Services We Offer

Click on a service to learn more.

• Shore Drive Shell Top Tier Gas

These days, gas prices are a hot topic for conversation and lots of folks like to shop for the cheapest gas they can find. Sometimes the prices around town vary wildly and it seems like you can actually save some money by driving a few extra miles to that no-name station on the boulevard… But what are you actually putting in your car?

BMW, Toyota, GM and Honda are concerned that most gasolines on the market today are not adequate to keep their engines in tip-top running condition, so they have established the Top-Tier program to evaluate and report on the cleaning capabilities of gasolines, and Shell is on their top-tier list. So, if you insist on shopping for “bargain” gasoline, do yourself and your car a favor and add a $5 bottle of fuel injector cleaner to your tank each time you fill up. But, wait… then it’s not a bargain anymore, is it?

Isn’t it simpler to just buy “top-tier” gas, even if it costs a few cents more?


• My Car Won’t Start!
It happens to everyone sooner or later. You jump in your car to go to the most important event in your life and … the car won’t start. What do you do now? First, call one of our Service Advisors. They’ll do what’s necessary to get you going again. Click here to learn more about why cars won’t start.

• Timing Belt Replacement
Don’t let a broken timing belt ruin your day, and possibly your car. Call us at (757)481-6549 for a quote on changing your timing belt. For more information on the importance of this critical maintenance item, Click here…

• Wheel Alignment

On all modern cars, the geometry of the front wheels is adjustable to insure that the wheels and tires track properly. On many cars the rear wheel alignment is adjustable as well. When the car is properly aligned, rolling resistance and tire wear are minimized. Here’s a good article explaining why you may need alignment and how it is done.

At First Landing Autocare, we have made a major investment in state of the art equipment and training that enables us to restore your car’s alignment to factory specifications.


• Virginia safety inspections



The state of Virginia requires motor vehicles to be inspected on an annual basis. Inspection stations and the conduct of the inspection program are closely monitored by the Virginia State Police Safety Division.
To learn more, click here.


• Oil changes and chassis lubrication

This is the service that makes many people feel guilty as they drive. You KNOW you are overdue to change your oil, don’t you? For more information on the importance of this critical maintenance service, Click here…


• Manufacturers’ Preventive Maintenance Services

Have you done your ________ mile service?

It’s amazing how far cars will run these days with relatively little attention. It’s not unusual to see cars running strong at
150,000 miles and beyond. Materials and engineering have improved over the years, allowing the creation of cars that keep going and going and…

But cars still require, and benefit from, some periodic attention.

All manufacturers provide a list of services that need to be performed to maintain your warranty and insure the longevity and
continued reliability of your car. We have a comprehensive reference that lists all of the periodic services required by your car’s manufacturer to keep your warranty in effect and keep your car running in tip-top form. We are able to perform the majority of these services on most cars. We have invested in sophisticated equipment and a wide array of specialized tools to insure your car will be properly maintained.

Following are some typical services recommended or required:

• Oil and filter changes (We strongly recommend synthetic oil)
• Transmission fluid flush (again… synthetic)
• Power steering fluid flush
• Cooling system test and flush
• Brake fluid flush
• Tire rotation and balancing
• Chassis, steering, and drivetrain checks
• Ignition tune-up
• Wheel alignment
• Timing belt replacement
• Oxygen sensor replacement
• Cabin air filter


• AC service

Automobile air conditioning systems contain a highly volatile gas generally referred to as freon that boils at a very low temperature. It resides in your AC system as a liquid and is trying desperately to become a gas. When it does turn into a gas, it absorbs a lot of energy, making everything around it turn very cold. this evaporation process is what cools the inside of your car and your car has a device called a compressor to turn the evaporated gas back into a liquid.

All car AC systems leak freon to some degree. New from the factory, it’s probably only leaking at the molecular level – almost undetectable – but over time, seals and other components wear and significant amounts of freon can be lost to the atmosphere. If the freon level gets too low, it could damage the system, so car manufacturers put in a low pressure switch that shuts down the compressor when the freon level gets down to a specified point. That explains why your AC might just suddenly quit on a hot day.

We have four major tools that we use in diagnosing and repairing AC problems:

• AC gauges – capable of measuring the freon pressure before and after it is compressed.
• AC service machine – is able to remove the freon from your car, store it, and put the correct amount of freon back in automatically.
• “Sniffer” type leak detector – a sophisticated device that can actually smell very small amounts of freon around the components of the system.
• Visual leak detection systems that use dye and ultraviolet light to make leaks visible.

So your AC has just quit and you bring your car to us. First, we look to see if the belt that drives the compressor is in place. If it is, we use a special set of AC gauges to see if there is freon in the system. If there is, we usually recommend re-charging the system to get the correct amount of freon back in the system. In most cases,this will make the system function for the remainder of the season, but we also inject a special leak detector dye. If your AC quits again, we can use the dye and an ultra-violet light to pinpoint the source of the leak.

The worst case scenario is a failure of the compressor itself. The compressor can lock up internally, causing the drive belt to squeal, and, of course, no AC. New and rebuilt compressors are readily available for most cars , but they are expensive and the amount of labor necessary to install this component varies from car to car.

Our technician is formally trained and ASE certified in AC service.


• Coolant flush

Antifreeze has become a very confusing topic over the last few years. There is the good old green antifreeze, orange DexCool, blue in some European cars… How do you know what is right for your car? Consult the owner’s manual or a reference such as our AllData system. Most antifreeze in use today is ethylene glycol based, but the additives that provide corrosion protection and lubricity vary from brand to brand. Most GM cars use DexCool long-life antifreeze which needs to be changed every five years or 150,000 miles. Other manufacturers use the “green stuff” which needs to be changed every two years or 30,000 miles. The two types should not be mixed.

The primary purpose of antifreeze would appear to be preventing your cooling system from freezing, but it is also much more effective in dissipating engine heat than plain water is. In addition, it prevents corrosion buildup which can clog radiators and heater cores, and it provides lubrication for the moving parts of the cooling system. Over time, antifreeze loses its effectiveness, becomes contaminated and acidic, and loses its ability to prevent corrosion.

Can/should you change your own antifreeze? Yes, you can, but keep in mind that antifreeze is toxic and should be handled carefully and disposed of properly. Due to the physical design of cooling systems, draining the antifreeze only removes about half of the old coolant. Systems that use a garden hose to flush the system create a LOT of diluted toxic fluid that has to be properly disposed of.

At Shore Drive Shell, we have a sophisticated fluid exchange machine that forces all of the old fluid out as it pumps in new coolant. We collect all of the old fluid and send it to a recycler. We have extensive reference material that tells us exactly what type of coolant is correct for your car. When we finish exchanging your coolant, we pressure test the cooling system at rated pressure to insure there are no leaks and the radiator cap is operating properly.

Radiator Cap? What’s the big deal?

The radiator cap is much more than a cap for the cooling system… When you put the cooling under pressure, it increases the boiling point and lets you run the engine hotter and more efficiently. A typical car cooling system runs at about 16 pounds of pressure. The radiator cap is actually a valve that regulates the cooling system pressure; when the cap pressure rating is exceeded, the cap allows pressurized coolant to escape into the coolant reservoir (the translucent container where you check your coolant level). When you shut the car off and the cooling system cools off, the pressure in the system drops and the radiator cap allows coolant to be sucked back into the radiator from the reservoir. When they go bad, radiator caps usually won’t hold pressure and allow antifreeze to escape prematurely into the reservoir or even into the engine compartment and onto the ground. The result is loss of coolant and eventual engine overheating. We can quickly test your radiator cap to determine if it can hold its rated pressure.

Thermostat – another valve

The thermostat is a temperature-controlled valve that controls the flow of coolant within the cooling system. Wax pellets within the thermostat expand and open the valve when they get hot, allowing coolant to circulate through the radiator, cooling the engine. As the engine cools, the pellets contract, closing the valve and restricting the flow of coolant. Thermostats usually fail in the closed position, causing overheating. Replacing the thermostat is usually a simple operation, but there are some cars (can you spell A-U-D-I?) that require a lot of labor to get to this device.

Water Pump

The water pump circulates the coolant through the engine, radiator and heater. The pump is usually driven by a drive belt on the front of the engine, but some are driven by the timing belt. Primary failure mode for a water pump is a coolant leak. Replacement water pumps are available both new and rebuilt. We generally recommend new pumps to insure reliability.

Radiators

The radiator is composed of dozens of tiny tubes that provide a lot of surface area to dissipate engine heat and cool the coolant. Radiators used to be very solid brass contraptions that were soldered together and built like tanks. Today’s radiators, on the other hand, are made of aluminum and plastic, are light, flimsy, and have a tendency to come apart. They don’t lend themselves to repair, so we usually replace them with new ones that are readily available for most cars. The heater core is another radiator, albeit a little one. It dissipates engine heat into the interior, warming you tootsies and defrosting the windshield. But they can spring leaks, too. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases they put the heater core on the assembly line and build the car around it. Replacing one may require a lot of disassembly of the dashboard.

Stop-Leak: No No No!

There are a number of products on the market that promise to stop your cooling system from leaking. In addition to commercial products, do-it-yourselfers try eggs and pepper! Sometimes they work – they idea is that the pressurized coolant tries to force the stop-leak material through the leak, stopping it up and, you hope, solving the problem. It may actually work as a short-term solution, but, long-term, it creates more problems in your cooling system. First, it will not work on a leaky water pump. Second, it may clog the tiny orifices in the heater core and radiator. Finally, it just makes a mess of the cooling system. Whne you finally break down and get the problem fixed, its very difficult to flush the sealer out of the system. Don’t hope for a miracle – get that leak fixed!


• Automatic Transmission Service

Next to the engine, your automatic transmission is the hardest working device in the car. It is basically a “hydraulic computer” that senses engine speed, workload, your performance demands and transmits engine power to the wheels. It is full of valves and clutches and solenoids that all work in harmony to allow the engine to operate at the optimum RPM for the speed you wnat to go.

The lifeblood of the transmission is automatic transmission fluid or ATF. There are about eight quarts of ATF in the typical transmission. ATF is a specialized oil that is used to both lubricate and transmit power. The flow of ATF in the sytem is controlled by pumps and valves that depend upon absolute cleanliness for proper operation.

Over time, heat and friction break down the ATF; in addition minute particles of metal and clutch lining become suspended in the fluid as well.


• “Check engine” light – diagnostics

What? Something is FREE ???

Yes! Most shops charge upwards of $60 to attach scanner to your car and diagnose that check engine light. Not us. We hook up the scanner, read the fault codes, give you a diagnosis, and in some cases, turn the light off – for free. We can almost always do it “while you wait.”

On some cars, it says “Service Engine Soon.” Whatever it says, that mysterious little light is telling you that something has gone wrong with your car. On my 1972 Triumph the flow of gas to the engine is controlled by the size of a hole in the carburetor – simple, but not very efficient. On a modern car, numerous sensors tell a very sophisticated computer how the engine is doing and and the computer varies the flow of fuel accordingly. Very efficient and amazingly reliable, but sometimes things do go wrong and that light comes on to say that something is not going according to plan.

The primary monitored function are those related to emissions – variations in engine performance that decrease performance, increase pollution and may, if ignored, damage the catalytic converter. The computer processes dozens of signals from the engine, transmission, and emission control systems – so how does a car owner tell what the light means? Well, short of buying your own scanner, you don’t. When something does go wrong, an error code is generated and stored in the computer. Using a tool called a scanner, you can access the computer memory and read the stored error code(s). These codes don’t say “Part X is bad,” but they provide clues to help unravel what’s gone wrong.

Their are two types of errors – transient failures and hard failures. A notorious transient problem is caused by not putting the gas cap on properly. To the computer, this looks like a leak in the emission control system and the light comes on. Tighten up the gas cap and, after a few trips, in most cases the light will go out. However, if a sensor goes bad, or there is a real leak due to a broken component, the light stays on until the problem is fixed.

We have sophisticated scanners that will not only read the error codes, but also monitor the output of sensors so we can tell exactly how the engine is performing. In some cases the scanner leads us directly to the bad component; in other cases it just provide clues that help us diagnose the problem.

So, the light comes on, you check the gas cap. If it’s tight, come see us and we will connect the scanner and provide a diagnosis. Let’s say we find a problem that is not critical and you decide to just live with that pesky light being on… Well then how do you know if a new problem crops up? This is a good time to get into what’s really going on with that light.

Modern cars are amazing. They are incredibly fuel efficient, powerful, and reliable. This is the result of evolution of computer control systems that put exactly the right amount of gas into the engine for the conditions at hand. Prior to 1996, each manufacturer had their own computer systems speaking their own language, requiring technicians to have a closet full of cables and programs to analyze problems. As of 1996, all manufacturers were required to comply with a standard called “On-Board Diagnostics Level 2″ abbreviated OBD-II. Now there is a standard plug that puts out a standard set of data about the operation of the car. So what is this system looking for to keep that light from coming on? Let’s go deeper…

In a car engine, air and fuel are mixed and burned in the cylinders to produce power. To operate efficiently the ratio of air to gas must be correct – about 14.5 to 1. Think about the wild variations in operating conditions that your engine encounters: icy mornings just starting up – blazing hot summer days, varying grades of gas, sea-level to mountaintop. So you have to measure engine temperature, air temperature, the amount of air flowing into the engine (and how dense it is). Then somebody discovered that if you put a little bit of the burned air-fuel gases back into the intake, it will drastically reduce emissions, so now you have to monitor an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system, too. If this is all starting to sound kind of complicated, you’re right, but this is a just scratching the surface. Ideally, all of this results in really great engine performance and a set of signals that we can look at to help pinpoint problems.

When everything is going right, the engine operates in “closed loop” mode. An ingenious device called an oxygen sensor “sniffs” the exhaust to see if there is unburned gasoline there. If there is, it tells the computer to squirt less gas through the fuel injectors. If it sniffs a lean mixture (not enough gas), it calls for more gas. Great system, but what if the oxygen sensor quits working – do you walk home? Probably not. All cars these days are required to have a “limp home” or “open-loop” mode. In open-loop mode the computer reverts to a set of parameters stored in the computer that let you keep going. Performance and fuel mileage won’t be great, and you will be creating more emissions than normal, but you keep going. So, if the light is on you are probably in open-loop and limping along.


• Tire Rotation

Even when properly maintained, cars tend to wear tires unevenly. Because the front tires steer the car, they are subjected to forces that are different from the rear. To get the maximum life from your set of four tires, it’s important to periodically rotate the tires from front to rear. Proper alignment, rotation and attention to tire pressure will help insure maximum tire longevity. We are required to remove at least two wheels from your car during annual inspection, so we offer a special on rotation with your inspection. We also offer a pecial price on rotation with other lift services such as oil changes.

Some notes on tire pressure

Low tire pressure is very hard on tires – it causes them to wear unevenly and increases their operating temperatures, sometimes dangerously, causing premature structural breakdown. It also adversely affects handling and braking, so it’s important to keep tires inflated to the car manufacturer’s specified pressure for the type of driving you do. How do you know what that pressure is? Well, you DON’T use the pressure that’s molded on the sidewall of the tire – that’s the tire manufacturer’s maximum recommended pressure for the tire. Car manufacturers put the proper pressure on a sticker inside the driver door frame, or inside the gas door, or in the owner’s manual.


• Major and minor engine and drivetrain repair
• Brakes
  Simply put… We do the best brake job in town. We use high quality components
  and we use a computer-guided on-car brake lathe to re-surface the rotors. This insures that the rotor faces are flat and perfectly aligned. You can get a cheaper brake job, but in the end, you get what you pay for.

  The brakes do a tough job. They stop your car by converting all of
  the energy of motion into heat… and lots of it! They do this by
  employing friction – the brake pads or shoes press against the
  spinning brake rotor or drum when you step on the pedal, and, if all
  goes well, your car stops.

  Most cars today have disk brakes on the front. The front brakes do
  most of the work when you stop because the weight of the car tends to
  shift forward. iIn a typical panic stop you see the car’s hood go
  down and the rear end lifts up. As a result, the front brake pads
  tend to wear out before the rear brakes do.
  For a more detailed explanation, check out the How
  Stuff Works website.

  During state inspections, we remove a front and a rear wheel and
  examine the brakes closely. The friction linings on most brake pads
  are about 1/2 inch thick when they are new. Heat and friction wear
  away the lining over time – but how much time? Most cars need new
  brake pads at 40 to 60 thousand miles, but this can vary widely based
  on the way the car is driven, the weight of the vehicle and a myriad
  of other factors.

  To pass state inspection the brake pads only need to have 1/16th
  of an inch of lining – about the thickness of a quarter. The lining
  material is bonded to a metal backing plate and rubs on the spinning
  iron rotor to stop the car. When the lining is gone, the metal
  backing plate rubs on the rotor, usually damaging it. The metal
  rubbing on metal does not provide good friction, so the brakes are no
  longer effective.

  What else can go wrong?

  As I said earlier, tremendous heat is generated during normal
  braking, and this heat is absorbed and dissipated over time by the
  brake system components. The heat can cause the iron brake rotor to
  become glazed, small cracks in the rotor surface develop, and the
  rotor may warp. The end result is reduced brake effectiveness and, in
  the case of warping, you may feel the brakes “pulse” as you
  stop.

  The quality of repair parts for brakes varies widely. Many repair
  shops offer “brake jobs” at very low prices, but you need
  to ask what grade components they are using. Brake pad friction
  linings come in a mind-boggling array of compositions and, to a large
  degree, you get what you pay for. Cheap pads wear quickly, make a
  brake-dust mess on your wheels, and may squeal at stop lights. We
  know what types of components were originally installed on your car
  and we will use a similar quality when we repair your brakes. Bottom
  line – we won’t do a “bargain” brake job that we
  can’t guarantee.

  We recently invested in a sophisticated computer-controlled on-car
  brake lathe. This machine allows us to resurface the brake rotors,
  remove glazing and insure that the rotor faces are absolutely true
  to the axis of rotation.

  Brake repair is not a place to look for a bargain. You want the
  job done right with high quality components. That’s what we do.

  • Pads (basic, ceramic, kevlar…)
  • Rotors
  • Fluid flush – an often-neglected service

  

• Tire repairs
  • Quick plugs – no cheap string plugs
  • Internal patches and plugs
• TIRES

At Shore Drive Shell, we sell, service, mount and balance all major brands of tires. Looking for economy tires or ultimate tire performance? We have competitive prices on brands such as:

• Goodyear
• Michelin
• Cooper
• Bridgestone
• Pirelli
• Cooper
• Hankook

to name just a few…

Your car’s tires are your connection with the road. Worn tires can cause problems with handling, road noise, but in the final analysis, they can be downright dangerous! Why gamble with your family’s safety when we can quickly mount and balance a new set of quality tires that will let you drive with confidence? We sell inexpensive economy tires or high performance tires rated up to 150 mph and up. Call us at (757)481-6549 for a quote. We’ll give you a price for your new tires, mounted and balanced – no hidden charges.


• Light welding
• Sandblasting
• Detailing
• Minor body work

We offer a wide array of preventive maintenance services, some of which allow us to extend the warranty on major components of your
vehicle!

Don’t wait until things break – it’s called PREVENTIVE maintenance for a reason. Manufacturers have decades of experience that they have documented to tell you when to have certain
maintenance actions performed. Adhering to these maintenance schedules can help keep your car trouble-free. We will be happy to provide you with a free printout of the maintenance schedule for your car.

To schedule an appointment for any of the above services, please contact us by phone at 757-481-6549 or use our Contact Form.

We are proud to provide BG preventive maintenance services. BG offers extended warranties on major components such as engine, transmission, brakes and cooling system. Click here to learn more about BG. Find out how you can take advantage of this great deal! Call Ross at (757)481-6549.