Category: Car Diagnostics
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Drivability Problems
Do you have this feeling that something’s just not right with your car, especially with the way it is running? It may be a good time for drivability diagnostics. Drivability refers to anything having do with how your vehicle is performing while on the road. From the fuel system to affected components and other systems…
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Diesel Engine Problems Using Extra Low Sulfur Fuel
Low sulfur diesel is in many ways an improvement of old high-sulfur diesel, but it isn’t free of problems. The sulfur in older fuels combines with nickel in the engine to create a molten alloy that enhances lubricity, a property that engineers anticipated when designing engines for the fuels. While engines and vehicles designed specifically…
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Diagnosing Tire Problems
Do you have a steering or handling problem that nobody seems to know how to fix? Or a wheel that nobody can balance? Or a weird vibration that won’t go away? It might be a bad tire or a bent wheel! Most tire manufacturers today have a pretty good grip on quality control, and perform…
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Diagnosing Powertrain Control Module Problems
The Powertrain Control Module, or PCM, is the central processing center for many of the electronic functions in a vehicle. When it has a problem, the entire car can have a problem. This automotive “brain” can affect everything from emissions to whether a car even starts. Determining whether trouble stems from the PCM itself can…
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Diagnosing and Repairing Car Horn Problems
The automobile allows us to communicate with other drivers in many ways. As an example, the turn signals notify motorists we plan on making a turn just as the brake lights tell them we are stopping. Sometimes it’s important to gain another drivers attention and sounding the car horn can force even the most distracted…
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Diagnosing a Car Battery That Runs Down
You go to start your car and discover the engine won’t crank because the battery is dead. Now what? You get somebody to give you a jump start, or you connect the battery to a charger and charge it up until it has enough juice to start your engine. The next morning you go to…
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Diagnose Problems from Tire Wear
Your tire wear pattern can tell you a lot about any problems you might be having with the wheel/tire/suspension geometry setup. The first two signs to look for are over- and under-inflation. Whilst this used to be a problem on older tires, modern radials have much stiffer carcasses but even so, you might still be…
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Diagnose Automatic Transmission Problems
There are a few words in the language of auto repair that make car owners want to crawl back into bed, and “transmission” is at the top of the list. There’s something about that mysterious box underneath your car that incites fear. Unfortunately, most repair shops know this, and will take advantage of the situation…
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Diagnose and fix car horn problems
Horns come in an endless variety of notes, or frequencies. Interestingly, a high-pitched horn note always indicates small vehicle and the lower the note the larger the vehicle. Horns are applied to undertake countless communicative tasks, with just one honk, a driver can get the attention of a pedestrian, signal frustration, let a date know…
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Common Steering Wheel Problems of Your Car
Steering wheel is one of the vital parts a car has, the components of steering wheel is subjected to repeated stress that can make its life at fast rate. When you are the one behind the steering wheel it is important that you know when the steering wheel is in good condition or has already…