Is Your Muffler Bearing Still in Good Shape?

Has the performance of your car seemed reduced as of late? Does the exhaust sound rough or just too loud? Is the idle too low and you are thinking the fuel pump has failed? Well good news everyone! It may just be your muffle bearing not the fuel pump assembly. The muffler bearing is essential for high performance cars to avoid that annoying swarm of angry bees sound. Ever heard a Honda with a fart can on it? Well the muffler bearing will keep you from looking like a fool. But the muffler bearing is not the only part that is over looked on a regular basis…there are tons of parts that just don’t get enough attention.

Most of the time blinkers stop working and it is assumed it’s time to replace the bulb but really your car is just out of blinker fluid. It is a common mistake to waste your money replacing bulb after bulb without fixing the issue. The blinker is a sensitive component and needs to be properly lubricated, if not the bulb can dry out. Lots of issues can be cause by a dry bulb, the least of which is fire. Before ordering blinker fluid, be sure to check the manual for the correct viscosity fluid for your vehicle. Don’t forget that Synthetic fluid is only intended for newer model vehicles.

This brings up on to performance gains that can be made with very little time or effort. These upgrades can give performance increases almost instantly but are seldom known in the automotive community. Parts like the radiator insulator, which keep the much needed heat closer to the engine. The engine works to create heat and there is no reason to give it away through the cooling system. The cooling system is intended to keep the transmission and axles cool not the engine. Protect the most valuable commodity or your car by insulating the radiator from cold air. Lastly are brake line upgrades. A cheap and helpful upgrade is a cross drilled brake line kit. These lines expose the brake fluid directly to the outside air and thus cool the fluid. Cooler fluid increases braking and reduced brake fade during times of heavy use. 

Automotive performance has been argued about since the dawn of the car but following the correct steps will get you ahead of the game. When working on your vehicle it is important to never listen to this guide. All of these parts are a joke and not to be taken seriously. If any of this guide made sense to you leave the automotive work to the professionals. Stay safe and always trust a licensed mechanic to do all maintenance and repairs to your vehicle.

What Makes a Car Cool

Cool is a word that can be used to describe many a thing...it can be a mass air flow sensor or alternator that is new and works in a  unique way. It can also be a car that may look ugly as hell but for some reason we all want one....WRX STI anyone. The fact that a car is bad wont even make it loose its cool factor...in fact it may even help.

The cool factor is something that auto makers have struggled with for year and even tried to force on people. The truth is if a car is cool it will be made that way by the general public, it cannot be told to you by the "car hipsters". People tend to fall into crowds of what everyone else likes but many of us like what we like because it is   "cool". This to me means that a car has the "it" factor, there is something about it that i like but i cannot tell you why. This is something that cannot be forced if it is not there. One of the best examples of a missing cool factor was the Pontiac Aztec which was billed as the car of the future and marketed to be the coolest new car. It failed....epically, not only was it one of the single ugliest cars ever made it was also trash in every way that can be compared to a car. On the other hand there are cars that are worthless that are cool like the Nissan 240SX. Not to say that it is not awesome but as a stock car it was a dud.  A small under powered truck motor sat under the hood and while the car looked sporty the suspension was set up for comfort not sport.

The 240 personifies this "cool factor" like the old school civic because they became something very different then they were intended. The cool factor developed from the cars being modified and after a while no one saw the car as just a car. They saw what it could be...and this is the essence of cool. It is the factor where a person sees a car and thinks what if can become which make it just ...plain cool. Of course there is always Aston Martin which is just the epitome and has been since its start.

What Does a Knock Sensor Do?

Knock sensors are the units in vehicles that monitor the pinging in the motor and help control the timing of the engine. The computer uses the input from the knock sensor along with the O2 sensors and air fuel ratio sensor to adjust the timing and fuel mixture in the pistons.

The engine in a modern vehicle has to be kept in perfect timing to ensure the top of efficiency and performance. This is done by toeing the line between running perfect and detonation. The perfect ignition of the air / fuel mixture happens at the exact moment that the piston is about to reach the top of its stroke. The timing is set this way to ensure the pressure has time to begin pushing the piston back down. When the spark plug is fired with the incorrect ignition timing or fuel mixture the pressure waves move out from the flame wall faster than the explosion itself. When this happens they impact the side wall at the incorrect time and a sound wave is created and detected. The element in the knock sensor is designed to detect this sound and alert the computer to adjust the timing.

All sensors in a vehicle are extremely important and are generally overlooked on basic maintenance. During automotive check ups it is important to remember to check the smaller parts such as sensors and filters to ensure protection from future issues.

What Can Debris Do to Your Car

Each one of use knows that when it comes to cars we all know that debris on the road can be dangerous to our ride.  A shredded semi tire can hurt the body of a car as much as a collision with a pole and sometimes it can be worse. The other day a couch fell off the truck in front of me but these are all obstacles that can be avoided if the driver is paying attention. Making sure your steering rack and pinion or steering gearbox is in good shape is a great way to be sure you can maneuver out of the way of these road hazards.

Road debris is for sure a hazard but what about engine debris? The kind you cannot see, the kind that floats around the engine causing issues from spot to spot. Debris can be thought of as any particles in the motors systems that are not supposed to be there. In other words a metal flake in the ac system, dirt particles in the intake or even rust in the fuel tank. It is all debris that can cost a driver hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Debris in the AC system is a time bomb just waiting to go off, The reason being is the whole system is under a great deal of pressure and even the smallest metal shard can shred a seal and make the whole system leak. Not only could debris cause leaking but it can lodge at places in the compressor that will cause it to seize up. But debris in something like the fuel system can cut off the flow of fuel to the engine then the car cannot even run. Debris in the steering system can cause the steering pump to fail or lock in a single direction which can cause an accident.

While debris in the system may not be as immediate as hitting a couch in the middle of the road or running into a pole parking your car, it is an issue. A lot of these issues are unavoidable due to the nature of the issue debris usually enters these systems while work is being done. To be sure that this does not happen to your car make sure that the mechanic doing work on sensitive areas of your car knows what he is doing.

How to Choose the Proper Tire Size

Tires like people come in all shapes and sizes, from monster trucks to lawn mowers they all take some sort of tire. There can be so many choices when buying tires it can be confusing. Tires are not like a wheel hub assembly or wheel bearing assembly there are tons that can fit on the same car. Some tires are able to fit under a car but are too large to allow the car to turn and others are too small making all the gauges in the car inaccurate. Not to mention tires that are too small will lower the performance of the car.

There are numbers that are listed on the side of a tire that will indicate the diameter and thickness. These numbers are listed in a very specific order which as an example would be something like a 205/40/85R. This code can be broken down by section the 205 is the width of the tire. The 40 refers to the height of the sidewall and the 85R will refer to the compound of the tire and the speed rating.

The width of the tire will decide the contact patch on the road, this is the area where the tire is actually resting on the road. This is also the only area where the horsepower of the car is actually transferred to the pavement. The height of the sidewall will dictated the comfort of the ride since the sidewall is the area that absorbs the small bumps in the road. The sidewall also protects the rims from dents due to large impacts. The speed rating literally dictates the speed at which the tires will begin to fall apart. Exceeding the speed rating of any tire is dangerous and potentially fatal due to the chance of failure and the resulting accident. The compound rating will tell the stickiness of the rubber used, while a stickier tire will give more grip it will wear out much faster than other tires.

Selecting the correct tire is essential to the ride and handling quality of the car and is best left to the professionals. If you are going to buy your own tired be sure to study up on the suggested tires for your individual ride.