Wayne's Garage (along with the Monday Morning Mechanic) is excited to present the following daily car tip. Check back every day for a new tip (Have a question you'd like answered in these tips? Contact us!).
Videos from the Monday Morning Mechanic
Wayne's Garage is excited to partner with the Monday Morning Mechanic to bring you helpful, money-saving videos like this. For more videos to help you get more miles for your dollars, visit www.MondayMorningMechanic.com!
Today's Car Care Tip: My car makes the strangest noise. Is it dangerous?
Because a car is mechanical, it can develop noises or vibrations when something is wrong.
What kind of noise is your car making? Don't be afraid to make the same noise for your technician (even if it's humerous)... Clicky-clicky, squeal, groaning, etc.
The best solution is to note when it makes the noise or vibration...
time
temp
speed
bumps
RPMs
gear
location
while under power or coasting
braking, etc.
Go to the most reputable shop and get the tech or service writer to go for a ride with you and demonstrate the noise or vibration to them.
They are blind without your help to identify the noise you're hearing. You know best what your car sounds like normally.
And remember: Test-drive the car after you pick it up to make sure they nailed it!
The PCV Valve is a little, inexpensive part that does a big job for Philadelphia drivers. PCV stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation.
The crankcase is the bottom area of the engine that holds the oil. When the sedan engine’s running, fuel is burned to generate power. Most of the exhaust from combustion goes out through the exhaust system. But some exhaust blows by the pistons and goes into the lower engine, or crankcase. These hot gases are about seventy percent unburned fuel.This can dilute and contaminate the oil, leading to damaging engine oil sludge. It can also cause sedan engine corrosion, something we see occasionally at Wayne’s Garage. At high speeds on Philadelphia freeways, the pressure can build up to the point that gaskets and seals start to leak.
Back in the old days, engine makers simply installed a hose that vented these gases out into the atmosphere. But starting in the 1964 model year, laws mandated that these gases be recycled back into the air intake system to be mixed with fuel and burned in the sedan’s engine.
This is much better for the environment and it saves gas too. (Budget-conscious Philadelphia drivers take note!) The little valve that controls all this action is the PCV valve. The PCV valve lets gases out of the engine, but won’t let anything back in. Over time, the vented gases will gum up the PCV valve and it won’t work well. That can lead to all of the problems I’ve already described, oil leaks, excessive oil consumption and wasted gas.
Fortunately, it’s very easy to test the PCV Valve at Wayne’s Garage and quick and inexpensive to replace. Even so, it’s often overlooked because many Philadelphia drivers don’t know about it. Check your sedan owner’s manual or ask your Wayne’s Garage service advisor. If this is the first time you’ve heard of a PCV valve, you might be in line for a replacement.
There’s another aspect to the PCV system. In order for the valve to work correctly, it needs a little clean air to come in. This is done through a breather tube that gets some filtered air from the engine air filter. Now some vehicles have a small separate air filter for the breather tube called the breather element. That’ll need to be replaced at Wayne’s Garage when it gets dirty.
Please ask your friendly’, ‘honest’, ‘efficient Philadelphia service advisor about your PCV valve. For the price of a couple of burger combo meals in Philadelphia, you can avoid some very expensive deep engine repairs.
We service all makes and models, both foreign and domestic.
To see a complete list of services that we offer, visit our Services page.
Tags: Auto Repair Philadelphia, Oil Change Philadelphia, Tires Philadelphia, Transmission Philadelphia, Mechanic Philadelphia
