How Often Should I Change The Cabin Air Filter?

One of the things we are proud of here at Melloy Dodge is our Express Lane. We have hired some of the most skilled technicians in the area, and they can service all makes and models. When you come in for your routine maintenance, our technicians are trained to run your vehicle through a multi-point checklist to ensure that you get back on the road safely. 

One of the checklist items our service technicians will cover will be to check your cabin air filter. Your vehicle’s cabin air filter helps to keep the air circulating in your care clean and fresh. Since we live in a desert and experience very windy days, our cabin air filter does a lot of the work to keep dust and pollen out. This also means that it may need to be changed more frequently than areas in the U.S.A. that don’t live in a desert. 

 

The auto industry has made it standard that air filters need to be changed every 15,000 miles routinely. If we do the math, that is around the time of every fourth oil change. The good news is that cabin air filters don’t cost too much money, and the air in your vehicle will remain clean and fresh. If your cabin air filter is never changed and is full of dust and pollutant, it could cause your air conditioning systems blower motor to malfunction. This could be a costly repair! 

 

When your vehicle is being serviced at Melloy Dodge’s Express Lane, you can trust that we have inspected your car to the best of our ability. On your receipt, you will see notes about things that may need to be replaced or repaired within a certain amount of time, like tires, windshield wipers, and your cabin air filter! Need to get your vehicle in for its oil change? The Express Lane operates without appointments, and we work fast to get you back on the road. 

Colder Weather Tire Pressure Checks

Many newer model vehicles are equipped with a tire pressure notification system, and Melloy Dodge is here to let you know why that sensor may be notifying you of a tire pressure change. This most frequently takes place in the cooler months, when the air outside isn’t warm enough to maintain the current PSI within your tires. A good rule to live by is that for every 10° that the temperature outside drops, your tire pressure could drop by 1 PSI. If it’s still warm enough outside, driving around will heat the air inside your tire back up, but it’s best to check your tire manufactures recommendation for PSI. 

 

To locate the PSI recommendation on your tires, you can find it by searching these two resources; the tire pressure label and your vehicle’s owner manual. These will be the two manufacturer-recommended PSIs for your vehicle based on its weight.  To locate your tire pressure label, it should be on the metal part of the driver’s door that meets the frame. Your owner’s manual should have a designated area in the manual that talks about your vehicle’s tire pressure PSI recommendation. 

 

Your tire pressure will change depending on the weather. Melloy Dodge recommends that you check your tire pressure several times a year to maintain the recommended PSI. Your PSI can have a more significant impact on your vehicle than you may know, but we have a blog about that too! Check it out here. Cold weather has arrived in Albuquerque, so take a few minutes to check your tire pressure and fill them. You can speak with one of our service technicians at Express Lane when you bring your vehicle in for routine maintenance for more information.

Does My Oil Weight Need to be Different In The Winter?

You may have heard that your oil needs to be of different weight, or viscosity,  in the winter and summer, so Melloy Dodge is here to help you better understand what that means. Suppose you have taken a look at your vehicle manual provided by the manufacturer. In that case, you may see somewhere in it that it has oil viscosity recommendations for different weather temperatures. 

Viscosity recommendations are more often stated for foreign vehicles like Volkswagen, Rolls Royce, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Honda. In the vehicle’s manual, the oil viscosity recommendations are made based on the ambient air temperature your car is in. The higher the temp, the heavier the oil viscosity should be and vise versa. The lower the viscosity the more readily it flows; this is especially important in subfreezing temps and temps that drop below 0°F. Since we live in the southwest and rarely see temperatures fall below 0° F, your current oil is likely the best oil viscosity to keep everything running as it should. 

Our Express Lane technicians are trained to work on all makes and models when it comes to your vehicle. If your owner’s manual doesn’t mention a viscosity concern, you can speak with one of our professional and knowledgeable technicians when you come for one of your vehicle’s routine maintenance schedules. If you haven’t used the Express Lane at Melloy Dodge, it’s been designed to make your life easy and keep you on time for other important things! For more information regarding your vehicle’s recommended oil viscosity, you can speak with one of our technicians or look in your owner’s manual the recommended oil type and viscosity your vehicle operated best on.