Hanover Park Auto Repair

People near Hanover Park IL often ask Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission how often they should have a particular service done. It's a great thing to ask. You can look at your owner's manual, or have your Hanover Park IL service advisor at Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission look up your vehicle in a service database. What you find is often a surprise to people – there are actually two service schedules. One is the regular schedule and the other is the severe service schedule. Service intervals are shorter on the severe service schedule. When asked, most folks in Hanover Park IL will say that their driving is normal and that the 'regular' schedule probably applies to them. 'Severe service' sounds pretty extreme – 'I don't drive like that'. Well, here is what the manufacturers say constitutes severe driving conditions; you can draw your own conclusions. If that's severe driving, what constitutes regular driving? Well, it would look something like ... read more

When properly aligned, all of your wheels are pointed in the same direction. Your vehicle will track true and handle the way it is designed. Elk Grove Village motorists often associate our wheels being “knocked” out of alignment with an event like an accident, hitting a pothole, curb or some other object. While these can certainly take your wheels out of alignment, the bumps and bounces of everyday Hanover Park driving take their toll on wheel alignment as well. In addition, your automobile can lose alignment over time with just normal driving. When your wheels are out of alignment, Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission in Hanover Park can return your wheels to the automobile manufacturer factory settings. Most owners’ manuals suggest an alignment check every year or two. Give us a call Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission 1005 Irving Park Rd Hanover Park, IL 60133

Here's an interesting statistic for our car owners in Hanover Park, IL: Only thirty percent of car batteries make it to forty-eight months. And the life expectancy varies by where you live. It ranges from fifty-one months in extremely cold areas to just thirty months in extremely hot climates. Why is that? It turns out that it's our modern cars with all their electric accessories that are to blame. Things like, GPS, DVDs, and entertainment computers are keeping pickup batteries from maintaining a full charge. The longer a battery goes with a low charge, the sooner it'll die. It's clear that your Hanover Park auto owners need to recharge your batteries. This is the job of the alternator. The problem comes when the car's demand for electricity is high and we are driving in stop and go conditions or short trips around Hanover Park or Addison. The alternator just can't keep up. The result is shortened battery life. So what can we Hanover Park auto owners ... read more

Sometimes busy Hanover Park 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 Elk Grove Village 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 Hanover Park auto owners 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 Hanover Park drivers would hardly tolerate that kind of inconvenience; and it's likely that yesterday's Hanover Park motorists didn't care mu ... read more

The timing belt in your engine controls the opening and closing of the intake and exhaust valves. Hanover Park auto owners need to replace it on a schedule to avoid failure. Timing belts are very problematic to get to, requiring quite a bit of labor to access. >Timing belt replacement is one of the more pricey maintenance services, but the cost to repair an engine damaged by a broken timing belt is much, much more. The timing belt has a tensioner to help maintain proper belt tension. The tensioner should be replaced along with the timing belt and any idler pulleys at the car maker's specified service interval. Your understanding Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission technician can help you with the timing. Give us a callKamphaus AutoCare and Emission1005 Irving Park RdHanover Park, IL 60133

The brake rotor, or disc, is attached to your wheel. The brake pads rub on the rotor to slow your car. Rotors can warp, crack or become misaligned. They can also be damaged by worn out brake pads that scratch grooves into the surface. These conditions result in less contact surface for the brake pads, leaving you with reduced braking power. Over time and miles, rotors can also wear down below safe specifications. It is critical for Hanover Park car owners to know that simply replacing brake pads on a wheel with a bad rotor will not solve the trouble. Depending on their condition, rotors may be resurfaced or replaced. Brake noise or a pulsation in the brake pedal are signs of potential brake problems that should be addressed right away. If you have any brake concerns, please have your understanding Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission tech complete a thorough inspection. Give us a call Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission 1005 Irving Park RdHanover Park, IL ... read more

The simple fact is that 70% of car batteries fail within 4 years. They just need to be replaced when they are no longer able to hold a full charge. Batteries are a big ticket item for most Hanover Park motorists and it's tempting to put off buying a new one as long as possible. But a battery that cannot hold a full charge requires the alternator to work extra hard, causing it to wear out prematurely. Your Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission tech can test your battery to see if it should be replaced. Testing is a good idea for IL auto owners because a battery might still be good, but become dead because of a bad alternator or even a worn serpentine belt and tensioner. Give us a call Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission 1005 Irving Park RdHanover Park, IL 60133

Hanover Park auto owners know that under-inflated tires wear out more quickly. Under-inflation is also a major cause of tire failure for IL auto owners. More flats, blow outs, skids and longer stopping distances are all results of under-inflated tires. It's hard for many Hanover Park motorists to tell when a radial tire is under-inflated. If your automobile manufacturer recommends 35 pounds of pressure, your tire is considered significantly under-inflated at 26 pounds. The tire may not look low until it gets below 20 pounds. Uncle Sam to the rescue! A recent federal law required vehicle manufacturers to include a Tire Pressure Monitoring System - or TPMS system - in all vehicles. The system is a dashboard mounted warning light that goes off if one or more of the tires falls 25 % below the automobile manufacturer's pressure recommendations. The law covers all passenger cars, SUVs, mini vans and pick ... read more

One topic that hits the news in Hanover Park on a regular basis is the price of gas. The answer for some IL drivers is to buy a vehicle that gets better gas mileage. For those of us Hanover Park auto owners who don't want to add a car payment to our monthly expenses, we need to improve our fuel economy any way we can. Following recommended service intervals by coming into Kamphaus AutoCare and Emission is one of the best ways Hanover Park auto owners can keep their minivan running efficiently. That means better fuel efficiency. When you give it some thought, it only makes sense. Dirty oil or transmission fluid can't lubricate or clean. That means more drag which reduces MPG. Keeping up with scheduled oil changes and transmission services will save gas for IL motorists. Dirty engine air filters are another efficiency pirate. They rob your sedan engine of enough air to effectively burn the fuel, so you need more gas to get the job done. Replacing a dirty air filter can pa ... read more

When you get an oil change, it's always a safe bet to just use the type of oil the auto manufacturer recommends. But sometimes we're asked if we'd like conventional or synthetic motor oil. We glance at the price tags on the two options and choose the cheaper one. But in this case, the more expensive oil might be the better bargain for Hanover Park car owners. Conventional oil is made from petroleum. Its molecules form long hydrocarbon chains. Synthetic motor oil is either more highly refined petroleum or completely man-made. Its molecules are more uniform. This provides essential advantages over conventional motor oil. First of all, the molecular structure of synthetic motor oil makes it more slippery than conventional oil so it lubricates better. This translates to better wear protection for Hanover Park drivers, cooler operating temperatures, more engine power and increased fuel economy. Further, synthetic oil is more heat-resistant t ... read more