Something will go wrong with your car, truck, or SUV eventually. The important thing is knowing what to do, and how to deal with it. Just knowing what to do in a situation often means the difference between a quick repair and thousands of dollars worth of work. If you see steam coming from under the hood, it’s important to deal with it appropriately and quickly. Here’s what’s going on, and what to do, from Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA.

Exhaust systems are one of the most neglected aspects of most vehicles. Exhaust pipes, catalytic converters, and mufflers are exposed to heat, emissions, and road damage. While your exhaust system is fairly simple and straightforward, these conditions mean it is inherently prone to rust and damage. As a result, this system is often one of the first systems you will have trouble within your car.

Does your steering wheel feel like it’s fighting you when trying to drive in a straight line? Does your truck turn too aggressively when you try to go one direction, and poorly when you try to go another? There are a few possibilities as to what it means if your truck resists going in a straight line. Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge has the answers for you.

Once your transmission has been replaced and you’re shifting smoothly once more, you’ll probably want to keep it running smoothly. Here are some tips from Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA to help keep you reliably on the road.

Trucks aren’t like cars...your average personal vehicle usually holds about 5 quarts of oil, and you are supposed to change it every 3-5k miles. However, the same logic doesn’t apply to large trucks. At Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA, we know how important proper oil changes and diagnostics are to keep your truck on the road, for hundreds of thousands of miles. Here’s what you need to know:

Trucks aren’t like cars...your average personal vehicle usually holds about 5 quarts of oil, and you are supposed to change it every 3-5k miles. However, the same logic doesn’t apply to large trucks. At Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA, we know how important proper oil changes and diagnostics are to keep your truck on the road, for hundreds of thousands of miles. Here’s what you need to know:

While most fleet vehicles are chosen for their reliability, low maintenance, and durability, sometimes maintaining several of them at a time can become overwhelming. Just keeping up with the maintenance schedule alone is a task and then to ensure you keep your scheduled routes for those fleet vehicles is another task in itself. Let Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge put your mind at ease, with our fleet maintenance programs for any and all fleet vehicles. We will take the stress from your business fleet program and get your fleet trucks and fleet cars running at optimum performance with a routine that works for your business that often REDUCES costs!

Sometimes it is EASY to see if your car or truck needs to come into our shop for professional repairs! 
1.  You see steam rising from the engine!
2.  The Check Engine Light is on!
3.  The engine starts, but there is an odor that is not right.
4.  You hear grinding or thumping noises.

Ride quality is an essential part of your driving experience. At Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA, we strive to keep your truck as smooth and comfortable to drive as the day it came off the lot. Your shock absorbers play a huge role in ride quality; here’s what you should know.

Coolant flushes are an important maintenance procedure, necessary for keeping your truck reliably on the road. At Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, we know that coolant flushes are a key aspect of preventative maintenance that goes a long way.

Nothing works if your transmission doesn't work!  Simply put you are going nowhere without it and it is the one thing that both car and truck drivers alike never think twice about until it really acts up or they have no power or simply don't move forward.  Most of us have a newer car or truck with an automatic transmission in it vs. a standard transmission so do not notice that it is slipping gears until the problem is really serious so the question is how do you get the most out of your transmission?  The obvious answer is to take care of your transmission with scheduled service per your owner's manual recommendation but we have put together a simple checklist for our Baton Rouge drivers to help them become "transmission aware" as it were.

At Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA, we know the key to making your vehicle last; good maintenance. An overwhelming percentage of the problems we see, especially the really catastrophic ones, are a result of poor maintenance. While properly maintaining a vehicle can seem like a bit of a hassle, it is absolutely worth the payoff. Good maintenance is the only difference between a car that lasts 80,000 miles and a car that lasts 400,000 miles. Preventative maintenance and repair when a problem occurs are your two concerns, and both will keep your car on the road far longer if observed properly.

Don’t you hate it when potholes sneak up on you? There is a lot of money being spent on vehicle damage due to potholes. Do you know what parts of your car could receive the most damage? Dale's Auto Repair is the leader in Baton Rouge, LA for the service and repair of automotive tires. We know the kind of damage that can be done, so if you suspect something is wrong with your car or truck, it’s always a good idea to stop by so we can take a quick look.

Your car’s radio and headlights, plus a slew of other important functions, are powered by an electrical current generated by your vehicle’s engine. A vital part of generating electricity is having a place to store it while it’s not being used. This is where your car battery comes into play. The battery of your vehicle holds electrical energy while the car is off in order to help the engine turn over and create a spark to start internal combustion. Without a working battery, your car will not be able to start. If you allow our team here at Dale's Auto Repair to perform proper maintenance, an average car battery can start your car reliably for roughly four years.

At Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA, we see our fair share of warning lights and dashboard notifications. If your ABS light is illuminated, here’s what you need to know.

Once you know what's in your transmission, and what’s connected to it, it’s much easier to understand how it works. Let's take a look at how it all comes together. At Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA, we want to make sure you know how your car works so you can keep it in great condition.

At Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA, we pride ourselves on specialty knowledge and ability. Once you’ve settled on a transmission to invest in, it’s important not to cut corners on the homestretch. We’ve got you covered here and you can expect top quality repairs for your top quality product.

At Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA, we understand that big trucks mean bigger risk on the road. Here are some tips to remember, to reduce the likelihood of an accident next time you’re on the job.

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 Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA.

Automatic transmissions aren’t easily understood outside of specialists like those at Dale's Auto Repair in Baton Rouge, LA. While it would be impossible to teach you enough to make you a transmission expert in a series of articles, what we can do is give you the fundamental knowledge you need to have a good idea of what your transmission is doing, and how it works.