Archives for October 2013

There are a number of factors that contribute to the high nighttime accident rate in the greater Mankato area, things like drowsy driving and a higher rate of impaired driving. Without a doubt, visibility is a major contributor. Let’s focus on visibility…

It’s said that 90 percent of our driving decisions are based on what we see. Nighttime driving has the effect of reducing 20/20 vision to the equivalent of 20/50 vision. What you could clearly see at 50 feet in daylight can’t be seen until you are just 20 feet away at night.

Too make sure your headlights are giving you the greatest visibility, visit us at Hughes Automotive Inc. you’ll find us located on 109 E LeRay Ave, Eagle Lake, MN 56024. Please give us a call to make an appointment: 507.257.3730.

Accident avoidance is dependent on reaction time. Reaction time deteriorates measurably in low light conditions. One thing we can do to improve visibility is to make sure our headlights are as bright as they can possibly be.

Headlamps dim over time. They dim so gradually that you may not notice it. Many experts suggest replacing your standard or halogen headlamps once a year.

If your vehicle has standard headlamps, consider upgrading to halogen lamps. They make a big difference. And there are upgrades available within the halogen category as well. This once-a-year expense is very modest compared to the safety benefits.

Some sedans come with high intensity discharge – or HID – headlamps. These lamps should last for the life of your car. They are very bright and are clearly the best option for nighttime driving. Depending on your vehicle, you may be able to upgrade to HID headlamps. Talk with your Mankato service advisor at Hughes Automotive Inc about options for your car.

Another startling fact is that 90 percent of sedans on the road have dirty or yellowed headlight covers. Dirty is easy to fix. Just run the window washer over the headlight cover when you stop for gas. Get those bugs and dirt off the cover.

Now plastic headlight covers can yellow or become hazy over time. They can be restored to clarity with a special polishing process. Hughes Automotive Inc can help you with this service.

It’s also vital to keep your windshield clean and streak free when driving at night. Make sure you have plenty of washer fluid and that your windshield wipers are in good working order.

We recommend replacing wiper blades twice a year – in the spring and fall. Fall is also a good time to replace headlamps so you’ll be ready for those long winter nights.

Some Eagle Lake car owners wonder why Hughes Automotive Inc and other Eagle Lake auto repair shops charge a fee for diagnostic services.

Think about it: When you hire a local Mankato HVAC technician to check out a problem with your air conditioner you’ll probably pay a diagnostic fee. When you visit your Eagle Lake doctor for a health problem, you pay the physician to diagnose the ailment and of course for the tests that go along with it.

So receiving a diagnostic charge at Hughes Automotive Inc for a tricky automotive problem shouldn’t be a surprise. In the Mankato area, automotive diagnostics can cover quite a range. If you hear a noise in your sedan brakes when you slow down in rush-hour traffic on a busy MN expressway, you pull off the next off-ramp and take a quick visual check. That is usually enough to know what needs to be done. If you’re having an intermittent problem with your sedan engine, however, Hughes Automotive Inc diagnosis may be much more involved.

Much of the Mankato car owners’s confusion comes when the problem involves the check engine light. The check engine light comes on when the engine management computer has sensed a problem.

There’s a common misconception among Eagle Lake, Mankato, and Janesville drivers that the trouble code tells the Hughes Automotive Inc technician exactly what’s wrong. They wonder why there is a diagnostic charge – because the scanner quickly gave the diagnosis.

In reality, it is not that easy and straightforward. The computer monitors many sensors throughout the vehicle. When one of these sensors has a reading that’s out of parameters, the computer will record a trouble code and turn on the check engine light.

The sedan computer’s trouble code just tells the Hughes Automotive Inc technician what engine parameter is out of range – not what’s causing it. The technician needs to determine the underlying problem that’s causing the malfunction.

There are many problems that could cause a troublesome sensor reading for Hughes Automotive Inc customers. The Hughes Automotive Inc service advisor makes a list of the most likely causes and begins tracking down the source of the problem. This takes time.

Mankato service centers subscribe to databases that document possible causes for all the possible trouble codes. The databases outline procedures for confirming a diagnosis and provide the documented repair. These databases are specific to each vehicle and engine combination.

Some diagnoses are quick and easy. Others are more involved, time-consuming, and difficult. Of course Hughes Automotive Inc wants to figure out what’s wrong with your sedan and get you back on the road as quickly as possible.

Eagle Lake drivers rely on their car’s coolant system to keep their engine cool. Coolant (also called antifreeze) mixed with water flows through your sedan engine and absorbs heat. The mixture then flows out to the radiator where it’s cooled by air flowing over the radiator. From there the coolant/water mix circulates back through the engine to absorb more heat.

There’s a reason we mix coolant and water. Water alone actually does a good job transferring heat from the engine. The problem is that water boils at a temperature that’s easily reached inside your sedan’s engine, so it can turn to steam which does not conduct heat as well and is harder to contain.

Also, if it’s freezing outside in Eagle Lake, the water in your engine could freeze while your vehicle is sitting out in the cold.

So, if you remember your Eagle Lake high school chemistry, you’ll know that a mixture has both a higher boiling point and a lower freezing point than either component alone.

Coolant, or antifreeze, is specially formulated to keep your engine safe in a wide range of environmental and operating temperatures in and around Eagle Lake.

Whenever the sedan is running, the coolant in the cooling system is working to keep your engine from overheating. When it’s cold outside, the coolant acts as antifreeze to keep the fluid from freezing in your engine.

All that exploding fuel in your engine creates a lot of heat. Without coolant, the metal sedan engine parts would expand so much that the engine would seize up and stop running. Expensive parts could be broken or warp so badly they would have to be replaced. It could even be so bad that the whole sedan’s engine is ruined and has to be junked.

This is why it is critical that Eagle Lake drivers check coolant levels frequently and have their sedan cooling system inspected for leaks. Also your sedan manufacturer has a maintenance requirement for draining and replacing your coolant. These recommendations can vary widely, so check your owner’s manual or ask us at Hughes Automotive Inc in Eagle Lake.

The reason you need to change the coolant is that it has additives in it to protect the cooling system. As you can imagine, with all the heat, the cooling system’s a pretty harsh environment. The additives keep the fluid from becoming corrosive and damaging the radiator and other sedan cooling system components. Over time, the additives are depleted and the coolant just has to be replaced.

Many Eagle Lake auto owners ask Hughes Automotive Inc why there are different colors of antifreeze. It is very important that you use the correct type of antifreeze. The different types of antifreeze – or coolant – are different colors so you don’t mix them up.

Auto manufacturers use different materials to make the cooling system, and they require different types of antifreeze to protect them.

So check with us at Hughes Automotive Inc or your owner’s manual for the right kind because using the wrong coolant can void the warranty for your sedan cooling system.

With front-wheel drive being so common these days in Eagle Lake, MN, the differential is just taken care of during a transmission service, so most folks in Eagle Lake, MN don’t even have to think about it. And rear-wheel drive differentials don’t need to be serviced for years, so it’s understandable that it’s not something on the top of mind for our Eagle Lake customers. So it’s not uncommon for people to not know they have a differential let alone know that it needs service.

Call Hughes Automotive Inc at 507.257.3730 for information about differential service, or stop by our Eagle Lake, MN auto center at 109 E LeRay Ave 56024.

To better understand what a differential does, think about our local Eagle Lake high school track. There are lanes marked off on the track. For the longer distance races, the starting lines are staggered. The starting lines for the outside lanes are ahead of the starting lines for the inside lanes. That’s to compensate for the longer length of the outside lanes. Staggering the starting lines means that each runner has the same distance to run.

The differential compensates for the difference in speeds between the inside wheel and the outside wheel in a turn, because they have to travel together through slightly different distances.

It’s a very important function. When you think of it, all the power to get a vehicle moving goes through the differential. Most cars in the Eagle Lake, MN area weigh between three and six thousand pounds – trucks even more. The power from the engine goes through the transmission and then through the differential to the drive wheels.

That’s a lot of work and requires very heavy duty parts. And those parts need protection. The differential fluid lubricates the gears in the differential and keeps them cool.

The fluid eventually gets dirty and worn down. Some kinds of differentials require special additives that breakdown over time. So manufacturers recommend intervals for replacing your differential fluid.

Your Eagle Lake, MN technician at Hughes Automotive Inc will drain the used fluid and check it out for metal bits, which could be a sign of excessive wear on the gears. Then he’ll replace the fluid and install the additives if necessary.

Your Hughes Automotive Inc service advisor can look up the manufacturer’s recommended service interval or you can check your owner’s manual. Give us a call at 507.257.3730 for more information about your differential service.