If you’re looking for a reliable, dependable, and powerful workhorse, diesel trucks check every box. While more durable than gasoline trucks, the longevity and reliability of your diesel truck boils down to how well you maintain it.
At Branch Automotive, we help diesel drivers throughout Littleton, CO, and Highlands Ranch, CO save time and prevent diesel pickup repairs with preventative maintenance. Let’s explore a few must-have maintenance services to help prevent more expensive diesel pickup repairs.
Schedule Regular Oil Changes to Prevent Diesel Pickup Repair
Motor oil is the lifeblood of your diesel truck. It plays several roles in your engine, such as:
- Reduce wear and tear on engine parts, including bearings, pistons, cylinder liners, piston rings, and the valve train.
- Minimize reduction of hydro dynamically and boundary-lubricated components,
- Cools pistons
- Prevents corrosion caused by moisture and acids,
- Prevents sludge buildup and cleans pistons,
- Keeps seals lubricated,
- Controls swelling to prevent leakage due to seal failure, and more.
Your diesel truck wouldn’t be able to keep rolling and racking up miles if it doesn’t have sufficient and clean motor oil. Because motor oil naturally gets polluted and corrosive over time, you must have regular oil services. If you drive beyond the manufacturer’s suggested intervals for oil changes, you’re in the fast lane to more expensive diesel pickup repair. However, the manufacturer’s interval is based on typical use. But if you do any towing, stop-and-go driving, or operate in dusty conditions, ask your Branch Automotive service advisor for suggestions on the best oil change interval for your diesel.
While performing a diesel oil service, we also perform a digital vehicle inspection which allows us to inspect your vehicle and advise you on any items that need attention. Finding an issue now can prevent a breakdown later which will save you frustration and time later. Our digital vehicle inspections come complete with notes, pictures, and even videos to show you what we’ve found so that you can see what we see and make an informed decision from that point. The digital vehicle inspection is also a great tool to monitor items like tires and brakes, so that it’s not a surprise when those items need replaced, you can watch their life through the inspections. We don’t focus on the negatives only! We track the good items too so you have peace of mind knowing that items are in good condition and ready for the road ahead.
Prevent Diesel Pickup Repair by Regularly Replacing Your Filters
Filter maintenance is a fundamental component of diesel preventative maintenance. A few filters that should stay top of mind are mentioned below.
Fuel Filters
Diesel fuel filters ensure your engine receives clean fuel. If these filters are dirty, they could restrict or stop fuel flowing to your engine. Reduced fuel flow significantly hampers your engine’s performance. If your filters are severely clogged, your engine may not run properly or even start. Reduced fuel flow can also damage fuel injection components like the fuel injectors or the injection pump. We only trust original equipment filters to protect your diesel fuel injection system.
Oil Filters
Your oil filters must capture pollutants that can cause engine damage and expensive diesel pickup repair. During every oil change, we replace your current engine oil filter with a genuine original equipment filter to ensure consistent filtering and longevity.
Air Filters
Your diesel truck’s air filters ensure your engine breathes clean air. Eventually, air filters will get dirty and clogged and need replacement. If you allow your air filters to become clogged, it can result in restricted airflow. This can cause your engine performance to suffer and lead to expensive diesel pickup repair. We only use quality original equipment air filters to ensure proper airflow characteristics and ensure the proper function of your vehicle.
Maintain Engine Coolant to Avoid Expensive Diesel Pickup Repair
While the primary function of motor oil is to lubricate and reduce wear and tear, your coolant has another primary purpose: to ensure an ideal operating temperature. As such, your engine coolant is just as important. During the summers in Littleton, CO, coolant helps prevent your diesel truck from overheating. But when temperatures drop in Littleton, CO and Highlands Ranch, CO, properly maintained coolant prevents your engine from freezing up, which would crack your engine block and lead to one of the most expensive diesel pickup repair issues. In the colder months coolant also helps to warm the engine and bring it to the correct operating temperature, and then keep it there, ensuring efficient operation.
Coolant also includes anti-corrosion elements that help prevent corrosion, lime and scale buildup in your radiator and cooling system. Your truck must have adequate levels and quality of coolant. Poor coolant maintenance can lead to corrosion of engine components and create coolant leaks.
Use Diesel Fuel Treatments to Prevent Diesel Pickup Repair
Your diesel engine generates enormous amounts of friction. Small imperfections in your fuel can trigger a domino effect of damage to your engine and diesel pickup repair. One way to prevent diesel pickup repair is to use diesel fuel treatments. Diesel fuel treatments can help remedy fuel imperfections and prevent them from causing expensive engine damage. Adding a lubricity boosting fuel additive to your truck in the proper amount is great for your fuel system. Using an anti-gel additive in the winter months when temperatures are below 20° F is recommended to keep diesel fuel from gelling up and leaving you in the driveway or worse, on the side of the road.
Contact Branch Automotive for Diesel Pickup Repair in Littleton, CO & Highlands Ranch CO
Branch Automotive offers the best diesel engine repair solutions in Littleton, CO and Highlands Ranch, CO. We offer many diesel pickup repair solutions for all diesel engines, including Duramax diesel engines, Powerstroke diesel engines, Cummins diesel engines, and more!
Contact Branch Automotive today. Call Branch Automotive at (303)771-2224, visit us at 6030 E County Line Road in Littleton, CO, or complete our online contact form.
