Monday 3 October 2011

the car’s designer tried to save a few too many bucks,

It is possible that everything you’ve learned about cars so far has involved how they run and how to keep them running. Unfortunately, we live in an imperfect world and things break.

The car’s previous owner deferred some maintenance, the car’s designer tried to save a few too many bucks, the car was assembled on a day ending with y, or some other lame excuse.

The point is that your car isn’t running when or as it should, right?

What can you do about it?

If you are a knowledgeable car owner. You’ve learned how your car runs and how to keep it running. You’re now going to learn how to diagnose and troubleshoot car problems. Then you’ll learn how to make or oversee any needed repairs, but first here are a few things that you should know:

* Cars create and control power.
* Cars create power in the engine.
* Cars control power with everything else.
* I lied! Cars don’t create power, they change chemical power into mechanical power with controlled explosions.
* These controlled explosions require fuel, air, and a spark in order to ignite.
* The controlled explosions turn a crankshaft.
* The crankshaft’s turning is (eventually) transferred to the wheels.
* Other systems help you control your car: fuel, ignition, cooling, steering, brakes, et cetera, et cetera.
* Front-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive cars, old cars and new, foreign and domestic cars all do about the same thing in the same way. They just look different.
* And the wheels on the car should go round and round.