Services

Preventative Maintenance

The best way to minimize breakdowns is doing routine maintenance

Alignment Repair & Maintenance
It's no surprise that your vehicle will drive better if all the wheels are pointed in the same direction. That's called wheel alignment. If your wheels are out of alignment you may notice that your vehicle pulls to one side or the other.

Cooling System Repair & Maintenance
We're often asked questions about the cooling system – the system that cools your engine and keeps it at the proper operating temperature. Let's examine the topic in two areas: first the coolant itself and, second, the parts that make up the cooling system.

The coolant is the mix of water and antifreeze that circulates through the engine to draw off heat. First, you need to have the proper amount. If you don't have enough coolant it can't keep your engine cool.

Now let's talk about the cooling system components. These will all eventually wear out and need to be replaced. Starting with the radiator, we see them coming into the shop with leaks or clogged with deposits. Depending on the damage, we will clean, repair or replace.

Engine Air Filter Repair & Maintenance
The filter cleans the air before it's burned in your engine. People wonder how often they should change their engine air filter. The simple answer is when it's dirty. That's a function of how much air has passed through the filter, so your manufacturer will recommend a mileage interval for replacing the air filter. But you can imagine that how dirty the air is would affect how quickly the filter gets filled.

Fuel System Repair & Maintenance
The fuel filter catches dirt and contaminants. When it's clogged, your engine may not be able to get enough fuel and could sputter. Many fuel filters have a bypass valve that allows unfiltered fuel past when the filter's clogged. That prevents your engine from dying while you're driving, but it can't protect your engine from dirty fuel. Check your owner's manual or talk with your service advisor about when you should replace your fuel filter.

Spark Plug Repair & Maintenance
The days when you changed your spark plugs every couple of years has ended. Back in the day, spark plugs really did wear out that often. A couple of things are different now. First, spark plugs are made of better materials that last longer and they're designed better. The second reason that plugs used to have to be changed was that they were fouled up with carbon deposits. The deposits built up when fuel wasn't burned completely. With modern engine management controls that just doesn't happen as often.

Steering Repair & Maintenance
Steering is one of the things we take for granted in our vehicles. First, there's the power assist and second the actual parts that steer the vehicle.

Most vehicles today have a hydraulic power steering pump that provides boost to help you steer. The pump is usually driven by the serpentine belt, but some newer vehicles have an electric pump. Some vehicles even have an electric motor that directly powers the steering.

Steering maintenance is pretty straight forward: Replace power steering fluid as recommended and fix worn or damaged parts right away.

Tire Rotation & Balancing Repair & Maintenance
You can make your tires last longer with regular tire rotation and wheel balancing. Let's start with tire rotation. In normal driving, your front tires wear more on the shoulders because they handle much of the cornering forces in turns. Front-wheel drive vehicles have even more force on the front tires.

We rotate the tires so that all of the tires do some duty on the front end as well as getting a little break on the back end. That way, all four tires wear more evenly over their life and last longer. tires always rotated front to back

Fluids
Your vehicle relies on a variety of fluids to operate its brake, steering, transmission, engine cooling and other systems. When these fluids become degraded or are at incorrect levels, damage to other components may occur...so always follow the manufacturer-recommended service schedule.

Automatic Transmission Fluid
This is typically an oil-based fluid used in a transmission that lubricates and cools the transmission and provides hydraulic pressure to shift gears automatically.

Brake Fluid
This is the hydraulic fluid used to transmit pressure through the brake lines in a brake system providing stopping power and protecting hydraulic brake components from internal corrosion.

Coolant/Antifreeze
This is the mixture of water and antifreeze used in an engine cooling system to dissipate heat and maintain the engine's temperature throughout its operating range.

Starting & Charging
The battery starts your car, powers on-board computers and supplies emergency power needs. A weakened battery causes stress on alternators and starters, especially during extreme temperatures. Let Midas test and inspect your battery regularly.