Hanover Park Auto Repair

Most Elk Grove Village folks worry about running out of gas or having a breakdown on the side of the road. That is why we practice preventive maintenance on our vehicles — that and to keep our repair bills down. But one important part of preventive maintenance that may get overlooked by Hanover Park drivers is a periodic alignment inspection. Poor alignment causes tires to wear rapidly, unevenly or both. This means they will have to be replaced early, and new tires are more expensive than an alignment check in Hanover Park. Bad alignment can also cause damage to suspension and steering systems, which can be expensive to repair in Elk Grove Village. Tire wear on misaligned wheels can also lead to blowouts, which are dangerous, can lead to serious accidents, and can seriously damage your pickup. Also, poor alignment itself can be the cause of an accident, since the pickup may not steer properly. One o ... read more

At AutoNetTV we love doughnuts. So let's pretend you have three doughnuts right in front of you for today's discussion about upsizing wheels and tires. Hey, don't eat them now – your going to need them later. Many Hanover Park auto owners want to accessorize their car – you know, make it theirs. One of the easiest ways to get a custom look is to get some new wheels. There are thousands of wheel designs at Elk Grove Village area tire shops to get you the look you want. And for many Palatine motorists, that look includes bigger wheels. It used to be that cars came from the factory with 15 or 16 inch wheels. Now 16, 17 and even 18 inchers are standard. And the factories are offering optional wheel packages up to 20 inches or more. So let's talk about what to consider when you want to upsize your wheels. It's not exactly a DIY project, so you need to know a thing or two before you get started. The most importan ... read more

The hottest IL news story may be different everyday, but there's one topic that seems to come up over and over again – the price of gas in Hanover Park. If you feel like most of your paycheck goes into your gas tank, this post is for you. Here are several basic things Hanover Park auto owners can do to greatly reduce their gas consumption, save money, and help the Elk Grove Village environment. You can really improve your fuel efficiency by how you drive – but first, here's a review of things you can do for your car that'll save gas no matter how you drive. The first one for Hanover Park motorists is keeping tires properly inflated. That can save two miles per gallon. Driving on low tires is like driving through sand – your car just has to work harder. Most Hanover Park service centers will fill up your tires for free, so just ask your Kamphaus AutoCare and Emissiontech. Also, make a habit of checking your tire pressure whenever you fill up. Many Hanover Park ... read more

  Most car owners worry about a breakdown or a tire blowout on a busy IL highway but don't worry too much about failure of their air conditioning system. A breakdown at the side of the road can be a miserable and dangerous affair during Elk Grove Village rush hour, but so can a long ride in a hot pickup. A lot of drivers judge their vehicles' air conditioning systems as “non-essential” and so may neglect them in favor of repairs and maintenance that keeps the pickup running. But preventive maintenance of an air conditioning system is simple and inexpensive, while auto a/c repair can be very costly. Motorists should have the refrigerant in their air conditioning system checked regularly to ensure it is adequate and clean. Air conditioning systems often fail because air and water have contaminated the refrigerant. Air reduces the efficiency of the refrigerant, and wate ... read more

There's a segment of the Palatine population that's not committed to proper vehicle maintenance. Mistaken perceptions have crept into the IL area over time. Many Palatine motorists think the root lies in the fact that modern cars are so reliable. Reliability has improved dramatically in recent years. Quality surveys report fewer problems with new cars than ever before. Back when cars spent more time in the repair shop, Palatine drivers were more mindful of routine service. Now, it's much easier to put it off. Take tune-ups for example. In the days of mechanical ignition systems, an engine needed to be tuned-up every couple of years. The ignition points had to be replaced, spark plugs and coils replaced and the timing adjusted. If your engine was out of tune, you knew it. It ran poorly and got bad fuel economy. Now, the ignition system in your pickup is electronic and controlled by the engine management c ... read more

Sometimes we hear Hanover Park auto owners say, “What's up with all this maintenance stuff? Modern cars just don't break down.” While it is true that today's cars and trucks are extremely reliable, they are also becoming increasingly complicated and use more exotic materials than ever before. All that complexity demands higher tolerances for everything. For example, most Hanover Park auto owners don't realize how high tech automotive fluids have become. Fluids like, engine oil, transmission fluid, coolant and brake fluid. Did you know that a modern engine would not run for more than a few months using motor oil formulas from 30 years ago? Today's automotive fluids contain a much higher percentage of additives to protect your vehicle's components from premature wear and corrosion. Time and miles march on for all of our cars. Please don't think we're using scare tactics to get you to take care of your maintenance – but here are some personal sto ... read more

The exhaust system on a vehicle is more complex than most Hanover Park motorists realize. It contains everything from old-fashioned pipes and clamps to sophisticated computers and sensors. All IL folks know a properly functioning exhaust system is good for the environment, but sometimes we forget that a damaged exhaust system can be deadly. That's why preventive maintenance on your exhaust system is so important. We can help you with that at Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission in Hanover Park. The exhaust manifold is the first component in your exhaust system. The manifold is attached to the engine. It collects the gases that are produced by the engine and directs them into the exhaust pipes. At this point, these gases are both hot and chemically dangerous. One of the gases produced in your engine is carbon monoxide. This gas is colorless and odorless. Breathing it can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and drowsiness. Continue breathing it, and you will di ... read more

There are a lot of new features, both optional and standard, on Hanover Park motorists' vehicles these days. One you may not have heard of is called a cabin air filter. Simply put, its job is to keep the air in the passenger compartment of your car nice and clean. A cabin air filter is similar to the filter you use on your furnace at home in Hanover Park. Cabin air filters can catch particles down to three microns. By comparison, a grain of sand is 200 microns. So cabin air filters are effective against dust, dirt, pollen, mold spores and most pollutants in our Elk Grove Village atmosphere. Good news if you suffer from any types of allergies, or if you live in an area in Hanover Park prone to air pollution. Cabin air filters are generally located in the engine compartment or under the dashboard. They can be tricky to access and replace, so you'll probably want to go to your understanding Kamphaus Au ... read more

When it comes to preventive maintenance on our vehicles, most of us Hanover Park drivers remember to get our oil changed. But Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission services that occur at longer intervals — like transmission service — sometimes get overlooked. Yet transmission service is a key part of car care for Hanover Park car owners. A poorly maintained transmission will lessen fuel efficiency and lead to pricey repairs. The transmission transfers power from the engine to the drive wheels. When it's clean and well – lubricated, it gives maximum fuel efficiency. But when it gets dirty or worn down, your MPG will suffer. Your transmission relies on transmission fluid to keep everything running well. Transmission fluid has two jobs: to cool and lubricate the transmission. The transmission operates at high temperatures. It can get 100-150°F degrees hotter inside your transmission than inside your engine. Transmission fluid transfers some of the heat away f ... read more

Today's Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission post focuses on using the proper fluids for your vehicle. Significant advancements in automotive technology have lead to the development of high-tech fluids to keep modern cars operating at peak performance. This is due to both engineering advances and new high-tech materials used to build pickup automotive systems. A simple example of this is the cooling system. For decades it was primarily made out of iron, steel and rubber hoses. There was one kind of coolant that protected these components from corrosion. Now cooling system components are made with various metal alloys and plastics. These materials require different additives to protect them from corrosion. Since the materials used vary among pickup auto manufacturers, we now have a number of different kinds of coolant. It's essential for Palatine car owners to use the right coolant. If ... read more