North Kansas City Auto Repair

Your vehicle’s suspension system has two essential jobs: to prevent the passengers from getting tossed around inside the vehicle every time it hits a bump in the road and to keep the tires firmly planted on the road around every corner and over every bump. To see your suspension system, you’ll have to look under your vehicle. Anything that connects the wheels to the vehicle’s frame is part of the suspension system. They’re heavy-duty parts that work hard while you’re driving and take a lot of wear and tear. Because of this, you should have your friendly Northtown Auto Clinic tech look at them once a year as part of your preventive maintenance routine. A good time for a diagnostic examination is every time you get your alignment checked. If your suspension is in trouble, you often feel it in how your vehicle drives. If the vehicle pulls to one side or wanders, if the steering is erratic, if your ride isn’t as smooth a ... read more

A generation ago, North Kansas City auto owners seemed to be more inclined to keep their vehicle’s preventive maintenance on schedule. One reason for this may be that vehicles back then were a lot less reliable than they are today. Having your SUV in to your North Kansas City shop every year or two for repairs seemed to be a good reminder to keep the oil changed. For example, almost everyone in North Kansas City used to take their vehicles in for regular tune-ups. Vehicles had mechanical ignition systems, which meant ignition points, spark plugs and coils had to be replaced and the timing adjusted every few years. As long as the SUV was in for a tune-up at Northtown Auto Clinic, the vehicle was inspected and you took care of any needed repairs at the same time. Today’s engines have electronic ignition systems and engine control computers. Spark plugs can last for up to 100,000 miles. Vehicle reliability has vastly improved in the last ... read more

Taking care of our tires is a vital part of car care for North Kansas City drivers. We know they have to be replaced when they wear out, but tires also require some essential preventive maintenance. This maintenance will improve fuel efficiency and extend the life of the tires, so it’s well worth the effort and expense for North Kansas City car owners to get it done. Tire maintenance includes keeping tires properly inflated, rotating tires and balancing wheels. The recommended tire pressure for a vehicle’s tires is printed on a sticker on the inside of the driver’s side doorjamb. A lot of engineering goes into calculating the correct pressure, so it’s an important number for North Kansas City motorists to know. Not following this recommendation can throw off the suspension system and can lead to expensive tire damage. Underinflated tires wear out more quickly than properly inflated tires. Vehicles also get better traction, handling and fuel economy on properly in ... read more

Nowadays, North Kansas City drivers are paying more at Kansas City gas pumps. For some families in the greater Kansas City area, it adds up to several hundred dollars every month. That’s got to come out of the budget somewhere. This is one of the reasons many Missouri car owners are putting off buying a new car. They plan on keeping their old vehicle for a year or two longer than before. Even now, 2/3 of the personal vehicles on our local North Kansas City, Missouri highways have over 75,000 miles on them. The average age of vehicles is over nine years. And most people in Kansas City can’t afford to be stranded or inconvenienced by a break down. So following a regular maintenance schedule, like personal diet and exercise plans, is actually critical to preserving your investment. Determining what to do for a higher-mileage vehicle can be challenging because many auto manufacturer’s manuals don’t publish service intervals after 60,000 miles. Thus, North ... read more

Service to a vehicle’s power steering system is an important part of preventive maintenance for wise North Kansas City car owners. This system provides power to the steering wheel so you can turn it with ease. Without power steering, all of the power to turn your SUV’s wheels would have to come from you. The central element of most power steering systems is a pump. The pump pressurizes the power steering fluid, and it is this pressure that provides auxiliary steering power. A belt connected to the engine usually powers the pump, although some systems use an electric pump. Some newer SUVs have an electric motor that directly provides the power steering boost. Pressurized fluid moves from the pump to the steering gear through a high-pressure hose. A low-pressure hose returns fluid to the pump. Power steering fluid cleans, cools and lubricates the system. North Kansas City drivers s ... read more

Most Missouri auto owners know that their vehicles need regular preventive maintenance like changing the oil and filters, rotating the tires and refilling the washer fluid. But did you know that your air conditioning system needs routine maintenance as well? Taking care of your air conditioning system can extend its life and prevent costly repair bills. Why is it essential for Kansas City auto owners to get routine maintenance on their air conditioning system? First, the refrigerant contains an added lubricant. As the refrigerant circulates through the air conditioning system, its parts are lubricated. This constant lubrication keeps the parts functioning well. But over time, this lubricant is used up, and without it, the parts will eventually seize up and fail. North Kansas City folks should understand, however, that the air conditioner will continue to pump out cool air even without the lubricant, so you won’t know the system is sick until it actually dies. So ... read more

Myths passed around our North Kansas City Missouri community start with a grain of evidence and are then built up with a lot of imagination and very elastic logic. And the internet is a breeding ground for automotive myths. Some bloggers recall the SUVs of yesteryear and declare their modern decedents to be virtually maintenance free and that anyone who says otherwise is out to rip you off. Let’s examine a couple of the more popular rants and look at the truth behind them. The first one is that the chassis no longer needs lubrication for suspension, steering and the driveline. They declare that anyone who has charged you for lubrication is a charlatan. The truth on which this myth is based is that many new cars come from the factory with sealed joints and cannot be greased. However, there are still some grease points on many cars around North Kansas City. A grease fitting may have been installed in conjuncti ... read more

A good suspension system gives a vehicle a smooth, even ride while providing North Kansas City auto owners with good handling and control. But like any system on your SUV, critical parts of the suspension system can wear out, leading to a lower ride quality and safety concerns. So it’s a good idea for North Kansas City motorists to remember an automotive analysis of their suspension system in their schedule of an important preventive maintenance. Springs do most of the work of the suspension system. The most common types of springs are coil and leaf, but air springs and torsion bars are becoming more common. The body of the vehicle is “suspended” by the springs. If springs were the only working component in your suspension system, however, you’d spend your travel time bouncing up and down like a bobblehead. That’s where your shocks come in. They keep the rebound, or bounciness, of the springs under control. Shocks also keep your tires on the road, which keeps the ... read more

Many North Kansas City car owners have found themselves in the following situation: they go to get their oil changed and their friendly Northtown Auto Clinic technician recommends a new engine air filter. They say yes, but don’t know what an air filter is or what it does. If this has happened to you, rest assured that you did the right thing by getting a new one. But you should never be too embarrassed to ask your Northtown Auto Clinic technician for more information. It’s your money and you have a right to understand what you’re paying for. Let’s review: “What does an air filter do?”: Air is the focus of this discussion. What is the air like outside in North Kansas City right now? Can you see any smog? Is it full of pollen? How about dust? Anyone in Missouri with hay fever can tell you that there’s plenty in the air that you can’t see. Well, the engine air fil ... read more

Hello North Kansas City, let’s talk about brakes. Braking, as all Missouri auto owners know, is slowing or stopping your vehicle. As you can imagine, brakes are engineered to work well on a particular vehicle application. For example, you would expect more powerful brakes on a heavy-duty pickup that routinely hauls big loads and pulls trailers, than you would on a compact car. And a Corvette that can go over 180 miles per hour would have much different braking needs than the family mini-van you drive around between North Kansas City, Kansas City and Parkville. But the mechanical aspects of the brakes themselves are just one issue. There’s also the power brake pump and brake fluid. And then there are the tires, which are critical to the effectiveness of the brakes. Let’s step back. A new SUV or truck rolls off a loca ... read more