Transmission Flush

Archive for June, 2010

Your car can survive and operate efficiently for years as long as it has access to certain fluids. For example, your engine requires oil; your radiator needs coolant (or antifreeze); your transmission and brake system also need their respective fluids. If these systems are starved, they will eventually fail to perform. Your engine and transmission, in particular, will sustain expensive damage.

Unfortunately, millions of drivers fail to check their fluid levels on a regular basis, even though doing so is simple and requires very little time. In this article, we’ll provide a blueprint you can use to check the levels and ensure your car’s major systems are in good health.

How To Check The Oil

Your engine is comprised of moving parts that create friction and heat during operation. Oil helps to lubricate these parts and prevent them from destroying each other. If your engine lacks sufficient oil, it will seize up or overheat, leaving you by the side of the road.

If you have been driving, let your car cool down for several minutes. Then, lift the hood and find the oil dipstick (it’s usually located near the front of the assembly). Pull the dipstick from its housing and wipe the oil off with a rag. Then, stick the dipstick all the way back into its housing and withdraw it again. You’ll see two noticeable markers. The oil should be between them. If the level is next to, or below, the lowest marker, add a quart of oil and pull the dipstick out again to reexamine it.

How To Check The Transmission Fluid

While the oil should be checked when your engine is cold, the transmission fluid must be checked while your engine is idling. It has its own dipstick, which is usually located near the oil dipstick. Let your engine idle for several minutes before checking the level.

Remove the dipstick and wipe the fluid off onto another clean rag. Then, stick it back into its slot and remove it again. Like the oil dipstick, it has two obvious markers. The transmission fluid should appear between them. If the level is low, add more.

One side note: you can expect your oil level to decline over time. Your transmission fluid is different. The entire assembly is completely sealed, which means the fluid should not escape. If the level is low, that usually means a seal or gasket had developed a leak. It needs to be addressed by a mechanic.

How To Check The Coolant In The Radiator

The coolant level in your radiator should be checked once the engine has cooled a bit. Never check it while it’s hot; the pressure within can cause injury. Your vehicle’s radiator cap should be located on the driver’s side near the engine. Take the cap off (use a rag to protect your hand from heat) and peer inside. If the level is lower than the top, you’ll need to add more.

In most vehicles, there is also a coolant reservoir. Coolant expands and flows into this receptacle during operation. It should be approximately two-thirds full. If it’s low, add more.

How To Check The Brake Fluid

Your brake system should never be low on fluid. In that way, it is similar to your transmission; a low level means there’s a leak somewhere. It should be repaired before it worsens and places your safety – and that of your passengers – at risk. There is a brake fluid reservoir that is normally located near the firewall on the driver’s side. It sits atop the master cylinder. You should be able to identify the level without removing the lid. If it is lower than two-thirds full, add more.

The fluids described above are essential to your safety and the operation of your vehicle. Get into the habit of checking them every few weeks. It only takes a few minutes and will prolong the life of your car.

Because of the constant increase in fuel prices, many people are now considering getting rid of their gas guzzling conventional car and are now purchasing a cheaper alternative. Some people purchase cars with smaller engines for fuel efficiency and some people are now thinking of purchasing the car with the latest technology that enables them to cut fuel consumption by half.

These cars are called plug-in hybrid cars. With this car, you will be able to cut fuel consumption by more than half by taking advantage of the hybrid technology that many car manufacturers are now integrating in their new car models. Although plug in hybrid cars have existed for quite some time now, it was only about a few years ago that it was released in the market. Plug-in hybrid cars are cars that combine the gasoline energy and the electric energy to run or to propel the car. Plug-in hybrid cars will enable you to run your car up to a hundred miles per gallon depending on the engine and the battery installed.

If you think that getting a good mileage per gallon is non existent, think again. With the technology being integrated by car manufacturers in their hybrid vehicles, it is now possible. This vehicle has two engines to run your car. One is the gasoline engine and the other is the electric motor. Just imagine a car that has an extension cord that you can plug-in in your home electricity outlet to recharge. You do not even to worry about the cost of your electric bill because the recharging will just be equal to less than a dollar per gallon.

Just imagine a car that has two fuel sources. If one runs out, the car will still be able to run. You do not have to plug in your plug-in hybrid car but if you do, your vehicle becomes an electric vehicle that will be able to run quietly, cleaner, cheaper and more efficient than conventional gasoline powered cars. You have to consider that the gasoline tanks are there for long driving purposes.

However, when you are only driving locally, you do not need to fill your car with gasoline. All you need to do is plug-in your car to your home’s electric outlet and once it is fully charged, your car will be ready to go using the electric motor. Imagine the savings that you can get with a plug-in hybrid car. However, these things are not the only benefits that you can get with plug-in hybrid cars. You will be shocked once you find out about the other benefits that you can get with a hybrid car. If you have a hybrid car, the service cost will tend to be lower because it is mainly electric. Another great thing about plug-in hybrid cars is that it will be able to power your home in case of power outage. It can act as an electricity generator.

Recently, tax incentives have been imposed by the government to hybrid car buyers. This means that as a buyer of a plug-in hybrid car, you will be able to enjoy tax breaks. You will also help improve the condition of the environment because it runs on the cleanest energy source available, which is electricity. This means that the car will produce no toxic emissions when it is running on electricity. Also, when it runs on gasoline, the emissions are also very low because of the small size of the gasoline engine.

These are some of the benefits that you can get with plug-in hybrid cars. So, if you think that you are spending too much on gasoline for your gas-guzzling conventional vehicle, you can start saving money by getting a plug-in hybrid car.

Engine failure in cars can happen for a variety of different reasons. The most common reason why an engine would fail is due to lack of routine care. There are components that not only wear down and have to be replaced on a regular basis, fluid levels that have to be checked routinely. Vehicles that aren’t maintained properly can cause an engine to fail for a number of reasons.

One reason you should do a routine check is there are many filtering mechanisms on a vehicles engine. These regulate the purity of things like gasoline, air into the carburetor and engine oil. Without changing these regularly they will clog up, making your engine work harder than it has to maintain the same performance. You also have to regularly clean the radiator for both the engine and the transmission.

You have to check fluid levels often. There are many different engine components that require lubrication, coolants and fluids all to maintain a cars performance. More recently made vehicles also have added features like air conditioning units, electronic components, and other things that require even a greater more complex regime. Just checking and maintaining a car’s fluid levels either. Build up occurs over time, in the motor, gas tank, radiator, and any other place where deposits will collect. If these systems are not flushed out at least once a year, deposit will build up, making the engine run hotter, and wear out faster.

If a vehicle isn’t maintained properly, here just a few of the possible scenarios that can cause engine failure. Too high of a temperature in the motor causes the metal to expand, creating less and less ability for internal components to move. What happens simply is that if your engine gets hot enough for something to stick, like a piston, or a valve, your engine doesn’t just stop; the force will cause it to keep going. Something has to give, the side of the motor block, the head, and a number of different ways, depending on where the failure was.

Another way an engine can fail through heat is that when the metal expands, the integrity of the metal itself can be compromised, causing the head to crack or warp. The instant result of this is a sudden loss of engine pressure. Without engine pressure you could have your foot on the gas pedal and only go five miles and hour. You may get lucky on occasion, and only blow a head gasket, or an engine plug. Gaskets and plugs are designed to blow if there is too much heat and pressure, but that doesn’t mean that you have done irreparable damage Aluminum heads are especially prone to cracking and warping because they expand a lot faster than as iron cast one.

What can you do to prevent this from happening? While not all engine failure is caused by neglect, you have got to do regular checks, monthly routines, and periodic flushes. This means things like changing spark plugs, wires, and other electrical components on a regular basis. Change and replace filters and motor oil at least according to the minimum requirements by the manufacturer, or more often depending on usage. Flush out fuel systems, brake lines, coolant systems at least once a year. Check your vehicles motor often, maybe at the same time fluid levels are monitored, to see if there are any leaks in hoses, loose belts, or anything else that is out of place. Also make sure that these belts and hoses are still in good working condition, and replace if necessary. Always change out worn belts and hoses all at the same time. If one belt looks worn and needs to be replaced, chances are the other belts may be as well – don’t let looks deceive you.

There are many people out there that are unable to do this all themselves. Whether being hurt in an accident, or an older person, or even if someone that isn’t mechanically inclined, it still needs to get done. There are several different vehicle services available and many you could find locally. Some offer specialized services, like engine coolant, oil and lubrication specialists. These businesses will check and replace fluids, change filters, as well as many others. Usually they aren’t a repair shop so they don’t replace hoses belts and the like, but they do check these sometimes as well, and can tell you if something does need replacement.

There are other car specialists that do engine, coolant and heating system flushes, as well as transmissions. Generally, vehicle repair shops are equipped to handle engine and performance issues. They can replace spark plugs, belts, as well as a number of other things.

Auto repair involves a lot of car parts, from the transmission to your car’s AC. You need to have a full auto check up at least every 4 months to make sure everything is working well. Here’s what you need to know about some of the basic auto AC repairs you’ll need to get for a fully functional car.

Auto AC Repair—Auto AC repair is quite similar to an ordinary air conditioning unit repair. Any system that lowers temperature basically works in the same way. First you take Freon and place it in a sealed system. Freon is then pressurized using a compressor. As it is pressurized, it gets hot by absorbing the heat around it. This hot gas is then circulated through a series of tubes that dissipate the heat. Scientifically, the gas removes heat rather than adds cold. Freon gas can lose lots of its heat, in other words it gets really cold, when you reduce the pressure. As it cools, it becomes a liquid. That’s when cool air is generated.

Auto repair shops usually check the compressors first when you bring your car in for an AC check up. Auto AC repair usually involves set ups with the compressor because this is the major part of the unit. And like other AC units, Freon level is second on the to-do list for auto AC repair. R-134a refrigerant is the standard for car ACs today. It is a reformulated refrigerant that is less harmful to the environment. If your car is not yet compatible with the said refrigerant, you can easily have it converted by the auto repair shop.

Brake Repair—the most common auto brake repair involves replenishing the fluids. When you need extra effort to press down on the brake pedals, that could mean your car is in need of brake fluid. Contamination of brake fluid may also call for break repair. Even though your brakes operate in a closed system, contaminants can still work their way into the system. Air can enter the system through the smallest hole, and you can end up with water in the system from condensation and other means. There’s not really any way to check for this, but auto repair shops use a technique called “bleeding the brakes” in order to remove the bad stuff and replace it with new fluid.

Break repair also means replacement of your brake pads. Your brakes should never wear low enough to cause your brake pedal to feel low, they’ll scream at you before then. But if they do get very low, you might have this problem. Replace your brake pads as soon as possible. Of course, this can be avoided with regular brake inspection.

Transmission Repair—Transmission repair can get expensive especially if there is extensive damage. Your transmission enables your car to shift gears. It is composed of 4 major pats, namely: bell housing, gear, fluid, and filter. Any type of transmission repair would mean fixing and replacing one of these parts.

It’s important to check your transmission fluid at least twice a year. Not only can a low fluid level cause your car to shift poorly, it can eventually lead to transmission damage, and a costly repair. If your car seems to be losing fluid on a regular basis, you may have a leak. Auto repair shops usually offer transmission checks during tune ups. Leakages and clogs automatically means you need to bring in your car for transmission repair. Leaks and clogs are the main cause for transmission shut down so it’s best to pay attention to these immediately.

Morrison’s Discount Auto Repair provides these auto repair services at very reasonable prices. They also provide custom exhaust installation and repair.

Many automotive vehicles today are offered in automatic transmission, for they are much easier to drive. On the other hand, motorists who want variety in revs and are fuel economy-conscious opt for manual trannies. Both types of transmissions have much similarities, except that in manual trannies, changing the gears is done manually by engaging and disengaging it through the clutch pedal. When launching new car models, car companies like Mazda, often give car buyers an option to choose between a manual and an automatic transmission vehicle model.

One the components common between a manual and automatic clutch is the Mazda clutch master cylinder, which works by shifting clutch pedal pressure to release the clutch. The clutch master cylinder is a mechanism that forces hydraulic fluid into a pipe, and through the clutch slave cylinder. It is located on the firewall, typically next to the brake master cylinder.

The Mazda clutch master cylinder has two reservoirs of fluid: two pistons and two or more circuits called brake lines. When a brake pedal is depressed, pressure is created inside the reservoirs by the main piston’s movement. This pressure, together with the secondary piston, compresses the fluid evenly through each circuit and into the brake calipers. During this process, engine vacuum is mostly utilized to help apply pressure to the system. In case the brake line fails, the plan B is for the Mazda master cylinder to redirect hydraulic pressure to the remaining lines, thus avoiding catastrophic brake failure.

A failing Mazda clutch master cylinder can be detected by resting a foot on the clutch pedal. If the pedal goes slowly to the floor, professional checkup is immediately needed. In case a replacement is recommended, it is a good idea to also get a clutch slave cylinder at the same time, as both units usually fail around the same time. It is also advised to always flush the clutch hydraulic system every time the brakes are flushed. Failing to flush out the fluid from the clutch hydraulic system may cause rust to build up in the clutch system, resulting eventually to clutch master cylinder failure and ultimately, an unusable gear.

This article about hydrogen hybrid cars discusses how cars can run on hydrogen and fuel cells, but also hybrid batteries, safety, brands and models, and availability.

Introduction

Nowadays, people are aggressively searching for more ways on how they could save on gas. In effect, companies are being pressured to offer something new to consumers other than their conventional cars. This is evident with their notable development of new technologies that are obviously aimed for fuel economy; one of which would be the hydrogen hybrid car.

Combining Two Innovative Technologies

Hydrogen technology and hybrid technology are two different innovations that are used to save gas, increase your vehicle’s power and most of all, make your car more environmental friendly in contrast to conventionally fuelled vehicles. Considering each of them are already powerful solely by themselves, just imagine if these two technologies are combined!

Well, here’s the good news, manufacturers have been working on hydrogen hybrid cars and they have finally come up with vehicles that support both of the said technologies! So, here are the essentials on what you should know about hydrogen powered hybrid cars.

How Does It Work?

Hydrogen hybrid cars actually make use of fuel cells. Major carmakers, focus on fuel cells, since they say it’s more clean and efficient than mere hydrogen internal combustion engines alone. Rather than burning fuel inside the engine, fuel cells would act more like batteries, where they would use electrochemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen to produce electricity.

One company that is known to develop fuel cells would be Anuvu, which is actually almost prepared to produce large cargo vans and Nissan Frontier pickups that run on hydrogen and fuel cells.

A Deeper Look

What the company is selling are actually hybrid fuel cell vehicles. This kind of vehicle is the kind that utilizes a quite small fuel cell system in order to provide power to an electric motor, which supplies all the heavy work for the vehicle to move. The car is quite similar to gas-electric hybrids, which are currently on the market. However, this time, the vehicle makes use of fuel cells rather than internal combustion engines.

The stack of fuel cells has the ability to recharge the hybrid battery. Nevertheless, the latter could also be recharged simply by plugging it to a wall. Experts consider it to be an electric car that has all advantages that a car of its kind could have minus the disadvantages.

Trouble Shooting

You wouldn’t have to worry about hydrogen leaks either. If ever one occurs, hydrogen hybrid car censors would shut down your fuel cell stack. Nevertheless, there’s no need to worry since you could still drive your vehicle for another 30 miles simply by using your vehicle’s hybrid battery.

Looking At Mazda

On the other hand, Mazda also has their mixed hybrid and hydrogen car to offer. This would be the Mazda 5, which is known as the Premacy Hydrogen Hybrid in Japan. Nevertheless, whatever name you want to call it, this car is actually a concept vehicle. It is a hydrogen minivan in style. They say that it was based on RX-8 Hydrogen RE car. Mazda 5 is a rotary mild-hybrid bi-fuel which is considered to be the first mass-marketed car of its kind.

The Specs

This car actually runs using both compressed hydrogen gas and gasoline. All you have to do is just press a button on its dashboard and you would transform this minivan to a green vehicle. Press again to change back again whenever you need more distance to be covered.

It introduces a gasoline / bi-fuel hydrogen internal combustion engine. This solves one of the major infrastructure issues circling around where users could buy hydrogen when fuel stations still dominate the main scene. By doing this, hydrogen manufacturers and distributors would be given the incentive and chance to take their distribution network to a massive scale.

This hydrogen hybrid car’s rotary engine and hybrid unit are transversely mounted in front of the car having a layout for a front-wheel drive. Additionally, it has a high-voltage battery underneath its 2nd row of seats. The gasoline tank is also near the high-voltage battery, while you can find the hydrogen tank next to the back seats. This kind of arrangement provides you a roomy and comfortable interior. It also gives you excellent driving performance along with environmental benefits.

The transmission is one of the most important components of your car mechanics. Without the transmission you couldn’t move faster than 20 miles per hour, bringing us back to cart and horse days. The transmission regulates the tire speed with the engine speed and sends power from the engine to the wheels.

You may think the engine is the most complicated component in car mechanics but actually it is the transmission, making it important to understand what the transmission does and how it does what it does. This article will cover the aforementioned topics and also covers signs of trouble with transmissions and when to get the transmission repair.

The transmission does a lot more than transfer power. It is the component at the back of the engine that connects the engine to the wheels. Its job is to keep the engine speed at a certain number of RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) because the engine works best when running at speeds that are not too fast and not too slow.

When your car is moving slowly the engine is moving much faster than the wheels. But at faster speeds the engine does not have to work as hard relative to the wheel speed. It is the transmission that makes this possible. There are a number of other gear gear positions in a typical transmission. These include “reverse,” which sends the wheels turning backwards, “neutral,” which disengages the engine from the car’s wheels, and “park” which locks the wheels so the vehicle will not move.

There are many different components to the transmission. Planetary gear sets, hydraulic system, clutches and bands, seals and gaskets, and a torque converter are all components put together to deliver power to your car. Planetary gear sets adjust for different speeds and reverse. The hydraulic system sends oil to the gear system through the clutches and bands. Seals and gaskets are there to keep oil where it’s supposed to be, covering the planetary gear sets, so everything runs smoothly. The torque converter is a clutch mechanism, allowing the gears to change without stopping.

There are many ways to tell if your transmission is working smoothly or giving you trouble. For example, failure to shift, or delays in shifting are a strong indication that your gear sets or torque converter is having problems.

Listen closely for odd noises. Thumping, grinding, banging, whining noises and lag in shifting can be a sign of problems. If the engine speeds up when you press the gas, but the car doesn’t speed up accordingly, that tells you that your transmission isn’t functioning right. Check your fluids. Red, pink or brown fluid under the car or having to continually fill the transmission with fluid are signs that you need to bring your transmission into the shop.

Preventative maintenance means thinking ahead and checking your car against all these problems, before they start. Change the transmission fluid every 25,000 miles, as a rule of thumb. This is done by taking your car or truck to a professional, because removing the transmission fluid pan is complicated and messy. Also it is best to let your mechanic take the pan out because they can check the fluid for metal shavings and other indications of problems.

So keep your transmission up to date by regular visits to your mechanic and watch (and listen) for signs that it is starting to have problems. If you follow these two guidelines, you shouldn’t have extreme problems with your transmission.

Knowing how your transmission works can help when you are talking to your mechanic about the maintenance of your vehicle. If you ask him or her what’s going on with your engine they will be glad to help you. Understanding a bit about your transmission will help you watch for problems and have them looked after before they develop into larger issues.