Wilmington Auto Repair

For those of you in Wilmington, Delaware who pay attention to these things, you may have been hearing about the new direct injection engines and want to learn more about them. Some deliver the power of a V8 with the economy of a V6.For example, in one family of engines the conventional V6 makes about 250 horsepower. The direct injection version of the same engine makes over 300 horsepower and gets essentially the same fuel economy. The turbocharged version makes over 350 horsepower.So what are the differences from a conventional engine?The core difference is in the fuel injection system. The system most vehicles use now is called a port injection system. The fuel injector squirts fuel into a port just outside the cylinder where it's then drawn into the engine with the air.With a direct injection system, the injector squirts the fuel directly into the cylinder. The gain in power and economy come because fuel injected directly into the cy ... read more

Some Wilmington vehicle owners wonder why PONTE'S AUTOCARE and other Wilmington auto repair shops charge a fee for vehicle diagnostics. Receiving a diagnostic charge at PONTE'S AUTOCARE for a tricky automotive problem shouldn't be a surprise. In the Wilmington 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 Delaware 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 PONTE'S AUTOCARE diagnosis may be much more involved.Much of the Wilmington 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 Delaware drivers that the trouble code tells the PONTE'S AUTOCARE technician exactly what's wron ... read more