2021 is almost upon us, and that means it’s time for planning new year’s resolutions. While you may be planning to go to the gym more or eat more vegetables, have you ever thought about making new year’s resolutions for your car? Here are five easy ways to keep your car in top condition this year.

1. Get your oil changed regularly

All car owners have heard about the importance of getting regular oil changes. That isn’t just talk – oil changes help prolong the life of your car and improve the vehicle’s efficiency, saving you money over the long haul.

Check your owner’s manual to see how frequently oil changes are recommended for your vehicle. Alternately, give T3 Atlanta a call and we’ll be able to provide answers based on your vehicle make, age, and your personal driving habits.

2. Keep your car on its maintenance schedule

Your car maintenance schedule is effectively a list of recommended maintenance checkpoints that should be done throughout the year. Oil changes, tire inflations, fluid changes, and key component checks and/or repairs are just a few of the items that are on an average schedule.

Sticking to your maintenance schedule will not only help keep your car running smoothly, it will extend the lifespan of your vehicle and help preserve its resale value.

3. Wash your car

Washing your car may not do anything for the health of your engine or the vehicle’s components, but there are several benefits of giving your car a good scrub-down.

The biggest reason to wash and wax your car is, of course, to protect the paint from getting damaged. Not only does your vehicle look better, it will help with the resale value.

Car washes typically include a coat of wax. This isn’t just to make your car shiny. Putting a thin coating of wax on the exterior will make rain drops bead off of your windows, improving your visibility while you are driving in the rain.

If nothing else, a car wash will make your ride look great!

4. Make sure to winterize (and de-winterize) your vehicle

‘Winterizing’ your vehicle is the process of getting your vehicle ready for colder months. This typically involves replacing your windshield wipers, checking your tire tread, installing snow tires on your car (if you need them), checking your coolant and other fluids, adding antifreeze where necessary, and so on. It’s recommended to winterize your vehicle in the fall, before the weather gets too cold.

On the flip side, remember to de-winterize your vehicle this spring in preparation for summer.

5. Use the right kind of gas in your vehicle

It can be tempting to use the cheapest option at the fuel pump, especially with gas prices so high these days. However, the engineers who designed your car optimized the engine around a specific octane – the amount of pressure needed for fuel to combust – for a reason.

In general, putting high octane fuel into a car that runs on low octane fuel won’t hurt the vehicle. However, expensive fuel won’t give your car any additional benefits, either. Putting low octane gas into an engine that requires high octane fuel, on the other hand, can cause pinging, decrease fuel efficiency, and lead to other preventable issues.

Let T3 Atlanta Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions For Your Car

These five easy resolutions can help keep your car working at its best, making sure you stay on the road instead of waiting for a tow truck. T3 Atlanta provides comprehensive auto service for Nissan, Lexus, Infiniti, and Toyota vehicles at our convenient Smyrna and Decatur locations. Give us a call and we’ll pen you in for an appointment!

Speed bumps serve a very important purpose, helping prevent drivers from traveling too quickly in areas with many pedestrians. Despite their lifesaving intent, speed bumps aren’t always kind to vehicles. How bad are speed bumps for your car’s alignment? Let’s find out.

How bad are speed bumps for your car’s alignment?

In order to answer this question, it’s important that we first need to make a distinction between speed bumps and speed humps.

• Speed bumps: These are compact, steep, obstacles that can be jarring for you, your vehicle, and your passengers regardless of how fast you are going.
• Speed humps: These look more like small hills across the road and are much gentler on your vehicle – as long as you aren’t speeding, anyway.

Speed humps are unlikely to damage your car unless you are going too fast. Speed bumps, on the other hand, must be taken slowly in order to avoid damaging your suspension or bottoming out your car.

How damaging are they?

Vehicles with low ground clearance are more likely to be damaged than trucks or cars with higher clearance.

If you encounter a speed bump and don’t slow down enough – or worse, you don’t see it at all, or until it’s too late – speed bumps can throw your car’s alignment off.

Further, speed bumps can damage other parts of your car, including:

• Oil pan
• Chassis
• Exhaust
• Shocks
• Suspension system
• Steering system

Can you prevent alignment damage from speed bumps?

The best way to prevent your alignment – or any of the other parts underneath your vehicle – from getting damaged is to take speed bumps slowly. If your car rides particularly low, approaching these obstacles diagonally can help prevent damage.

How do you know when it’s time to get a wheel alignment?

Speed bumps can damage your alignment and, in turn, shorten the lifespan of your tires as they begin to wear down unevenly. However, your wheels can become misaligned for many reasons, including hitting curbs, accidents, hitting deep potholes, driving off-road, and more.

How do you know when to get a wheel alignment? Unlike oil changes, which are recommended to take place on a regular basis, there isn’t such a recommendation for your wheel alignment. Instead, you’re more likely to notice a change in the way your car drives.

Signs your car needs a wheel alignment include:

• Your vehicle pulls to one side even though the road you are driving on is straight
• Your tires screech or squeal when you make turns
• Your tires start to wear unevenly
• It takes more steering than usual to keep your vehicle going in a straight line
• Your steering wheel sits crookedly when your car is sitting still and the wheels are pointed directly ahead

Alignment Repair And More At T3 Atlanta

Whether a particularly rough speed bump has thrown out your car’s alignment or it’s just time to get work on the suspension, T3 Atlanta can help. We service Nissan, Infiniti, Lexus, and Toyota vehicles at our two convenient Metro Atlanta locations. Give us a call today and we’ll help keep your car in top condition for years to come!

If you’re a car owner, you’ve no doubt heard time and time again to change your oil on the regular. At the 3,000 mile mark, you go to the auto shop, grab a bottle of oil off the shelf, and realize after you’re home that you’ve purchased the wrong type. What could possibly go wrong after putting the wrong oil in your car? Oil is oil, right? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that.

The Symptoms Of Putting The Wrong Oil In Your Car

The technicians who designed your vehicle recommend a certain type of oil for a reason. The right type of oil helps your engine function optimally by reducing friction and preventing overheating. Putting in the wrong type of oil may not be a catastrophic mistake, but you may start to notice your vehicle acting a little differently than usual.

1. Your oil is leaking

Oil leaks can happen for several reasons, one of which is adding the wrong type of oil to your engine. This particular issue typically occurs when you add synthetic oil to an older vehicle that is designed to use conventional oil. Synthetic oil flows more smoothly and flows through tight areas inside of your engine more easily than conventional oil, which can cause it to leak between components.

2. It’s difficult to start your car when it’s cold outside

If you’ve added oil that is too thick for your vehicle in a cold environment, it won’t flow easily when you try to start the engine. This can make it difficult to start your car, although it will function normally once your engine has warmed up.

3. You’re hearing a ticking sound from your engine when it’s cold

For the same reason as the point above, thick oil in a freshly-started cold engine can cause the components inside your engine to knock or ‘tick’ against each other as it idles. Once the engine and the oil have warmed up, the ticking sound will stop.

4. Your gas mileage isn’t what it used to be

Thicker oil is valuable in certain cars and environmental conditions, but it isn’t used universally for a reason. In effect, your engine has to work harder than usual to get the same amount of power when it’s pumping oil that is too thick. If you’re noticing lower gas mileage and more frequent trips to the gas station after adding oil to your car, too-thick oil may be the culprit.

Like many of the other items on this list, gas mileage is another problem that can stem from many sources. If you’re noticing lower gas mileage but haven’t changed your driving habits, it may be a good idea to visit your mechanic to make sure there isn’t something more serious going on.

5. You smell burning oil

Burning oil can happen for several reasons. If you’ve recently changed your oil and weren’t sure if you added the right oil, then the wrong type of oil may be the culprit. This problem typically occurs if your oil is too thin in hot conditions. As your engine runs, too-thin oil gets hot and starts to overheat, causing the burning smell.

What if you mix the types of oil in your car?

It happens to the best of us – you forget whether you put synthetic or regular oil in your car or what weight you even used last time. Without having the old bottle in hand to know what you grabbed, what happens if you mix the types of oil in your car?

• Over the course of one oil change, it likely won’t make much difference if you mix your oil with a thinner type.
• If you mix your oil with a thicker type, you may notice some of the symptoms we discussed above.

Does it hurt if you mix brands?

If you mix brands for one oil change, it likely won’t make much of a difference to your car’s performance as long as you put the right type of oil in. However, the additives that each brand uses differ, so try to stick with the same brand from one oil change to the next.

Easy Oil Changes And More At T3 Atlanta

Some of the symptoms of putting the wrong oil in your car overlap with other vehicle issues. Remove all doubt and get to the bottom of the problem with T3 Atlanta. We’ll help you stick to your regular oil change schedule and identify if the problem lies elsewhere. We can optimize the lifespan of your Lexus, Nissan, Infiniti, or Toyota for years to come. Give us a call and we’ll pen you in for an appointment today.

You’ve been told time and time again that getting regular oil changes is an essential part of your routine car maintenance. But those oil changes can get expensive after a while, especially if you’re a driver who puts a lot of miles on their car in a given year. When you’re at the auto shop, you may notice the budget oil sitting on the shelf and wonder: is it really so bad to put cheap oil in your car?

What can cheap oil do to your car?

The fact of the matter is that like a lot of other things in life, you get what you pay for when it comes to oil. Cheap oil is, unfortunately, low quality. Even though the initial cost is low, the long-term cost can be significant. That’s because cheap oils break down faster than their more expensive cousins, potentially doing a lot of damage to your engine.

Cheap oil can…

• Gum up and ‘fail’, increasing the friction and heat inside your engine instead of decreasing the friction.
• Inadequately lubricate the parts inside your engine, leading to excess wear and tear on your engine.
• Fail and contribute to ‘sludge’, a thick, dark substance that can damage or destroy your engine if left long enough.
• Gum up around compression or oil rings, causing oil to enter the combustion chamber and burn there.
• Increase your engine’s fuel consumption since the parts are working harder than they should.
• Reduce your engine’s normal power levels.
• Cause blockages in your engine, leading to issues with your car’s exhaust system.

Quality oil, on the other hand, is designed for long-term operation. This means less wear and tear on the engine parts, better fuel economy, and no impact on your engine’s power level. This type of oil often contains additives to help your engine operate smoothly, such as detergents that help keep the interior of your engine clean. These additives can increase the lifespan of your oil, meaning you’ll have to stop in for oil changes less frequently.

You’ll quickly notice that there are a lot of types of quality oil available, but which should you buy?

Which engine oil should you use?

First of all, you need to check your owner’s manual to find the recommended type of oil for your vehicle. The technicians who designed your vehicle have already gone through extensive testing to figure out which type of oil will help your engine last as long as possible without losing efficiency. (Note: Sometimes, your recommended oil type is listed on or near your oil cap.)

With this number in hand, the shelf at the auto store becomes slightly less daunting. Now, all you need to figure out is which type to use – conventional, synthetic, or a blend. What’s the difference?

• Conventional: Conventional oil is typically less expensive than synthetic or synthetic blend, but it’s important to know a few things about this option. First, it can contain impurities that lead to deposit buildups. It may also be less effective at reducing the friction between engine parts, increasing the wear and tear on vehicle components. Conventional oil also doesn’t have as wide a range of temperatures in which it can perform optimally, so extreme heat and extreme cold can affect its efficiency.
• Synthetic: Synthetic oils are often designed for specific uses, such as high-mileage, high-performance, or even high-use vehicles such as work or tow trucks. This type of oil is highly refined and contains few impurities, creates few deposits, and has minimal friction. Synthetic oils also work well in many types of temperatures.
• Synthetic blend: Just like the name suggests, synthetic blends both conventional and synthetic oil for a good intersection between cost and performance, and is a good option for everyday driving.

Oil Changes And More At T3 Atlanta

If you need to have your oil changed, get routine maintenance, or have more significant repairs due to an accident, T3 Atlanta can help. Our friendly, knowledgeable staff has over 25 years of experience repairing Nissan, Lexus, Infiniti, and Toyota vehicles in Atlanta. We’ll help your car stay in great condition so you can sit back and enjoy your ride.

Your car relies on many types of fluids to help it operate normally, and inside your vehicle is where they belong. Sometimes, however, you may notice a colorful puddle on your garage floor. Although that isn’t a good sign, the fluid color can give you a good idea of what the problem might be. That’s because many of the fluids in your car are color-coded. What do they mean?

The fluid is colorless

If your fluid is colorless and has no smell, you’re most likely seeing condensation draining for your air conditioner. This is a completely normal process and isn’t cause for concern.

The fluid is blue

Blue fluid generally belongs to windshield washer fluid. This type of fluid typically smells like window cleaner and is watery in texture.

Although it’s a problem that isn’t going to affect your engine, it can make visibility a challenge if you need to clean your windshield on the road and your reservoir is empty.

The fluid is orange

An orange fluid leak can belong to either your coolant or your automatic transmission. Both types of leaks need to be addressed quickly, as they can lead to you getting stranded on the side of the road.

• Coolant: Orange coolant can occur when rust gets into your coolant system. Coolant has a very distinctive sweet smell and should be kept away from kids or pets, as it’s poisonous.
• Automatic transmission fluid: Although this fluid is typically red or reddish-brown, it can also turn a shade of orange.

Your fluid is pink, green, or yellow

Pink, green and yellow fluids are all potential coolant colors, depending on the brand currently in your vehicle. Coolant has a distinctive, sweet smell.

Green fluid can also belong to some brands of windshield washer fluid. This type of leak will smell like window cleaner, not sweet like coolant.

The fluid is red

Red or reddish-brown fluid can belong to either your automatic transmission or your power steering system. There are a couple of ways to detect the differences between them.

• Power steering fluid: Oily-feeling and thin in consistency, occasionally accompanied by a ‘burnt marshmallow’ smell.
• Automatic transmission fluid: Oily-feeling and thick, and often accompanied by a petroleum or gasoline-like smell.

The fluid is brown or black

You likely have an engine oil leak if the color of the fluid on your garage floor is brown or black. Engine oil is slippery to the touch and smells – you guessed it – like oil. An oil leak isn’t always an urgent problem, but it isn’t going to repair itself, so you’ll need to get an inspection eventually.

The fluid is yellow

Yellow fluid belongs to your brake system and is a very serious type of leak, as your brakes will no longer work if your hydraulic system has no fluid to operate. This fluid is slippery and oily, and may be accompanied by a fishy smell.

The fluid is shiny

Is your garage filled with a strong gasoline smell in addition to a puddle on the floor? If so, you probably have a gasoline leak. This problem can be very serious, so we recommend calling your mechanic as soon as possible.

How serious is the problem?

Although some leaking fluids are no cause for concern, your vehicle’s fluids belong inside your engine. As such, you’ll want to visit your mechanic as soon as possible in order to prevent yourself from getting stranded on the side of the road. But how serious is your issue?

In general…

• If you smell gasoline, do not drive your vehicle – it’s unsafe to drive a car that is leaking gasoline. You’ll need to have your car towed to a mechanic in order to diagnose the problem.
• If you find a yellow puddle of brake fluid on your car, it’s unsafe to drive your car. You’ll need to get your car towed to your mechanic for immediate service.
• If there is a puddle that is more than 3 inches wide, your car has a serious leak and needs to be serviced immediately.
• If your puddle is less than 3 inches wide, your car will eventually need to be serviced, but likely isn’t too serious unless it’s brake fluid or gasoline.

How to check if your car has a fluid leak

If you want to be certain where your fluid leak is coming from, all you need to test this is a piece of cardboard and some time.

1. Place your cardboard under where you think the leak is coming from.
2. Wait overnight.
3. Check your cardboard and take note of where the leak is from, the color, how much fluid has leaked overnight, and any odors you may notice.

This information will be very helpful for your mechanic when you take your car in to get serviced.

Repair Your Car Fluid Leak At T3 Atlanta

Whether you’re certain you have a coolant leak or you have no idea what that puddle on your garage floor might be, T3 Atlanta can help. We service Nissan, Lexus, Infiniti, and Toyota vehicles at our Smyrna and Decatur repair shops. Our friendly and knowledgeable staff will be able to diagnose the problem quickly and help you get back on the road. Give us a call today!

Last time, we talked about the top reasons your car is rattling. But, truth be told, there are a lot of potential causes of this pesky problem! Without further ado, here are more reasons your car is rattling.

More Reasons Your Car is Rattling

1. Your timing belt or chain is loose/worn

Your timing belt is an essential part of your engine, making sure that your pistons, valves, and crankshaft all move in the correct sequence. It’s designed to work at a specific tension.

However, this belt or chain can become loose with age and use. When this happens, the reduced tension in the belt means that the chain can hit surrounding parts as it moves. These impacts are behind the rattle you’re hearing. Your timing belt or chain is likely the culprit of the sound if you notice the rattling noise increasing with acceleration and decreasing with deceleration.

2. Your drive belt is worn or broken

Much like the timing belt described above, a loose or broken drive belt will smack other engine components as it rotates, causing a rattle as it goes round and round. Sometimes, misaligned belt pulleys can also cause a rattle.

3. Bad or loose water pump pulleys

Your water pump is powered by pulleys that help make sure this crucial component operates normally. If the bearings on pulleys become loose or worn, they can cause a rattling noise during engine operation.

4. Your exhaust system is loose

If your mystery sound is coming from the bottom of your vehicle, it’s possible that your exhaust system is loose. This can happen due to age, corrosion, or road damage to the undercarriage of your vehicle.

5. Your starter is defective

How can your engine starter cause a rattle? It can happen if the component known as a ‘bendix’, which connects the starter to the engine itself, goes bad. This component connects to the engine when you turn the key so that your engine can start. If the bendix goes bad, the component may not engage or disengage as normal, causing that pesky rattle.

6. Piston problems

Your pistons may be the problem if your engine is very old or very worn. In these cases, the age of the engine means that the pistons no longer fit snugly into their cylinders. You can identify this particular problem if you notice that the rattle starts when you initially turn on the vehicle but goes away once your engine has warmed up.

7. Bad fan clutch

If your vehicle is rear-wheel drive, your rattling noise may be the result of a bad fan clutch. These types of vehicles have an engine-mounted cooling fan to help keep your engine working at an optimal temperature. If the clutch attached to this fan goes bad, you may hear a rattling noise. This particular issue often happens alongside high engine temperatures and/or overheating.

More Causes Of Car Rattling – Inside Your Cabin

As if you needed even more causes of car rattling, we haven’t even talked about noises from inside your cabin!

If the source of the rattling is coming from somewhere inside your cabin, identifying the source of the rattle may be a little trickier. Here are a few places to check if the noise is coming from inside your vehicle.

• Glove compartment
• Door pocket
• Center console
• Cup holders
• Trunk
• Folding seats
• Luggage compartment covers
• Under your seat

Car Rattle Repairs And More At T3 Atlanta

Whether you have a mysterious car rattle or you simply need routine maintenance, T3 Atlanta can help. With our extensive experience repairing Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, and Lexus vehicles, we can quickly assess your vehicle and get your vehicle back into top shape. Give us a call at one of our two convenient Metro Atlanta locations!

When you turn on your car, you expect to hear the thrum of your engine waking up. But wait – what’s that rattle? And where is it coming from? A rattling noise can sound frightening, but it doesn’t always mean something catastrophic is about to happen. Here are the top reasons your car is rattling.

The Top Reasons Your Car is Rattling

1. Problems with the catalytic converter

If your rattling noise is coming from the back of your vehicle, it’s possible that there is a problem with the catalytic converter. This component is attached to your tailpipe and is responsible for helping keep your car operate normally.

Sometimes, whether due to age or a particularly hard knock on the road, your catalytic converter can get damaged. In these cases, the ‘catalyst’ inside the converter, which looks like a honeycomb structure, gets knocked loose. The end result? A rattle.

In addition to causing a pesky rattling noise, problems with your catalytic converter can impact your fuel consumption, decrease your fuel efficiency, increase emissions released by your car, and can even cause your car to fail its annual emissions test. It’s important to have this problem looked at by a mechanic as soon as possible.

2. Give me a brake… rattle

If you hear your car rattling when you apply the brakes, it’s possible that your brakes are worn down. The contact of metal on metal can cause that unwanted noise.

If you’re hearing sounds from your brakes when your car is stationary, it’s possible that you have broken and/or missing brake pad anti-rattle clips. These clips, as you might guess, prevent your brake pads from rattling when not in use.

Cheap brake pads are another possible culprit. Cheap pads are not only less predictable when it comes to how much pressure you need to apply to stop your car, they wear out faster and can cause that rattle.

3. Suspend your disbelief – about your suspension

Your suspension is an intricate, interwoven system that keeps you comfortable whether you’re driving in the city or on a dirt road. If you notice that your rattling is coming from your wheel wells, part of your suspension system may be the culprit.

This could include:

• Worn out shock absorbers
• Worn out suspension struts
• Loose sway bar link
• Loose or worn cushions (aka bushings)
• Damages to the suspension system

It can be hard to diagnose this issue on your own, but a certified mechanic can quickly get to the bottom of a rattle in your suspension system.

4. Your oil is low

Low oil is a potentially serious problem that can cause a rattle in your engine. Rattling from low oil happens because there isn’t enough lubrication between the components. If your oil gets too low, it can actually cause your engine to lock up, meaning costly damages – or worse, an unsalvageable engine.

If you’re hearing rattling, it’s easy to check your oil levels with the dipstick in your engine. Just make sure that your car is cold while you perform this test! If your oil is very low, you can always add oil (just make sure it’s the right type.

However, if the problem persists, it’s important to visit your mechanic to find out why your oil keeps running low.

5. You’re burning the wrong type of fuel

Fuel is fuel, right, and those numbers at the pump are just so the gas station can charge more? Well, not exactly. The ‘octane’ of your fuel really does matter. Some cars can burn anything, but others are specifically designed to burn high-octane fuel.

If you have a car in which high-octane fuel is recommended and you’re putting in the cheapest stuff at the gas station, stop. Your car isn’t designed to burn low-octane fuel, and your car is rattling because of a phenomenon known as ‘pinging’. This noise may be the result of carbon deposits, ignition timing problems, or overheating.

Low-octane fuel in a high-octane engine can significantly shorten the lifespan of your vehicle, so make sure you’re putting in the minimum recommended octane gas for your car.

Diagnose Your Mystery Car Rattle At T3 Atlanta

Just because your car is rattling isn’t always a bad thing, but it can certainly be frustrating! T3 Atlanta can help diagnose the source of the noise in your car and restore your car cabin to blissful silence. We can also help keep your car on its regular maintenance schedule and perform comprehensive repairs on car problems. Give us a call today at our Smyrna or Decatur location, and we’ll help keep your car in top condition!