Maintenance of equipment is as important as the initial investment.
- Admiral Hyman Rickover, Father of the nuclear submarine
Thoughts we'd like to share with you
The myth of maintenance and new car warranty
Many dealers give you the impression the dealer must perform the maintenance necessary to keep the manufacturer’s warranty in force. This is not true and never has been! Maintenance can be performed anywherr, even by the owner at home! As long as recommended services and service intervals are performed and recorded, the manufacturer’s warrany will remain in effect. In addition, should we notice a problem with your vehicle that is covered by warranty during a service visit, we will supervise and facilitate the repair with the dealer on your behalf. Don’t let the fox guard the henhouse!
Be sure green is really green before buying into a fad!
Some 'green' fads really aren't so green once you scratch the surface:
- Filling your tires with nitrogen will increase fuel economy slightly, but this increase is offset by the fact that the nitrogen cylinders the service facilities use are very heavy (100 lb and more) and are usually transported in large diesel trucks getting less than 6 mpg to and from refilling facility. Is there really a net gain?
- Hybrid and plug-in electric cars use less or no fuel and contribute to cleaner air, no doubt. However, the energy and carbon footprint of these vehicles from manufacturing to use to end of service disposal is much larger than most of us consider. Some homework here is an eye opener!
- Plug-in electric cars don’t pollute on their own, however, when they are plugged into the grid for recharging, someone at the power plant has to throw another scoop of coal into the fire. Thus, plug-in car pollution goes up the smokestack instead of out the tailpipe! Until we have real renewable infrastructure such as wind, solar, tidal, or geothermal, plug-in electric cars may be simply be akin to kicking the can down the road.
The proper method for jump starting a vehicle
Sooner or later, you're going to need to jump start a modern vehicle! Improper jump-starting procedures can damage fragile and expensive electronic components, or, worse, cause serious injury! The following steps can get you rolling again with little or no risk of damage or injury:
- Be completely certain to identify positive and negative battery terminals on both the donor and dead vehicles!
- Connect jumper cables to both vehicles in this order:
- Positive terminal on the dead vehicle
- Positive terminal on the donor vehicle
- Negative terminal on the dead vehicle
- Solid ground connection, donor vehicle (engine block or similar)
- Start donor vehicle and run it for at least five minutes (this will allow the dead battery to accumulate some charge)
- Turn off donor vehicle and start dead vehicle
- Let dead vehicle run for three to five minutes, then remove cables in reverse order from Step 2 above, starting with the ground connection on the donor vehicle.
- Drive vehicle to service facility like Slipstream and have the battery and charging system checked!
Five things you can do to use less fuel without spending a dime
- Slow down (just a little)
- Aerodynamic drag increases dramatically with speed
- Avoid getting zero MPG!
- Don't use drive-thru anything
- Plan local trips that minimize left turns
- Check your tire pressures
- Low tire pressure reduces fuel economy by as much as 4-5 MPG
- Low tire pressure also dramatically reduces tire life
- Eliminate aerodynamic drag on your vehicle
- Remove ski and bike racks, rocket boxes, etc. when not in use
- Wash your car
- Develop momentum skills when driving
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