West Seattle Auto Repair

Maybe you grew up with your dad washing the car on the lawn in the summer so the grass would get the run-off water. It was genius! You got the car and clean and watered the lawn at the same time. While not the most environmentally friendly method, it turn out dad was on to something. Washing your car on gravel or the lawn minimizes run off allowing the water to be absorbed into the ground. When you wash your car on pavement all that gas, oil, exhaust fumes, not to mention the chemicals in the wash you are using, flow straight into storm drains that release directly into Puget Sound. Commercial car washes are required to drain their wastewater into sewer systems so it gets treated before being discharged back into the environment. They also use less water than we do at home. This is likely due to the super-powerful, high-intensity nozzles commercial car washes use and probably because we have to pay more if we need more car washing time. But what ... read more

Scintillatingtimes at Swedish Automotive! As local temperatures have climbed into the high 80’s, we have been experiencing long, sunny days and are excited that a 9.6 kW array of Itek solar panels is being installed on the roof of our service bays at the time of this writing. These made in Washington panels will feed directly into the city power grid, and Swedish Automotive will get credit from Seattle City Light for our contribution to Seattle’s power needs. Four years ago, Swedish Automotive’s facility was designed with solar power in mind. Even though every solar installation loses a fraction of it’s potential ... read more

Bert the Salmon Earlier this year ( see blog post ) many organizations including Swedish Automotive contributed to and participated in the “Don’t Drip and Drive, Fix that Leak!” campaign. The campaign is officially over for this year, but there are still other ways to help Puget Sound and make Seattle a better place. Bert the Salmon has a great FaceBook page with links, resources, and opportunities to do just that. From these resources, we are delighted to discover that the city has loaner stencil kits and markers for labeling the storm drains in our neighborhoods and is looking for volunteers. ... read more

THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the April campaign “Don’t Drip and Drive. Fix that Leak!” A SPECIAL THANK YOU to those owners of vehicles who chose to repair the leaks and have a positive impact on the quality of Puget Sound. SWEDISH AUTOMOTIVE INSPECTED 148 VEHICLES! Of the vehicles we inspected, 101 vehicles were leak free at the time of inspection and 18 vehicles had leaks repaired while at our shop. We found leaks of varying degrees on 29 additional vehicles, and these leak repairs were deferred for a variety of reasons. Many other repair facilities participated in this campaign as well. We have reported our results to the campaign coordinator and will post an update when we have the final results for the campaign as a whole

Clean-Up Crew Holding Oil Clods What do you do for fun? Swedish Automotive owners David Winters & Sandra Wanstall along with their family collect trash off the beach. It starts as a beach walk (with garbage bags just in case) and ends with a trash haul, in this instance almost too heavy to carry. Trash Bags Heavy with Oil Clods The garbage bags in the photo are heavy (at least 70 lbs each) with oil clods picked up along the beaches of southwest Vashon Island. Since the king tides in January many more of these clods have surfaced, remnants of the 1991 600,000-gallon oil spill at Tacoma’s US Oil & Refining. What spilled washed up on the beaches and became these clods, whichrese ... read more

Swedish Automotive is partnering with the Automotive Service Association (ASA) of Washington, Puget Sound Starts Here , and more than 40 local jurisdictions, non-profits and businesses in the Don’t Drip and Drive Fix That Leak! campaign to extend the life of your car while helping to protect the Puget Sound environment. This campaign is made possible by a grant from the Washington Department of Ecology and the donations of time and service by participating businesses for the purpose of improving your car’s safety and reliability by checking for vehicle leaks. Every drop counts! Vehicle leaks are bad for our environment, and while every year hundreds of tons of oil and other petroleum-related products make ... read more

Saab in Motion The Washington State Auto Dealers Association (wsada.org) printed “Green Driving Tips” in the Seattle Times (Sunday, June 17, 2012). WSADA says the following habits may increase your fuel economy by up to 33%! Keep rolling in traffic . It takes up to 20% more fuel to accelerate from a full dead stop than from 5 mph. Look down the road to anticipate stops and coast as much as possible. Drive your car to warm it up. Today’s vehicles do not need a warm up period before driving. Even on the coldest morning, running your engine for 30 seconds is all your need before your vehicle is ready to drive. Avoid unnecessary idling. When a vehicle is idling, you are getting zero miles per gallon plus you are increasing engine wear and air pollution. Avoid rapid starts and stops. Ease into accelerations and brake smoothly, especially around corners. Combine trips. Avoid making multiple short trips ... read more