Orlando Auto Repair

Orlando drivers may have an alignment problem if their car drifts or pulls to one side, the steering wheel's off center, they notice uneven tire wear or the car doesn't feel like it handles right as they drive down Orlando, FL, streets and roads. When all of a vehicle's wheels are lined up exactly with each other, your wheels are in alignment. Running into potholes, smacking a curb or other objects around Daytona Beach are great ways to knock a car out of alignment. Then one or more of your wheels start pulling in a slightly different direction and the problems begin. The team at Honest-1 Auto Care in Orlando wants you to know that driving for an extended time when your car is out of alignment causes your tires to wear unevenly and excessively. Sometimes the tire can be worn so badly that it will fail. At the very least, those who drive with wheels out of alignment will have to replace their tires sooner. You could end up with premature wear to your suspension ... read more

The government mandates a lot of equipment on cars in Orlando: emission devices and control computers, safety equipment like airbags and crash worthiness requirements. All of this is great for the Orlando motoring public, but it does add quite a bit to the price of a new vehicle. Because new vehicles are more expensive, people in the Orlando  area are driving their old vehicles longer. The average vehicle is now over nine years old. Two thirds of vehicles on the road in FL have more than 75,000 miles (120,000 km) on them. As cars age, their performance drops, they have difficulty idling for long periods and are more sensitive to weather extremes. Fortunately today's cars are up to the challenge – but they need a little help to keep on goin'. Give Honest-1 Auto Care a call at 407.479.3063 to schedule your next maintenance. Some owner's manuals don't specify service requirements at higher mileage. That doesn't mean it doesn't have to be done. In fact ... read more

If you are a driver in Orlando and you aren't currently using synthetic motor oil in your vehicle, maybe now's the time to consider it. Need more information? Well, synthetic motor oil is a substitute for petroleum based oil. Synthetic oil doesn't gel or gum-up like petroleum based oil and it doesn't vaporize as easily. It protects better in severe driving conditions like stop and go driving around Orlando, as well as in very hot or very cold conditions. More and more new vehicles are being delivered with full synthetic motor oil, with the recommendation to use synthetic for the life of the vehicle. Why is this? Synthetic motor oil maximizes engine power and fuel economy. To see why, we'd need a microscope, so we'll have to settle for using our imaginations. The molecules of conventional motor oil are long hydrocarbon chains. Synthetic motor oil, on the other hand, has uniform, round molecules. Which is more slippery ... read more

Isn't it amazing how much of our stuff is disposable these days? Clothes, electronics, housewares, furniture. Remember the days when Orlando families mended their clothes, polished their shoes and neatly put away their toys every night? If something was lost or ruined through neglect, your parents just told you to do without, that you should have taken better care of it. They considered the loss a “life lesson.” But today many Orlando drivers tend to neglect one of the more expensive and important purchases we make: our vehicles. Vehicles are a lot more reliable today than back when we polished our shoes, and that reliability can sometimes make us take them for granted. Drivers in Orlando neglect good vehicle care practices and procrastinate when it comes to preventive maintenance. What we're really doing is heading straight for one of those dreaded “life lessons.” Eventually we'll pay for our neglect in repair bills and a shorter life for our vehi ... read more

There’s not much Orlando drivers can do about the price of gas in FL, but we can control - up to a point - how much we use. Our driving habits can dramatically affect our fuel economy. The first thing we can do is watch the go-pedal. Hard acceleration just sucks the gas. Gently leave stop lights and plan lane changes so you don’t need to floor it. That can save you hundreds of dollars a year in improved gas mileage. Go a little slower on FL expressways. Orlando drivers who go more than 65 miles an hour (105 kilometers per hour) will see their gas mileage drop dramatically. Leave early so you don’t need to rush to be on time. And cruise control is your friend – steady speeds use less gas. Plan errands ahead. Make fewer trips by combining errands around Orlando. Hey at current Orlando gas prices, a lead-foot might as well be a gold foot.  Give us a call

Hello Orlando! Did you know that the first federally-mandated emissions control device was introduced in the 1960's? The Positive Crankcase Ventilation valve, or PCV valve, has been installed in FL vehicles since 1964 and represents the first legislation by the United States government to regulate harmful emissions as well as to improve performance in the country's vehicles. The PCV valve, as you can probably guess, is located on the crankcase. The crankcase is the lowest part of a vehicle's engine. It houses the crankshaft and the engine oil. The crankshaft connects to the pistons that power the engine. Pistons are pushed down when fuel is burned in an engine. This causes the crankshaft to rotate, which sends power to the transmission.  It ultimately turns the axles and causes the vehicle to move. Some of the gases released by the burning fuel squeeze around the pistons and down into the crankcase. If the escaped gases mi ... read more

In your engine, valves over each combustion chamber open to allow fresh air in, close during the combustion event, and then other valves open to let out the exhaust. All of this happens over and over thousands of times a minute when you are driving around Orlandoh. The timing belt’s important job is to make sure that all of this happens as it should – at precisely the right time. If the timing is off, your engine won’t run efficiently or maybe not at all – so a good timing belt is important. If it should break, you could end up at Honest-1 Auto Care with expensive engine damage. Ask your friendly and professional Honest-1 Auto Care service advisor when your timing belt is scheduled for replacement. Give us a call

Most Orlando drivers know something about preventive maintenance on a vehicle. We know we should routinely replace the oil and wiper blades and other fluids. But have you heard of a PCV valve ? This little car part needs to be replaced regularly or it can cause some serious problems in your vehicle engine. PCV stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation. The crankcase holds your motor oil and is located at the bottom of your engine. When fuel is burned in your engine, it produces waste gases that are mostly vented out through your exhaust system. But some of these gases push their way past the pistons and into the crankcase. There, these gases can mix with motor oil to produce oil sludge, which can damage vehicle engine parts through corrosion and by clogging engine passages. Orlando vehicle owners should be advised that if the engine is running at high speeds, these gases can also cause pressure inside the crankcase to build up. This pressure, in turn, can blow gaskets a ... read more

Today we're going to talk about on-board diagnostics and the questions we hear from folks around Orlando, FL, who need answers about diagnostic services. They want to know what diagnostics are, what's involved and what the benefits are. They really want to understand the value of diagnostic scans by a trained technician in Orlando. These are valid concerns. If you don't understand something it's really hard to know its value. Let's start with some history. Since 1996, all cars and light trucks in Orlando, FL, have been required to use a standardized diagnostic system to help repair technicians determine what's wrong with your vehicle. The diagnostic system works with the vehicle's Engine Control Module – the computer that controls many engine functions. The computer monitors dozens of components and processes. Depending on what the sensors read, the computer will make adjustments to compensate for conditions and minor problems. When there is a condi ... read more

Whenever they hear the term "exhaust service," most Orlando residents think about exhaust pipes and mufflers. Well, actually, exhaust service at Honest-1 Auto Care is a lot more comprehensive these days. For example, catalytic converters were mandated in 1976 and on-board emission control computers in 1990. Governmental emissions requirements have forced manufacturers to come up with much more sophisticated ways to comply with environmental regulations. Exhaust service has really become exhaust and emissions service. High-tech computer controlled emissions devices are now a big part of exhaust service. Because it is so sophisticated, your recommends you have your emission system checked out by a qualified Orlando exhaust technician regularly to make sure everything is working right - usually every 6 months or 10,000 miles/16,000 kilometers. If your Check Engine light comes on, especially if it's flashing, get your car looked at right away. Technicians at Honest-1 A ... read more