Automotive Industry News & Information - Cowden's Automotive & Exhaust

We’ve all been there: You start your car in the morning and begin to back out of the driveway. You hear an unusual noise coming from your car, and it sounds bad. How do you know if it's something you should bring in to us here at Cowden's Automotive & Exhaust to get looked at? Questioning the severity of the sound is a smart immediate response because the difference between a squeaky joint and near-catastrophic engine failure can be a big one.

Many cars, particularly models produced between the 1970s and the 1990s, utilize cable clutch designs instead of hydraulics to operate the clutch. Here’s a brief explanation of clutch cable systems, from Cowden's Automotive & Exhaust in Buhl.

If you’re ever in a situation where you must remove the battery from your vehicle, it’s important to know what you’re doing. It seems pretty straightforward, and it is. However, there are some important things to remember when disconnecting the battery in your car, truck, or SUV. Here are some tips on disconnecting a car battery, from Cowden's Automotive & Exhaust in Buhl, ID.

Foggy headlights are a problem that has arisen in the past couple of decades, as we have moved away from glass sealed beam bulbs and into an era of plastic lenses with bulbs inside. While modern headlights are superior to the sealed beam headlights of years ago, they do tend to fog up after years of use. It’s a good trade for far better illumination and easier replacement, but an issue nonetheless. Hours and hours of heat, sunlight, and age eventually cause them to cloud up, which can reduce visibility at night in addition to worsening the appearance of your car, truck, or SUV. From Cowden's Automotive & Exhaust in Buhl, ID, here are some tips on taking care of your foggy or cloudy headlight issue.

Like anything else on your vehicle, keeping various systems clean and in good shape is essential to long life and reliability. Your fuel system is especially important - parts are expensive, problems can be difficult to diagnose, and it doesn’t take much contamination to cause a huge issue. It’s much easier to keep your fuel system clean than it is to clean a dirty or problematic system. Performing regular fuel treatment can prove very beneficial to the life of your vehicle.

At Cowden's Automotive & Exhaust in Buhl, we’re familiar with the many over the counter remedies that promise to cure your car, truck, or SUV of all its transmission woes. But, do any of them actually work, and are they even safe for your transmission?

You may occasionally hear the term “transaxle” used in place of “transmission” for your car or SUV. Is there a difference, and if so, what is it? Cowden's Automotive & Exhaust in Buhl is here to help.

Transmissions are full of gaskets and seals since they rely on hydraulic pressure and fluid to operate. However, there are main seals that insulate the input and output shafts from the outside world, that are more prone to failure than the rest, and easy to diagnose. If you’ve noticed leaking transmission fluid from under your automatic car, truck, or SUV, Cowden's Automotive & Exhaust in Buhl has the answers you need.