Month of Miracles

The month of January 2010 will be an extra special month at Express Oil Change & Service Center. January will be a month of miracles. At Express Oil Change we want to provide support to our local causes that will impact the lives of our citizens and especially the lives of their children. The Dothan Rotary Club is leading the way to developing a dream playground for special needs children in our area. This playground will have specially designed equipment and access to allow them to enjoy a fun day at the park. We are teaming up with the Rotary Club for the entire month of January to raise money to fund this project. For every vehicle serviced at our area Express Oil Change locations we will be donating $1 per vehicle to the Rotary Miracle Playground Fund. We want your help in making this contribution be all that it can be and to partner with us to help build a better community for our children. At Express Oil Change we are changing oil, and changing lives, because every child deserves a place to play! Pass this message along to as many friends and family members as you can and touch the heart of a child today. Thank you for your help and may God Bless you.

What Oil is the Right Oil for My Car?

The need for manufacturer's to compete in the fuel economy race as impacted many things about you car's engine including the motor oil. Today's engines use a lot lower viscosity oil than ever before. It wasn't very long ago that 10w30, 10w40, and even 20w50 motor oils were the preferred motor oils of most vehicles but not any more! New engine designs have lowered oil viscosity down to 5w30, 0w40, and even 0w20. These oils have less resistance to flow because of their lowered viscosity which in turn reduces the drag and resistance in your engine causing the vehicle to get better fuel economy. The best way to determine which motor oil is best for your car is to go by your manufacturer's recommended oil for your particular car. In most cases the preferred oil can be found on the eninge oil cap or in your owner's manual.
If you ever have a question about your motor oil just come by Express Oil Change & Service Center, or just call us and we'll be glad to help you.

Tuesday's....Always Special!

At Express Oil Change and Service Center we value our customers and we want you to know it. Through the years it seems like its always been a task taking care of your vehicle maintenance, well not here! At Express Oil Change we make it easy for you to maintain your vehicle while using superior products and services which will maintain your manufacturer's warranty. We believe in fast, friendly service done by highly trained, professional crews. We want to thank all of our customers for your years of support. We want to give back to our customers as often as we can and one of the ways we do this is "special event days", so just a quick remider that every Tuesday is Ladies Day at Express Oil Change. All ladies will receive a $3 discount on there oil change service all day on Tuesday.

Time for a Timing Belt?

Have you taken the time to see if your timing belt is due? Timing belts are very important to the performance and life of your vehicle. The timing belt is a belt designed to keep all components inside your engine running in harmony with the others. Inside of your engine are many moving parts including valves that open and close, pistons which move up and down inside of the cylinders and camshafts and crankshafts that control the movement of these parts. Everything inside the engine has a specific time that it should open or close or compress or ignite, keeping this specific order of movement is vital. To achieve this manufacturers install gears to the ends of these crankshaft, camshafts and idlers and route either a rubber ribbed belt or a metal linked chain around these gears. When the engine is running these gears are turning these shafts keeping the parts attached in perfect "time". Many issues can arise from a timing belt, anything from noise to complete engine failure. Most manufacturers recommend between 50,000 to 75,000 miles for replacing a timing belt, guides, and tensioners. Their are two different classifications to motors in general when referring to timing, they are either an interference engine or a free-running engine. An interference engine usually sustains serious damage when a timing belt goes bad. Here is an illustration to help you understand.
You can see in the picture a piston making contact with an intake or exhaust valve, which in turn would cause the valve to bend, break or damage the piston. This will be a costly repair if this happens. How do I know if my engine is an interference engine or not? Glad you asked...here is a link to the Gate's website where you can enter in your vehicle and find out, http://www.gates.com/part_locator/index.cfm?location_id=3598&go=Interference. How do I know if my timing belt needs to be replaced? The best thing is if your vehicle has over 50,000 miles to check your service records, if you can't find where it has been done then the best thing to do is replace the timing belt by mileage. Once it has been replaced keep your record in your glove box of your vehicle for future reference. Express Oil Change & Service Center is here to help you with any questions you may have. Go to our website for store contact information at www.expressoilchangesouth.com. have a blessed day, and keep in time!

Your morning cup of car care...

Good morning and blessings to all of you this chilly day. With the weather getting colder no better time to check you antifreeze than now. Your vehicles cooling system is constantly under attack from corrosion to electrical charges and anything in between. It is not only important to just check the freeze point on your antifreeze but there are other things to check such as the Ph levels. Express Oil Change can help you determine the condition of your vehicles cooling system at absolutely no cost to you, just drop by today. There is a hidden monster in your antifreeze which becomes the silent killer of your vehicles cooling system components, it is called electrolysis. Electrolysis is an electrical charge or current that is present in cooling systems. Many things cause this but the main cause is a poor ground somewhere on the engine which allows current to enter into the antifreeze itself which is then carried throughout the entire system. As this pinned up current flows through the cooling system it is constantly zapping away at the walls that trap which are cylinder head coolant passages, heater cores, radiators, and water pumps to name a few. As this current tries to escape to get to a ground it is literally eating away at the inside of you cooling system. You can test for the presence of electrolysis in your coolant/antifreeze by following these steps. First be sure your engine is cool, never remove your radiator cap while the engine is hot, so after running it allow it to cool first. For this next steps you will need a multimeter or voltmeter capable of reading in tenths. Remove the radiator cap and ground the voltmeter to the negative battery terminal, then place the other voltmeter probe down into your antifreeze being sure you are not touching the walls of the radiator so you don't get a bad reading. You should immediately see the voltmeter begin to read voltage. All vehicles will have approximately .001 to .3 volts in the antifreeze, anything in excess of .3 volts is a high level of electrolysis. Don't panic, this can be corrected. You can have a repair shop inspect your vehicle for poor grounds, if none are found you should have them perform a coolant system flush. Now, you must have a flush done that involves a chemical flush, not just allow them to drain and refill the radiator, only the chemical flush will help to kill the electrolysis in the system. On most vehicle that use the older "green" antifreeze known as Ethylene Glycol the average recommendation for flushes the system is 30,000 miles. If your vehicle has the newer antifreeze known as extended life antifreeze, or "orange" then the flush intervals are said to be much higher anywhere from 50,000 to 150,000 miles (be careful with going more than 50,000 miles on any extended life antifreeze). I hope this will be helpful to you this cool wintry morning. God Bless.

How to save money through proper tire care!

Proper tire pressure can save more than just tires! Under inflated tires are one of the most common causes of decreased fuel economy. Proper tire maintenance will save you money on fuel and on tire replacement intervals. A properly inflated tire should have the entire tread surface of the tire making constant contact with the pavement. Having your tires under inflated will cause your tire to contact the pavement on the inner and outer edges only which will result in the tread being depleted in an irregular pattern. On the other hand it is not a good idea to over inflate your tires either. Overinflated tires will not rob you of fuel economy however, they will wear out in the center of the tread pattern at a higher rate and cause shorter tire life. On top of tire pressure another key to extending tire life and maximizing your investment is to have your tires rotated every 5,000 to 7,000 miles (we recommend every other oil change, based on a 3,000 mile oil change interval). If you will put these tips to practice you will see you can save MPG on your fuel gauge as well as extend the life of your tires, but above all protect the safety of your family. God Bless.

Take Care of Your Car

This morning as you head off to work remeber it is your vehicle you depend on to get you there. There are many things you can do to help your vehicle continue on its dependable way. First, and most importantly developing a regularly scheduled maintenance routine is vital. You should bring your car in for an oil, lube and filter change every 3 months or 3,000 miles, whichever comes first. Extending the oil change intervals can result in an internal build up referred to as engine sludge. Engine sludge can be terminal to your car's enigne, so keep it running clean by having an oil change service performed regularly. Express Oil Change makes it easy and convenient to have this service taken care of. Most cars are done in under 12 minutes, because we understand your time is a valuable comodity. At Express Oil Change & Service Center we have a slogan which says, "It's About Time!", but not only time in minutes and hours, but it's about time a company valued your time... it's about time a company made it easy for anyone to maintain their vehicle and much much more. Visit our group on Facebook, Express Oil Change South, for more tips and information from Express Oil Change or follow us on Twitter @ExpOilChange. We hope your day is filled with blessings today, thank you.