Florissant auto repair

Sometimes busy Florissant residents dream about going back to the “simpler” days of our grandparents. But if you could travel back in time and take a road trip around Missouri in a Model T, you might change your mind. The improved designs and quality of today's automobiles have significantly reduced the amount of time Florissant residents spend at the side of the road during breakdowns. With proper maintenance, today's vehicles can stay on the road longer than ever before.Some of those improvements, however, have led to higher repair costs. For example, older cars often broke down from vapor lock. Gas vaporized while traveling from the gas tank to the fuel pump. No gas, no power. The car quits going. The solution was simple — you just sat by the road until the car would start up again. Today's Florissant drivers would hardly tolerate that kind of inconvenience, and it's likely that yesterday's Florissant drivers didn't care much for it, either. So on today's vehi ... read more

Buying a new car in Florissant is always a big financial decision. The allure of that new car smell is powerful, to be sure. But what if your current car is still in good shape? How do you decide?People in Florissant who've been used to driving a new car every three to five years may be having second thoughts in this economy. For many, the question is, how does the certainty of a new car payment stack up against uncertain repairs for a car that may be out of warranty?For purposes of our discussion, let's assume you live right here in Florissant and have a five year old vehicle. It's now paid off. If you keep it, you fear that there'll be some repairs over the next five years, but you really don't know what to expect. For help we turned to maintenance and repair information for cars and trucks. With this data, they project likely service and repair costs for a particular make and model. They're able to use manufacturer's main ... read more

Missouri service centers have a menu board that lists the services they provide. Some Florissant drivers may not be familiar with all of the items on the board so here is a quick description of some of the typical services that might be listed.garysautorepair fuel system cleaning: Over time, the vehicle fuel system gets gum and varnish built up. A fuel system cleaning gets rid of that and cleans out the fuel injectors. Saves gas, by the way.garysautorepair headlamp replacement: Halogen and standard headlamps gradually fade. It's usually good to change them every year or so.garysautorepair inspections: Florissant drivers get inspections for many reasons. Maybe they're going on a trip or just want to make sure their vehicle's ready for a Missouri summer or winter. Maybe they just bought a used vehicle and want to give it the once over. An inspection may reveal some things that are broken or are getting clo ... read more

People in Florissant have been hearing a lot about higher oil change intervals these days. Maybe you're wondering: What are the key issues?Some new vehicle manufacturers are now recommending much higher oil change intervals than they have in the past. As much as 5,000 to 8,000 miles (8,000 km to 13,000 km) or more. This practice came under scrutiny when four of the largest new vehicle manufacturers announced that owners like those in Florissant were experiencing engine damage resulting from these higher oil change intervals.The manufacturers' standard oil drain service for particular vehicles was scheduled at around 7,500 miles/12,000 km. People following these recommendations were experiencing engine damage. It turns out that oil sludge was building up. This caused small oil passages to clog and engine parts to fail.What causes oil sludge? It's a factor of time and mileage. There are hot spots in every engine that cause oil burn off that leads to sludge ... read more

Since driving requirements and lifestyles differ among Florissant drivers, your vehicle manufacturer publishes two auto maintenance schedules: the regular schedule and the severe service schedule. Which schedule should Florissant drivers follow? Here are some questions to ask yourself:Are most of your trips less than four miles/six kilometers around Florissant?Are most of your trips less than 10 miles/16 kilometers in below-zero Missouri temps?Are most of your trips off-highway in Missouri?Do you drive often in dusty Florissant areas?Do you regularly tow a trailer or carry heavy loads around Florissant?Do you drive in very hot or very cold Missouri weather?Think about your typical week. Do you live by your nearest Florissant on-ramp and enjoy a non-stop commute? Or, do you drive the neighborhood car pool in stop-and-go traffic on Florissant surface streets? Let's suppose your owner's manual says the severe service oil change recommendation is 3,000 miles ... read more

The median age for cars in the Florissant, Missouri area was over nine years. And two-thirds had over 75,000 miles. At garysautorepair we hear reports that those numbers continue to rise. If you have a high-mileage vehicle in the Florissant area, bring it into garysautorepair for high-mileage maintenance.1779 N Hwy 67Florissant, Missouri 63033314-831-5843 Many people in Missouri are keeping their vehicles longer. The economy has influenced that, but the fact that modern vehicles are more durable and reliable means that owning a high mileage vehicle doesn't have to be a painful experience.Local car owners in Florissant with over 100,000 miles on their vehicles often ask which service intervals they should follow. Let's start with the special needs of the older vehicle...The reality is that time and mileage will take its toll. The engine and transmission will have more sludge. The fuel, steering and brake systems will have gum and varnish built up. There ... read more

When it comes to their vehicles, some Florissantresidents don't have amaintenance 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. Florissant drivers generally accept that many things in life require regular maintenance but just may not have applied it to their vehicles.Here's something that will help: The key to good vehicle maintenance starts with the oil change. Think about it – when you go in for a full-service oil change, your friendly and knowledgeable garysautorepair service advisor will check all your fluids. If one of them is low, he can look for the reason. If your serpentine belt is cracked, he'll see it and let you know. Corroded battery cable – they've got you covered. And at garysautorepair, we check to see if your vehicle manufactur ... read more

In our auto video today we'll be talking with Alan Peterson about myths surrounding automotive maintenance. You can lump these myths into the statement that "modern vehicles are so reliable, they are virtually maintenance free."Any good myth has some elements of truth. No offense to Florissant Bigfoot fans, but this maintenance-free myth has more evidence than most. If we look at some isolated areas of auto maintenance, we could conclude that maintenance isn't so important. But other areas would just as easily lead you to believe that maintenance is more important than ever.Here are some examples for our friends in Florissant. Some vehicles in Florissant no longer require chassis lubrication. They're made with self-lubricating materials and have sealed joints. There's literally no way to grease those joints. -Chalk one up for the myth.On the other side, some vehicles come with sophisticated variable valve timing. A lot of complicated parts are up ... read more

Just as our bodies need clean air to function properly, your vehicle engine needs clean air to operate efficiently. Let's go egghead for a minute. For every gallon of gas we burn driving on Florissant streets, 20 pounds of carbon dioxide comes out the tailpipe. Question: how can a gallon of gas that weighs a little over six pounds produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide?The answer is that the carbon comes from the gasoline, but the oxygen comes from the air. You see, it takes about 12,000 gallons of air to burn a gallon of gas in your engine. Clearly, your vehicle needs a lot of air to keep going in Florissant. A lot of clean air is best. You've seen the pictures of people in Japan wearing face masks. They want some kind of filter to keep unwanted pollution and germs out of their lungs. Well, your vehicle also works better when its internals are clean. When your vehicle air filter is ... read more

All Florissant 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 garysautorepair have recommended that it be changed every so often so that it doesn't fail.Your friendly and knowledgeable garysautorepair service advisor 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 amo ... read more