Automotive News & Information - Motorworks Northwest, Inc

Sometimes, it’s obvious when you need new brakes and sometimes it isn’t. Knowing what to look for and what causes issues will help keep you safe and remind you of when you should get your brakes checked out. Here are some symptoms of bad brakes, and what causes the issue from Motorworks Northwest, Inc in Mt Vernon, WA.

Fluid levels, tire condition, dashboard lights, and a variety of other items typically are briefly explored whenever you bring your vehicle in for maintenance here at Motorworks Northwest, Inc in Mt Vernon, WA, where we are good at noticing things that need repair, but the fact of the matter is that only you know your car. You know when your car feels off when it's been serviced last (or that it hasn't been serviced at all,) and have at least some vague idea of what’s going on with your vehicle day to day. Here are some questions you can ask us next time you come by the shop;

In the diesel world, "blow-by" is a term you're bound to run across at some point if your line of work involves diesel-powered vehicles of any kind. What is blow-by, what causes it, and how concerned should you be? At Motorworks Northwest, Inc in Mt Vernon, WA, our fleet maintenance and diesel technicians see it on a regular basis. Here we'll take a quick look at blow-by, correcting it, and preventing it.

What is Blow-By? - Diesel blow-by is a term that describes an event of lost compression into the crankcase. Blow-by occurs whenever a burnt or unburnt fuel and air mixture escape from the cylinder and past the piston rings and into the crankcase. In a perfect world, the piston would be sealed tightly in the cylinder, able to move up and down but keeping all the air and fuel and exhaust that enters or exits the cylinder during the combustion process out of the crankcase. As you'll see, this perfect world doesn't exist, but it is important to minimize the amount of blow-by in a diesel engine.

Changing the oil in big trucks and commercial vehicles is an expensive, but necessary, part of keeping your vehicles going. You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to change your oil, but changing it too early can be a waste of time and money. Having your oil tested regularly helps us to hone in on exactly how often your oil needs to be changed, to optimize reliability and efficiency.

When something goes wrong with your vehicle, it can be tempting to take the cheapest route. With eBay, Amazon, and the countless other sources for car and truck parts on the market today, many people decide to go that route to save some money. Here we choose only quality automotive parts for our Mt Vernon, WA driver at Motorworks Northwest, Inc because we want to ensure their parts match our commitment to providing them high quality repairs.

Your drive belts run everything - your AC, power steering, alternator, and water pump are all dependent on the belts that turn them. At Motorworks Northwest, Inc in Mt Vernon, WA, our goal is to keep your truck maintained, so you’re never stuck out on the road. Drive belts are a critical part of that goal.

It’s easier than ever to keep your fleet running smoothly for thousands of miles. If a vehicle has less than 50,000 miles on it today, chances are it still has 75 percent of its driving life ahead of it. That’s good news if you’re a company managing a fleet of vehicles. It wasn’t that long ago that hitting the 100,000-mile mark on the odometer was a major milestone. Today, vehicles are built to last. With the proper maintenance and attention, there’s no reason you shouldn’t expect to see that 50,000-mile reading on the odometer one day roll right past 200,000 and keep ongoing. Here at Motorworks Northwest, Inc, we're going to give you some tips on how to make that happen!

When you are having trouble with your car or truck starting and you open the hood up to take a peek to see this....you'll see what an overly corroded battery looks like. This happens naturally over time on vehicle battery terminals. If you are like 99% of normal Mt Vernon drivers, you don't check your oil or your battery so you don't keep an eye on the amount of corrosion that's building up on your car or truck battery. Here at Motorworks Northwest, Inc, we do and there are solvents that we can use here in the shop during a battery maintenance service that will help slow the corrosion process but nothing that can prevent it 100%. Way before it gets to this point, we will be suggesting you consider replacing the battery.