Rockville Auto Repair

One thing all Rockville 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. Auto Clinic Care 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 Rockville are or using a battery charger will preserve your battery’s ability to hold a full charge.Give us a call.Auto Clinic Care5531 Nicholson LaneRockville, MD 20852301.881.7891http://WWW.autocliniccare.com

You probably have heard that expression, "A stitch in time saves nine." In other words, if you fix an issue at its early stages, it will prevent a much more difficult problem later. That's certainly the case with your vehicle, and here's a true story to demonstrate it. A driver noticed his vehicle was due for an oil change, so he took it in to his service facility early in the morning so he could wait while the work was performed. The technician routinely checks the battery on vehicles just before extreme weather is approaching (cold or hot), so with winter coming up, he hooked up the load tester (it measures voltage while a load is put on the battery). It showed the battery wasn't holding a charge well. The technician checked the manufacturing date on the battery, too (most batteries have a date stamped in code somewhere on them). The date showed it was five years old. While batteries can last more than five years, many technicians say you should expect to get anywhere from three to s ... read more

The simple fact is that 70% of car batteries fail within 4 years. They just need to be replaced at Auto Clinic Care when they are no longer able to hold a full charge.Batteries are a big ticket item for most Rockville drivers and it’s tempting to put off buying a new one as long as possible. But a battery that cannot hold a full charge requires the alternator to work extra hard, causing it to wear out prematurely.Your Auto Clinic Care service advisor can test your battery to see if it should be replaced. Testing is a good idea for MD drivers because a battery might still be good, but become dead because of a bad alternator or even a worn serpentine belt and tensioner. Auto Clinic Care5531 Nicholson LaneRockville, MD 20852301.881.7891http://WWW.autocliniccare.com  

When it comes to your vehicle, it all starts with the battery. Proper battery maintenance is important for two reasons:First, your vehicle won't start or run without it. Second, it is the key to the long life of your auto electrical system. If your battery isn't working efficiently, your alternator has to work overtime to make up for it, and other electrical components can suffer as well.A number of years ago sealed batteries were introduced to the local Rockville, MD, market. They were hailed as being 'maintenance-free batteries.' While it is true that you can't get in and adjust the electrolyte levels of a sealed battery, it is by no means maintenance free.Batteries are very sensitive to changes in the weather around MD. Temperature really affects auto battery performance. A battery inspection is an important part of your spring and fall checkups. Next time you're under your hood, take a look at your battery. Is it clean and free of residue? A dirty battery will drain. Is there cor ... read more

Hello Rockville drivers! Need a new battery? There is a good chance that you do – 70% of batteries need to be replaced within four years. As your battery discharges and then recharges as you drive around Rockville, bits of the surface of the battery plates disintegrate. As this process continues over a few years, the alternator has to work harder to supplement the battery charge. Over time, enough of the battery is damaged that it can no longer hold a charge and it needs to be replaced. This also speeds up wear on the alternator.Your Auto Clinic Care service advisor can help you determine the right vehicle replacement battery for the way you drive around Rockville, as well as the MD climate and durability needs.Contact Auto Clinic Care for information on battery replacement.Give us a call. Auto Clinic Care 5531 Nicholson Lane Rockville, MD 20852 301.881.7891 http://WWW.autocliniccare.com ... read more

Hello Rockville drivers, let's talk about batteries. Car batteries are just like any rechargeable battery. They will eventually wear out and die. If you are shopping for a new battery in Rockville, here's some auto advice to help you.There are two measurements to consider when purchasing a new battery: cold cranking amps and reserve capacity. The power required to start a cold engine is measured in cold cranking amps. The number you need is determined by what kind of vehicle you drive and where you live. In general, higher-cylinder engines require more cold cranking amps than lower-cylinder engines. In other words, an eight-cylinder engine needs more cold cranking amps than a six-cylinder one. Also, diesel engines require more cold cranking amps than gasoline engines.The weather where you live in MD also determines the number of cold cranking amps you need. The colder the vehicl ... read more

It's important for Rockville drivers to know battery basics. First, let's talk about which is harder on a battery – hot or cold MD weather. Most Rockville area drivers think it's cold weather because that's when we call on our batteries to have enough power to start a cold vehicle engine. However, heat does more damage to a battery than cold. Truth is, our batteries start to die a little from day one. Keeping a full charge slows the process, which is hard with short Rockville trips because the alternator doesn't have time to fully recharge the battery from starting the engine. Rockville drivers can top off the charge with a computer controlled battery charger – say, once a month in the summer and every three months during the winter.As far as how long a battery will last, statistics show that 70% have given up the ghost within four years. By that time, they aren't capable of taking a full charge like they used to ... read more

Modern vehicles in and around Rockville run on 12 volt electrical systems. 12 volts is enough to get the job done for Rockville drivers without having so much power that there is danger of electrocution. But today's vehicles have more electrical components and do-dads than ever before. This really strains your electrical system, making it hard for the battery to keep up. Think about it: electric seats, seat heaters, power locks windows and sun roofs. And then us MD drivers have all the power outlets for our cell phones, computers and DVD players.We also have navigation systems and powerful stereos. Plus there are all the engine and transmission computers, traction control, stability control, anti-lock brakes, sensors and on and on. Even the security system is running off the battery while the car is turned off.Fortunately, battery technology has given Rockville drivers resilient batteries that are able to meet these strenuous requirements. But the fact is, batteries just wear out ... read more

Here's an interesting statistic for our in Rockville, MD, drivers: Only 30 percent of car batteries make it to 48 months. And the life expectancy varies by where you live. It ranges from 51 months in extremely cold areas to just 30 months in extremely hot climates.Why is that? It turns out that it's our modern cars with all their electric accessories that are to blame. Things like, GPS, DVDs and entertainment computers are keeping vehicle batteries from maintaining a full charge. The longer a battery goes with a low charge, the sooner it'll die.It's clear that you Rockville drivers need to recharge your batteries. This is the job of the alternator. The problem comes when the car's demand for electricity is high and we are driving in stop and go conditions or short trips around Rockville. The alternator just can't keep up.The result is shortened battery life. So what can we do to improve our battery's health?We need to keep the battery as close to a full charge as p ... read more

Hello, welcome to Auto Clinic Care. Today's focus is batteries. It seems like everything in Rockville runs on batteries. Of course, the batteries we're most concerned with here at Auto Clinic Care are those in our customer's vehicles. Just like the batteries in our smoke detectors or TV remote, they wear out and need to be replaced . This can be thought of as the power output used to start a cold vehicle engine. The number of cold cranking amps you need depends on your vehicle and where you live in MD, specifically how cold it is. (Many Rockville drivers have first-hand experience trying to start their car on a cold winter morning.) The two factors are that the colder your vehicle's engine is, the more power it takes to turn the engine over to get it started. It has all that cold, sluggish oil to contend with.The other factor is that the chemical reaction in the battery that creates electrical energy is less efficient when the temperature dips. Let's say it ... read more