Marysville Auto Repair

A good reason to always run antifreeze and have the freeze point levels tested in your cooling system. A customer had purchased a used 2006 Dodge Magnum and after a week it started to have an overheating problem. During the first week of owning the new car it was not drove much, then when it started driving more it started to overheat.  The customer replaced the thermostat and noticed that it did not look like the system had antifreeze in it. Even after the thermostat it continued to overheat so the customer brought it to our shop for diagnoses. Our technician found there was a hole in the radiator way up under the metal section of the hood and that the water system was very rusty from the previous owner not putting antifreeze in it. It appeared that the vehicle may have had overheating issues before as several issues were going on.  The relay that runs the cooling system fans, very specific problem for the magnum, for the radiator was blown and so the cooling fans were not ... read more

Dodge 2500 September 2015 Transfer case… How many pieces do you need? This week we had a Dodge Ram 2500 that came in with no gears at all, for diagnostic and repair. The truck had used 4 wheel drive to get unstuck from out on some muddy roads and when the customer disengaged the lever, the 4 wheel drive indicator light stayed on. We believe this customer didn’t understand the full scope and meaning of what the warning light meant. He ignored the light and drove the truck going highway speeds for over 2 weeks, causing the truck to lose all gears. As the tow truck brought the truck in and the tech put it on the lift he could plainly see the transfer case no longer existed. It was in pieces! Branden called in the troops to take pictures and use the truck as an example of “What not to do” and “why indicator lights are important”. We were able to get the below pictures and want to share with our blog readers here in “Marysville, WA” and bey ... read more

Oil Pan Drain Plug Washer: To Change or Not to Change, that is the question? When changing the oil in a car or truck, most always, you will pull the drain plug or bolt (unless you have installed a Fumoto Valve*). This allows the dirty oil to exit the oil pan into the recycling canister. As the oil is exchanged, we install a new filter and replace the oil drain plug. With that, there is a washer that goes between the bolt and the oil pan. The oil bolt gasket or washer is necessary because it creates a barrier that withstands the pressure and vibration that would alternately go onto the plug itself. The washer comes in many different materials: copper, rubber, metal, aluminum, nylon or a combination of these. There are even “crush gaskets” that are meant to mold to the bolt/pan connection. These are used to make it easier for mechanics to be able to hand tighten the bolt. The crush gasket becomes fitted to the bolt/pan connection so tight and conformed that there are less lik ... read more

With the Labor Day holiday coming up, and our community buzzing with back to school activities we want to take a minute and encourage our neighbors here in Marysville to donate help make sure that our children have the supplies they need for the 2015-2016 school year. Snohomish County is a great place to live and we want to help encourage our youth by providing them with the best possible tools for learning. Bud’s will be making our own donation to the district for them to buy necessary supplies and encourage you to do so as well. We are happy to collect small or large amounts of actual supply donations here and deliver them for you. We know that it’s not always easy to catch someone during summer hours and would love to be the middle man for such a generous transaction. Each school is different and it may not be easy to find exactly what each school needs, but, they can always use the basics! Whatever is on sale right now is usually what they need anyway. We did a little ... read more

Car of the week blog: Week 9: 08/06/15 Bud’s is here to report in for week 8 of Car of the Week, 2002 Dodge Durango! We are mixing it up this week with a video of our “Car of the Week”. This Durango came in for diagnosis because it was making a noise that the customer knew was not normal. Upon inspection Branden found that the bearings in the front differential were horribly worn, putting metal contaminants into the diff fluid. When fluids aren’t checked and changed on a regular schedule, they aren’t able to lubricate their machine properly. When the lubrication isn’t working properly small pieces of the parts begin to break off and move in the fluid. As the fluid becomes contaminated with particles, it becomes corrosive rather than a lubricant. Within a small amount of time the fluid goes from being the piece that keeps the differential alive, to the piece that destroys it from the inside out. Click this link to see the video n ... read more