BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.
"100 years of combined experience in the automotive industry"
We Service All Makes & Models
Your Neighborhood Full Service Repair Facility
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Fleet Service on Cars & Truck Repair
May 17, 2017
Hello, welcome to Tuffy Tire & Auto Service Homer Glen. Today's focus is batteries. It seems like everything in Homer Glen runs on batteries. Of course, the batteries we're most concerned with here at Tuffy Tire & Auto Service Homer Glen are those in our customer's vehicles. Just like the batteries in our smoke detectors or TV remote, 
they wear out and need to be replaced . This can be thought of as the power output used to start a cold vehicle engine. The number of cold cranking amps you need depends on your vehicle and where you live in Illinois, specifically how cold it is. (Many Homer Glen drivers have first-hand experience trying to start their car on a cold winter morning.) The two factors are that the colder your vehicle's engine is, the more power it takes to turn the engine over to get it started. It has all that cold, sluggish oil to contend with.
The other factor is that the chemical reaction in the battery that creates electrical energy is less efficient when the temperature dips. Let's say it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees C) in Homer Glen. At that temperature, 100% of the battery's power is available. At freezing, only 65% of battery power is available, but it requires 155% as much power to start the engine as it did at 80 degrees F (27 degrees C).
As you can see, the colder it gets, more power is needed, but the available power drops.
So if you live where it's cold in Illinois, you need a battery with more cold cranking amps than you do where it's moderate or hot. The battery that originally came with your vehicle was based on averages. At Tuffy Tire & Auto Service Homer Glen, we like to remind Homer Glen drivers that they should always get at least as many cold cranking amps as their vehicle manufacturer recommends but may want to upgrade if they live where it gets real cold.
Tuffy Tire & Auto Service Homer Glen
15743 S Bell Rd
Homer Glen, Illinois 60491
708-301-8885
April 14, 2024
There's a belt that snakes through your engine. It's even named for a snake, the serpentine belt. It'll bite you when it breaks, possibly leaving you stranded. So, it's good to know a little about this snake-like belt. In early engines, there were lots of belts. They were used to convert the r... More
April 7, 2024
Today's report from Tuffy Tire & Auto Service Homer Glen is on vehicle batteries, why they die and what we can do to lengthen their life. Most of us have had a dead battery at one time or another. In fact, it would be very unusual if you hadn't. You may be surprised to learn that only 30 percent ... More
March 31, 2024
You may have heard at one time or another about something called a timing belt or timing chain in your engine. And you may know that if they fail well, let's just say that there can be some major engine damage. So obviously, we want our timing belts and chains to be in tip-top shape. One part t... More
