Car Service - Checking and Changing an Air Filter

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Andy Davidson
Curry's Auto
www.currysauto.com  
703-502-0400

As a passionate automotive enthusiast, Matt Curry realized that there was a need for a trustworthy repair facility in Northern Virginia.  He envisioned a shop that did it all – performed exceptional work and was staffed with professional, courteous and competent automotive technicians.  As a manager for Goodyear, Merchants Tire and Craven Tire, Matt had a unique perspective of how the automotive industry worked. With a prayer and a dream, Matt and his wife Judy, who has a Business Management degree form George Mason University, incorporated Curry’s Auto Service in 1997. The first shop located in Chantilly officially opened on March 16, 1998.  

Matt’s formula to provide his customers with a Complete Automotive Experience worked.  Business was so brisk, that he hired one of Merchants Tire’s best managers, Chris Coulter, to manage the shop.  With two degrees from Longwood College in Economics and Management, the addition of Chris to the Curry family would turn out to be an astute and providential business decision.  Less than two years later on May 7, 2000, Matt, together with Chris as his business partner, opened a second Curry’s Auto Service located in Dulles.

Curry’s continued to grow to the point that in January 2004, Matt sold the cramped Sullyfield Circle property and moved a mile away to an 8,800 square foot, 12 bay facility on Westfax Drive.  Two months after that on March, 16, 2004, Matt and Chris acquired Beaches Automotive in Falls Church – Curry’s third shop.  And a year later on March 1, 2005, a fourth store was purchased at the location formerly known as Datsun Dynamics in Reston/Great Falls.  What initially began as a three-man operation with one store on Sullyfield Circle has since grown into four shops with 42 employees. 

Curry’s Auto Service remains devoted to the tenets upon which the company was founded – providing superior, competent and courteous service at a level that is unsurpassed in the industry.  The honest advice and personal attention all our customers receive reflects this attitude.  We know you will agree too.

Car Service - Checking and Changing an Air Filter

Andy Davidson shows you how you can change your own oil at home.

This series: 61,143 views

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Transcripts

Hi, I am Andrew Davidson, Master Technician from Currys Auto Service. Now I am going to show you how to check and change your air filter. Checking the air filter -- lets see if we can come up with here and actually remove the bolt on this car. An air filter seems like a very simple thing, but on some of toadys cars they can be quite an issue to get out. So, sometimes it takes a little bit of work to actually get to the battery. These pliers are just actually special pliers made for these plastic clips that are so popular on todays cars. It actually makes a little easier to get down in here, release all the clips on this air filter, so we can see what this filter looks like.

There we go, so if you look at the air filter on this car, its pretty dirty. This car needs the air filter replaced. You can see all the dirt on here and if you look inside the pleats, you will see where there is a lot of dirt in this air filter. So, this one is probably going to need replacement. Obviously, now youll be replacing this with a new air filter, which I will be doing as well, but I dont have one on hand. So, we will get one of those and this will be replaced.

How long a filter lasts, its very dependent on the driving condition. If you drive in a lot of dirty, dusty conditions, gravel, dirt roads, the time is going to be cut down considerably versus somebody thats -- who is driving on the Highway. So, I would say you want to check the filter at least every 15,000 and they may need replacement -- most of the time by 30,000, youre going to be replacing the filter.

Like I said, checking your air filter, it can be a lot simpler than this one or it can be a lot more difficult. So, if youre getting into something that you dont feel comfortable with, you may want to have a professional do that for you. Thats how to check and change your air filter.

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