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Question:
What is a differential and why do Kingston car owners need to have it serviced?

Car Medics’ Answer:
First of all – your vehicle does have a differential.  If it’s a rear wheel drive, your differential is on the back. If it’s front wheel drive, your differential is built into your transaxle (transmission).  Kingston auto owners with all wheel drive or four wheel drive will have differentials front and rear and maybe one in between.

When you are steering through a turn at an intersection in Kingston, the wheels on the outside of the pickup have to spin faster than the inside wheels because they have to travel a slightly longer distant through the curve. The differential compensates for these speed differences between the wheels.

Because it is part of the key equipment that transfers engine power to the wheels, the differential is working pretty hard.  Differential fluid – a special heavy-duty oil – cools, lubricates and protects the differential. It needs to be replaced on a schedule to remove metal shavings and other contaminants.  Note: if you have a front wheel drive vehicle, replacing your transmission fluid takes care of your differential service needs.

Differentials have become increasingly sophisticated for Kingston drivers. Rather than the simple mechanical devices of yesteryear, they are more complicated and may actually be part of the key computer controlled pickup stability system. This means they are more expensive so it pays for Kingston motorists to have them serviced on schedule at Car Medics Inc in Kingston to avoid premature wear. Talk to your understanding Car Medics Inc service professional.

At Car Medics Inc, we provide quality automotive service including transmission service, water pump replacement and wheel bearing service.

Give us a call

Car Medics
37 Rigney St
Kingston, ON K7K 6Z3
613-547-8473

At Car Medics Inc we install quality NAPA replacement parts.

 

No matter how well they’re made, vehicles will have design or manufacturing problems. And when the government thinks a problem is really serious, they require the car maker to issue a recall notice and fix the car free of charge. The automobile manufacturer then tries to contact everyone who owns that type of car to get the recall work done.

These recalls always affect safety, so Kingston car owners should take them seriously. It’s easy for Kingston folks to see if a vehicle’s being recalled.

The US government has links on its websites, such as http://www.nhtsa.gov, and there are many websites with free recall information and searches. There’s carfax.com; autobytel.com; and dmv.org.

Recalls are serious, but not all that common. Sometimes there are less significant issues, and for these, auto manufacturers issue a Technical Service Bulletin – or TSB, which tells Kingston auto service centers how to repair a frequent or difficult problem.

The the automotive pros at  Car Medics in 
Kingston get updated information through subscription plans, also available in consumer versions for a reasonable cost.

So when vehicle recalls occurs, get the work done at 
Car Medics Inc, and keep you and yours safe.

Give us a call

Car Medics
37 Rigney St
Kingston, ON K7K 6Z3
613-547-8473

At Car Medics Inc we install quality NAPA replacement parts.

Hello, Kingston auto owners! Today’s Car Medics auto care topic is the serpentine belt. Your serpentine belt is a long belt that’s driven by your engine. It winds around several accessories that power important automotive systems. Let’s go over them.

• First, the serpentine belt drives your air conditioning system.
• Next, the belt powers the alternator.
• The serpentine belt may also run the pumps for both the power steering and power brakes. In some Kingston motorists’ vehicles, power steering may have an electric drive and power brakes can be vacuum driven.
• And, on many vehicles, the serpentine belt powers the water pump (on some cars, the water pump is powered by the timing belt).

Your friendly Car Medics tech can perform a visual inspection of the belt to see if it has any cracks that signal the belt could fail soon and will measure the amount of belt material to make sure there is enough.

There’s a special, spring loaded pulley attached to the engine called the tensioner pulley and sometimes an extra pulley call the idler pulley. Their important job is to make sure there’s a constant tension on the serpentine belt so that it doesn’t slip. The spring can become worn and no longer provide the necessary pressure to keep the belt tight. That’s why Car Medics recommends that the tensioner, and the idler pulley if so equipped, be replaced at the same time as the serpentine belt.

All in all, the serpentine belt’s a key part for the function of your pickup. And it’s not that expensive to replace at Car Medics in Kingston – so it’s good to do so before it fails.

Give us a call

At Car Medics we install quality NAPA replacement parts.

Hey Kingston auto owners, let’s talk about winter tires. We’re not talking about all season tires here, but dedicated winter tires.

Modern winter tires do a terrific job for Kingston drivers in a wide range of ON winter conditions. First of all, below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, regular tires become hard and inflexible. That means they don’t provide the road grip Kingston drivers need. Even if you don’t live somewhere in ON with a lot of snow, but it still gets below 45 degrees in the winter, it is critical to understand that you will be safer with winter tires.

In addition, they are specifically designed to more effectively move snow and water. That’s the key to traction on ice, packed snow and wet roads. They use a micro-pore compound that allows the tire to bite into ice and snow. They also use wider grooves that run around the circumference of the tread to expel snow from the tire better. The lugs and grooves on winter tires have a special shape that throws the packed snow out of the tread as the tire turns. The tread is then open when it comes back in contact with the road and can provide good traction for Kingston auto owners.

Winter tires also have a lot of sipes. Sipes are thin slits in the tread. The edges of the sipes grab ice and packed snow to provide tons of effective traction for Kingston drivers and to expel water and slush out of the tread. Winter tires have a rounder casing to cut into the snow’s surface.

The treads on regular summer tires can actually get packed with snow instead and become very slick. Winter tires offer 25% to 50% more traction for Kingston auto owners than all-season tires. And when it comes to key stopping power, all-season tires take 42% longer to stop than winter tires. Sometimes that’s the difference between getting home safely in Kingston or spending the night in a snow bank.

Winter tires provide so much more traction for Kingston car owners than all-season or summer tires, that there’s a huge difference between the traction at the front and rear ends of the pickup if you only put winter tires on the drive wheels.

For example: if you take a corner on an icy Kingston road and the pickup rear end starts to slide out, essentially the rear is trying to pass the front because it’s going faster. If you have high traction winter tires only on the front, they are going to be much more effective at transferring cornering grip and stopping power to the front wheels. This will actually cause the rear end to whip out even more.

That’s why ON tire manufactures instruct Kingston dealers that they must install winter tires on the rear wheels as well whenever they put winter tires on the front end of any vehicle. It’s a major safety concern. At Car Medics in Kingston, we strongly recommend that winter tires be installed on all four wheels on rear wheel drive vehicles as well. The front tires do most of the steering and braking work – it only makes sense that Kingston auto owners provide the front end with the best traction possible.

Many modern cars have traction control and anti-lock brakes so Kingston car owners may not think it is important to have winter tires. But you need traction to accelerate, steer and stop. The tires provide the traction so that the traction control and anti-lock brakes have something to work with.

Look for tires at Car Medics with the symbol of a mountain with a snowflake in it. This means the tire complies with the severe snow standard.

So when the Kingston temperatures drop below 45 degrees, wise Kingston motorists will make sure they have a set of four winter tires for maximum performance in snow, packed snow, ice, wet and dry ON roads. Your friendly Car Medics tire professional can help you find the right winter tire for your pickup and driving needs.

Give us a call

Car Medics
37 Rigney St.
Kingston, ON K7K 6Z3
613.547.8473

At Car Medics we install quality NAPA replacement parts.

Car Medics Tech Question:
I was driving on the freeway in ON and my pickup engine started to get hot. I turned off my air conditioner and was able to drive about 80 miles to my meeting and then found a shop in Kingston. It turns out that my water pump was leaking. It cost me many hundreds of dollars to get it fixed. What could I have done to avoid this?

Car Medics Answer:
This guy’s story really did have a happy ending. When you continue driving when your engine’s overheating you risk a catastrophic engine failure. It really is a good idea to pull over and let your pickup engine cool down before driving again. If you add water or coolant, be sure your engine is cool or you risk serious burns.

Now there’s no way for Kingston motorists to predict when their water pump will fail – they just wear out. This fellow’s water pump replacement was more expensive because his water pump is driven by his timing belt. That requires a lot of hours to get to the water pump and then put everything back on the engine.

A money saving tip from Car Medics in Kingston: if your water pump is driven by your timing belt – replace the pump when you have your scheduled timing belt replacement. That way most of the work is already done and you don’t have to pay for it twice.

Check with your friendly Car Medics service professional about when your timing belt should be replaced.

Give us a call

Car Medics
37 Rigney St.
Kingston, ON K7K 6Z3
613.547.8473

Batteries are a huge part of modern Kingston life. I mean, how many battery chargers do you have in your Kingston home? Of course, our purpose here is to talk about car batteries in Kingston. When Kingston motorists come into Car Medics and need a new battery, they’re really not that happy about having to spend the money. But the fact is that 70% of batteries don’t make it for 4 years.

There are some things Kingston car owners can do to extend the life of their battery. First, keep it clean. If you see it getting dirty or greasy, let your friendly Car Medics tech know so it can be cleaned off. A dirty battery runs hotter and that shortens its life. If your battery terminals are corroded, let us take a look at that too. We can clean them, and if the corrosion has gotten into the battery cables, we can replace them.

Also running your battery way down is bad for it: Things like running the headlights or watching a DVD player with the pickup turned off can deeply deplete your battery. The typical battery can only take about 10 of those deep cycle depletions before it gives up the ghost.

Because we often take short trips around the Kingston area with lots of stops for errands, our batteries can end up not getting fully recharged just by driving around. That also shortens battery life. You can hook up a good quality automatic battery charger at home from time to time. Car Medics recommends charging once a month during hot Kingston months and every three months during cold months in ON.

Now when it’s finally time to get a new battery, we can help you find the right replacement at Car Medics. We’ll always make sure to meet your vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations. Now if you have special needs – like live in a very cold ON climate or run a lot of electrical accessories, your friendly tech can help you with a car battery upgrade

Give us a call

Car Medics
37 Rigney St.
Kingston, ON K7K 6Z3
613.547.8473

At Car Medics we install quality NAPA replacement parts.