What is a Crank Position Sensor

Modern engines run by using a number of specialized sensors such as Air Fuel Ratio Sensor or O2 Sensor units. While the air flow in an engine is extremely important there are other factors that need to be measured such as the position of all the parts of the motor at any given time.

The way this info is calculated is through sensors such as the crank angle sensor and the cam angle sensor. These units measure where the rotation angle of the crank and the cam shafts respectively. The cams and the crank must be kept in specific positions to each other since if they are not the valves will be smashed by the pistons.

The ECM controls the engine and if it detects that the cams and the crank are not in the specific location it will retard the timing or kill the engine all together. The ECM will do this to protect the motor from damage, if the timing gets too far off it can potentially damage the engine internally.

Timing also dictates how much horsepower the engine makes and how the fuel is burned. If these sensors fail the combustion of the engine can get all out of whack which is potentially dangerous. Besides the fact that the pistons can impact the valves there is the factor of detonation. This occurs when the fuel mixture is wrong and the explosion in the cylinder is not in the correct location and it takes place faster than it should. There are some instances where the combustion of the fuel takes place to quickly and in a specific location on the cylinder wall which will cause damage to the block itself. This detonation can even cause holes in the block or melting of the pistons. For all modern cars it is a good idea to check all these sensors when the car is in for service. They do play a pretty major factor in the life of a vehicles motor. 

A Clogged Air Filter Can be a Dangerous Enemy

There are plenty of obstacles on the road in front of all of us…literally. Cars, trees, kids playing in the street and the occasional mudslide but some of the biggest ones are inside our own car. Lots of issues rob our cars of horse power and performance. Cars operate in a tolerance of everything working correctly to achieve proper mileage and performance. Wheel hub bearing must not offer too much resistance and the fuel pump must be working with enough pressure, basically everything make the car run the way it should. People tend to over looks basic maintenance and don’t realize that even the smallest thing can cause a huge issue.

Oil changes can mean the difference between a motor lasting 10K miles and 300K miles, while transmission fluid changes can extend the life of the tranny. The air filter is one of those parts that people tend to ignore but not realize what a filter can do. Think about breathing through a straw, could you run a mile like that…well that’s what your car is doing with a clogged filter. A clogged air filter robs horsepower and gas mileage and can also cause complications in high performance cars. With restricted air flow in turbocharged cars this can cause un-needed pressure fighting the turbo. This pressure can cause the oil in the turbo to leak from the unit or it can cause a loss of the proper air intake amount. This can cause incorrect combustion in the cylinders and even cause damage to the bottom end of the motor.  

How Do Auto AC Systems Work

In the days of ole, the wind was the best way to keep a hot day from being too much to bear but the modern age calls for a modern solution. AC systems are designed to cool off air and keep the environment cool, well the indoor environment that is. Ever stood near the outside of an AC system, that heat has got to go somewhere. AC parts such as an A/C compressor and evaporator work together not to eliminate heat but to move heat to a different location.  The Idea of the ac system is simple, capture heat on a medium and use fluid to move said heat to another location. In the case of an auto ac system the heat is captured from the evaporator inside the car, usually under the dash. The captured heat is transferred to the condenser at the front of the vehicle and released. 

 A car, unlike a home relies more on moving air than fans to pull the heat off the condenser at the front of the vehicle. Auto AC is also a much more compact version of what a home ac system is…unless you feel like strapping a window unit into your car. When a car is in movement, air is blowing across the condenser which is basically a radiator that uses coolant and a cooling fan.  Just like the engine cooling system that keeps the car from over-heating the ac system keeps the passenger from overheating.

Components in the AC system play vital roles, each doing something that will specifically change the way the system works. The compressor being most important part, as it pushes the fluid through the system so that each of the other components can do their job. There is also a filter in the system that is often called a Accumulator/Drier which is designed to remove dirt and debris from the system. Then the fluid is passed through the condenser to be cool and yep you guessed it condensed. Once the Oil/Freon mix is cooled than it is passed through the expansion device where the fluid is allowed to expand into larger tubing. This process will further cool the fluid and then it is pushed into the evaporator which is a device where the fluid will be spread out even more onto what is like a radiator but works in reverse. Once the fluid travels across the evaporator a fan pushes air across it and the heat in the air is removed by the super-cooled liquid. Finally the heat soaked liquid is pulled back through the system and it all starts again. Ac systems are designed to make life more comfortable and cooler for all of us even if a failing system may make us a bit hot headed.