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4/8/2024
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Articles:

Smooth Shifting in Memphis, Tennessee: Transmission Service

So you have some exciting plans for the weekend. You're going to take some of your friends out on the boat for some water skiing. Of course, you've gotten the boat all ready. And you haven't forgotten about your tow vehicle. You've gassed it up and even vacuumed it out. However, there is something even more important than the cleanliness of the interior: you want to make sure that your vehicle maintenance is up to date. Think about it – heavy traffic on the way out of Memphis. There's hilly terrain as you get to the lake. Some dirt roads – and it's going to be pretty hot in Tennessee this weekend. And all the time you'll be towing around a lot of extra weight. That all adds up a lot of severe strain on your engine, brakes and transmission. Let's just consider the transmission. It's going to be working overtime, spending more time in lower gears. The internal transmission temperature is going to be much higher than normal. A fun little blast to the loc ... read more

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Transmission

Fuel Saving Tip: Tire Pressure Saves Fuel in Memphis

Underinflated tires waste gas for lots of folks in the Memphis area. Think how hard it is to walk in sand – you just have to work harder because of the resistance. When your tires don't have enough air in them, their rolling resistance is dramatically increased and it simply takes more gas to get from here to there.Always check your tire pressure when you gas up at one of our local Memphis service stations. If they're low – even just a little bit – bring them up to proper pressure. There's a sticker on the inside of your driver's door that gives the manufacturer's recommended tire pressure.And don't rely on your tire pressure monitoring system to alert you to when you need more air. The TPMS system is set to warn you when pressure drops 20 percent below recommendations. That's severely underinflated and you needed more air a long time ago. And if you have a slow leak – get it fixed right away at Allen's Automotive Center ... read more

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Tires and Wheels

On Board Diagnostics for Memphis Motorists

Some Memphis vehicle owners wonder why Allen's Automotive Center and other Memphis auto repair shops charge a fee for vehicle diagnostics. Receiving a diagnostic charge at Allen's Automotive Center for a tricky automotive problem shouldn't be a surprise. In the Memphis area, automotive diagnostics can cover quite a range. If you hear a noise in your vehicle brakes when you slow down in rush-hour traffic on a busy Tennessee road, you pull off at 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 vehicle engine, however, a Allen's Automotive Center diagnosis may be much more involved.Much of the Memphis driver'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 Tennessee drivers that the trouble code tells the Allen's Automotive Center tech ... read more

Tracking True in Tennessee: Wheel Alignment in Memphis

The biggest issue for Memphis area drivers is always safety. When your vehicle wheels are out of alignment, the vehicle will pull to one side, which could lead to an accident. When you're vehicle is out of alignment, you should have it taken care of right away at Allen's Automotive Center in Memphis. When undergoing an alignment service at Allen's Automotive Center, your vehicle is put on an alignment rack where the tires, steering and suspension parts are checked for damage. Then the alignment is charted and checked against the factory settings.Precision adjustments are made to bring the wheels back into alignment. This gets all four wheels going in exactly the same direction.Memphis drivers should be aware of the signs of alignment problems. These include the car pulling to one side. Also, the steering wheel may not be centered when you're going straight. If you see the edges of one or more tires ... read more

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Alignment

Battery Replacement at Allen's Automotive Center in Memphis

Battery Replacement at Allen's Automotive Center in Memphis

Hello, welcome to Allen's Automotive Center. Today's focus is batteries. It seems like everything in Memphis runs on batteries. Of course, the batteries we're most concerned with here at Allen's Automotive Center are those in our customer's vehicles. Just like the batteries in our smoke detectors or TV remote, they wear out and need to be replaced . This can be thought of as the power output used to start a cold vehicle engine. The number of cold cranking amps you need depends on your vehicle and where you live in Tennessee, specifically how cold it is. (Many Memphis drivers have first-hand experience trying to start their car on a cold winter morning.) The two factors are that the colder your vehicle's engine is, the more power it takes to turn the engine over to get it started. It has all that cold, sluggish oil to contend with.The other factor is that the chemical reaction in the battery that creates electrical energy is less efficient when the temperatu ... read more

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Battery

Does Your Car Have A Recall Item?

Recalls are pretty serious for Memphis residents and don't happen all that often. But sometimes cars have less serious problems that Memphis residents still might want to know about. For these less serious cases, the vehicle manufacturer issues what is known as a Technical Service Bulletin – or TSB. These bulletins tell Memphis service centers (including Allen's Automotive Center) how to repair a problem that occurs frequently or is especially difficult.Your Memphis service center receives updated information through subscription plans, which are sometimes available in consumer versions too.Whatever your source, pay attention to Memphis vehicle recalls to keep you and your passengers safe. No matter how well they're made, vehicles are bound to have problems with their design or manufacturing. Think of all the moving parts. When the government thinks a problem is really serious, they require the vehicle manufacturer to issue recall notices to Memphi ... read more

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Maintenance

Timing Belt Service to Save Big Bucks in Memphis

Your engine is like a finely choreographed dance. All the parts have to work together. If the timing is off at the ballet, dancers crash into each other and fall down. It the timing is off in your engine, it may not run at all. One of the most intricate dances in your engine has to do with the combustion cycle.Your vehicle engine has cylinders in which a piston travels up and down. At the top of the cylinders are valves that open to bring in the air and fuel. And there are valves that open to let out the exhaust after the fuel has been burned. Call Allen's Automotive Center at 901-332-3279 for answers about your timing belt, or drop by our Memphis, Tennessee, service center on 1195 WINFIELD AVE.. It's critical that the values be timed to open and close at precisely the right time in the combustion cycle, or the engine will run poorly or not at all.The timing belt is responsible for rotati ... read more

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Timing Belt

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Wheel Bearings

Why are wheel bearings for Memphis vehicles important? It's simple: your wheel bearings keep the wheels on your vehicle. In today's Allen's Automotive Center post, we'll discuss more about wheel bearings and how you can make sure they can do their very job while you drive around Memphis, Tennessee. Wheel bearings are pretty simple parts. They're made of high quality steel and are engineered to last 100,000 miles (160,000)  or more if properly cared for. The bearings do two jobs: First, they allow the wheel to freely rotate with as little friction as possible. Second, they support the weight of the vehicle. For example, if your car weighs 3,600 pounds (1600 kilogram), each wheel has to support approximately 900 pounds (400 kilograms). That's a lot of heavy lifting over those long distances.Even though wheel bearings are pretty straightforward, they need to be in near perfect condition to do their job for Memphis vehicles. The bearings are packed with heavy grease t ... read more

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Tires and Wheels

Deep Clean Your Fuel System at Allen's Automotive Center

Having trouble with your fuel system? Bring your vehicle into Allen's Automotive Center for a check up.In today's Allen's Automotive Center auto post,we're talking about fuel system cleaning. The first thing to know is how important it is to have a clean fuel system. Memphis residents need fuel to go, and the cleaner the fuel system, the more efficiently the fuel will burn. That means more power and better mileage .A clean fuel system saves money for Memphis drivers at Tennessee gas stations. We guess you could say it all starts and ends at the pump. One of the most important things Memphis residents can do to keep their vehicle fuel system clean is to buy good quality gas. Major brands have detergents that keep gum and varnish from rapidly building up in the fuel system.So buying cheaper gas in Tennessee can actually be more expensive for Memphis drivers in the long run. Now, most cars on Tennessee roads are more than five or six years old. That means they've had ... read more

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Fuel System

What Is a Differential and Do You Have One?

With front-wheel drive being so common these days in Memphis, Tennessee, the differential is just taken care of during a transmission service, so most Memphis drivers don't even have to think about it. And rear-wheel drive differentials don't need to be serviced for years, so it's understandable that it's not something on the top of Memphis customers' minds. It's not uncommon for drivers to not know they have a differential let alone know that it needs service. Call Allen's Automotive Center in Memphis at 901-332-3279 for information about differential service, or stop by our Memphis, Tennessee, auto center at 1195 WINFIELD AVE., 38116. To better understand what a differential does, think about our local Memphis high school track. There are lanes marked off on the track. For the longer distance races, the starting lines are staggered. The starting lines for the outside lanes are ahead of the starting lines for the inside lanes. Tha ... read more

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Drive Train
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