Posts by Mountain View Automotive

When your vehicle doesn’t start, the first thing you think of might be the battery.  That may be the culprit, but it also might be that your alternator has gone bad. An alternator sends power to your vehicle’s electrical systems and accessories like your entertainment system, charging ports, and so on.  Any extra electricity goes…

Most people don’t service their air conditioning until after it fails.  Maintaining your AC system means that you always have enough refrigerant to properly do the job.  Small leaks in the air conditioning system allow the refrigerant to escape and the system can’t cool the air as well. Along with the refrigerant, a special oil…

We’ve all heard a car or truck in our Thornton neighborhoods that needs a new muffler. But there’s more to the exhaust system than just the muffler. The exhaust system has three main functions: Safely get hot exhaust gas from the engine out the tailpipe Treat the exhaust to remove harmful pollutants Muffle the engine…

Simple Answers from Mountain View Automotive for Thornton: Fuel System Service Question What benefit will I get out of a fuel system cleaning? Answer Well, the dirtier your fuel system is, the bigger the improvement you’ll see in performance and fuel economy.  But don’t wait until your engine is running poorly, you’ve wasted hundreds of…

Hello, Thornton! Today’s Mountain View Automotive auto care topic is the serpentine belt. Your serpentine belt is a long belt that’s driven by your engine. It winds around several accessories that power important automotive systems. Let’s go over them. First, the serpentine belt drives your air conditioning system. Next, the belt powers the alternator. The…

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 can eventually get clogged up – so…

If you’re a quart low, there isn’t enough oil to lubricate your engine properly.  The extra friction causes drag that reduces fuel economy. Same goes for dirty oil.  It doesn’t reduce friction properly.  The result is you get to watch those numbers at the gas pump rolling higher and higher. The transmission also needs the…

You probably have a cabinet in your kitchen filled with pots and pans. Your vehicle has one very important pan in it as well. It’s the pan that holds oil for your engine called, naturally, an oil pan. The oil pan is a very important, though simple, component of your engine’s lubrication system.  The oil…

Clean air quality is something that helps all of us thrive here on Planet Earth.  And considering that motor vehicles are a contributor to air pollution, emissions tests in the U.S. and Canada are in place to keep vehicles from needlessly spewing dangerous gases into the air. While laws vary from place to place, the…

Let’s address a very important maintenance item – timing belt replacement.  It’s important because letting this one slide can lead to very expensive engine damage. Your timing belt choreographs the timing of your combustion process.  Your pistons travel up and down in the cylinder.  Intake valves open at the right time to let in air…