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Avoiding a tire blowout takes some work, but it will only require a few minutes of your day to improve the safety of your ride. Here are a couple ways to protect your car and tires from a blowout, as recommended by our team of MINI service experts.

If the tire pressure indicator in your vehicle shows low air pressure in one tire, get to the filling station and add air. If your vehicle does not have these sensors, use a tire gauge once a week to check for under-inflated tires because they will lead to a blowout. 

Your engine can get extremely hot. The good news is that there are systems that help to pull the heat away from the engine and cool it down so that it doesn’t damage the internal components. When your vehicle does overheat, there may be several problems going on.

The most likely culprit is going to be your radiator. There may be a crack in the radiator, a problem with one of the hoses, or there is a leak. Another culprit could be the thermostat housing, the water pump, or even the head gasket. 

When you're driving at dusk, dawn, or in the darkness, your headlights let other drivers know you're there. Even if you're driving during the daylight hours, your headlights can alert other cars as to your location. Unfortunately, if your car's headlights aren't working correctly, you won't reap the benefit of having headlights.

Are your lights turning on each time you drive? Are they dimmer than usual? You might need to have your bulbs replaced. 

Everybody knows that any vehicle needs to have oil changed on a regular basis. Failing to do so can be potentially deadly to your engine. Often when we walk in to the shop, the technician will ask if we need conventional or synthetic oil. While most motorists are familiar with conventional oil, many do not know what synthetic oil is, or whether their car needs it.

At its most basic level, synthetic motor oil is oil that has been specifically formulated to maximize protection, performance, and fuel economy. 

Your exhaust system is an important part of your vehicle as it takes harmful gases and releases in a place where they will not hurt you. It is important for you to know if that system is leaking and to get help if it is.

If you notice that your vehicle is shaking in a way that it did not before, that could be a sign of issues with its exhaust system. You should get that looked at. If you notice noise when the engine is running, such as a popping sound, you might have exhaust issues that need to…

When you are driving through Portland and you suddenly see that your tire pressure light has come on, there are a couple of reasons why that might have happened. The first reason, of course, is that a tire is indeed losing pressure. This could either be a puncture, or it could just be a slow loss of air.

The other reason that the light might come on is that there is something going on with the sensor itself. Sometimes the sensor will just go off if there is a kind of sudden change in the climate. There is also a…

You probably don't think much about the transmission on your car until it stops working correctly. The transmission plays an important role in how your car runs, making it possible for your vehicle to change gears with ease.

If your car is making strange noises and feels as though it jerks when the gears change, the transmission could be the problem. Any time you experienced a delay in engagement, you may need some transmission work done. 

Now that we are in the cold months of winter, it is especially important to keep your gas tank full. This is not something that many of us think about as being a seasonal thing, but in the winter time, it is more important than ever.

Why do you always need to keep a full or close to full fuel tank? When your gas tank is low on fuel, that means that there is more room in there for air. With the cold winter air comes condensation. Condensation can work its way to your fuel lines and eventually freeze. Frozen…

If you want to save time and money and get your vehicle back right away, a dealership is a good choice. A dealership uses OEM parts over generic parts so that your repairs will last and you won't have to spend more time and money getting your repairs repaired again.

 

When some people see dashboard lights come on, they simply drive on because it's too much of an inconvenience for them to stop. But that's a bad idea because these lights could mean a big engine failure is on the way, or another failure that could lead to a vehicle accident. That's why you should know what your dashboard warning lights mean and have your vehicle brought to our dealership to be checked.

What These Dashboard Warning Lights Mean

These dashboard warning lights are usually the ones you'll see if there's a big problem coming…