LV drivers falter on car upkeep

Stephen Curran

Thursday, April 28, 2005 | 10:52 a.m.

It may be among the most important relationships in many people's lives, but the bond many Southern Nevadans share with their cars is a dysfunctional one at best, an oil industry-sponsored study found.

In fact, of the drivers in 50 metropolitan areas that Texas-based Decision Analyst was commissioned by Shell America to study, those in the Las Vegas Valley ranked almost dead last in the number of times they perform the routine maintenance that keeps their four-wheeled friends running.

It's the kind of neglect that, especially when the mercury starts rising in Southern Nevada, keeps mechanics like Gil Hernandez in business.

While Hernandez said most of his customers take proper care of their cars, at least a third of his customers come in to repair problems that could have been prevented. And it'll likely only get worse in the coming months, as newcomers unaccustomed to the heat frequently find themselves stranded next to an overheated car, he said.

"It's overheating," Hernandez said of his most commonly seen problem. "It depends. Sometimes you just replace the radiator and sometimes you have to take the engine apart. It can get pricey."

As expensive and complicated as those repairs can be, the trickiest part of preventing them is remembering to switch on the air conditioning at least once during the cooler months, Dave Crowley, an automotive instructor at the Community College of Southern Nevada, said.

Turning on the air conditioning, even if only briefly, each month helps circulate oil and lubricates the system, a move that can prevent costly and dangerous breakdowns, Crowley said.

But with winter temperatures that can be a far cry from the blistering hot summers, it's a measure even skilled technicians can forget, he said.

"If your car is being maintained regularly, then there's really nothing you have to do differently to get ready for the summer," said Crowley, a master automotive technician for more than 15 years. "But if your car has some weak spots or some maintenance you haven't done, when the temperatures go up it tends to bring those weaknesses out to the surface."

The process is more complex for the Regional Transportation Commission, which must keep 269 of its fixed-route buses running each day, no matter what the temperature.

John Fischer, the transportation management analyst who oversees the buses, said each bus undergoes a months-long inspection by technicians who specialize in air conditioning to get ready for the triple-digit temperatures.

Even still, about six buses can be expected to overheat each day, he said.

"Everything is working against the air conditioner and the motor's ability to dissipate that heat," Fischer said.

The temperatures have prompted the RTC to begin studying separate compressors designed to take a strain of the motors, he said. The "pony packs" supplement the existing air conditioners, already specially designed for the desert, he said.

Researchers conducting Shell's annual "Autopias" study used three categories -- quality of fuel and motor oil; road conditions and congestion; and routine car care and maintenance -- to create an overall ranking of 50 of the largest metropolitan areas in the country.

Southern Nevada's results were generally favorable, ranking third and fifth for fuel quality and road conditions, respectively, although the dismal ranking for routine maintenance kept the area from breaking the top 10 overall.

Among the area's biggest challenges is a shortage of qualified automotive technicians to work on today's high-tech cars, which creates increased demand -- and waits -- for those wanting to service their cars.

For Crowley, it's a demand that helps almost all of his students find well-paying jobs at local car dealerships when they finish the two-year program, or in some cases before.

"We get calls from dealership and shop owners looking for technicians on an almost daily basis," he said.

The Shell study is the latest in a series of often-conflicting reports on Las Vegas traffic. The Road Information Project, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, in February used statistics from a number of state and federal agencies to nearly flunk Nevada for its rate of traffic congestion and safety.

The Shell study, by comparison, simply compared the amount of money the state Transportation Department allocates for road repair and used a raw percentage of urban roadways considered to be in disrepair. Those researchers gave the state relatively high marks for road conditions and congestion, saying that only 38 percent of Nevada's roads were in disrepair, as opposed to a 61 percent national average.