Call McLean Auto Repair to make an appointment to check your transmission in Elgin.
965 N McLean Blvd
Elgin, Illinois 60123
847-741-9576

Do you have any plans around Elgin Illinois for the weekend? Maybe you and some friends and are taking the boat up to the lake. Maybe you’ll be having a lot of fun water skiing and doing a little fishing.

You got the boat all ready. It’s all gassed up. You packed lots of snacks and the cooler’s stocked – ready to go.

How about your tow vehicle? It has plenty of gas and you’ve even vacuumed it out, but is your auto maintenance up to date?

Stop and think. You’ll have some heavy traffic on your way out of town. Hilly terrain as you get to the lake. Some dirt roads – and it may be hot weather. And all the time you’re going to be towing around several thousand extra pounds.

That all adds up a lot of severe strain on your engine, brakes and transmission. Your transmission’s going to be working overtime, spending more time in lower gears. The internal transmission temperature is going to be much higher than normal. What’s a fun little blast to the lake for you is really severe duty for your transmission.

It’s important that you have enough transmission fluid. If you’re running low, the transmission will run to hot and won’t have the protection it needs to cope with the added stress of towing.

And if it’s time for a transmission service, you really should have it done at McLean Auto Repair before your trip. Transmission fluid breaks down and gets dirty over time. Whether you have an automatic or manual transmission, you need to have it serviced on schedule to make sure it runs efficiently.

Automatic transmissions contain a maze of passages that the fluid has to pass through to keep it shifting smoothly. If you neglect transmission service, the passages can get clogged up and you start to have problems. Neglect your transmission for too long, and it can fail. Believe us – you don’t want to pay for a major transmission repair.

You know, most of us in Elgin Illinois do a lot of our driving under severe conditions. Towing or hauling a big load is obvious, but there are lots of other things that constitute severe driving conditions. Things like short trips or driving in very hot or very cold weather. Also, dusty roads, city driving around Elgin, and basically any driving that’s not at highway speeds or under ideal conditions is severe driving. We all need to think about whether or not we need to follow the severe service schedule.

So, consider going in for a full service oil change before you leave for the lake to make sure everything has been looked at. Ask for a trip inspection while you’re at it. Your Elgin Illinois service technician at McLean Auto Repair can check your belts and hoses and let you know if your brakes are in good shape.

Don’t forget the sunscreen. And to thank your Elgin service technician, how about bringing him back a nice trout?

Some Elgin motorists are confused by McLean Auto Repair charges for diagnostic services for a vehicle repair. Many services at McLean Auto Repair and other Elgin automotive repair shops include diagnostic fees.

When you take your laptop into a Chicago computer repair shop for a problem you’ll likely have to leave a deposit for diagnostics. When we visit our Elgin doctor for a medical problem, we’re paying him to diagnose our ailment and of course for the tests that go along with it.

So receiving a diagnostic charge at McLean Auto Repair for a tricky automotive problem shouldn’t be a surprise. In the Chicago area, automotive diagnostics can cover quite a range. If you hear a noise in your sedan or SUV brakes when you slow down in rush-hour traffic on a busy Illinois expressway, you pull off the next off-ramp and take a quick visual check. That is usually enough to know what needs to be done. If you’re having an intermittent problem with your sedan or SUV engine, McLean Auto Repair diagnosis may be much more involved.

Much of the Chicago public’s confusion comes when the problem involves the check engine light. The check engine light comes on when the engine management computer has sensed a problem.

There’s a common misconception among Elgin, South Elgin, and Dundee/Gilberts area drivers that the trouble code tells the McLean Auto Repair technician exactly what’s wrong. Why then is there a diagnostic charge, the scanner just gave the diagnosis?

Reality is more involved than that. The computer monitors many sensors throughout the vehicle. When one of these sensors has a reading that’s out of parameters, the computer will record a trouble code and turn on the check engine light.

The sedan or SUV computer’s trouble code just tells the McLean Auto Repair technician what engine parameter is out of range – not what’s causing it. The technician needs to determine the underlying problem that’s causing the symptom.

There are many problems that could cause a troublesome sensor reading for McLean Auto Repair Elgin customers. The McLean Auto Repair technician makes a list of the most likely causes and begins tracking down the source of the problem.

Chicago service centers subscribe to databases that document possible causes for a given trouble code. They outline procedures for confirming a diagnosis and provide the documented fix. These databases are specific to each vehicle and engine combination.

Some diagnoses are quick and easy. Others are more involved and difficult. Of course McLean Auto Repair wants to figure out what’s wrong with your sedan or SUV and get you back on the road as quickly as possible.

The government mandates a lot of equipment on cars for the Elgin Illinois area: emission devices and control computers; safety equipment like airbags; and crash worthiness requirements. All of this is great for the motoring public in Elgin Illinois, but it does add quite a bit to the price of a new car.

Because new cars are more expensive, people are driving their old cars longer. The average car is now over nine years old. 68% of vehicles on the road have more than 75,000 miles/120,000 kilometers. 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 going.

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, it’s more important than ever to stay on top of routine maintenance for cars with more than 120,000 miles/190,000 kilometers. Just extend regular service intervals out: for instance a service that’s recommended every 24,000 miles/38,000 kilometers should be performed at 24,000 mi/38,000 km; 48,000 mi/77,000 km; 72,000mi/116,000 km, 96,000 mi/154,000 km; and on and on.

Because of the additional stress older engines experience, the severe service maintenance schedule may be more appropriate than the regular schedule. Watch for leaks – seals and gaskets dry out over time and do not hold the fluids as well as they used to. It is also time to make sure you have a good technician. There are some services and replacements that are scheduled after you put some clicks on the odometer, like timing belts, valve train adjustments, suspension, anti-lock brake service, air bags, etc. And unexpected repairs down the road are just par for the course.

Check for unusual sounds, smells or the way your car feels. These could be hints that trouble is brewing. Better to catch it early before it turns into a costly repair. Regular wash and wax will help maintain your car’s appearance. One of the things you can do to really help your high mileage vehicle is to begin using high mileage formulation fluids. There are special engine oils, coolants, and transmission and power steering fluids that are formulated for cars that have a higher mileage.

High mileage oil is designed to condition seals and gaskets, reduce wear and avoid premature burn off. Older engines are dirtier inside – and dirty engines contaminate their oil faster. High mileage oil has special additives that clean the engine, removing sludge deposits over time. The result is less stress on the engine, better fuel economy and excellent wear protection. Come into McLean Auto Repair for a checkup.

Studies have even shown that using high mileage fluids early will actually prevent some of the problems of high kilometer vehicles. So once you hit around 50,000 mi/80,000 km, consider stepping up to high mileage formulations. The fluids cost a bit more than standard fluids because of the additional additives, but they can be worth their weight in gold in terms of preventing repair costs down the road.

It does cost more to properly maintain a higher mileage vehicle – but it’s much cheaper than a new car payment!

If you’re a quart low in your sedan or SUV, there isn’t enough motor oil to lubricate your engine properly. The extra friction causes drag that reduces fuel economy while you’re driving around the Chicago area.

The same goes for dirty oil; it doesn’t reduce friction properly. The result is you get to watch those numbers at your local Chicago gas pump rolling higher and higher.

The transmission also needs the proper amount of clean fluid to do its work. When it’s in need of service, the transmission drags your fuel economy down.

So keep it clean and give yourself a fighting chance.

McLean Auto Repair
965 N McLean Blvd
Elgin, Illinois 60123
847-741-9576

In very simple terms, a fuel injector is a valve that squirts fuel into your sedan or SUV engine. Your engine control computer tells the fuel injector how much fuel to deliver as well as the precise time it should be delivered. Of course this happens thousands of times a minute in every single fuel-injected car driving down Elgin, South Elgin, and Dundee/Gilberts area roads.

Most fuel injectors for gas engines are known in the Chicago auto industry as port fuel injectors because they deliver the fuel to a port just outside the cylinder. The fuel pump provides pressure needed to squirt the right amount of fuel into the engine.

A few auto makers have recently introduced gas direct injection systems on some engines. They are now available at some Chicago dealerships. These systems inject the gas directly into the cylinders under very high pressure – many times the pressure of port injection systems.

Although more complicated, direct injection technology promises greater power with improved fuel economy for gas-poor Elgin, South Elgin, and Dundee/Gilberts area commuters. Illinois motorists can expect to see more of it in the future.

High temperatures under your sedan or SUV hood and variations in Chicago gas quality cause fuel injectors to be fouled with wax, dirt, water, additives and carbon. Injectors can become partially clogged, preventing them from delivering the proper amount of fuel at the correct pressure.

When injectors are dirty, the fuel doesn’t burn as efficiently resulting in poor fuel economy and loss of power. So it’s important for Elgin drivers keep their fuel injectors clean.

Your Elgin McLean Auto Repair service center can perform a fuel system service for you in which the fuel injectors are cleaned so that they operate properly and deliver the right amount of fuel at the right time.

Proper maintenance of your sedan or SUV fuel system means that you will spend less on gas, enjoy strong performance and prevent costly Chicago repair bills down the road.

Everyone in Elgin Illinois eventually replaces their tires, whether it’s because they’re worn out or they’re just looking for something different. There are so many great tire choices in Elgin Illinois, it can be difficult to sort them out. Let’s group the broad spectrum into several categories that will help in the selection process.

One category is often referred to as “summer tires”. Summer tires are designed to be driven on the road when temperatures are generally above 45 degrees. Their tread design is optimized for traction on dry roads in Elgin Illinois and they’re also able to effectively displace water on rainy roads.

Now the rubber compound gets a little hard and stiff as temperatures drop below 45 degrees as it occasionally does here in Elgin Illinois. And the tread which handles dry roads so well, can get packed with snow or mud – which provides very little traction in those conditions.

So if you live where its summer all year round, these tires will work well for you. If you like maximum performance in warm weather, but still live where it gets cold and snowy, you’ll want to change your summer tires for winter tires as the weather starts to change.

Summer tires can be purchased with an emphasis on handling performance, smooth ride or long life. Your Elgin Illinois tire professional at McLean Auto Repair can help you find the right tire for the way you drive.

As you can imagine, winter tires are designed to work very well in snow and ice. Their tread is designed with many channels and grooves that throw the snow out of the tread as the wheel turns. This means the tire is always be able to bite into the snow.

The rubber compound used in winter tires is specially formulated to be flexible at temperatures below 45 degrees. This maximizes cold weather traction. When it gets warmer, the softer rubber will wear faster on warm dry pavement than summer tires, so change them out once the weather has turned.

There’s a range of tires within the winter tire category. If you live where there’s a lot of snow and ice, look for the mountain and snowflake icon that signifies a severe snow rating. If you have milder winters and still want a performance component, they make a winter tire for you as well.

For many people, an all-season tire is the answer. You will give up some of the performance at the extreme ends of the summer tire/ winter tire spectrum, but you will find a long wearing tire that gives both good highway performance and winter traction on our Elgin Illinois roads.

Within the all-season category, there are many choices that you tire advisor can help you evaluate.

McLean Auto Repair
965 N McLean Blvd
Elgin, Illinois 60123
847-741-9576

Outside of these three main categories, some people in Elgin with trucks and SUVs like a tire that is designed for both on-highway and off-highway use. They can handle the rocks and bumps off-road, but still work well on the street. Again, many options depending on the relative emphasis on on-road verses off-road.

You may want new wheels to go with your new tires – well, there are hundreds and hundreds of styles to choose from. That’s a matter of personal taste. If you want to change the size of your wheels and tires, do get some professional help.

The computers on your vehicle are programmed to the size of wheel and tire combination that comes from the factory. Tire size affects various computer controlled functions like anti-lock brakes, traction and stability controls, speedometer and odometer. Of course, you want these systems to work properly. The computers can be re-programmed for different tire sizes.

And if you want to increase the size of your wheels and tires, you’ll want so help to make sure they’ll fit in the wheel wells of your vehicle without rubbing during turns or over bumps.

It seems like everywhere you go in the Chicago area you see custom wheels. Big trucks, little cars, mini-vans – it doesn’t matter, people are expressing themselves with custom wheels. Some people want smaller tires and wheels – some want larger – and some want them enormous. So where do you start if you want new wheels? We suggest you start with your budget. We know, that sounds so practical. But if the look you’re after goes beyond just new tires and wheels and enters into the world of suspension modifications, you need to be prepared for the additional cost.

Let’s start with something easy – you want to give your ride a unique look and the stock wheel size is just right for you. One of the concerns you will have is that the new wheels have the same offset as your factory wheels.

First, what is offset? The wheel bolts onto the hub on the car’s axle. The distance from the inside edge of the wheel to the point at which it bolts on, is the offset. If the new wheel has a different offset from the factory, the tires may rub on the inside or outside of the wheel well. That could lead to catastrophic tire failure.

Your tire and wheel professional at McLean Auto Repair can help you find the right size wheel – or install adapters to make your new wheels fit. All you have to do is pick from the hundreds of styles available.

McLean Auto Repair
965 N McLean Blvd
Elgin, Illinois 60123
847-741-9576

So, what if you want to upsize? Well, if it is just bigger wheels you want, but you want to keep the same overall tire diameter, that’s pretty easy. The same offset concerns apply. You need to know that the tires will likely be a little bit wider than the originals and could rub when you make sharp turns. Your tire professional at McLean Auto Repair will help you avoid this.

It is also important to keep the same overall tire diameter because changing the rolling diameter can mess with your anti-lock brakes and stability control systems. Are you starting to see why you want to consult with a tire and wheel expert at McLean Auto Repair? Is “super-size me” your motto? If it is, you are going to have to lift your vehicle to make room for those huge tires. A mild lift doesn’t require extensive modifications. An extreme lift means a lot of new hardware under the vehicle. It also means a lot of stock electronic systems need to be recalibrated to the new tire size. For example, your speedometer and odometer will give false readings if they aren’t recalibrated.

You should also be aware of possible performance issues. Bigger tires and wheels weigh more. Experts refer to this as unsprung weight because it isn’t held up by your suspension system. Increased unsprung weight affects performance in different ways than an equivalent amount of groceries or little soccer players in the passenger compartment. Acceleration is negatively affected. Stopping distances may also be increased – sometimes dramatically. If you want really big tires and wheels, you might need to upgrade your brakes to compensate.

Heading the other direction, some folks like to run smaller than standard wheels and lower the suspension. All of the same fitment issues still apply as well as calibration issues. Don’t think that suspension modifications are a bad thing. Many systems actually improve ride, function and performance over the stock set-up.

Regardless of your budget, you want your vehicle to continue to do all the things you need it to do. Some of those show cars and trucks you see on TV look fantastic, but have been modified in ways that may not suit your needs. For example, if you put large rims on your SUV with low profile tires, you may be in for busted rims if you go off-roading a lot. There just isn’t enough sidewall to absorb the impact of thumping over rocks.

Some people stuff the largest tires and wheels possible in their vehicles but have to severely restrict suspension travel so that the tires aren’t rubbing all day. That can lead to a very harsh ride. Again, talk with your wheel professional about all of these things: how you drive, what look you are going for, your budget and what compromises you are willing to make.

At the end of the day, you’re going to be rollin’ out of there with one sweet ride.

Weight is the enemy of fuel economy. Everyone from here to Dundee/Gilberts area knows this makes sense.

Some of us in the Dundee/Gilberts area area carry a bunch of unnecessary weight, and I’m not talkin’ what you see in the mirror.

Guys; sports equipment and tools. Ladies; well, just take a look around the passenger compartment and trunk. I think my car has about forty-five pounds of French fries on the floor.

All that extra weight wastes gas as you drive between here and Dundee/Gilberts area, and everywhere else.

Lose the junk and save some money.

…And you really only need one of those spare tires.

You would never like to drink a glass of mud, right? Well, your car feels the same way. It needs a steady supply of clean fuel in order to run well and deliver good fuel economy. The fuel filter’s job is to clean dirt and rust out of the fuel before it gets to your engine. A clogged fuel filter can actually choke off the engine so that it won’t start or run. Some fuel filters have a bypass valve that allows fuel to go around the clogged filter so your car will still run. But, then the contaminated fuel can plug your fuel injectors and allow damaging particles into your engine.

A car with a partially clogged fuel filter might run well around town, but sputter and strain on the highway because it’s starving for gas. There are two things that affect how often you need to replace the filter. They are: where you drive and the gas you buy. If you drive a lot on dirt or gravel roads in rural Illinois, your fuel filter will have a harder time keeping the fuel clean.

And, we hate to say it, but buying the cheapest gas from cut-rate Chicago area stations sometimes means dirtier fuel that’ll clog the filter sooner. Major brands tend to be cleaner and certainly have higher levels of detergent additives.

Of course, your manufacturer recommends intervals for changing the fuel filter. But, it’s a little more complicated than that. Some manufacturers stopped listing recommended intervals for fuel filter replacement or have very long intervals like every five years or eighty thousand miles. So you may need to look to other sources for recommendations. Cars older than six or seven years are especially at risk because they have had time for dirt and rust to build up in the fuel tank. A clean fuel filter keeps the gas flowing. Even a partially clogged filter puts added strain on the fuel pump. That can shorten its life and result in a costly repair.

As is often the case, spending a little money now on something as inexpensive as a fuel filter can save money down the road. At McLean Auto Repair in Elgin, we can check your fuel filter. It is better than fixing a burned out fuel pump or ruined fuel injectors.

There are some things Chicago consumers should know about Elgin automotive service and repair. First and foremost, McLean Auto Repair cares about you and your family’s safety. And we really appreciate your business. McLean Auto Repair in Elgin wants to build a trusting relationship that becomes the foundation for a mutually beneficial experience for years to come.

Building on that foundation, there are some things that would help you understand the auto service and repair business better. First, it can be really hard to fix cars. The days of shade tree mechanics are long gone. The majority of automotive systems are computerized. It takes a lot of training and very expensive equipment to diagnose and repair modern vehicles. The technicians that work for McLean Auto Repair need extensive computer training – not just how to run the diagnostic systems, but also searching for the right parts, networking with other technicians to help them with a difficult problem and pulling together a job order that makes sure that each step of the process is addressed.

The threshold for getting started as a technician gets higher all the time and there is a huge commitment to on-going training every year. This training takes time and money. It contributes to business overhead. The average Elgin or South Elgin driver may not realize the business and environmental regulations McLean Auto Repair must comply with. Of course that costs money too. Like any business, overhead is a big factor.

When you go into a Chicago restaurant you don’t value the meal by what the food would cost at the grocery store. The restaurant has rent, wages, insurance, taxes, utilities, professional fees, equipment, supplies – you get the picture. The restaurant has to charge enough to not only pay for the ingredients, but for all these other things as well while making enough profit to remain in business. If you value the meal and are satisfied with your dining experience, you’ll come back and tell your friends.

It’s the same for McLean Auto Repair. The value of its service is not the cost of the parts they replace, but in your satisfaction with the results. If they deliver a good product at a fair price, Elgin customers are happy to see them succeed as a Illinois automotive business.

Contact McLean Auto Repair to learn more about our extensive auto service training.
You can find us at:
965 N McLean Blvd
Elgin, Illinois 60123
Or call us at 847-741-9576

Your Elgin service center loves to see its customers whenever they come in, but they would much rather see them three or four times a year for routine maintenance than once a year on a tow truck. They want to work together with you to avoid breakdowns. Tell your Chicago area friends and family to go in for their scheduled maintenance too. That lowers the service center’s marketing costs and helps keep its labor rates down. That’s good for everyone.

McLean Auto Repair appreciates this great review of automotive service from AutoNetTV.