Vehicle Diagnostics at West Coast Tire and Service

AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES

• Car Repairs
• Diagnosis
• Maintenance
• Oil Change
• Tune Up
• Wheel Alignment

At West Coast Tire and Service we are your "One Stop Complete Car Care Center" we perform vehicle diagnostics including:

Check Engine Lights
The Check Engine Light (CEL) or (MIL - malfunction indicator lamp) is a warning indicator-it means your vehicle's computer has determined that a component or system in your emission control system is not working properly. The light may be amber or red, come on intermittently, flicker, flash, or stay illuminated. Whatever the case, take your vehicle to us as soon as possible. If it is red and blinking, or you are experiencing performance problems immediately stop the vehicle and have it towed.

Compression Tests
In its basic form, a combustion engine is a rather crude way of generating energy. It's essentially a bunch of explosions happening inside a hollowed-out piece of iron or alumunum. But take a closer look and you'll quickly learn how refined an engine really is .For modern engines, a full engine cycle is four strokes, which refers to how many times a piston must travel up and down inside a cylinder during the cycle. The engine draws in precise micro-measured amount of fuel and air through valves, compresses the mixcture, combusts the mixture and releases them. These four strokes are commonly referred to as suck, squeeze, bang, and blow. The Compression Stroke/Squeeze is when the intake valve closes and the piston travels upward to squeeze the fuel and air mixture. If there is no compression in that cylinder, the expolosion it creates does not match the other clyinders therefor creating a misfire. A compression test is testing the compression in each cylinder making sure the engine is running to its full potential.

Smoke Tests
A smoke test is to find a vacuum leak. Because you can not see air, the technition must add smoke to the system in order to find the location of the vacuum leak. A vehicle depends on a precise mixture of air and fuel to run smoothly. If the vehicle has a vacuum leak, then there is too much air entering into the engine and it will not fire correctly. If a vacuum leak is detected by the engine a Check Engine Light will come on.

Pressure Tests
A pressure tests purpose is to find leaks in the cooling system. When a vehicle is running naturally the cooling system is under a certain amount of pressure. To duplicate that natural pressure the technition performes a pressure test to search for any leaks.