Carthage Auto Repair

How Often Should You Change Your Oil? There are many different answers for the question depending on who you ask How Often Should You Change Your Oil. If you are using a conventional non synthetic oil the recommendation is 3,000 miles. Later model cars with a full synthetic oil depending on how you drive and if you are doing a lot of short trips, I would recommend Changing Your Engine Oil as early as 5,000 miles and no more than 7500 miles. There are some manufacturers who are recommending oil changes at 10,000 miles up to 20,000 miles. I don’t recommend doing this, all oil breaks down over time as it does it will form deposits inside your engine and start plugging the small passageways that allow oil to flow to the Variable Valve Timing Phasers as well as the Variable Valve Lift mechanisms inside the engine. My recommendation is to change the engine oil more often and that will help your engine run cleaner and not build up with deposits inside the engine. Changing Your Engine Oi ... read more

Can You Clean An EGR Cooler? What a great question and yes you can Clean An EGR Cooler. What happens over time your Diesel Engine Makes Deposits and Black Soot that plugs the passages of an EGR Cooler. It happens slowly so you don’t notice the difference in your truck’s Engine Performance. Now you can take the EGR Cooler off your engine and soak it in a solution and try to clean it that way, it is very time consuming and not efficient use of time. We have a machine that we can connect to the EGR Cooler and the Intake and put a chemical in that Cleans the EGR Cooler. This way we don’t need to take the EGR Cooler off your truck saving time and money for you. We can clean the EGR Coolers on most Diesel Pickup Trucks up to Class 8 Heavy Duty Trucks as well as some Construction and Off-Road Equipment. If you have any questions about whether we can clean the EGR Cooler on your Diesel Engine, give us a call and we will be happy to help you out. We can check your Engine over ... read more

Why Does My Truck Blow White Smoke? There are several reasons for Why Does My Truck Blow White Smoke that can make this happen. One of the reasons that we will talk about is a Failed EGR Cooler. What can happen over time is that the EGR Cooler can get plugged so bad that it cracks it by creating hotspots in the EGR Cooler. The EGR Cooler needs to be able to flow exhaust through the whole EGR Cooler not just around the outside edges. The carbon from the exhaust will plug the center of the EGR cooler making it lose its cooling capacity. Which in turn creates the hot spots when its under load and working. What you will notice on the first start of the day is that your truck will Blow White Smoke on startup and then clear up after several minutes. This is an indication of Can My EGR Cooler Leak. The only fix for a Leaking EGR Cooler is to replace it with a New EGR Cooler. I would also recommend a Coolant Exchange at this time. If you have any questions about your EGR Cooler or your experie ... read more

Why Does My Transmission Shift Hard? If you have a heavy-duty truck with a Manual Shift Transmission, there are several reasons why you may experience Why Does My Transmission Shift Hard. One possibility is the shift rails in the cover are binding making the shift lever move hard. To fix this condition the shift cover would have to be taken off and reconditioned so that the shift rails can move easily. Another condition that can cause this, you would notice that certain gears would shift hard, and the rest of the gears would shift easy is a Bent Shift Fork. To repair this condition the shift cover must come off and be taken apart and a new Shift Fork installed. Another reason you may experience a Why Does My Transmission Shift Hard is internal failure of the transmission shafts or gears. If the transmission experiences a hard shock load to the gearing it can put a slight twist into the Main Shaft or break the teeth off the gears. If you are looking for Heavy Truck Repair Near Me or Tra ... read more

Does My Car Have A Cabin Air Filter? This is a great question most late model cars have a “CABIN AIR FILTER”. The cabin air filter is in car’s HVAC system to filter the air that comes through the Heater Core or AC Evaporator to keep them from getting plugged. The side benefit is that it also filters the air that you breathe in. If you are driving down a dusty road you would be breathing in that fine dust that’s in the air if your car didn’t have a Cabin Air Filter. Another thing that happens is mice love to build nests on top of the Cabin Air Filter. If you never check your Cabin air filter or have your Mechanic Near Me, check and replace it. You won’t Know how plugged and dirty is unless you get it checked over. It’s always a great idea to replace or have your Cabin Air Filter checked as Regular Maintenance. If you are experiencing a bad smell in your car when the heat or AC is on this is one of the first things, you want to check. I ... read more