North Kansas City Auto Repair

Don’t you hate it when you hear that squeal from under the hood when you’re zipping down a busy North Kansas City highway? It usually means there is a problem with the serpentine belt. The serpentine belt powers a lot of engine accessories. It runs the alternator – which charges the battery; the water pump – which cools the engine; the air conditioning and the power steering pump. All pretty critical parts. It is called a serpentine belt because it snakes around a bunch of engine components. Serpentine belts are amazingly tough. They can last for years and go for tens of thousands of miles. Like all essential moving parts, however, they eventually wear out. If your belt breaks while you are driving around North Kansas City, everything will come to a halt within minutes. You need to stop the SUV immediately or it will overheat, potentially causing costly engine damage. You can be sure that it won’t happen at a convenient time or place. (As if the ... read more

Most Kansas City folks worry about running out of gas or having a breakdown on the side of the road. That is why we practice preventive maintenance on our vehicles — that and to keep our repair bills down. But one important part of preventive maintenance that may get overlooked by North Kansas City motorists is a periodic alignment inspection. Poor alignment causes tires to wear rapidly, unevenly or both. This means they will have to be replaced early, and new tires are more pricey than an alignment check in North Kansas City. Bad alignment can also cause damage to suspension and steering systems, which can be expensive to repair in Kansas City. Tire wear on misaligned wheels can also lead to blowouts, which are dangerous, can lead to serious accidents, and can seriously damage your SUV. Also, poor alignment itself can be the cause of an accident, since the SUV may not steer ... read more

There are a lot of North Kansas City people who are due for a differential service, but had never heard of a differential before.With front-wheel drive being so common in Missouri these days, the differential is just taken care of during a transmission service, so most North Kansas City folks don’t even have to think about it. And rear-wheel drive differentials don’t need to be serviced for years, so it’s understandable that it’s not something on the top of mind. So it’s not uncommon for North Kansas City people to not know they have a differential let alone know that it needs service. To better understand what a differential does, think about a track at any Missouri high school. There are lanes marked off on the track. For the longer distance races, the starting lines are staggered. The starting lines for the outside lanes are ahead of the starting lines for the inside lanes. That’s to compensate for the longer length of the outside lanes. Stagg ... read more

If you’ve ever heard a squealing sound under your SUV hood, chances are it was your serpentine belt. Your serpentine belt is a long belt that’s driven by your engine. It winds around several accessories that power important automotive systems in your SUV. Let’s go over them. First, the serpentine belt drives your air conditioning system. It spins the compressor that makes the cool air that takes the edge off the summer heat in North Kansas City.
More importantly, the belt powers the alternator . The alternator creates electricity that’s used by your SUV’s electrical systems and also charges your car battery. Without the alternator, the battery will go dead in a few miles. The serpentine belt may also run the pumps for both the power steering (some are electric) and power brakes (some use vacuum boost). And, on mos
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With high fuel prices in North Kansas City Missouri comes lots of gas saving advice. Some of it, like what you hear on AutoNetTV, is really great. Some is myth. And some is just designed to prey on North Kansas City Missouri people desperate to save some money on gas. When you get one of those e-mails that’s going around telling you how to save gas, try to think it through. Does it really make sense? Does it defy the laws of physics? Do some research on the internet or ask your North Kansas City Missouri service advisor at Northtown Auto Clinic. There aren’t any magic pills you can drop in your gas tank and the government hasn’t suppressed a device you can clamp on your fuel line to make your car run on air. Not even in North Kansas City! So next time you get one of those e-mails, check it out with an automotive professional. You’ll get more ba ... read more