North Kansas City Auto Repair

Unless you live in Death Valley, you really don’t hear much any more about cars overheating. That’s because cooling systems in vehicles have been much improved. That doesn’t mean you can’t overheat your SUV engine, though. Without proper preventive maintenance, you could still find yourself on the side of the freeway in North Kansas City waiting for your SUV engine to cool down. When you service your cooling system at Northtown Auto Clinic, your service professional will check the condition of the coolant. It can become corrosive over time, which can damage a radiator — leading to an overheated engine. Changing the coolant periodically is good car care. Your SUV owner’s manual can give you guidelines on how often to replace it. If your engine overheated, your friendly tech will also check your coolant system for leaks. Check the S ... read more

The exhaust system on a vehicle is more complex than most North Kansas City car owners realize. It contains everything from old-fashioned pipes and clamps to sophisticated computers and sensors. All Missouri folks know a properly functioning exhaust system is good for the environment, but sometimes we forget that a damaged exhaust system can be deadly. That’s why preventive maintenance on your exhaust system is so essential. We can help you with that at Northtown Auto Clinic in North Kansas City. The exhaust manifold is the first component in your exhaust system. The manifold is attached to the engine. It collects the gases that are produced by the engine and directs them into the exhaust pipes. At this point, these gases are both hot and chemically dangerous. One of the gases produced in your engine is carbon monoxide. This gas is colorless and odorless. Breathing it can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea ... read more

There are a lot of new features, both optional and standard, on North Kansas City car owners’ vehicles these days. One you may not have heard of is called a cabin air filter. Simply put, its job is to keep the air in the passenger compartment of your car nice and clean. A cabin air filter is similar to the filter you use on your furnace at home in North Kansas City. Cabin air filters can catch particles down to three microns. By comparison, a grain of sand is 200 microns. So cabin air filters are effective against dust, dirt, pollen, mold spores and most pollutants in our Kansas City atmosphere. Good news if you suffer from any types of allergies, or if you live in an area in North Kansas City prone to air pollution. Cabin air filters are generally located in the engine compartment or under the dashboard. They can be tricky to access and replace, so you’ll pr ... read more

It’s important for North Kansas City auto owners to know battery basics. First, let’s talk about which is harder on a battery – hot or cold Missouri weather. Most Kansas City motorists think it’s cold weather because that’s when we call on our batteries to have enough power to start a cold SUV engine. However, heat does more damage to a battery than cold. Truth is, our batteries start to die a little from day one. Keeping a full charge slows the process, which is hard with short North Kansas City trips because the alternator doesn’t have time to fully recharge the battery from starting the engine. North Kansas City drivers can top off the charge with a computer controlled battery charger – say, once a month in the Missouri summer and every three months during the winter. As far as how long a battery will last, statistics show that 70% have given up the ghost within four years ... read more