Monday, April 30, 2012

Monday Maintenance Tip: Fuel Economy

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Drive Sensibly

Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Sensible driving is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money.

Observe the Speed Limit

While each vehicle reaches its optimal fuel economy at a different speed (or range of speeds), gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph.

You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.30 per gallon for gas.

Observing the speed limit is also safer.

Remove Excess Weight

Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones. An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2 percent. The reduction is based on the percentage of extra weight relative to the vehicle's weight and affects smaller vehicles more than larger ones.

Avoid Excessive Idling

Idling can use a quarter to a half gallon of fuel per hour, depending on engine size and air conditioner (AC) use. Turn off your engine when your vehicle is parked. It only takes a few seconds worth of fuel to restart your vehicle. Turning your engine on and off excessively, however, may increase starter wear.

Use Cruise Control

Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas.

Use Overdrive Gears

When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces engine wear.

Courtesy of FuelEconomy.gov

Monday Maintenance Tip: Fuel Economy

Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE

Drive Sensibly

Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Sensible driving is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money.

Observe the Speed Limit

Fuel_economy

While each vehicle reaches its optimal fuel economy at a different speed (or range of speeds), gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph.

You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.30 per gallon for gas.

Observing the speed limit is also safer.

Remove Excess Weight

Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones. An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2 percent. The reduction is based on the percentage of extra weight relative to the vehicle's weight and affects smaller vehicles more than larger ones.

Avoid Excessive Idling

Idling can use a quarter to a half gallon of fuel per hour, depending on engine size and air conditioner (AC) use. Turn off your engine when your vehicle is parked. It only takes a few seconds worth of fuel to restart your vehicle. Turning your engine on and off excessively, however, may increase starter wear.

Use Cruise Control

Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas.

Use Overdrive Gears

When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces engine wear.

Courtesy of FuelEconomy.gov

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Chrysler posts biggest profit since 1998

Chrysler
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Chrysler Group reported its best quarter in more than 13 years, driven by strong sales that were another sign of the automaker's progress since its 2009 bailout and bankruptcy reorganization.

Chrysler earned $473 million in the quarter, more than quadruple the $116 million it earned in the year-earlier period.

The company said that it was the biggest quarterly profit since it earned $682 million in the third quarter of 1998, back when it was an independent company. Chrysler has gone through three different owners since then.

The results were a good start to the year for the automaker, which got about a third of the way to its full-year profit target of $1.5 billion -- although the company only confirmed instead of raising that target in Thursday's report.

But hitting that target will still be an accomplishment for a company that made $183 million last year in its first annual profit since 2005.

The profit turnaround at Chrysler has been matched by results at U.S. rivals General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500), as consumers have flooded dealerships eager to buy cars again despite high gas prices.

GM, which also received a federal bailout in 2009, posted a record annual profit last year. It is due to report first-quarter results May 3.

Ford reported its best earnings since 1998 last year, and its financial turnaround prompted credit rating agency Fitch to remove its debt from junk bond status for the first time since 2005 on Tuesday. The other credit rating agencies are weighing an upgrade and could remove the junk bond stigma from the company in the company months.

Ford reports results on Friday.

But profits at GM and Ford are forecast to be slightly lower in the first quarter and the full year, while Chrysler sales and earnings have been particularly strong so far this year. The results are more notable for Chrysler at a time of high gas prices, as it still depends more on truck sales than other automakers.

Revenue jumped 24% to $16.4 billion, as the number of vehicles worldwide shot up by 33% to 523,000. That increase was driven primarily by the 39% increase in U.S. sales, which accounted for about three-quarters of its overall sales.

But Chrysler also enjoyed an 80% increase in sales outside of North America during the period.

U.S. market share increased to 11.2% for the first quarter, up from 9.4% a year earlier, the best share gain of any automaker, foreign or domestic.

Chrysler received $11.2 billion in federal bailout funds in 2009, most of it in the form of loans, although the government also took a small equity stake in the automaker as well.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Valuable eCoupons from Miracle CDJR

Take advantage of this months coupons before they expire. Need an oil change? New Tires? Hurry before its too late!

 

Monday, April 23, 2012

Your Monday Maintenance Tip: Coolant Flush

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Coolant Flush – How Often is Needed?

Real coolant flush entails removing all the fluid that is in the cooling system and replacing it with fresh one. The best method of removing all the fluid is hooking the car to the machine that will remove it while at the same time, it puts in fresh fluid. The coolant flush machine puts in the right amount of fluid.

 

The machines circulate the fluid in the vehicle cooling system for a number of times. This removes any kind of debris that could have accumulated for a long time. This is the only way that one can consider to have received the service that has been done in the right way.

 

Refills and Drainage

 

Coolant flush is usually confusing to many people as many think that it involves just draining and then refilling cooling system. There are others who assume that it is done by hooking it up to the flush machine and back flushing the system.

 

The differ

ence between refill or drain and engine coolant flush is big. Draining and refilling is straight forward and has no difficulties while a flush needs one to have a coolant flush kit, draining and refilling just includes the drainage of a radiator and the reservoir.

 

It is then refilled with the some new fluid.  Before draining and refilling it is important to make arrangements on how the fluid should be drained as the old fluid cannot be poured down a drain or on the street.

 

Coolant Flushes and Solvents

 

Clearing contamination in the engine coolant system might be necessary  but  using a flush solvent  or any element  that  is used to clean  the cooling  system  will do more damage than  good. Getting the cooling system flushed using the flushing machine might be the right way but it is important to first ask is coolant flush necessary?

 

This depends on the reasons that have prompted the car owner to consider it but at times it might not be necessary and the cost can be saved. However there could be reasons why someone feels that it is necessary to have a it done and not just because there is coolant flush coupon that would cater for part of the cost.

 

If the PH of the cooling fluid is not the right one, there is a need to for flushing. It is also important to do a flush if it is noted that the coolant has been discolored. When carrying out such service the BMW and Toyota coolant flush cost might be different depending on where it is done but it is necessary to use a flush machine.

 

The advantage of using the flush machine is that there is an assurance that almost all the old coolant will be flushed out. Draining and refilling just removes only 50 to 60 percent of old fluid.

 

Frequency of Coolant Flushes

 

When it comes to maintenance of the cooling system that involves coolant flush how often should it be done? This is something that does not need to carry out frequently. There are mechanics who advise their clients to do it every year but it is not necessary and will only increase servicing cost for nothing.

 

Most of the cars that were built after the early year of 1990s have coolant that can last for at least five years or even longer. For all this period, no maintenance is required. Although this is a good service when there is a necessity to have it done, coolant flushing can be imposed on the customers who do not understand about the time when it should be done by mechanics who want to make extra cash.

 

The best thing to

do after being informed by mechanic that there is a need for coolant flushing is to find out the exact reason why it should be done. Check your car manual; it is about 50,000 miles interval before it is needed for such thorough cleaning service.

 

Coolant Test Strips

 

It is possible to establish if there is a need for coolant flush even without the help of a mechanic. This is done by using by using testing strips that can be bought from most of the stores that sell auto spares. These strips make it possible to determine whether the coolant has the right PH.

 

By using the test strips one can establish the level of freeze protection and if there is a need for more additives. If it is necessary for such service the coolant flush kit instructions should be followed. Ensure that everything is needed and ready before starting the exercise.

 

Coolant

Courtesy of CoolantFlush.net

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Chrysler Volunteer Week

This is Chrysler Volunteer Week, have you done any volunteering lately? If so, tell us about it!

 

Monday, April 16, 2012

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Is the 2013 Dodge Dart going wireless?

The 2013 Dodge Dart isn’t an electric car, but it’s going wireless anyway.

The compact sedan will be the first car available with an automaker-backed wireless charging system for mobile devices when it hits showrooms in a few weeks.

The dealer-installed charging pad fits in the bin in front of the gear selector and allows you to recharge a smartphone held in a specially design case that’s included with the $199.99 kit by simply placing it on the pad, similar to a desktop Powerm

The built-in pad, from Chrysler’s Mopar parts and accessories brand, keeps the 12-volt outlet above the bin free for other uses. Several other automakers are working on similar devices, but it appears that Dodge will be first to market with the technology.

A separate in-car Wi-Fi system will also be available from Mopar, along with over 150 accessories and performance parts designed specifically for the car.

The front-wheel-drive Dart goes on sale this spring with a choice of three engines, including a high-tech 160 hp 1.4-liter four-cylinder turbo expected to deliver at least 40 mpg.

Monday, April 9, 2012