Drive Shaft And Drivetrain Vibrations: Understanding The Order And Math
To determine if a vibration is vehicle- or engine-speed related, the easiest thing to do is slip the transmission into neutral and let the vehicle coast when the vibration is most noticeable. If the vibration continues, then the vibration is vehicle-speed related. Likewise, if the vibration subsides, the vibration is engine-speed related.
On-Car Rotor Resurfacing
One of my favorite pieces of shop equipment is the on-the-car brake lathes. Not only does they resurface the rotors to the center line of the wheel bearings, they speed the job up in some cases. Its a win/win situation. I remember the earlier models of on car lathes that were a complete pain to set up. Not with today’s equipment, they are painless if you know wat you are doing.
Suspension Bushing Testing: When is a Bushing Bad?
There is no real maintenance schedule for a bushing beyond periodic inspection. While tie rod ends and ball joints might occasionally receive a little “thanks” for all their hard work in the form of a greasy treat, the bushing gets no such thanks. In fact, such a “treat” can mean death to a rubber bushing.
Tech Feature: Transmission Fluid and Filter Service
To prevent any service from being over sold or under sold, it is important to not only know that a particular service should be performed, but also why it should be performed. That knowledge can also help you spot when to recommend that service, and when not to. When speaking about transmission fluid, the short version of the explanation is that it gets dirty and wears out.
Tech Feature: Courage Under Misfire
Generally, when a customer brings a vehicle into a shop that has a misfire concern, they will describe it as bucking, jerking or loss of power. They also may describe it, depending on the cause, as a jerking when they take off from a start, but smoothes out once the vehicle gets moving. They may tell you the check engine light has been flashing.
Uniformity in Uniforms
In Pittsburgh, a man awaits a trial for manslaughter. He is, or was at the time, a technician for a repair shop. He had been assigned inspect the brakes on a Dodge Caravan. The driver of the van had brought the vehicle to the shop for a brake inspection because the brakes “did not feel right.”
Tech Feature: Eliminating the Con-‘Fusion’ of Servicing Ford’s Mid-Size Vehicles
Nestled into the marketing space between the Focus and the Taurus/Five Hundred is the Ford Fusion. The Fusion came with a choice of four-cylinder and six-cylinder Duratec powerplants. The inline four-cylinder Duratec 23 is a 2.3L 16-valve DOHC engine.
Tech Feature: Predicting Failures Through Mode $06
The PCM has several diagnostic modes. Depending on your scan tool and your use of it, you may get to see some or all of these modes. Also, depending on your scan tool, you may be accessing the various modes in the PCM without referring to them as “modes.”
Tech Feature: Engine Technology Gets a Boost
As a technician, you’ll need to understand how Ford’s EcoBoost turbocharged gasoline direct injection engine works, since the automaker plans to incorporate it in 90% of its new vehicles over the next three years.
Selling Services: Wheel Speed Sensors
There are two main types of magnetic wheel speed sensors — passive and active. Both use a tone ring to reference against and each look very similar to one another.
Tech Feature: Ford Hybrid Braking
A hybrid vehicle is a different animal than many of us are used to seeing. After all, if the engine of a typical vehicle were to stall out at a traffic light, the driver of that vehicle would know something was wrong with it. If that same vehicle still drove with the engine off, then that would mean they were probably going down hill. But in the hybrid world, that is all normal. Several systems around the vehicle are impacted by two key elements.
MRSA: It Was Just a Little Scratch
MRSA. No, it’s not a new automotive acronym, and no it does not mean “mister service advisor.” You need to be aware of MRSA and what it means to everyone, especially people like us whose skin is frequently scratched and punctured on the job. WARNING: This article contains graphic images of wounds.