Boise Auto Repair

The heat is on this summer and that puts your car under a lot of stress. While the engine gets most of the attention when it comes to overheating, your transmission also gets very hot and has fewer ways to cool itself. Too much heat, too much weight and too little maintenance will overheat your transmission! Hot weather is bad enough, but if you tow anything or go driving in the mountains, that will really heat up your transmission. Stop-and-go traffic, rapid acceleration and just having a large, heavy car will heat the transmission too. You’ll know your transmission is in trouble when it starts slipping gears. You’ll be driving along and feel a slight jerk; the car will slow down a bit, then resume its correct gear and accelerate. If that’s happening, you need to fix it right away. Usually, the problem is low transmission oil level. Also, transmission fluid needs to be replaced occasionally because it naturally breaks down. These are inexpensive maintenance procedures ... read more

Fall is here and it's not just a good time to get ready for winter - there are some important steps that motorists should be taking to care for their car in general. This blog has some great suggestions. Among the ideas: Change your wiper blades. This should be done annually, every fall Check your spare tire to make sure it is properly inflated Check and top off all fluids Replace the air filter Check battery terminal and lights

Imagine if you could have Plantation Tune Tech at any town you visited. If you had a problem with a repair we made, you could get it fixed at our shop. Well, we have the next best thing for you! Plantation TuneTech has recently become a NAPA Auto Care Center. What does that mean for you, the customer? Any work done at Plantation has a written warranty that is honored at more than 14,000 locations nationwide - more than any other auto repair brand. You can always count on a NAPA Auto Care Center being nearby. Qualifying repair work covers parts and labor for 24 months or 24,000 miles. NAPA for repairs NAPA offers some benefits for auto repair shops as well, including access to a network of high-quality suppliers with volume buying power . While that’s not immediately evident to consumers, it will help us hold our costs down. NAPA (National Auto Parts Association) offers more benefits and we’ll be adding some soon, such as financing options

We all love a road trip! People have been going on road trips for a long, long time. Deep down you know your car should be checked before hitting the road, but with so many other things to do, some folks put it off. Bad idea, says the Car Care Council, an automotive consumer education group, especially when motorists don't realize that in as little as 10 minutes, they can determine if their car is ready for long-distance travel. The last thing anyone wants is for your car to stop working in the middle of nowhere. Check all fluids, including engine oil, power steering and brake and transmission, as well as windshield washer solvent and antifreeze/coolant. Check the hoses and belts that can become cracked, brittle, frayed, lose or show signs of excessive wear. These are critical to the proper functioning of the electrical system, air conditioning, power stee ... read more

Getting a checkup before a road trip is essential to a safe and enjoyable trip. Deep down you know your car should be checked before hitting the road, but with so many other things to do, some folks put it off. Bad idea, says the Car Care Council, an automotive consumer education group, especially when motorists don't realize that in as little as 10 minutes, they can determine if their car is ready for long-distance travel. Check all fluids, including engine oil, power steering and brake and transmission, as well as windshield washer solvent and antifreeze/coolant. Check the hoses and belts that can become cracked, brittle, frayed, lose or show signs of excessive wear. These are critical to the proper functioning of the electrical system, air conditioning, power steering and the cooling system. Check the tires, including tire pressure and tread. Uneven wear indicates a need for wheel alignment ... read more

Save! 10% parts & labor discount WHEN YOU REFER A FRIEND Thank you for being a valued customer. We are now accepting new customers and will offer you: 10% parts & labor discount when you refer a friend to our shop Offer expires: 01/31/2015 * Some restrictions apply Use our online referral system to refer your friends and family to our business by ... read more

Commercial cars and trucks are different At Plantation Tune Tech, we are proud to take care of many commercial vehicles. We maintain work trucks for Wright Brothers Construction, the City of Eagle, St. Vincent De Paul, Budget Truck Rental and the U.S. Forest Service. Commercial vehicles tend to get harder use, like a Forest Service truck that is called to help with fire duty on steep mountain terrain, in hot temperatures and around lots of dirt and dust. They require regular inspections and maintenance that must be documented. Urban delivery trucks and municipal cars also get hard use, carrying heavy loads in start-and-stop traffic. We understand that commercial vehicles are very important to businesses. If your delivery van or maintenance truck isn't working, that's lost money and disappointed customers, both bad for business. If you have a local business and rely on your vehicles, consider Plantation Tune Tech for your maintenance needs ... read more

Fan belts are important to cars. During the colder months, we see (and hear) more squealing fan belts. Wear and tear will eventually loosen all belts but in colder weather, metal engines and parts shrink a bit, causing loosening. A squealing belt is you car's way of warning you of problems and you should come in right away to have it looked it. In the old days, a car three or four fan belts, each one powering the alternator, water pump, air conditioner or power steering. If one belt broke, chances are you could at least make it to the next service station for repairs. Most newer cars just have one belt, called the serpentine belt, that threads through the engine and powers all these things. It's a more efficient system but if that belt breaks, the car will likely fail immediately due to loss of function to multiple systems. In addition to all the noise, a belt about to fail will also show signs of wear ... read more

People sometimes wonder why they should pay a little more for an oil change at an auto shop, when a quick-lube joint could change their oil for less. We do lots of oil changes, hundreds a year. Every now and then, during the course of an oil change, we find a more serious problem, something that could lead to an engine failure. The kind of thing that makes your engine stop on the freeway without warning. We discover these things and give our best assessment of what's at stake and how to fix it. Sometimes, the fix is simple and other times not. But the point is these problems would most likely be overlooked at one of the quick-lube business. When we do an oil change, we have a trained, experienced technician look for a variety of potential problems in the engine, transmission, suspension, exhaust, drive train and more. Staff at a quick-lube place don't have the training, time or interest in the overall car. Their job is to change your oil; ours is to assure reliability, over ... read more

We change about 438 gallons of oil a year, all of which is recycled, mostly into heating oil. We'd love to have a way to put that oil to better use and Valvoline now has a product, NextGen, which is 50 percent recycled oil, and we are pleased to offer it to our customers. We are eager to adopt environmentally friendly practices that offer at least the equal benefit of standard products. This review at Green Auto Blog sums it up pretty well. Motor oil is 85 percent oil and 15 percent additives. When motor oil wears out, it's the additives that need replacing and the oil itself is fine. Valvoline's process removes the carbon, impurities and spent additives and returns the oil to its refined condition, then restores the additives. Even virgin oil is recycled, because crude oil is in an extremely impure state and it's only through refining that it attains the purity needed for engin ... read more