Monthly Archives: July 2022

Fuel Injectors

The last new American vehicles sold in NAPLES with a carburetor rolled out of the FL dealerships in 1990. Since then, all new vehicles here in NAPLES, and nationally, have had fuel injectors. In very simple terms, a fuel injector is a valve that squirts fuel into your engine. Your engine control computer tells the fuel injector how much gas to deliver as well as the precise time it should be delivered. Of course this happens thousands of times a minute. Fuel injectors deliver fuel far more precisely than carburetors. That translates into better fuel economy and more power for NAPLES drivers. Virtually all fuel injectors for gas engines are known as port fuel injectors because they deliver the fuel to a port just outside the cylinder. Port fuel injectors operate at about 40 to 80 pounds per square inch of pressure.A few vehicle manufacturers have introduced gas direct injection systems on some engines recently. These systems inject the gas directly ... read more

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Fuel System

Vive la Differential at Happy Wallet Quality Auto Repair in NAPLES

There are a lot of drivers in NAPLES who are due for a differential service, but had never heard of a differential before.With front-wheel drive being so common in FL these days, the differential is just taken care of during a transmission service, so most NAPLES folks don't even have to think about it. And rear-wheel drive differentials don't need to be serviced for years, so it's understandable that it's not something on the top of your mind. It's not uncommon for people in NAPLES to not know they have a differential, let alone know that it needs service.To better understand what a differential does, think about a track at any FL high school. There are lanes marked off on the track. For the longer distance races, the starting lines are staggered. The starting lines for the outside lanes are ahead of the starting lines for the inside lanes. That's to compensate for the longer length of the outside lanes. Staggering the starting lines means that each runner has the sa ... read more

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Drive Train

Keeping Your Car Young in NAPLES

As NAPLES consumers, we live in a disposable society. It's amazing all the stuff we throw away.New stuff comes out so fast in FL, and much of it is fairly cheap, so we just toss the old and move on. It seems like when we were kids our parents were real sticklers about taking care of our stuff - especially parents who grew up in the Depression. You know, hang up your clothes, polish your shoes, put away your toys. If something got lost or ruined by neglect, tough; we had to do without.  We couldn't afford new cars very often, so we tried to make them last as long as we could. It's a good thing that cars are more reliable these days. They just don't break down as often. And the good news for us NAPLES penny pinchers is that a modern car can easily go 200,000 miles (320,000 km) with proper care. The engineering's there and so is the manufacturing quality. The missing ingredient is us making sure we follow the vehicle manufacturer's maintenance schedules.Is it really that bad for NAPL ... read more

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Maintenance

When Metal Meets Metal (Wheel Bearings)

What part of your vehicle has little metal balls inside that are lubricated and allow you to cruise on down the road?  They are wheel bearings, and automotive designers might argue they are human beings' second greatest invention of all time (the first is, of course, the wheel!). You have a wheel bearing at each wheel.  They allow your wheels to turn freely, minimizing friction that would ordinarily slow you down when metal meets metal.  When one of your wheel bearings starts to go bad, it lets you know. A wheel bearing does its work quietly when it's in good health but starts getting noisy when it isn't.  People describe the noise differently.  Sometimes it sounds like road noise, a pulsating, rhythmic, sound.  That pulse speeds up when your vehicle speeds up.  Here's what's happening when you hear that sound.  As mentioned, the bearing has these little metal balls inside a ring.  They have a lubricant inside to reduce friction between the ... read more

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Wheel Bearings

Automotive Tips from Happy Wallet Quality Auto Repair: Signs of an Alignment Problem

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. NAPLES drivers 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 NAPLES driving take their toll on wheel alignment as well. In addition, your vehicle can lose alignment over time with just normal driving. When your wheels are out of alignment, Happy Wallet Quality Auto Repair in NAPLES can return your wheels to the vehicle manufacturer’s factory settings. Most owner's manuals suggest an alignment check every year or two.  Give us a call.Happy Wallet Quality Auto Repair3661 MERCANTILE AVE STE ANAPLES, FL 341042394047589http://happywalletautorep ... read more

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Alignment
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