10 times before they are ruined.Also, making sure you have a full charge every month or so extends battery life. Either an extended drive at freeway speeds around the WINDSOR LOCKS are or using a battery charger will preserve your battery’s ability to hold a full charge.Give us a call.Scata's Auto & Truck Repair535 SPRING STWINDSOR LOCKS, CT 060968606230449http://scatas.com

  Most WINDSOR LOCKS drivers don't even think about their air conditioner. Now here's a tip for WINDSOR LOCKS vehicle owners: Run your air conditioner every so often during CT winters. This circulates the lubricant to help keep the seals from drying out. The air conditioner actually removes some of the moisture in the air. So if you have trouble with fogging on your vehicle windshield during CT winters or during a rain storm, running the A/C on the defrost setting should help. Now on some WINDSOR LOCKS cars you can't run the A/C at the same time as the defroster. Don't ask me why, but I suspect lawyers were involved.Also, air and water can get into the A/C system. That can reduce the efficiency of the system and also lead to corrosion that causes damage. WINDSOR LOCKS drivers should periodically purge the system and replace the refrigerant to remove the air and water.CT drivers w ... read more