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Archive for April 2012

Your Well Trained Technician At Northtown Auto Clinic

When your SUV breaks down, or just needs some routine service, you might get a little nervous. Your car’s so important to your life in Liberty, you need to back on the road as soon as possible – with the problem fixed right the first time.

If you’ve ever checked into some of the technician training Northtown Auto Clinic professionals receive, you may be surprised at how much knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern car. Let me give you some perspective. Today there are four cylinder engines that make more power than the V-8’s in luxury cars twenty years ago. I mean a new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket’s Ferrari in a race to sixty.

Our engines are more and more powerful and at the same time their fuel economy keeps inching up – even with steep Liberty gas prices. And they’re so reliable. This is all due to engineering. But the advances come at the price of simplicity. The modern cars driving around Liberty roads are so much more complex from a mechanical standpoint that it makes your head spin – not to mention the electronics.

Some cars have several networked computers controlling most of the engine functions and many other vehicle functions as well. Liberty motorists take all of this sophistication for granted – but somebody has to fix it when it breaks. It’s a real challenge for Northtown Auto Clinic technicians to keep up, but we work hard to stay ahead of the technology. It requires a high level of commitment on the part of the technician and the Liberty service center as well.

In addition to the training, there’s the financial commitment to purchase the diagnostic and repair tools. Northtown Auto Clinic technicians receive training through a combination of formal classroom training, training provided at Northtown Auto Clinic by parts and equipment manufacturers, on-line courses and home study courses.

There are many independent certifications available at Northtown Auto Clinic all the way up to Master Technician. The ability to repair your SUV requires a strong combination of training and resources. No one can know everything, so Liberty auto service centers subscribe to data services, technical libraries and even on-line communities that can help them when they run into a difficult problem.

It’s like those medical diagnosis shows on TV. Here are the symptoms – what’s the diagnosis and treatment? Diagnosis is every bit as much an art as a science. At Northtown Auto Clinic, we want everything to be simple, straightforward and cheap – but sometimes it just isn’t.

So try to be more relaxed next time you bring us your SUV. You’re in good hands.

Northtown Auto Clinic: Good Service And Good Fuel Economy

Most of our Liberty clients want to save on gas and seek our advice on improving fuel economy. At Northtown Auto Clinic, we are frequently asked, however, just how much money Liberty motorists can actually save.

Well the US government has a website dedicated to helping us use less fuel. It presents the cost savings in a way Liberty car owners can relate to and is relevant for all vehicles. Let me give you an example: Having your SUV engine properly tuned, can save up to 4%. If you’re paying three-fifty for a gallon of gas, you could save fourteen cents a gallon.

In today's Northtown Auto Clinic post, we’re going to talk about several things you can do to improve your SUV fuel economy driving around Liberty. We’ll tell you the potential savings per gallon of gas at three dollars and fifty cents, and we’ll show a graphic that also shows the savings at three and four dollars.

The next item is replacing a clogged engine air filter. Your engine needs enough air to burn fuel efficiently for the best economy. A clean air filter means you get plenty of air. The fact that the air’s clean protects your engine. That can save you up to ten percent or thirty-five cents a gallon.

Fixing a faulty oxygen sensor can improve economy by up to forty percent. That’s a whopping dollar forty in savings per gallon. Bring your car to Northtown Auto Clinic and we'll check your oxygen sensor.

Here’s an easy one. Inflate your tires to the recommended pressure. That could save you three percent or eleven cents a gallon. Even a little drop in pressure will cost you at the pump so check your tires every week.

Your SUV manufacturer has recommended a specific weight of motor oil. The recommendation is based on engine design and will give you the best protection. Using a heavier weight could cost one to two percent in reduced fuel economy, or up to seven cents a gallon.

Cutting out aggressive driving around Liberty can save five percent or eighteen cents a gallon. Now on the highway it gets really costly: thirty three percent or a buck sixteen a gallon. Think about that.

 A related item is exceeding the speed limit. For example, if the speed limit is sixty miles per hour an additional five miles will cost seven percent or twenty-five cents a gallon. Fifteen miles per hour will cost you upwards of eighty cents a gallon.

The last thing we’ll talk about is excess weight. Our SUVs tend to accumulate a lot of things and the weight adds up. Clear out the trunk and only haul stuff when you really need it. For every one hundred pounds you can save two percent or seven cents a gallon.

Sorry honey, your brother can’t come with. It’d cost an extra thirty cents a gallon.

Tracking True In Missouri: Wheel Alignment In Liberty

Wheel alignment is often overlooked by busy Liberty and Parkville car owners until serious tire damage has been done. One wheel can be knocked out of alignment from the rest by hitting a curb or pothole on Kansas City roads.

When a vehicle’s out of alignment, one or more of the wheels does not track true and pulls against the others. The tires will wear out very quickly and will need to be replaced prematurely. It could also lead to SUV suspension damage.

But the big issue for Liberty, Parkville, and North Kansas City motorists is safety. When your SUV wheels are out of alignment, the vehicle will pull to one side, which could lead to an accident. When you’re out of alignment, you should have it taken care of right away at Northtown Auto Clinic in North Kansas City.

At Northtown Auto Clinic, your vehicle is put on an alignment rack where the tires, steering and suspension parts are checked for damage. Then the alignment is charted and checked against the factory settings.

Adjustments are made to bring the wheels back into alignment. This gets all four wheels going in precisely the same direction.

Signs of alignment problems are: Your car pulls to one side. Also, your steering wheel may not be centered when you’re going straight. If you see the edges of one or more tires rapidly wearing down, you should have your Kansas City service center look it over. If you’ve been in an auto accident in Missouri that involved a wheel, you should get your alignment checked.

A big jolt can seriously knock things out of alignment, but Liberty drivers also need to understand that a series of smaller ones can add up.

That’s why your manufacturer recommends periodic alignment checks. If your SUV owner’s manual doesn’t specify, once a year might be appropriate. Or check with Ed Schaeffer or your service advisor at Northtown Auto Clinic in North Kansas City.

One thing’s for sure: the cost of the alignment at Northtown Auto Clinic is cheaper than having to buy a couple of new tires because of neglect.

North Kansas City Customer Detective Work

One might say the most challenging part of being an automotive service technician at Northtown Auto Clinic in North Kansas City Missouri is diagnosing a problem before it can be fixed.

Cars are made up of a bunch of complex systems. There usually could be a number of reasons for any given symptom. So it's challenging to track down the actual cause of the problem. And it can be frustrating for the vehicle owner because it can take time and money to get to the bottom of a problem. If it's not something obvious, it's easy for the customer to focus on the fixing and not the diagnosing.

Let us introduce you to something we'll call Customer Detective Work – that is helping your North Kansas City Missouri technician find clues to what's wrong.

We start with the detective basics: What, Where and When. Play along with me. You come in to Northtown Auto Clinic and your car is making a funny sound.

• Q: Where's the sound?
• A: Around the right front wheel.


• Q: What kind of sound?
• A: Kind of a clunk, clunk sound.


• Q: When do you hear the sound?
• A: When I turn and accelerate.


• Q: Right and left? Forwards and back?…

Do you see where we're going? You're gathering additional information to help your North Kansas City Missouri technician know where to start. Based on your car and the tech's experience, he'll know where to look and can start with the obvious suspects.

You can see how that would be more helpful than dropping the car off with a note that says "making a funny noise".

When you think you need to bring a vehicle in, make some notes about the problem. Rather than just saying "it's leaking", tell the tech the color of the fluid, and approximately where under the car you see the puddle.

Things like 'the car is stalling or sputtering' are often very hard to diagnose because they're intermittent. They may not happen every time you drive and usually aren't happening when you actually bring the car in. So, it is a big help for you to describe what's happening in as much detail as possible.

Your North Kansas City Missouri technician at Northtown Auto Clinic will need to be able to duplicate the problem if possible so he needs to know details, like 'it stalls after it's been driven for about 20 minutes and I go over 50 miles an hour'.

If the tech can experience the problem personally, he's better able to make a diagnosis and repair. And, then test to see if the repair solved the problem.