Gig Harbor Auto Repair

Under-inflated tires waste gas for lots of folks in the Gig Harbor area. Think how hard it is to walk in sand - you just have to work harder because of the resistance. When your tires don't have enough air in them, their rolling resistance is dramatically increased and it simply takes more gas to get from place to place. Always check your tire pressure when you gas up at one of our local Gig Harbor service stations. If they're low - even just a little bit - bring them up to proper pressure. There's a sticker on the inside of your driver's door that gives the manufacturer's recommended tire pressure. And don't rely on your tire pressure monitoring system to alert you to when you need more air. The TPMS system is set to warn you when pressure drops twenty percent below recommendations. That's severely under inflated and you needed more air a long time ago. And if you have a slow leak - get it fixed right away at ... read more

Here's a travel tip that'll I'll bet you didn't know, and, it might keep you safer… The average American commuter in Washington spends two and a half hours daily in their car. The government says a hundred thousand auto accidents yearly are caused by drivers who fall asleep at the wheel. (Aggressive driving is the number one traffic safety concern.) So what does this have to do with how your car smells while you're driving around Washington? Well, which scent did you think makes drivers more alert?It's C. Drivers are more alert and have less fatigue with pine scent in the car, according to AroMetrics. And, drivers were less angry with overall improved driving performance with strawberry and pine scents. And you thought they just smelled nice

When it comes to their vehicles, some Gig Harbor car owners don't have a maintenance mindset. They know they need to take care of their cars, but it just seems really hard to get them to remember to do it. Gig Harbor drivers generally accept that many things in life require regular maintenance, but just may have not applied it to their car, truck, SUVs. For example: the lawn. You water it and mow it every week. And weed the flower beds and rake the leaves. There are other things that Gig Harbor residents are diligent about. Going to the dentist twice a year. Clothes to the dry cleaner. Flu shots. Taking the kids to your Gig Harbor doctor for a checkup before school starts. So Gig Harbor car owners really are maintenance minded. They just have to learn to apply that mindset to cars. I mean, if you never brush your teeth or go to the dentist, you'll become painfully aware of your neglect when y ... read more

Lease? Or buy? These are the options for Gig Harbor car financing. It's always a tough question for Gig Harbor car owners. But here is some info that'll help you make an informed decision. If you buy, you'll pay the full cost of the car, with maybe an initial down payment, then monthly payments on the balance that pays down the loan principal, and the finance charge. Gig Harbor drivers who lease, finance the portion of the cost of the car that's used up during the term of the lease. You'll pay some money up front; fees, security deposit, first month's payment and maybe a capital reduction. The monthly payments include a depreciation cost and a finance charge. When the lease is up, you return the car to your local Gig Harbor area dealership. So how do Gig Harbor drivers decide? First, how much do you have for a down payment? A ... read more

Fuel filters clean the dirt, dust and debris out of your fuel. Both gasoline and diesel-powered engines have them. The fuel filter is located in the fuel line between the fuel tank and the car, truck, SUV engine. Gig Harbor drivers don't need to filter their fuel because it has lots of grit in it; they need to filter it because it has some grit it in. Any dirt is bad for your engine. The cleaner the fuel, the better your car, truck, SUV engine will run. Over time, the small amounts of rust, dirt and contaminants in your fuel settle out inside the fuel tank. After about five years, this can amount to a quite a bit of sediment. This means that as your car, truck, SUV ages, your fuel filter has to work harder to screen your fuel: more sediment in your tank means more potential for grit in your fuel. The harder your fuel filter works, the more often it needs to be replaced. Check with your owner's manual to find out how often it should be serviced and how long y ... read more

Today we want to talk to Gig Harbor drivers about timing belts. They're something that many Gig Harbor drivers don't know much about and yet your vehicle won't run if it's broken - and it could cause many thousands of dollars damage if it does break. A broken timing belt is usually a tale of woe. Even though timing belt replacement is scheduled in the owner's manual, it's not the kind of thing that most Gig Harbor motorists remember because it's not well understood. Let's review what a timing belt does. As most Gig Harbor motorists know, the engine's power is generated in the cylinders. A piston rides up and down in the cylinder. During the first down stroke, an intake valve at the top of the cylinder opens and air and fuel is drawn into the cylinder. Then the piston returns to the top, compressing the fuel and air mix. At the top, the spark plug fires, igniting the fuel pushing the piston down in the power stroke. As the piston once again returns u ... read more

All new passenger vehicles on our Gig Harbor Washington roads now have tire pressure monitoring systems - TPMS for short. They are designed to alert you if your tires are under inflated. Since they are fairly new, a lot of people have questions about TPMS. First off, the most important thing is that you still need to check your tire pressure every week - or at least every time you gas up. The TPMS system alert comes in when your tire is twenty percent below the factory recommendation. So if the recommended pressure is thirty five pounds per square inch, the TPMS warning won't come on until the pressure is at twenty eight pounds. That's significantly under-inflated. Enough to raise safety concerns. The worst is tire failure. A severely under inflated tire can overheat and fail. Also, handling degrades to the point that you may not be able to steer out of trouble. Also un ... read more

If you're like most of us Gig Harbor motorists, you want your car to handle well. That's the job of your suspension system. There are different types of suspension systems, but they all work on the same basic principles. First, there are the springs, which bear the weight of the car. The most common springs are coil or leaf - although we see air springs and torsion bars more often. The springs do most of the work. Visit our Gig Harbor location for an inspection of your suspension. Mackert Automotive 3416-B 57th ST CT NW Gig Harbor, Washington 98335 253-851-3307 But if all you had were springs, your car, truck, SUV would be bouncing around like a bobble head. That's where the shocks come in. They control the rebound of the springs and smooth out the up and down motions. They also keep the tires on the road, and you in control. Some car, truck, SUVs use struts. Struts are a combination of shocks and spring ... read more

Is your car sometimes hard to start on an early Gig Harbor morning? When you turn the key, does it hesitate or stutter? If so, the problem could be the result of a dirty fuel system. Your car's fuel system starts with the air filter and ends in the top of your engine. Over time, different parts of the system get dirty, which robs you of performance and hurts your fuel economy. Most of our car, truck, and SUV's in Gig Harbor have fuel injectors, rather than a carburetor. Fuel injection systems have fewer problems and require less adjustment. But they still need to be properly maintained. This is why your owner's manual has a schedule for cleaning your fuel injectors and other parts of your fuel system. Some people are interested in buying fuel system cleaners that you can pour into your gas tank. You can do that - and there are lots of great products available that can help maintain an already c ... read more

With the recent focus in Gig Harbor on improving gas mileage, we've been told how important it is to maintain our tire pressure. Gig Harbor car owners know that tires wear out, but we want to make them last as long as possible because they're not cheap to replace. In addition to saving gas, properly inflated tires last longer. Under-inflated tires will wear out more quickly. Some Gig Harbor auto owners wonder if they should add a few extra pounds of pressure when they fill up their tires. Bad idea. In fact, there are very good reasons not to over-inflate your tires. For one, the middle of the tread will wear unevenly because the full tread is not contacting the road properly. That also adversely affects your handling. Stop by Mackert Automotive to see about tire maintenance for your Gig Harbor, Washington vehicle. Every vehicle in the Gig Harbor area has a sticker on the driver's side door jamb that tells you the manufacturer's ... read more