Can Simple DIY Maintenance End Badly?

Posted by & filed under Battery, Brakes, Maintenance.

We’ve seen the whole gamut of issues from people who try to service their vehicle themselves.

A common one is people who try to install their own batteries. When they install the battery, they hook up the cables incorrectly and blow fuses in the car.

Another common occurrence with people who install their own batteries is that they don’t realize that the cars’ computers have to be powered on all the time. They disconnect the battery, which takes the power away from the computer. Then they put the new battery in the car only to find out they’ve lost all their programming. Now the vehicle either won’t start, or the computer needs to be reprogrammed.

Using an example of a Honda Accord: you replace the battery in that car, and if you don’t keep the car powered up, the radio won’t work again. We’ll get a car brought in where the customer replaced the battery and now the radio doesn’t work. We have to remove the radio to get a code on the back of it, then program that code into the front in order to make it work again.
DIY Brake Pad Replacement Ending Badly Photo Credit: dedi via Compfight cc

We’ve also had cars come in with the brake pads installed backwards. Instead of having the friction portion of the brake pad up against the brake rotor, the metal portion of the brake pad is against the rotor. I’ve even had cars come in where people have rotated the tires and put the lug nuts on backwards, so the tires are falling off the car.

There are a lot of things that happen that don’t need to happen. I think it’s because sometimes people are afraid of the potential cost.

It’s kind of like going to the doctor. If you don’t tell them everything that’s wrong with you, then maybe you’ll still be okay. We all know that’s not true, but it’s something that happens. It’s the same with a car.

If you’re not sure where to go, get some referrals. Talk to your friends, talk to your neighbors, do some online research.

Then go ahead and pick an automotive shop. Pay them a visit, and make sure that you’re completely honest with them. Tell them everything you know about the car. Just that conversation, and you talking it through with a service professional, is really going to help you make a good decision on how you’re going to repair your car.

Fuel Filter Replacement

Posted by & filed under Fuel System.

Hello Kent auto owners! You would never like to drink a glass of mud, right? Well, your SUV feels the same way. It needs a steady supply of clean fuel in order to run well and deliver good fuel economy. The fuel filter’s job is to clean dirt and rust out of the fuel before it gets to your engine. A clogged fuel filter can actually choke off the engine so that it won’t start or run. Some fuel filters have a bypass valve that allows fuel to go around the clogged filter so your car will still run. But, then the contaminated fuel can clog your fuel injectors and allow damaging particles into your engine.

A car with a partially clogged fuel filter might run well around Kent, but sputter and strain on the expressway because it’s starving for gas. There are two things that affect how often you need to replace the filter. They are: where you drive in WA and the gas you buy. If you drive a lot on dirt or gravel roads in rural WA, your fuel filter will have a harder time keeping the fuel clean.

And, we hate to say it, but buying the cheapest gas from bargain Auburn area stations sometimes means dirtier fuel that’ll clog the filter sooner. Major brands tend to be cleaner and certainly have higher levels of detergent additives.

Of course, car makers recommend intervals for changing the fuel filter. But, it’s a little more complicated than that. Some car makers stopped listing recommended intervals for fuel filter replacement or have very long intervals like every five years or eighty thousand miles. So you may need to look to other sources for recommendations. Cars older than six or seven years are especially at risk because they have had time for dirt and rust to build up in the fuel tank. A clean fuel filter keeps the gas flowing. Even a partially clogged filter puts added strain on the SUV fuel pump. That can shorten its life and result in a costly repair.

As is often the case, spending a little money now on something as inexpensive as a fuel filter can save money down the road. At Central Avenue Automotive in Kent, we can check your fuel filter. It is better than fixing a burned-out SUV fuel pump or ruined fuel injectors.

Were You Told to Replace Your Water Pump with Your Timing Belt?

Posted by & filed under Cooling System, Engine, Parts.

We’re asked a lot of questions here in the shop, and one we hear over and over again is whether or not you should change your water pump when you’re replacing your timing belt. This is a specific question, so naturally it has a specific answer. Unfortunately, that specific answer involves a whole lot of variables. So… not such a specific answer, actually.

The right time to change out your water pump will depend on the make and model of your car, as well as how many miles are on it. This relates to the type of water pump your car uses and if it’s rotated by the timing belt or not. You’ll also have to weigh the cost – is it worth it to wait and come back in six months or not?

TIming Belt and Water Pump Replacement

Should you replace your water pump and timing belt at the same time?

If your car has 60,000+ miles on it and has already had its first timing belt replacement, as long as none of the seals are leaking and the engine won’t be damaged, it might be worth it to wait and replace the water pump later. Talk to your auto technician about an estimate, and if labor costs are coming in around $200, you should be okay for now. However, if you’re driving a car like an Audi, Mini Cooper, Honda Odyssey, or Acura TL, it could cost more than $400 to come back later for the job. It’s best not to gamble in a situation like that and just get the water pump replacement done at the same time as the timing belt.

If your car is already on its second timing belt replacement, you’ll probably want to replace the water pump and other belts at the same time. Another consideration is what kind of engine your car has. Not all engines are created equal! A lot of smaller cars like the Honda Civic, Volkswagen Jetta, or Acura TSX utilize a high-compression small engine in order to get a little more performance for their size. With an interface engine, the valve opens further into the combustion chamber, so a broken timing belt can cause big problems. A malfunctioning water pump can cause the belt to break, which can cause the piston to strike and damage the valve, which results in major engine repair and major dollar signs.

So, in a nutshell, the answer to the water pump question is “consult your friendly neighborhood auto repair shop.” That would be us. We’ll go over estimates and a recommended plan of action with you. Contrary to popular opinion, we don’t really like having to repair a destroyed engine that could have been prevented, so we’ll be upfront and no-nonsense with you. Give us a call or schedule an appointment online!

Deep Clean Your Fuel System At Central Avenue Automotive

Posted by & filed under Fuel System.

Having trouble with your fuel system? Bring your SUV into Central Avenue Automotive for a check up.
1514 Central Ave S Ste A
Kent, WA 98032
253.854.6762

In today’s Central Avenue Automotive auto post, we’re talking about fuel system cleaning. The first thing to know is how important it is to have a clean fuel system. Kent car owners need fuel to go, and the cleaner the fuel system, the more efficiently the fuel will burn. That means more power and better fuel economy.

A clean fuel system saves money at the pump. We guess you could say, it all starts and ends at the pump. One of the most important things Kent auto owners can do to keep their SUV fuel system clean is to buy good quality gas. Major brands have detergents that keep gum and varnish from rapidly building up in the fuel system.

So buying cheaper gas in Kent can actually cost more in the long run. Now, most cars on WA freeways are more than five or six years old. That means they’ve had time for some dirt and rust to start accumulating in the fuel tank. This junk needs to be filtered out of the fuel before it hits your SUV engine. That’s the fuel filter’s job.

When the fuel filter is clogged, the dirty fuel will bypass the filter and go on up to the engine where it can clog fuel injectors and get into the cylinders. That could do some damage. So Federal Way drivers should have their fuel filter changed when recommended. Check your owner’s manual or ask your considerate Central Avenue Automotive service professional if your fuel filter is due for replacement.

The fuel then goes up into the throttle body. This is another area where varnish and gum can accumulate. A professional fuel system cleaning at Central Avenue Automotive in Kent will use a combination of special cleaning chemicals and old fashioned swabbing to clean out the throttle body. Now, the fuel injectors are the last stop in the fuel delivery system.

It’s real important to keep those fuel injectors clean. The fuel injectors need to deliver a precise amount of fuel, at exactly the right time, in a particular spray pattern. They just can’t do that if they’re dirty. Dirty fuel injectors really rob power and hurt fuel economy.

It is important for the fuel system proper, but there are a couple other things that will help keep your SUV engine clean as well. Of course, air is mixed with the fuel before it’s burned. Dirty air means dirt gets into your engine, so you need to replace your engine air filter when it’s dirty.

The PCV value routes unburned fuel that escapes into the lower engine back up into the intake system to be burned. A sticky PCV valve needs to be replaced at Central Avenue Automotive to make sure that system is working properly and the breather filter needs to be replaced if it’s dirty as well.

Do all these things and your SUV engine’s air and fuel will be as clean as possible. You’ll get much better gas mileage and better power.

Do Dealerships Have Your Best Interests at Heart?

Posted by & filed under Automotive News, Maintenance, Service Intervals, Service Standards.

When you buy a new car, whose interest does the car company have in mind when they’re making recommendations? They’re trying to sell you a car, of course, so hopefully you’ve done your research and gone in prepared. But what about when they give recommendations about how to care for the car and when to get maintenance?

The reality is that car companies want you to come back for a new car in about four or five years. If you don’t come back for ten years or more, there’s nothing in it for them. They want to be able to sell you another car and push the maintenance expenses off as long as possible. When you do buy another car, all of those expenses get pushed off on the next owner.

We see a lot of cars in the shop that didn’t receive regular maintenance because owners were misled on how often they’d need it. We see cars that only received two oil changes in 60,000 miles. This is why it’s essential to have service records when you purchase a used car – you need to know the potential problems you’re inheriting. Domestic cars like GMs, Fords, and Chryslers can only go about 15,000 miles, sometimes as high as 20,000, on their original oil as a brand new car. Even so, there’ve been several cars we’ve had to install new engines into that don’t even have 25,000 miles on them yet because someone skipped fluid service.

Car Dealership Lifetime Service
Photo Credit: Belly Acres via Compfight cc

Car manufacturers are typically looking out for their best interests, not the customer’s. It’s the nature of business. As a general rule, the best thing you can do for any car is to get regular service, including fluids, tire rotation, brake inspection, and overall vehicle inspection. You should do this every 5000 miles, especially with the road conditions here in Western Washington, where there are a lot of potholes, road debris, and steep hills. If you’re a commuter who gets caught in stop-and-go traffic, all the accelerating and decelerating does a number on your vehicle.

By servicing every 5000 miles, you’ll lower your overall operating cost. Don’t buy into the myth that a car comes with lifetime transmission fluid, either. That stuff will need replacing if you want the car to continue operating.

We recommend making an appointment at a fully ASE Certified garage rather than a quick lube. A quick-stop corner shop won’t do a full inspection and inform you when you need other work done. That means you can end up not servicing other elements that really need it, like your brakes, until damage starts to set in. You’ve taken a basic brake service, which typically ranges $300-$400, and you’ve turned that into a $600-$700 repair.

It’s always better to perform regular inspections and service on a vehicle, and preventative service is much cheaper in the long run than breakdown repairs.

Keep Your Cool In Kent

Posted by & filed under Cooling System.

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Kent drivers rely on their car’s coolant system to keep their engine cool. Coolant (also called antifreeze) mixed with water flows through your SUV engine and absorbs heat. The mixture then flows out to the radiator where it’s cooled by air flowing over the radiator. From there the coolant/water mix circulates back through the engine to absorb more heat.

There’s a reason we mix coolant and water. Water alone actually does a good job transferring heat from the engine. The problem is that water boils at a temperature that’s easily reached inside your SUV’s engine, so it can turn to steam which does not conduct heat as well and is harder to contain.

Also, if it’s freezing outside in Kent, the water in your engine could freeze while your vehicle is sitting out in the cold.

So, if you remember your Kent high school chemistry, you’ll know that a mixture has both a higher boiling point and a lower freezing point than either component alone.

Coolant, or antifreeze, is specially formulated to keep your engine safe in a wide range of environmental and operating temperatures in and around Kent.

Keep Your Cool In Kent Whenever the SUV is running, the coolant in the cooling system is working to keep your engine from overheating. When it’s cold outside, the coolant acts as antifreeze to keep the fluid from freezing in your engine.

All that exploding fuel in your engine creates a lot of heat. Without coolant, the metal SUV engine parts would expand so much that the engine would seize up and stop running. Expensive parts could be broken or warp so badly they would have to be replaced. It could even be so bad that the whole SUV’s engine is ruined and has to be junked.

This is why it is critical that Kent drivers check coolant levels frequently and have their SUV cooling system inspected for leaks. Also your SUV manufacturer has a maintenance requirement for draining and replacing your coolant. These recommendations can vary widely, so check your owner’s manual or ask us at Central Avenue Automotive in Kent.

The reason you need to change the coolant is that it has additives in it to protect the cooling system. As you can imagine, with all the heat, the cooling system’s a pretty harsh environment. The additives keep the fluid from becoming corrosive and damaging the radiator and other SUV cooling system components. Over time, the additives are depleted and the coolant just has to be replaced.

Many Kent auto owners ask Central Avenue Automotive why there are different colors of antifreeze. It is very important that you use the correct type of antifreeze. The different types of antifreeze – or coolant – are different colors so you don’t mix them up.

Auto manufacturers use different materials to make the cooling system, and they require different types of antifreeze to protect them.

So check with us at Central Avenue Automotive or your owner’s manual for the right kind because using the wrong coolant can void the warranty for your SUV cooling system.

Fix It Yourself Or Have A Friend Do It?

Posted by & filed under Fuel System, Maintenance.

Before you or a friend take a crack at fixing your car, read this first!

This article is a paraphrased transcription of an interview with Blake Walker. It remains in conversational language for easy reading.

Fixing Your Own Car
Photo Credit: ** RCB ** via Compfight cc

Interviewer: Blake, it sounds like there can be major consequences to attempting to fix your vehicle at home or letting a friend try to fix it. Do you have any specific examples you can share?

Blake: One comes to mind immediately because it is recent and it resulted in major expenses for the vehicle owner. I have a regular customer who bought a Ford Bronco and decided that he wanted to fix it up.

He worked on it for a while, and wasn’t getting anywhere. He has a friend that has a friend that is a “mechanic.” This guy started to work on the Bronco, and $5,000 later the Bronco was towed in to us.

The guy replaced the engine and replaced a whole lot of components on it because the vehicle wouldn’t start. It turned out that the vehicle had a bad fuel pump. The owner spent about $5,500, then towed the vehicle in and spent another $625. Now the vehicle runs.

After we got the vehicle running, we did our inspection. We looked at the things that we need to look at, such as coolant temperature and oil pressure and things like that to make sure that everything’s operating okay.

The first red flag that came up is that we didn’t have any oil pressure. Well, this is a new engine. We should have oil pressure.

So we started looking into that side of things. We followed the oil pressure circuit down to the engine block. We found out that it wasn’t hooked up, and that the sensor that’s supposed to be in the engine wasn’t there.

Somebody took a plumbing plug and stuck it into the side of the engine, as opposed to fixing it correctly. The computer monitors the engine’s oil pressure. It needs to see good oil pressure in order for the vehicle to run correctly. The computer wasn’t seeing that.

Because they weren’t sure what to do with the hole, and because they had lost the part and didn’t know what went in there, they just went ahead and put a plug in it. The owner had been dealing with this problem for seven months.

His vehicle was with us for two days, and we got it up and running correctly with good oil pressure. To this guy here that was a $5,000 mistake.

It’s always best to just do a consultation. Talk is cheap.

We’re more than happy to look at a vehicle with you, go over your repair options and lay out different scenarios, so that when you go to make a decision on whether you want to repair your vehicle, or if the repair is right for you, you’ll have all the information.

Once you have that information, you’re able to make a decision that works best for you.

Ethics of Automotive Repair in Kent

Posted by & filed under Service Standards.

We’re going to be talking about the ethics of automotive repair. It seems like news outlets really like hit-and-run reporting; they hit everyone from groceries stores to retail to physicians. And the Kent automotive service and repair industry hasn’t been given a pass either.

Unfortunately, every profession in Kent has some bad actors that hurt the reputation of everyone else. On the automotive side, industry associations and professional licensing organizations are very committed to high ethical standards.

Yet some people remain uncomfortable with Kent automotive service and repair. It may start with the fact that our vehicles are a big investment and we rely on them for so much in our lives. That alone guarantees our attention. And how well we understand the recommendations really impacts our comfort level.

If we understand what’s recommended and the benefits of taking care of the work – and the pitfalls of putting it off – we’ll have more trust in the recommendation. So communication is key. It’s like going to the doctor; If she’s using medical jargon and takes a lot of basic medical knowledge for granted, we have a hard time following her train of thought. It can be like that with your Kent service advisor too. He’s so familiar with all things automotive, he may forget you don’t know a PCV from an EGT.

If you don’t understand what your doctor’s talking about: ask some questions. If you don’t understand what your Kent automotive advisor’s talking about: ask some questions.

Let’s go back to those ethical standards; when we hear a repair recommendation, we always ask ourselves, “Is this really necessary?” Well, here’s the industry standard:

If a technician tells you that a repair or replacement is required it must meet the following criteria:

  1. The part no longer performs its intended purpose
  2. The part does not meet a design specification
  3. The part is missing

For example, it you take your car in for a grinding noise when you step on the brakes, you may just think you need new brake pads. After the inspection, the technician at Central Avenue Automotive says that you have a cracked rotor and need to replace it.

If you tried to get him to simply put new pads on, he would say that if you didn’t want to replace the rotor; Central Avenue Automotive would ethically have to refuse the repair.

To just put pads on a cracked rotor would have been very wrong. The brakes could’ve failed at anytime and needed to be repaired – not just have a band-aid slapped on them.

Now, looking at something not so serious, the technician may suggest repair or replacement if:

  1. The part is close to the end of its useful life – just above discard specifications or likely to fail soon
  2. To address a customer need or request – like for better ride or increased performance
  3. To comply with maintenance recommended by the vehicle’s manufacturer
  4. Based on the technician’s informed experience

Of course, the technician has the burden of making ethical recommendations and properly educating their customers. For the customer, if you are uncomfortable with a recommendation, ask some questions. More information is always a good thing.

Regular Fluid Service is Important

Posted by & filed under Engine, Fluids, Maintenance, Service Intervals.

Here at Central Ave Auto, one of the most neglected services we see is fluid service and other regularly scheduled maintenance. This is due to a combination of factors, ranging from simple procrastination to receiving misinformation about how often your car should be serviced.

Over the last 15-20 years as cars have gotten better, manufacturers have tried to extend their service times out. To a certain degree, this was a good move. For example, cars used to need their oil changed every 3000 miles because cars prior to the mid-1980’s had carburetors, which dumped extra gas into the engine. This caused oil contamination, which required scheduled maintenance and fluid service more often. These days, most cars are using fuel injection, which is more efficient and cleaner. Now, most cars only need an oil change every 5000-6000 miles.

Neglected Fluid Service
Photo Credit: natloans via Compfight cc

What we’ve seen over the last few years, however, is vehicle manufacturers extending their requirements for regular service. This is an intentional move. Cars haven’t gotten much better, but now manufacturers are competing amongst themselves with cost of ownership, which is determined by how much expected maintenance you’re going to need until the car hits 100,000 miles.

When they push service intervals out to 7500 miles, they’re lowering cost of ownership, but also potentially setting you up for much bigger (and more expensive) issues. If your car uses a quart of oil every 1500 miles and your car only holds four quarts, then going 7500 miles is going to leave you with serious engine issues, possibly even the need for an engine replacement.

Based on our observations and automotive knowledge, we highly recommend that most cars driving in Seattle and the Puget Sound area have their fluid service done every 5000 miles. We also perform a vehicle inspection every 5000 miles, which will catch any other issues, as well.

Keeping up with your scheduled maintenance will help extend the life of your vehicle and prevent more expensive potential repairs. Call us anytime with questions or to schedule an appointment. You can also use our online appointment form!

What Is A Differential And Do You Have One?

Posted by & filed under Drive Train.

With front-wheel drive being so common these days in Kent, WA, the differential is just taken care of during a transmission service, so most folks in Kent, WA 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 for our Kent customers. So it’s not uncommon for people to not know they have a differential let alone know that it needs service.

Call Central Avenue Automotive at 253.854.6762 for information about differential service, or stop by our Kent, WA auto center at 1514 Central Ave S Ste A 98032.

To better understand what a differential does, think about our local Kent high school track. 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. Staggering the starting lines means that each runner has the same distance to run.

The differential compensates for the difference in speeds between the inside wheel and the outside wheel in a turn, because they have to travel together through slightly different distances.

It’s a very important function. When you think of it, all the power to get a vehicle moving goes through the differential. Most cars in the Kent, WA area weigh between three and six thousand pounds – trucks even more. The power from the engine goes through the transmission and then through the differential to the drive wheels.

That’s a lot of work and requires very heavy duty parts. And those parts need protection. The differential fluid lubricates the gears in the differential and keeps them cool.

The fluid eventually gets dirty and worn down. Some kinds of differentials require special additives that breakdown over time. So manufacturers recommend intervals for replacing your differential fluid.

Your Kent, WA technician at Central Avenue Automotive will drain the used fluid and check it out for metal bits, which could be a sign of excessive wear on the gears. Then he’ll replace the fluid and install the additives if necessary.

Your Central Avenue Automotive service advisor can look up the manufacturer’s recommended service interval or you can check your owner’s manual. Give us a call at 253.854.6762 for more information about your differential service.