Automotive News & Information - South Mountain Collision & Auto Center

In the diesel world, "blow-by" is a term you're bound to run across at some point if your line of work involves diesel-powered vehicles of any kind. What is blow-by, what causes it, and how concerned should you be? At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, our fleet maintenance and diesel technicians see it on a regular basis. Here we'll take a quick look at blow-by, correcting it, and preventing it.

What is Blow-By? - Diesel blow-by is a term that describes an event of lost compression into the crankcase. Blow-by occurs whenever a burnt or unburnt fuel and air mixture escape from the cylinder and past the piston rings and into the crankcase. In a perfect world, the piston would be sealed tightly in the cylinder, able to move up and down but keeping all the air and fuel and exhaust that enters or exits the cylinder during the combustion process out of the crankcase. As you'll see, this perfect world doesn't exist, but it is important to minimize the amount of blow-by in a diesel engine.

Most commercial diesel engines these days are turbocharged. Turbos dramatically increase power and efficiency, particularly on diesel engines, which makes them a must-have item on engines that rely heavily on both. However, sometimes issues arise in turbo systems; at South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, we can fix that.

The fuel system is an integral aspect of any combustion engine, but it’s particularly important on diesel trucks. Your Ford, Dodge, or Chevrolet pickup requires a perfectly functioning fuel system, devoid of buildup, leaks, and debris, to provide you with the most powerful and efficient engine performance possible. At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, we understand that fuel system flushing is an essential process in maintaining a properly functioning engine.

When you are having trouble with your car or truck starting and you open the hood up to take a peek to see this....you'll see what an overly corroded battery looks like. This happens naturally over time on vehicle battery terminals. If you are like 99% of normal Middletown drivers, you don't check your oil or your battery so you don't keep an eye on the amount of corrosion that's building up on your car or truck battery. Here at South Mountain Collision & Auto Center, we do and there are solvents that we can use here in the shop during a battery maintenance service that will help slow the corrosion process but nothing that can prevent it 100%. Way before it gets to this point, we will be suggesting you consider replacing the battery.

Your transmission’s shift points are exactly what you think they are - the points at which your transmission shifts. From the transmission experts at South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, here’s what you need to know about them.

Fleet operators know that a day’s work can burn through a lot of fuel. When it comes to multiple vehicles, even a slight change in the way vehicles are used can make a huge difference towards saving fuel, and money as a result. Whether you manage diesel trucks, fleet cars, or both, a little bit of effort can sometimes go a long way.South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD has a few tips you can use to keep fuel consumption low, that you may be interested in implementing throughout your fleet.

Dirty Hands Working on a diesel truck engine

Keeping your fuel system maintained will prevent premature parts failure and poor running conditions. Here are some important aspects of diesel fuel system maintenance, to keep your fleet running smoothly. While your system and components should typically be serviced by a professional technician, there are some things you can be conscious of that will go a long way toward keeping your engine in good shape.

For the first several decades of automotive history, transmissions weren’t reliant on electronics for operation. Today, that simply isn’t the case. At South Mountain Collision & Auto Center in Middletown, MD, we have the knowledge and equipment necessary to take care of even the most complex transmissions, no matter what type of car, truck, or SUV you drive.