North Kansas City Auto Repair

If the fuel system in your SUV is dirty, you will be hurting your fuel economy and losing performance as you drive around North Kansas City, Missouri. Unless they drive a vintage car, North Kansas City motorists have fuel injectors which need to be properly maintained. That is why your SUV owner’s manual has a schedule for cleaning your fuel injectors and other parts of your fuel system. Your friendly service advisor at Northtown Auto Clinic in North Kansas City has the tools and chemicals to do the job right. Northtown Auto Clinic uses a process that gives your car a deep, professional fuel system cleaning. The particles, gum and varnish that build up in your fuel system are removed so that it can run cleanly and efficiently. After a professional fuel system cleaning at Northtown Auto Clinic, you’ll notice more power, impro ... read more

It seems like everywhere you go in the Kansas City area you see custom wheels. Big trucks, little cars, mini-vans – it doesn’t matter, motorists are expressing themselves with custom wheels. Some Missouri motorists want smaller tires and wheels – some want larger – and some want them enormous. So where do you start if you want new wheels? At Northtown Auto Clinic, we suggest you start with your budget. We know, that sounds so practical. But if the look you’re after goes beyond just new tires and wheels and enters into the world of suspension modifications, you need to be prepared for the additional cost. Let’s start with something easy – you want to give your ride a unique look and the stock wheel size is just right for you. One of the concerns you will have is that the new wheels have the same offset as your SUV factory wheels. First, what is offset? The wheel bolts onto the hub on the SUV’s axle. The distan ... read more

Hello North Kansas City drivers, let’s talk about batteries. Car batteries are just like any rechargeable battery. They will eventually wear out and die. If you are shopping for a new battery in North Kansas City, here’s some auto advice to help you. There are two measurements to consider when purchasing a new battery: cold cranking amps and reserve capacity. The power required to start a cold engine is measured in cold cranking amps. The number you need is determined by what kind of vehicle you drive and where you live. In general, higher-cylinder engines require more cold cranking amps than lower-cylinder engines. In other words, an eight-cylinder engine needs more cold cranking amps than a six-cylinder one. Also, diesel engines require more cold cranking amps than gasoline engines. The Kansas City weather also determines the number of cold cranking amps yo ... read more

Welcome to the Northtown Auto Clinic automotive blog. Today, let’s talk about the effect of tire tread depth on braking. When talking about stopping power, most North Kansas City and Parkville drivers tend to focus on our brakes. But our tires are where the rubber meets the road. So having good brakes isn’t enough. Safe Parkville drivers need to have tires with enough traction to translate braking power into stopping power. Let’s focus on stopping in wet Parkville conditions. In order for a tire to have good contact with the road, it has to move the water out of the way. If it can’t move the water, the tire will actually ride on top of a thin film of water. That’s called hydroplaning. If it’s really bad, Parkville car owners can actually spin out of control – endangering themselves and the other drivers around them. At best, you won’t stop as fast ... read more

Every SUV on Missouri expressways has a differential, and it is critical to the proper operation of the vehicle, but most North Kansas City motorists don’t have a clue what it is. The differential compensates for differing wheel speeds. For example, when you turn, the inside tire on the turn travels a much shorter distance than the outside wheel. So the inside wheel of the SUV must move at a slower speed than the outside wheel. Without a differential, the wheels would hop and scrape while turning. Have you ever seen the large bugle-shaped object in the middle of the rear axle of a truck? That’s the differential. In a rear-wheel drive vehicle, the differential is located on the back axle. Four-wheel drive vehicles and SUV’s have differentials on both the front and the rear axle. You might expect that the differential is located on the front axle of a front-wheel drive vehicle. You’d be right. But the diffe ... read more

A lot of people get custom wheels in North Kansas City. When you do this yourself (over the internet . . .) you could run into trouble if you’re not careful. Sometimes, once they’re mounted, they just don’t fit right. The tires rub in turns or on bumps. You don’t want that. Consulting your Northtown Auto Clinic tire professional can ensure you get the right fit. First he’ll ask you a series of questions about your North Kansas City driving needs and what you want in your new wheels. Now, not every wheel can go on every car. Care must be taken so that tires and wheels are not too large or that the wheel is centered too far towards the outside or the inside so the tires rub. If you don’t want to make any modifications to your SUV, you would need to focus on the wheels that would fit. With trucks, some North Kansas City people like much bigger tires so they need a sus ... read more

A lot of us North Kansas City motorists like our vehicles to reflect our personalities. We’re picky about color and body style. We’ll customize anything from floor mats to window tints to license plates. One popular way for Missouri auto owners to customize a vehicle is to get new wheels. Wheels come in thousands of designs. Custom wheels can add personality, style or sass to a vehicle. Many of these customizations involve getting a bigger wheel. Fifteen or sixteen-inch wheels used to be the factory standard, But today, because a lot of North Kansas City drivers like the look of larger wheels, many vehicles are available with seventeen or eighteen-inch wheels. Optional wheel packages of twenty inches or more are also available in North Kansas City. If you want to upsize the wheels on your current vehicle, however, you should know it’s not a do-it-yourself project. There are important factors involved in ensuring your wheel change doesn’t jeop ... read more

Car care is a key part of auto safety in North Kansas City. But the most important thing we can do to improve safety on Missouri roads is to drive safely. Defensive driving is safe driving. And defensive driving is all about attitude. You have to decide that you will be a safe driver in Missouri, no matter what anyone else is doing. North Kansas City drivers can start with awareness. Always maintain awareness of your surroundings, the road conditions, other vehicles on the North Kansas City road or interstate and road hazards. Have you ever suddenly realized that you have arrived somewhere, but you don’t really remember driving there? That is unsafe driving. Never assume that other North Kansas City drivers are paying attention. You be the one on alert. You be the one to take initiative to stay out of the way of other Missouri drivers. And don’t le ... read more

Okay. You went to your local North Kansas City car wash and while your SUV was under the dryer, the check engine light started flashing. Panic! What did you just do? Something is seriously wrong with the SUV! You head for the nearest North Kansas City service station, but on the way, the check engine light stops flashing, and just glows red. Hmm. Maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem. You decide to wait until payday to take your SUV in to get serviced. In the meantime, the check engine light goes off. What? You decide the light must be faulty, or that when it comes on it doesn’t mean anything, or that it’s just in your SUV as some sort of scam to get you to pay for unnecessary expensive repairs. You’re glad you didn’t take your car to the North Kansas City repair shop and resolve to ignore that engine light in the future. Whoa! Let’s look at what really happened. Your SUV was under an air dryer. Your air intake sensor m ... read more

Diesel engines have been used extensively in Europe and Asia for many years. They haven’t been as common in Kansas City because of the high sulfur content in our diesel fuel. But the government is now mandating lower sulfur content and, as a result, we are going to see more North Kansas City auto owners driving diesel-fueled vehicles on the road, especially in passenger cars and SUV’s. Diesels are popular in North Kansas City because they get better fuel economy than gas-powered engines. They also last longer. Modern diesel engines are quiet and powerful. And if you associate diesel engines with black smoke, then you’re not up with the times. That smoke is a thing of the past. Diesels don’t produce any more pollutants than gasoline engines. The pollution standards for diesel-powered vehicles are as strict in Missouri as for other vehicles. Also, diesel engines can run on bio-diesel fuels a ... read more