EFI Tips

Preventive maintenance helps keep your automobile running longer, cleaner, stronger, and with less expense. Here are some helpful tips from EFI Services to help our customers:

1. What are some basic tips I can teach my children about basic car maintenance?
2. If you take good care of your car, it will take good care of you.
3. How often should I replace the timing belt in my car?
4. Why should I have a brake flush done?
5. What does the O2 sensor do?
6. What does the PCV valve do?
7. Why do you recommend a fuel injector service?
8. What can you tell me about doing a Coolant flush?
9. I hear a lot about 3,000 mile oil changes. Is it really that important?
10. Final Thoughts

1. What are some basic tips I can teach my children about basic car maintenance?
You may have teenagers in your household learning to drive. Along with all of your safety instructions, teaching them a few simple lessons about their car could easily save you thousands of dollars.

An oil warning light (or low pressure on the oil gauge) means get off the road and park the car now. Too often, new drivers have too much else to think about to worry much about all those warning lights. Too many think that just a few more miles home won't matter. Too often, that means a $3,000 engine job. It is one of those life lessons that most of us (including mom and dad) can live without.

An engine temperature light (or temperatures in the red on a gauge) means get off the road and park the car now. This is just as fatal to engines as running them without oil.

An alternator light (or high or low readings on the alternator gauge) should also be dealt with quickly. The negative consequences are not as severe as the other two gauges, usually only a stalled car or one that will not start. In some circumstances, however, thousand dollar computers can be ruined by an electrical system gone haywire.

Of course you don't want to forget the brake warning light. When it comes on, it is a sign that something is seriously wrong with your brakes. When your car doesn't go, it is an inconvenience. When it doesn't stop, it is a disaster.

In short, those warning lights and gauges are there for a reason. They give you a WARNING.

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2. If you take good care of your car, it will take good care of you.
If you take good care of your car, it will take good care of you. You will be miles ahead on your car investment by running your car until it drops. Compare the cost of repairs to the monthly payments on a new or leased vehicle. And then think about the extra sales and property taxes on that new car. Don't forget to add hundreds of dollars to your insurance bill. Repairs look very reasonable indeed. Just think of buying or leasing a new car as making a major repair every month for the next three years. With proper maintenance, you will find that the major repairs on the car you are driving today are few and far between.

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3. How often should I replace the timing belt in my car?
The timing belt needs to be replaced every 50,000-60,000 miles on most cars, but the exact interval depends on the make and model of your car.

If you wait too long and your belt breaks while you are driving down the road, your engine loses its coordination. Replacing your timing belt is one maintenance item you never want to skip. If you don't know whether your engine has a timing belt, or how often it needs to replaced, give us a call.

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4. Why should I have a brake flush done?
We often recommend that you flush your brake fluid, sometimes because it is dirty, but sometimes simply because it has been 30,000 miles since your last brake flush.

New brake fluid is both clean and clear. Dirty brake fluid is obvious. That dirt and contamination will wear on all of your hydraulic brake parts, particularly your seals, causing them to fail prematurely. But more important than the dirt in your brake fluid is what you can't see: the water.

Brake fluid is hygroscopic, which means it absorbs moisture. If you leave a can of brake fluid open overnight, it will be ruined by the moisture it soaks up from the air. This is intentional. Your brakes get so hot that they can boil water. If water in your brakes evaporates, your brakes will fade or fail. The brake fluid prevents the water from evaporating.

Over time, water will seep into your brake system through the brake lines and whenever the brake fluid cap is off. Brake fluid absorbs 1%-2% water each year. Old brake fluid can be 5-10% water, which drops its boiling point by 25-50%. In addition, the water will corrode all the brake parts it touches.

Dot 3 & Dot 4 brake fluid are common in most brake applications. Dot 5 does not attract water and is occasionally used in brake systems for that reason. However, Dot 5 must never be mixed with Dot 3 or Dot 4, and it must never be used in an ABS brake system.

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5. What does the O2 sensor do?
The O2 sensor measures the unburned oxygen in the exhaust gasses coming out of the engine. The engine's computer varies the air/fuel mixture depending on what the O2 tells it. Over time, the O2 sensor slows down, giving the computer bad information. The computer then sets the wrong mixture, often leading to a rich-running engine that wastes gas and pollutes the atmosphere. A recent EPA study found that 70% of vehicles failing the I/M 240 emissions test had a bad O2 sensor. The over-rich fuel mixture will also lead to premature failure of your catalytic converter.

Some experts recommend replacing the O2 sensor as a preventive maintenance item, usually every 60,000 miles. Considering that a sluggish O2 sensor can easily cost you an extra $100 a year in poor gas mileage, it may not be a bad investment.

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6. What does the PCV valve do?
The PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve (along with the Breather Element) recirculates unburned gases back into the engine to be reburned, cutting air pollution. A plugged PCV can cause rough engine idle and many other problems, including engine damage. It is quite important that the PCV value be working properly in your car.

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7. Why do you recommend a fuel injector service?
Fuel injectors can cost a hundred dollars or more a piece, and you may have one for each cylinder. Cleaning them before they are plugged can remove harmful deposits and keep them spraying in top form.

The most common form of injector fouling comes from unused gasoline evaporating inside the injector after you turn the car off. When they get bad enough, they can cause hard starting, hesitation, and loss of power.

The first two things to try for cleaning your injectors are using premium fuel, which has more detergents, and putting a fuel additive in your gas tank. These will be only partly successful, however. For the best results, a technician will disconnect the engine from its gas supply and feed pressurized solvent directly into the fuel rail in order to flush out the injectors.

Failing that, injectors can be removed from the car, their fuel spray patterns tested, and they can be more extensively cleaned. Sometimes, nothing works and the injectors must be replaced.

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8. What can you tell me about doing a Coolant flush?
Coolant keeps your engine operating at proper temperatures. As it ages, its efficiency slowly declines. It is more important than ever to keep it operating up to par. Older cars had huge radiators with excess capacity. Today's cooling systems are designed "just big enough". A little deterioration can soon cause big problems.

Keeping your coolant system working properly is extra important when you car has an aluminum head or block, because they are much more prone to warping or cracking at high temperatures.

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9. I hear a lot about 3,000 mile oil changes. Is it really that important?
Manufacturers generally recommend changing oil every 7,500 miles, unless you are operating your car in "severe service" conditions. Read the fine print and you will discover that means short trips, stop-and-go driving, or dirty driving conditions. In other words, if you own a car in the United States, you are probably driving it under "severe service" conditions.

We recommend changing your oil every 3,000 to 4,000 miles. Five thousand miles is probably OK, but that doesn't mean, "I'll start thinking about changing my oil." Three thousand miles should start you thinking about an oil change. Get it done in the next thirty days and you should be fine.

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10. Final Thoughts
Preventative maintenance gives vehicle owners the security of knowing their vehicles are in tip-top shape. A few dollars spent on prevention may save several times that amount in emergency vehicle repairs when you least expect them, not to mention your inconvenience and safety.


Sources:
Automotive Service Association
Auto Repair Advisors

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