The simple fact is that 70% of car batteries fail within 4 years. They just need to be replaced when they are no longer able to hold a full charge.

Batteries are a big ticket item for most St. Charles car owners 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 Sparks Tire & Auto technician can test your battery to see if it should be replaced. Testing is a good idea for Missouri car owners because a battery might still be good, but become dead because of a bad alternator or even a worn serpentine belt and tensioner.

Give us a call

Sparks Tire & Auto
636-946-5900
1665 Scherer Parkway
St. Charles, Missouri 63303

Have you ever gone to St. Louis to listen to an orchestra? The musicians take the stage early and tune their instruments. Each individual instrument must be in tune, but the critical thing is for the entire orchestra to be in tune with each other. That’s why they tune up together.

Now this is no surprise; I’m going to relate the orchestra to your car. Your engine has many component systems that each need to be working properly. And the components need to be working in sync, all timed up together in order for the engine to work efficiently.

We call this, (ta-da) a tune-up. When an orchestra’s out of tune you get a bad concert. When your vehicle’s out of tune you get bad performance and bad fuel economy.

So check your owner’s manual for recommended tune-up intervals. Or ask your St. Charles service advisor at Sparks Tire & Auto what he thinks.

…Just be careful not to say you want to make beautiful music together – that kinda makes us uncomfortable.

Air quality has certainly become a hot issue in our modern St. Charles world. We install air filters on our ventilation systems and in our vacuum cleaners. There’s a filter that cleans the air going into our SUV’s engine — so why not one for the air in the passenger compartment?

Foreign and domestic car makers haven’t been ignoring the issue. Cabin air filters are becoming a standard feature on newer vehicles. These filters can clean particles out of the air down to three microns, which accounts for pollen, dust and most pollutants. St. Louis drivers who suffer from allergies or have a respiratory disorder should be a lot more comfortable. And even if you don’t have a medical need for the filter, the cleaner air in your car just might help you breathe better, figuratively as well as literally.

Cabin air filters are still fairly new in St. Louis, so you’ll have to check your SUV owner’s manual to see if you have one. If you do, your routine car care will have to include changing the filter as part of your critical preventive maintenance. The owner’s manual will give recommendations on how often the filter has to be changed, but if the air where you live in Missouri is particularly dirty or if you’re prone to hay fever, you may want to change it more often.

Your Professional Sparks Tire & Auto technician can also offer suggestions on how often to change your cabin air filter in your St. Louis area. They’re the ones who actually see the dirty filters, after all.

There is no standardized location for cabin air filters. St. Charles car owners can usually find them in the SUV engine compartment or under the dashboard, but they might be somewhere else. So the ease of changing the filter will depend on its location. Some are readily accessible, but others make you wonder how they got installed in the first place. Bring your car into Sparks Tire & Auto and we will locate your cabin air filter for you.

However, if you have a newer SUV, it’s good auto advice to find out if it has a cabin air filter. If it does, you should change the filter regularly. A sure sign that a filter needs to be changed is that the interior of your SUV will start to smell bad. That smell is exactly how some St. Louis auto owners discovered that they had cabin air filters in the first place!

Cabin air filters are just one more way we have to stay safe, stay healthy, and stay on the road in St. Charles.

The primary job of the serpentine belt is to provide important traction to spin the accessories. As the belt wears it loses some of its grip and the accessories may not spin at prime speeds. For example, if your alternator doesn’t spin fast enough, the battery will not completely recharge while you’re driving and you could end up stranded with a dead battery.

In short, a worn serpentine belt will stress all of the accessories it powers leading to premature wear and possible early replacement. When as little as 5% of belt material is lost, the serpentine belt cannot provide the proper traction for the accessories. Your Professional Sparks Tire & Auto tech can check your belt for excessive wear and replace your serpentine belt system if it’s excessively worn.

Give us a call

Sparks Tire & Auto
636-946-5900
1665 Scherer Parkway
St. Charles, Missouri 63303

St. Charles motorists know that if their air conditioning system isn’t making cool air like it used to, there is a problem. It may be as simple as adding more of the right kind of refrigerant.

Your A/C requires special compressor oil, which circulates through the system along with the refrigerant, to lubricate and protect expensive components and keep seals and gaskets from drying out. If refrigerant has leaked out – so has the compressor oil. This oil needs to be replenished whenever refrigerant is added.

An air conditioning analysis will uncover any potential troubles and identify any necessary repairs needed to get St. Charles car owners on the road to cool air once again.

Give us a call

Sparks Tire & Auto
636-946-5900
1665 Scherer Parkway
St. Charles, Missouri 63303