Weird Engine Flywheel Problems 01/10/2012
It's not often you see engine flywheel problems. But when you do this usually means the vehicle is not going to move anywhere. Whether it’s a worn out ring gear causing a no start or a clutch problem the vehicle is staying put.  95 Ford F150 Sometimes we see rear main seal leaks work their way onto the flywheel surface causing a slipping problem. But the other day I stumbled onto a good one you don't see every day. How about an engine flywheel problem that caused slipping of a newly installed clutch.
I was called over to a friend’s house to see what went wrong with his clutch installation side job on his 95 Ford F150 pickup. He installed a complete clutch kit and had the flywheel resurfaced at a machine shop. The truck would move forward slightly when the clutch was let out but it was clear that it was slipping badly with all new parts. 1 Comment A bad starting safety switch 12/07/2011
It's been a long time since I've seen a bad starting safety switch on a vehicle. But today I have seen one on an older Nissan 300ZX, a 1989 300ZX to be exact. I call it the starting safety switch but often this part is called the neutral safety switch.  neutral safety switch It is a normally open switch that prevents the starter from operating when the transmission is in any other gear except park or neutral. This eliminates the possibility of a situation that could make the vehicle move forward unexpectedly or in reverse as well. These starting safety switches or neutral safety switch whichever you want to call it are more commonly used with automatic transmissions but in this case of the 89 Z it was a manual transmission vehicle. I am familiar with the Nissan ZX as I owned a 1988 model. In fact I have written quite a bit about my Nissan 300ZX problems. And although I had a lot of problems with my little sports car this was not one of them. I had to find the component location diagram and verify the color of the wires to properly by pass and test the switch. Where to find the safety switch
Why Find a Cheap Service Manual 11/09/2011
I am going to give it one more shot at convincing people that a service manual can be worth the $12 it costs to gain access to it. I totally understand that these are bad economic times. But there are some occasions when spending a few dollars can save many more.  service manual diagram I know how it feels to be broke. When the economy crashed in 2008 I was not immediately affected. But now that we are at the end of 2011 I am totally engulfed in the destruction that the crashing economy has caused. I purchased (what I thought was) an affordable home in 2007. It was the cheapest house in town (and crappie). I paid 185K and put 20k into it to make it livable. Now I have abandoned houses on both sides and the house is valued at $55,000. I know what it's like to be underwater.
So when people send me questions and I tell them they should find a cheap service manual they e-mail me back and say... what "do you think I'm rich". I say it's only $12 and they say if I had $12 I could buy a new car. I then tell them that if I had to do this specific repair that I would find a service manual to follow. If I didn't follow the service manual I could do damage to the vehicle and extend the repair time. Where to Get Tires Cheap 10/10/2011
You already know where to get tires cheap but may be hesitant to give it a try. I know how you feel because I finally made my first tire purchase online. It just seems easier going to a local tire store and put on what they have in stock.  09 Cadillac SRX What pushed me over the edge was nobody in town had matching tires for my 2009 Cadillac SRX in stock ready to go. When they tried to hard sell me into bogus house brand with all kinds of extras like a lifetime alignment package, I wrote an article about getting tire estimates and what to look out for.
Since my vehicle only needed two tires I wanted to match the ones that I would be keeping on the vehicle. Even though they where a popular Goodyear Eagle model tires the size was a bit odd and no one in town could get them quickly. When I got price quotes I was shocked at the cost and the wait time. We know where to get cheap tires online. The Tire Rack runs ads on TV and is probably the most popular site in operation when it comes to getting tires online. A quick side note: I wrote a popular article a couple months ago about how to know when to replace tires it can shed some light on tire replacement. Spark plug gap problems 09/10/2011
A good question about spark plug gap from a site visitor. He was replacing spark plugs on his Toyota vehicle and noticed that the plugs he was removing had a much larger gap than the plugs he was installing.  spark plug gap The difference in gap was so drastic that he thought may be something was wrong, or he had received the wrong replacement spark plugs. The Gentleman decided to buy the correct automotive special tool and gap them as stated in the service manual. His e-mail question was why the distance was so large on the old plugs that he removed and so small on the new ones. On his vehicle the spark-plugs last 100,000 miles. In that time the center electrode or the tip of the spark plug wears and a large gap is created. After 10 years 100,000 miles this can be noticeable even with the naked eye. Also not all new plugs are gapped correctly at the factory or can change during shipping. How to Gap spark plugs
Direct injection fuel delivery 08/09/2011
Gasoline direct injection, how it works and why we need it. The GDI type of fuel delivery system is one of the latest waves in fuel management deployed on new model vehicles. This technology is what many car designers believe can help them achieve demanding corporate average fuel economy numbers while reducing tailpipe emissions and greenhouse gasses.  Direct Injector Recently it was in the news that average fuel economy will be 54.5 miles per gallon by the year 2025. Each time the C.A.F.E. goes up car makers respond by pushing their fuel injection technology to the next level. In the 80s car makers abandoned the carburetor for fuel injection systems.
The first type to come on the scene was called throttle body injected and where more like a carburetor then the modern fuel injection systems. As emissions standards got tighter car-makers developed Port technology that was much more efficient. Gasoline direct injection takes this to a new level. Testing a catalytic converter at home 07/20/2011
The catalytic converter can be an expensive emissions device that you could be forced into replacing to pass state emissions or smog testing. The question is what are some of the ways to test a catalytic converter to verify replacement is necessary.  Catalytic Converter I can not say that it is real common to have a problem with the catalytic converter and probably many vehicles go to the junkyard with the original one installed on the automobile.
The key word would be many and certainly not all. Certain vehicles seem to require replacement more often than others. One symptom that would be common when a catalytic converter suffers a catastrophic internal failure would be a lack of power that is sometimes coupled with a stalling condition after the engine is started. Idle Speed Problems 07/08/2011
On older vehicles idle speed problems are common. Learn how to set base idle on cars from the 80's and 90's below. The complaints can be a low engine idle that might be causing a stalling condition at times. There can also be a complaint of high or fluctuating engine RPMs with your foot off the accelerator.  throttle plate In a fuel injected computer-controlled situation idle speed is being regulated by controlling the amount of air that is allowed to enter the engine with the throttle plates closed. Some engineering types would call this a calculated vacuum leak. If you're idle speed problem is a stalling condition when coming to a stop, start by looking for the obvious problems like vacuum leaks from deteriorated gaskets or broken vacuum hoses and lines. On vehicles from the 80s and 90s many were equipped from the factory with plastic vacuum line that joined a small rubber hose where it was then mounted onto a vacuum fitting of varying types. Diagnosing fuel injection problems 06/27/2011
Troubleshooting fuel injection systems requires logical step-by-step test procedures. Some of the most straight forward ones are supplied by the factory. These tree charts are designed and implemented to save the companies money on warranty repairs and stop the replacement of good components.  port fuel injector These car-makers put together easy to follow diagnostic procedures in their factory auto repair manuals that walk the technician through a logical order of diagnosis known as a ladder diagram. You can get your hands on the very same diagnostic tree charts and I have more information about them on my pages dedicated to factory service manuals.
But this post will concentrate on why you should seek out this diagnostic information before you tackle problems you believe are associated with fuel injection. Engine Flooded No Start 06/16/2011
Answers to the question can a flooded engine cause a no start condition on modern fuel injected vehicles and some possible causes reviewed. Here is a quick story about how often I use to see this happen and how little I see it now.  I remember when I was a little kid often my mother would go out to the family car and it would not start. You could hear her cranking the engine for an extended period of time without the engine starting. After a few more tries she would come inside and tell my father the car won't start.
He would start screaming at her (as we where a dysfunctional family) saying that it was her fault and she flooded the engine. Of course the car I speak of had a carburetor on it and it was possible to flood the engine. In most cases when this happened my dad would go out and hold the accelerator to the floor while cranking and most of the time the engine would fire up. | Car Repair Help
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