Sluggish. Squealing. Unreliable. Vibrating. If any of these descriptors fit your vehicle’s recent behavior, it just might be trying to tell you something – like it’s time for a tune-up.

Today’s vehicles differ significantly from their decades-old brethren that required a tune-up every 10,000 or 20,000 miles. With newer vehicles, it’s increasingly common for manufacturer-recommended service intervals to stretch to 100,000 miles before certain maintenance items, such as replacing the spark plugs, should be completed. 

No matter what type of fleet vehicles or commercial trucks you maintain, the fuel system on your diesel is an integral part of keeping you on the road. Gas systems are pretty simple - there’s basically just a pump that pushes gasoline to the injectors. Diesels are a bit more complicated.

Spark plugs have been around since the beginning, and play as important a role now as they did a hundred years ago. It’s a good idea to replace them as a set at regular intervals, but sometimes one will go bad sooner than the rest for one reason or another. How do you know if you have a bad spark plug? Here are some indicators, from South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD.

At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, we know that fuel contamination is one of the priciest and most problematic issues that may plague a diesel engine. There are a variety of issues that cause contamination in fuel. Knowing these issues will help drivers become aware of fuel contamination and hopefully prevent these issues. 

No matter what type of car, truck, or SUV you drive, maintenance is the key to giving your engine a long life. At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, we focus on keeping your engine running strong.

At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, we are here to maintain and repair your vehicle. We’re also here to help you keep your car, truck, or SUV in good shape and running strong. “Bad gas” is often cited as the cause for a variety of issues - but what does that mean, and what can you do?

With all fleets and commercial vehicles, there comes a time you have to decide - do we fix this vehicle, or replace it? At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, we’re here to help you figure that out.

At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, we aim to keep your four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive car, truck, or SUV ready for anything. 4X4 systems are pretty low maintenance, but equally as important to maintain as your engine or transmission. At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center our technicians have the tools and knowledge to help keep yours going strong.

At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, we see our fair share of damage that could’ve been prevented. Leaking injectors are one of the main ways a diesel engine can meet its demise - but the good news is, engine failure can be avoided, as long as the problem is taken care of.

If you’re running a truck (or trucks) without an auxiliary oil cooler, it may be something you want to consider. Here’s some information on auxiliary oil coolers, what they are, and why they’re a great upgrade, from South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD.

Here at South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown we often do diagnostics and sometimes the problem is obvious after hooking the car up to the computer and reading the codes.  However, sometimes it isn't obvious during a test drive or after hooking it up to all those computer programs!  You know there is a problem and a Check Engine Light is on with the fleet customer telling you the car has been having issues starting and the light has been going off and on depending on several factors.  No pattern, no simple answer but the problem becomes obvious when you start following the "threads of the issue" thanks to all that ASE Technician training.

Have you ever noticed your dashboard ABS icon lit up? If you have it means there is an issue that needs to be diagnosed, ABS issues don’t need to be ignored long. The anti-lock braking system, or ABS, is an important feature on every modern car, truck, or SUV. It has been legally mandated since 2013 in the US but was standard on almost every vehicle even prior to that. Here’s what you need to know to make sure your ABS system doesn’t fail, from South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD.

It’s a busy morning, you’ve finally gotten everyone where they need to be and you’re just pulling into the parking lot at work when your dash light starts glaring at you. Your check engine light shines bright, but you have no idea why. Whether you can tell a difference in the way your car, truck, or SUV is running, your car is trying to tell you something. At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, we can help!

On modern vehicles, the PCV system (Positive Crankcase Ventilation System) is essential to ensuring your car or truck is ready to go when you are and remains a long-lasting, reliable vehicle. It’s much more than just emissions control - your PCV system serves multiple purposes and is quite interesting! How does it work, and what are those purposes?  Here at South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, we have those answers for you!

Tune-ups are an important and frequently neglected aspect of automotive care. Most drivers don’t really consider the mechanical condition of their car, so long as nothing is wrong with it. However, if a vehicle is tuned-up and maintained correctly, many mechanical failures (and expenses) will be avoided altogether. So whne is the right time to get a tune-up?

If you drive a Jaguar, BMW, Land Rover, Porsche, Subaru, or other luxury or performance vehicle, the last thing you want to do is start your engine to be met with the sound of a screeching drive belt. Fortunately, we at South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD have you covered.