What is a Throttle Position Sensor?

In order for your car to work properly everything must be working in prime condition.  From something as big as a diesel turbo charger to something as small as a throttle position sensor, if one thing is malfunctioning your car will feel the effects.  We all know what car parts such as an AC Compressor does, but a lot of us can get confused when we start to talk about all these sensors.  I thought I would help you out a little bit and explain what a one of these sensors does.

Present day vehicles have an assortment of diverse sensors. When it comes to these sensors the key is “knowledge is power.”  The sensors supply the knowledge to the computer so that the computer knows how much power needs to be out. One such sensor is the Throttle Position Sensor.  This little guy is located on the intake butterfly on internal combustion engines.  The throttle position sensor is a potentiometer that reports to the computer in regards to how open the throttle is.  This valuable info combined with data from different sensors is used by the ECU to determine the correct fuel amount, ignition timing, and other important tasks.  In turbocharged vehicles, the throttle position sensor’s cherished information assists the wastegate for better car performance.

A malfunctioning Throttle Position Sensor means that the computer is not getting the correct information it needs to work properly.  This means the computer, the brain of your car, has lost a lot of its brain cells.  Your car may start to jerk, suddenly stall, and hesitate while accelerating, and the fuel economy will plummet.  So, make sure your brain is getting the right information so you’re not blowing a bunch of cash at the gas station.  If your Throttle Position Sensor is broken fix it immediately.

How Do I Know if I’m Covered Under Warranty?

If you have a Saab you now know the answer to this question. But how do the rest of us know if we’re covered under warranty? Usually a vehicle is covered under warranty for a certain amount of time or a certain amount of miles driven, whichever one comes first. If your oxygen sensors or mass airflow sensors turn out to be defective, a base factory warranty will usually cover parts, labor and cost of towing. But what if these parts went bad due to an accident?

A part going bad due to any external damage is not going to be covered under warranty. If you’re cruising home from work, someone rear-ends you, and then you start having problems with your a/c compressor, you’re probably not going to be covered. Most manufacturers offer different warranties for different amounts of time. A bumper-to-bumper warranty usually will cover most items on your vehicle but last a shorter amount of time, while a power train warranty usually covers fewer parts but lasts longer. Whichever warranty you have on your vehicle is determined by the agreements between the dealer and the manufacturer.

Whether or not you are covered under warranty isn’t as black-and-white as we’d all probably like. When you take your car to a dealership they not only look for the problem, they look for the cause of the problem. If the failure is due to lack of maintenance, an accident, misuse, or any other fault of the driver (and they will look for reasons), you will not be covered. For this reason it is important to check your manual and online resources to find out details specific to your vehicle before taking it into the shop. And for all of you holiday & end-of-year shoppers this December read the fine print! No one likes surprises that can cost a few thousand dollars down the road. Oh, and if you own a Saab, ignore the above. Unfortunately you’re not covered.

Testing in a Winter Wonderland

Welcome to Ford’s Drivability Test Facility located somewhere in Detroit. Here they don’t just test parts like steering racks and steering gearboxes, they test the car as a whole against the most severe driving conditions. This building is what they call “explosion-proof” and they can create the harsh rain, snow and wind of a blizzard, as well as temperatures hotter than you could bear.

It’s amazing the lengths they go to that ensure that their cars don’t let you down. During the test shown in these photos, Ford technicians were testing “snow ingestion” on the newly re-designed 2013 Ford Escape. Here, they pushed snow into the grill of the car and tested its charging system, engine cooling, cabin heating, as well as the effects of the snow buildup. From the comfort of the warm room next door, the technicians are able to shift the transmission, slam on the brakes, and accelerate the Escape through the man-made wind tunnel.  With the flick of a switch they can create rain which instantly freezes into snow and pours down on the vehicle.

This is just one of many “torture tests” Ford conducts on their vehicles before they hit the streets. Ford is obviously not the only manufacturer that performs these tests, but from the glimpse they give it looks like a pretty cool job. Having driven the same car through both the winter blizzards of the Northeast and the dead heat of Las Vegas' August desert, it’s obviously important that every car is able to handle both extremes of driving conditions. How does your car handle?

What is an Oil Pump?

We all know what a cooling fan is. It is a fan that cools. We also now what a fuel pump is. It's a pump that pumps fuel. So, guess what an oil pump does? It is a pump that pumps Oil.  Woah, the answer to that question was more surprising than the end of a M. Night Shyamalan movie.  Ok, so the oil pump sounds like a pretty basic part, but it plays a vital role in the operation of your vehicle.

The oil pump inside of an internal combustion engine is used to lubricate the engine and reduce friction.  The pump powers oil through bearings, sliding pistons, camshafts, and other small parts. The decrease in friction also means the cooling of pistons, bearings, and shafts. Failure to properly lubricate an engine will result in engine failure.  Now you see how important that cleverly named oil pump is.

The oil pump needs to be generating approximately 10 psi per every 1000 revolutions per minute in order to properly lubricate the system.  If your oil pump is working well but you are still having a low pressure issue, it may be caused by a clogged oil pickup screen, too much wear on a high mileage engine, or you just need to add more oil to your car.  Each car has different oil requirements.  Higher performance vehicles put more stress on the system and they need more lubricating. 

There are basically three types of pumps, a twin gear pump, a Gerotor Pump, and an internal pump.  A twin gear pump has one gear connected to a shaft that is driven by the camshaft or distributor.  A twin gear pump turns at half the speed of the engine and is located inside the oil pan.  A Gerotor Pump has one small gear rotating inside a larger one.  While an internal pump is a Gerotor style pump, an internal pump turns at the same speed of the engine so it creates a stronger flow. An internal pump design is used on overhead cam engines.

Your Airbags Know You're There

After Honda recalled over 300,000 of their vehicles this month due to airbag safety concerns, I started to wonder how an airbag is meant to work efficiently. Oxygen sensors, your power steering pump, and other mechanical parts are expected to show wear after time, but airbags and other safety features should always be ready to work as if they were brand new. In Honda’s case, there is concern that their airbags may explode during a crash causing pieces of metal and plastic to shoot towards the passengers. Not good.

It’s crazy to think that airbags in the driver and passenger seats have only been required by law since 1998. Since then airbags have obviously advanced and are now located in many areas in a vehicle. In many vehicles you can now find up to eight airbags, some of which fall like curtains over the glass windows or deploy inside to prevent passengers from hitting each other. Side airbags can deploy for up to five seconds which is especially important in rollover accidents. To be sure airbags don’t activate from rough pavement or small fender benders, the crash sensors are programed to detect only severe deceleration. Basically, if you got your car going as fast as it can drive and slammed on your brakes as hard as you could, you would only be decelerating at a fraction of the speed the crash sensors are meant to detect

Newer vehicles can even detect how much weight is on a seat so they don’t deploy on, for example, your beagle napping in the passenger seat. They can also determine the severity of a crash, your seat position, whether or not your seatbelt is on, and other factors to know the safest amount of air to fill your airbag (if any). I’ve never seen an airbag deploy and hope I don’t have to, but these advancements in car safety are definitely comforting.. Especially having to commute with these southern California drivers.

The Funniest Car Fails of 2011

Over the past year there have been lots of advances in automotive technology that can adjust for driving mistakes. Suspension compressor and suspension pump units that can predict and adjust for bad conditions to air bag systems that can protect the entire car the advances are amazing. These advances may be something to be marveled but they cannot help when we do really stupid things. Modern technology can only make driving safer if people let it and while most of us are not trying to cause accidents, sometimes they do happen. On the other hand sometimes people do things that defy all logic and end up with hilarious results. keep in mind that with all of these accidents no one was seriously hurt, though pride may have taken a serious hit. 

The number one has to be a man in Georgia who decided to video himself doing a burn out in a Dodge Ram. The event starts out ok but ends up with him losing control of the truck, hitting an embankment and flipping the truck. This just proves that there are people out there with more money than brains, who also have video cameras. Next has to be a group of men in Japan, while on their way to a car show in a slew of high powered super cars. The group racing through traffic, the lead driver miscalculates a pass and ends up hitting the guard rail. This will go down in history as one of the most epic crashes that has ever happened. Due to the fact that almost all the cars traveling in the group ended up in the crash and all of them totaled. Oh and one Toyota Prius that had a big of damage on the rear bumper...what a tragedy. 

The automotive fails this year did not stick to tarmac in the case of this off-road driver. He decided that Ken Block is not the only person who can jump their vehicle on a dirt road. After a long run up, of obviously not enough speed he hit the ramp and launches his Chevy. It is not so much the launch that as it is the landing that caused the problem. The truck never reached the landing area and smashed into the embankment, causing massive damage to the vehicle. Which just goes to prove when it comes to insane stunts leave it to the professionals. 

Then there is the presidential award for automotive fail this year, which actually involves the President. The Presidential motorcade was able to get high centered in Dublin while traveling over a curb. This is a vehicle that can take a shot from an RPG without a scratched and it has been defeated by a sidewalk. It just goes to show that an automotive fail can happen to anyone anytime so be on the lookout.

Jeep Scrambling to Bring Back the Pick-Up?

It’s been about 25 years since they’ve been in the production, but the likeness of the Jeep Scrambler is making its way back onto the roads again one Wrangler at a time. If you’re looking for a Jeep pick-up truck, why replace the old alternator, starter, or manual front-locking hubs of a Scrambler when you can turn your own Jeep Wrangler into the same thing? This is what MOPAR set out to do with their JK-8 Independence conversion kits.

This kit, available for $5,499, comes with everything you need to turn your Jeep Wrangler Unlimited into a two-door pick-up truck. A new steel bed, inner and outer bedsides, sport bar extensions, a fiberglass top with sliding rear windows, you name it. MOPAR underestimated the demand for this product and is working hard to catch up on production within the coming month, beginning shipments to dealerships this week.  This isn’t the first I’ve heard about a possible return of the Jeep pick-up truck and seeing more of these on the road is bound to get Jeep thinking about this a little more seriously. And although this kit may not be exactly what Jeep enthusiasts are looking for in the next generation of the Jeep pickup, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

The only thing I’m confused about is that most current owners of the Wrangler Unlimited bought it for the extra interior space. So unless you’re ready to put the kids in the truck bed, this package seems to be for those new buyers still hoping for the Scrambler’s return.