Albany Auto Repair

What is an alignment? Well, it's getting your car or truck lined up… but what does that mean exactly.    When we talk about Alignments what we are talking about is getting all 4 wheels pointed in the same direction and rolling smoothly down the road. We talked last week about tires and tire wear. A big factor in tire wear is a bad alignment. Besides improper tire wear a bad alignment will cause your car or truck to pull to one side going down the road. It can also have poor handling in general.   There are a lot of adjustments to be made on a typical modern car, that's why we have a computer and laser system to help make these changes. Pictured is a car on our rack with the sensors on each wheel and the computer screen displaying the desired alignment numbers and current numbers so our technicians know how much adjustment is needed.   Why do alignments need to be checked? Because your alignment involves your car’s suspension, steering, whee ... read more

What happens to tires when the weather warms up?   Warm weather is here, and summer road trips are right around the corner. Tires are THE only part of your car that touches the ground and keeps you going down the road. You could say tires are the most important part of your car or truck. Flat tires are no fun, but another problem is when your tires wear down from normal use, they begin to have less and less traction in rainy or snowy conditions. Luckily we don’t have to worry about snow anytime soon.    Wet slippery roads cause millions of accidents across the county. Many of those are from bald tires. We inspect your whole vehicle when you come to Crabtree, Including tires. There are indicators on tires to let you know when it's time for replacement. We will check this for you.    When you bring your vehicle to Crabtree we will make a maintenance schedule for you that keeps your car and your wallet happy. This, of course, includes tires. We sel ... read more

Which Cummins engine is the best? That is another subjective question. But let's continue with our diesel truck discussion.   Like its Powerstroke counterpart, the Cummins engine found in Ram pickups has undergone many changes. Arguably the most famous light-duty diesel, the 12v Cummins first introduced in a Dodge Ram W250 and W350 in 1989, is still heavily used to this day.   Cummins designated the engine as a 6BT (6-cylinder B-Series Turbocharged), the first version having one exhaust and one intake valve per cylinder (12v) and using a rotary fuel injection pump (VE) Pump.   From there, fuel pump changes, different turbos, better injectors, and eventually electronic controls gets us to modern-day the 6.7 Cummins.   It shares the same displacement as the 6.7 powerstroke but that is where the similarities end. Ford, Ram, and Chevrolet all battle for top horsepower and towing capacity bragging rights. A few years back, Ram was the first in the industry to ... read more

Why does your A/C System keep failing?   Well there is probably a leak! The AC system in modern automobiles can get pretty complex but they all have some of the same fundamental components.    When a leak occurs it can be extremely hard to find. Thankfully we have some special tools to make that easier. On this 1997 Ford F-250 we had a leak that didn't show up with dye and the leak started all the sudden for the customer.   We started by hooking up our AC Servicing Machine to the truck to recover any feon left in the system and then put the system under a vacuum to test for leaks and see how big the leak is.   We were able to detect that there was a leak and it was rather large. But with visual inspection we couldn’t find anything. The customer let us know that nearly the entire system had been replaced last year.    We then filled the AC system with environmentally safe Nitrogen Gas and used soapy water in a spray bottle to cover ... read more

We have a lot going on, just like everyone else  2023 is hectic! So we do several things to help keep the ball rolling and our ducks in a row.   One of the reasons we have become one of the Top Shops in the country is that we set goals and plan to get there!   In the picture are a bunch of magnets and a whiteboard. Nothing too fancy, but it allows us to plan out everyone's day. That way, we can be as efficient as possible with our tech's time and yours!   As always, plans change; for example, if you can't make your appointment after all, that's ok because we can move the jobs around on this board, so there's no wasted time.   Goals are an essential part of our culture as well. We are constantly striving to improve our processes and abilities. Keeping track of where we have been and where we are going allows us to build a roadmap to success.   We also use a few pieces of software to keep track of your repair progress and notify ... read more

That’s highly subjective but lets talk about the Ford Powerstroke. We love the Powerstroke platform here at Crabtree Auto.    First introduced as the Powerstroke the 7.3 liter direct injected diesel engine built by International Navistar in 1994.5 was a breakthrough in light duty diesels here in the United States. There was a 6.9 and 7.3 liter diesel prior to 1994 available in Ford F-250’s and F-350 also built by International Navistar these are commonly referred to as IDI’s for their style of fuel injection system In-direct Injection (IDI).    While the IDI was an extremely robust engine with very few mechanical failures it was not know for making large amounts of power. It performed similar to the Cummins 5.9 and Detroit 6.5 of the same era.   Fast forward many years to the current Powerstroke 6.7 liter and we now have a class leading engine in horse power and torque and the F-Series trucks they can be found in also have class leading ... read more

Diesel, Why? Why would anyone want or need to drive something other than a gas or electric car or truck? We can’t cover every reason in this post, but here are a few.    Diesel fuel is more energy dense than gasoline, making a diesel engine more fuel efficient and powerful than its gasoline counterpart. So for heavy towing in larger trucks, Diesels are able to get the job done easier. And in light trucks and cars, diesels are able to get far better mileage than gasoline.   Like with anything in life, there are always trade-offs. Diesel engines typically have a higher cost of maintenance. And in most cases, Diesel fuel costs more than Gas.   Diesel isn't for everyone, but other benefits are higher resale value, A longer lifespan, and the higher mile per gallon average more than offsets the higher price at the pump.   At Crabtree Automotive, we work on all makes and models, even European.  From Honda to Audi and everything in between! Inclu ... read more