Gig Harbor Auto Repair

One part of your vehicle you probably never think of is the timing belt.  It coordinates the rotation of the crankshaft (which converts the up and down motion of the pistons into rotation motion) and the camshaft (which opens and closes your engine’s valves). It’s vital that the timing of these movements happens precisely when it needs to so your engine will operate smoothly and perform the way it’s designed to.  It also prevents damage to the engine.
 
If your engine’s timing belt breaks, it can leave you stranded, plus cause costly, catastrophic damage to the engine.  Depending on your vehicle, a failed timing belt can wind up causing a collision between the pistons and the valves, and it’s possible it can destroy the cylinder head.  Repairs can be extremely expensive and, in some cases, your engine might not even be repairable.  And that is why maintaining your timing belt is extremely important.
 
Your veh



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Let’s say you discover a little oil leak in your vehicle and you think, “It’s small.  It’s no big deal.”  Remember that no oil leak is ever normal, and it might be a sign that your valve cover gasket is failing. 
 
That gasket is what seals the top of your engine.  It keeps oil inside while your engine is running.  After it’s been doing that for a long time, guess what? That gasket gets old, and the engine heat starts to take its toll.  It gets brittle, might crack or even shrink, and when that happens, its seal breaks and your engine oil can start to leak out. You might notice a failing valve cover gasket by smelling it rather than seeing it.   It’s the odor of burning oil leaking onto the hot parts of your engine, like the engine manifold.  The acrid smell of burning oil is not subtle, plus you may even see visible signs of smoke coming from under the hood.   You may spot oil spots on yo

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As you know, today’s vehicles rely on a lot of computers in them to keep them running clean and efficiently.  Those computers depend on information delivered by several sensors throughout the engine and exhaust system.  And one of the most important is the oxygen sensor.   Known as the O2 sensor for short, it looks for too much unburned oxygen that has made it into the exhaust. That signals something isn’t right with the engine’s air-fuel mixture.  The sensor sends signals to the engine’s computers, which can then make adjustments to make sure the engine is running as it was designed to. Some vehicles can have several O2 sensors, and since they can measure oxygen at various points in the combustion/exhaust process, the computers can pinpoint where the problems lie.  For example, an O2 sensor can detect how much oxygen is coming out of the engine’s combustion chamber, and another one can measure oxygen coming out of the catalytic co ... read more

When it comes to ease and precision of steering, today’s vehicles are engineering marvels.  One of the keys to just how good steering is lies in the refinement of power-assisted steering which we know simply as power steering.  At the heart of the system is an electrically or belt-driven power steering pump.  It can apply hundreds of pounds of hydraulic pressure to the steering gear so you can turn your heavy vehicle with little effort. The more time and distance your vehicle travels, the more wear your power steering pump experiences. One sign your pump may be aging is that you hear a whining or groaning sound coming from your wheels when you turn. You also may feel a vibration through the steering wheel, or the wheel is harder to turn or responding more slowly than normal.  Another sign of trouble with the power steering pump is power steering fluid (reddish-brown) leaks on the ground around your vehicle. If you encounter these symptoms, have us check your v ... read more

 All GIG HARBOR service advisors know that without the alternator, the battery will go dead in a few miles. The serpentine belt may also run the pumps for both the power steering and power brakes. And on many vehicles, the serpentine belt powers the water pump. The water pump circulates coolant through the engine to keep it within normal operating temperatures. (On some vehicles, the water pump is powered by the timing belt instead of the serpentine belt.) So you can see the serpentine belt does a lot of work. And it if breaks, it affects a lot of systems. That's why your vehicle manufacturer and your service advisor at Mackert Automotive LLC have recommended that it be changed every so often so that it doesn't fail.

Your friendly and knowledgeable Mackert Automotive LLC service advisor can perform a visual inspection of the belt to see if it has any cracks that signal the belt could fail so

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