Gordy's Garage

We like all things automotive here at The Garage, and it is no secret that I like old cars quite a bit.

I guess it got started because my father was a mechanic, and my older brothers and I built model cars ... it was one of the things kids did in the 50s and 60s, before computers.

But now we all have computers, so we can all share things like this slideshow. It was sent by a Garage reader, and if you have a few minutes it well worth the time to view it.



This guy is not only a master model builder, but also a terrific photographer. Enjoy!

After our last visit concerning 4WD and AWD vehicles, we heard from Pati, who wants to get a small SUV with AWD. But she is concerned about unintended acceleration, with all the recent recalls of Toyota vehicles with gas pedal and floor mat problems.

Pati sent along this link to a frightening story of a run-away Lexus in California. Four people were killed in the resulting crash. The driver of the car was a state patrol officer, which pretty much rules out operator error for me.

While these cases are rare, and certainly not limited to Toyotas, I think all of us should practice "killing" the engine of any vehicles we drive. I have tried this on a few different cars, and it works as expected. DO THIS ONLY WHERE THERE IS NO OTHER TRAFFIC. An empty parking lot or a deserted street works well for this experiment.

As you drive along slowly, turn the ignition switch (key) ONE click in the direction you turn it when you are turning off the engine. Most vehicles require at least TWO clicks to remove the key from the ignition: one to turn the ignition off, the second to lock the steering wheel. If you start and stop the engine of your car without a traditional key, you should still be able to do this.

The idea here is to stop the engine without locking the steering wheel. Most cars and trucks have power steering and power brakes, and when the engine quits running this power assist will be lost. The steering and brakes will still control the vehicle, but will require much more effort from arms and legs. Knowing how this feels could save your life in an unintended acceleration event, or any time the engine should fail while you are driving.

Try this a few times to get a feeling for how the car handles, maybe a little faster each time. Your goal is to get the vehicle "pulled over" and stopped.

Another option for controlling a run-away vehicle is to put the transmission in neutral, but if the engine is at WOT (wide open throttle), it could destroy itself. If the engine is still running, however, you will still have power assist for the steering and brakes.

My brother was a Marine Corps captain during the Vietnam era, and his favorite saying was, "The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war." Practicing how to control your vehicle during unintended acceleration -- even though it probably will never happen -- could save lives.

We got an interesting question here at The Garage recently from Peter Berman, a professional photographer who recently moved to Minnesota.

Peter sent along a couple of photos to illustrate how remote his new home is, and how getting up his new driveway in winter may require more than two wheel drive.

 

 

Peter's question: Which is better, four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive?

I think it is best to first define our terms.  Most people in the automotive world agree that four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles have a two-speed transfer case, and all-wheel drive (AWD) vehicles do not.

A transfer case takes the power from a vehicle's transmission and diverts it to two drive shafts, one for the front wheels and one for the rear wheels.  A two-speed transfer case offers another set of reduction gears that allow the vehicle to travel at very slow speeds over rough terrain.  This "4-low" position of the transfer case also amplifies engine power for heavy work like plowing wet snow ... or dragging a heavy log out of the woods.  

Four-wheel drives are almost always bigger and heavier than an AWD car or SUV.  4WDs usually use body-on-frame construction; AWDs are almost always unibody vehicles.

4WDs are usually pickups and SUVs that deliver relatively poor fuel economy, while AWDs come in a variety of sizes.  Some small AWD cars and station wagons have "almost normal" MPG ratings.

Unless Peter wants to put a snow plow on the front of his new Minnesota vehicle to clear his driveway, I would say he will be much happier with an AWD vehicle.  There are lots of choices from lots of manufacturers, and the all-wheel drive is on "standby" whenever you drive the vehicle ... you do not have to slow down or push a button or move a lever to engage the system.  Modern AWDs also use computer controls and can brake individual spinning wheels to maximize traction. 

A four-wheel drive is superior when the snow is really deep, but all-wheel drive is a nice addition to a daily-driven vehicle that does not impose a horrible penalty at the gas pump.    

I finally got around to cleaning the battery terminals on one of our old vehicles (148,000 miles) because it wasn't starting as robustly as it should. Below-zero temperatures do not help this situation.

Battery terminals should be disconnected/inspected/cleaned every year. Fall is a good time to do this. Someone once showed me a repair bill for more than $65 for an electrical system check on their car that wouldn't start. The mechanic traced the problem to "corroded battery terminals."

If you don't want to clean your terminals yourself, have someone else do it. If you feel up to a minor challenge, here is how it is done:

Disconnect the negative terminal first, and reconnect it last. The reason for this is that if you work on the positive terminal first, your wrench could contact any metal surface on the vehicle and create a spark. Touching a wrench to metal while working on the negative terminal is OK, because the negative is already grounded to the vehicle body. Once the negative terminal is disconnected, there is no danger of spark.

If your battery has top terminals, like the one in these photos, a battery terminal brush can be used to clean both the cable end and the battery post.





The car I was working on was a General Motors product with the side battery terminals. This photo shows all the white corrosion on the mating surface of the cable end.



This surface should look like a new penny: shiny copper. The corrosion disrupts the flow of current INTO the battery, so it never gets fully charged and it disrupts the flow of current OUT OF the battery, so starting power is reduced.

To get rid of most of the corrosion, mix up a little baking soda and water, to make a paste that will adhere to the corroded terminal surface.



This corrosion is very acidic, so the soda will bubble it away. After a couple of minutes, the area will look like this, and you can rinse the area off with a spray bottle. I used window cleaner.



I finished this job with a wire brush in a cordless drill to polish the terminal surface of the battery, and also on the cable end. Connect the positive terminal first, and then connect the negative terminal.



You will have to reset your radio station presets and your clock, but that is a small price to pay for a vehicle that starts well on below-zero mornings.

Last week’s blog on winter tires generated quite a few inquiries.

Dave found out in the recent snow that his small car wouldn’t go up his driveway, and started investigating ice & snow tires.  A service station guy said he could put the winter tires just on the front of his front wheel drive vehicle, and improve traction.  Dave came by The Garage wondering if this was OK.

I say putting two winter tires on a vehicle is a bad idea. Since winter tires offer better traction than the tires they are replacing, handling could be adversely affected: If you are stopping quickly, and have more traction at the front tires, the rear tires could slip and the rear of the car could slide... causing the car to spin.

It is ALWAYS recommended that winter tires be used in sets of four.

Dean wanted to know if winter tires can still be equipped with metal studs.  If you look at the top of this photo:



you will see lots of holes in the tread of this winter tire.  Those holes are for studs, but studs are illegal in Minnesota.  Here is a list of where (and when) studded tires are legal. 

Scott wanted to know about letting the tire pressure monitor system (TPMS) on his car tell him when to add air.  He checked the tires with a gauge and found them to be about ten pounds under-inflated, even though the monitor system had not illuminated its dash warning light.

THESE monitor systems, as described in an earlier blog, are designed to catch serious under-inflation...which could lead to an accident.  You really should check your tires with a tire gauge about twice a month, even if your vehicle is equipped with a TPMS.  It is particularly important to check tire pressures when temperatures take a severe dip.

If you buy winter tires, be aware that some of them are UNI-DIRECTIONAL, which means they have to be put on the wheels so they rotate in the correct direction.  As you can see in these photos, the word “rotation”



appears on the sidewall of a unidirectional tire... along with an arrow



so you know which way the tires should be turning.  When unidirectional tires are rotated, they can only be changed front-to-back, not side-to-side.  It's just one more thing for the informed driver to keep in mind.

The first big storm of the winter is upon us, and by now you are in one of two camps: “My car is fine in the snow.” or “My car is not good in the snow.”

For the latter group, dedicated winter tires are a great option... and so much cheaper than moving to an AWD (all wheel drive) or 4WD vehicle.

The Bridgestone Blizzak started the revolution in winter tires more than 20 years ago, by using a soft rubber and lots of sipes to create a tire that grips ice and snow way better than regular tires.

Sipes are very small grooves cut across the tread blocks.  In this picture:



a dime is wedged into one of the hundreds of sipes in a Blizzak WS60 tire.  All these grooves allow the tread to flex and grip.  The Blizzak tires,



 like several other winter tires now available, also use very soft rubber to maximize this tread flexing in cold temperatures.

These tire designs and compounds also help winter tires handle the thin layer of WATER that often exists between the tire and icy/snowy roads.

Shopping for winter tires can be a little confusing, but all the “real” winter tires will have this “mountain snowflake” symbol molded into the sidewall.



The M+S stands for “Mud and Snow” but most tires sold in northern states are M+S rated.

I checked prices at The Tire Rack on three winter tires, size 205/75/15.  The Michelin X-Ice was $87... a car magazine article says it is quiet-riding winter tire.

The Blizzak was $80, and a Firestone Winterforce tire in the same size was $52.

The Winterforce



, according to a Firestone retailer, has the Mountain Snow rating and lots of sipes, but is not made with soft rubber like the X-Ice and the Blizzak.

If I were buying winter tires for a car, I would consider the Winterforce for a front-wheel-drive vehicle, and hold out for the soft-rubber tires for a rear-wheel-drive vehicle.  It is important to get the soft-rubber tires OFF the vehicle as soon as temperatures rise and roads become dry.  The soft rubber tires wear very fast on warm, dry roads.

Because of difference in handling and braking, winter tires should always be used in sets of four.

I was at the state budget forecast at the Capitol this week, and heard from (in cascading press conferences) the state economist, the governor, Democratic legislative leaders and Republican legislative leaders.

The purpose of all this talking was to tell Minnesotans that the state budget looks bad, and to allow the politicians to give us their varying POSITIONS on what the economic news really means.

Dave recently came by The Garage with some bad economic news of his own: a 1996 Buick Regal that had become unreliable and would "occasionally die on me with little warning, it did not matter what I was doing, and the weather seemed to have no influence."

Dave wanted to save money by fixing the car himself, so he talked with "automotive technical" people and even checked the car's computer with a code reader like this one. Dave knew that many car parts stores will lend you (and even help you use) a code reader.

Armed with advice from friends and the computer scan, Dave replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter and fuel pressure regulator. He also replaced the spark plugs, plug wires and ignition coils. Thinking the car was fixed, he took his daughter to McDonald's to celebrate... only to have the thing not start when it was time to go home.

When I told this story to a mechanic friend of mine, he said immediately that Dave's problem was very likely a faulty CRANKSHAFT POSITION SENSOR or a faulty CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR.


Crankshaft Position Sensor


Camshaft Position Sensor

Your engine, like any group of politicians, has many positions. In fact, your engine has 360 positions... one for each degree of rotation. The engine management computer needs to know the exact position of the crankshaft and the camshaft so it knows when to send spark and fuel to each of the cylinders.

These position sensors have magnets that sense bits of metal in small wheels attached to the crank and cam shafts. My mechanic says the magnets in these little sensors break with age, and the engine computer then gets faulty data from the sensors. Without good data, the computer shuts the engine down... to avoid serious mechanical damage.

There is no worse problem that an intermittent problem. It sound like Dave's trouble can be solved with new sensors, each less than $100. This is a lot less expensive than a new car.

Our state budget cannot be so easily repaired, in spite of the fact that we know all the leaders' positions.

Have you seen any bad driving lately? You would be hard-pressed to find a better example of bad driving than a guy (come on, we know no woman would do this) who was distracted by something (cell phone?) and drove his sports car into a salt water marsh.



As we see as the car is removed from the lake, it just happens to be an extremely rare and expensive Bugatti Veyron, a 1,000 horsepower supercar valued at about $2 million, give or take. Here are some pictures of a Veyron that has not been driven into the drink.

But in the real world where most of us live, bad drivers have accidents every day. It would be nice if they were all one-car accidents like the Veyron episode, but usually bad drivers take others with them on the road to ruin.

Holiday drinking, holiday stress, and winter weather all conspire to make this a dangerous time of the year to be driving. All we can do is be ever-watchful for the mistakes of others.

They are doing something interesting in Florida, however, to help get problem drivers off the road. As part of the GrandDriver program doctors, police and anyone else can anonymously report someone they feel should not be behind the wheel.

If it works for older drivers in Florida, it might work for most drivers... most everywhere.

My son is a poor college student. I would guess the poor college students outnumber the rich college students by about 100 to 1, but the company doesn't make the misery any easier.

One reality of this (hopefully temporary) income-challenged status is that college students drive older vehicles. My son's ride is a 1997 Chevy with about 140,000 miles on it. This Blazer runs well and has plenty of new parts, but three of its tires were losing air slowly ... and this had been going on for more than a year.

I consulted my favorite mechanic, who guessed the aluminum wheels on the vehicle (factory original) had corroded inside the tires, causing slow leaks.

We took all four tires to the shop, and when they were removed from the wheels there was indeed corrosion on the aluminum where the tires seal to the wheel lips.

A small grinder was used to remove the corrosion and smooth the aluminum tire-sealing surface of all four wheels. This whole process cost $100 for four wheels and tires.

The mechanic said the way to prevent FUTURE corrosion in this area would be to fill the tires with nitrogen instead of air.

Many tire shops have a large tank of nitrogen like this ...



... and will fill your tires for five to ten bucks each. The nitrogen is supposed to be much more stable than air, which means tire pressures change less as temperatures change. There is also a lot less moisture in the nitrogen, so the corrosion problem with aluminum wheels is eliminated.



Airplanes and race cars have had nitrogen in their tires for years.

If you have nitrogen put in your tires, you get these fancy green valve stem caps to let anyone KNOW you have nitrogen.



This is important, so someone doesn't "help you out" by putting air in your tires. Air can be added in an emergency, but the idea is to not dilute the nitrogen -- and its benefits -- once you have made the switch.

The nitrogen pressure is checked with the tire gauge you already have, and if a tire is low you must go to a shop that has nitrogen to add more.

We made the choice not to get the nitrogen in my son's tires right now, but that old Chevy will need some new tires some day. We might make the switch at that time.

I am amazed, as I drive around the Twin cities metro area every day, how many vehicles I see with various lights not working.

I routinely see cars and trucks with two out of three brake lights not working.  Many DRLs (daytime running lamps) are working on only one side of the vehicle, headlights are burned out and some drivers seem to think that working tail lights and turn signals are optional equipment.

As we enter the darkest time of the year (short days and no snow yet) we should all take a moment to check all of the lights on our rides.  You can do this without even getting out of the driver's seat ... the next time you visit any store or strip mall with plate glass windows.  I took these "reflection" shots in the glass door of a gas station service bay.

 

These large panes of plate glass make great mirrors.  Pull up to a window and see if both DRLs are on.  Turn on the low and high beam headlights, fog lights if you have them and then check the left and right turn signals.

 

Now turn the car around and position it so you can see the tail lights, rear signals and all three brake lights. Using the rear view mirrors and looking out the rear window should allow you to see everything "out back."  Be sure to put the vehicle in reverse to make sure the back-up lamps are working.

 

If you do find a burned out bulb or two, it is fairly easy to replace them.  Since they aren't working anyway, you will lose nothing if you remove the old bulbs BEFORE you go to the parts store to get new ones.  Having the old part in hand is always the best way to insure that you will get the correct new part.

If you want to have a shop change the bulbs for you, they will usually do it while you wait ... sometimes they will do a bulb change right in the parking lot.

 

While a non-working light is usually caused by a burned out bulb, it is also possible that a wiring problem or a faulty switch is to blame.  Tracking down these problems is usually a job for a professional.

You may hear from a mechanic that if you are replacing one headlight bulb, you might as well replace both.  I have learned from experience that this is usually good advice, particularly if you have owned the car for a while and know how old the headlight bulbs are.  A matched set of new headlight bulbs will give you a warm and fuzzy feeling ... REALLY!

If you have a question about lights or any other part of your car, drop us a line.  The Garage is always open.