Carthage Auto Repair

  Is My Catalytic Convertor Bad? We get this question sometimes. If your vehicle is exhibiting symptoms such as a Strong Sulfur Smell or you are losing Fuel Mileage, it is possible that your CATALYTIC CONVERTOR is bad. It takes Specialized equipment to test your vehicles Catalytic Convertor properly. Also, another symptom you could notice is your vehicle has low power and this could from a clogged Catalytic Convertor. Your Check Engine Light may be on with a P0420 and/or P0430 code in the ECM. If your vehicle has any of these issues give us a call and we will be happy to diagnose your vehicle and let you know what needs to be done to fix it

 What Causes My Car To Overheat? Quite a few things can cause your car to overheat. It can be as simple as the coolant being low. If you have a low coolant condition, there is usually a reason that it is low. It could be anything from a loose connection to a Head Gasket going bad that allows the engine to burn coolant. A pressure tester needs to be hooked to the cooling system when it’s cold and then the tool pressurizes the cooling system. This way if it is leaking you will be able to find it. If there is no external leak and you still wonder, Why Does My Car Overheat it could be the water pump may be going bad and not able to move coolant fast enough through the system. Also, the Radiator could be getting plugged or restricted enough that it won’t allow the coolant to flow through. If all these check out and are working as designed, it’s possible that the Head Gasket could be bad, and the Engine is Burning Coolant. A lot of times when this happens you may notic ... read more

Why Does My Diesel Engine Make A Popping Noise. There are several different things that can cause this to happen. Another question we get is Why Does My Diesel Engine Blow White Smoke. There are times that a diesel engine can exhibit both symptoms at the same time. First, we’ll look at what causes a popping sound in the engine. Depending on the issue in the engine you may only hear this at idle and it goes away when you rev it up or it may get louder when the engine RPM goes up. This sound can be caused by a Leaking Intake Valve, Broken Rocker Arm, or Bent Push rod. If you hear this noise in your engine it’s best to stop driving your truck and get it towed to minimize the damage to your engine. On the other hand, if your truck is blowing bluish white smoke out the exhaust it may be possible that the exhaust valve may be sticking open or the exhaust valve is burnt and creating a compression loss in cylinder. When this happens, it can’t burn the fuel in the cylinder, an ... read more

Why Do My Tires Wear On The Inside? This happens to a lot of vehicles from Automotive to Heavy Trucks. If you notice that Your Tires Are Wearing On The Inside it is a good idea to have the Suspension on your vehicle checked over and find out if the Ball Joints are worn or the King Pin Bushings are worn out in your commercial vehicle. When they wear out it allows the top of the tire to tip in and that is what wears the inside of the tire out and the rest of the tire is good yet. The fix for a light duty vehicle is to replace the Ball Joints and then do a Four Wheel Alignment. On a Heavy Vehicle you have to take the Steer Axle apart and Replace the Bushings and King Pins and do a Three Axle Alignment. If you hear a squeaking sound while your turning the steering wheel back and forth that is the Ball Joints or King Pin Bushings that are dry and will need to be replaced. Some Ball Joints can be greased others are sealed. It all depends on the application. If the Tires on your vehicle are w ... read more

Why Does My Dash Say Service Def System? This is a question we get a lot and many things can cause this and we will go over some of the reasons this message comes up on your dash. Another question we get is Why Does My Truck Have A DEF System? We will look at both questions and give you some answers of why Diesel Trucks have a DEF System and why the Service DEF System message comes up on the dash. We will look at Why Does My Truck Have A DEF System first. The main reason late model Diesel Trucks and Cars have a DEF System is to control the amount of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) that the vehicle emits. The EPA has mandated that the OEM’s had to control the Emissions that the Diesel Engine emits. The DEF Fluid gets injected into the exhaust stream before the Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) unit. The Def Fluid goes through a mixing tube and enters the SCR unit, and the DEF Fluid reacts with the SCR and reduces the NOx and lowers the emissions coming out of the tailpipe. When the Servi ... read more