Posts Tagged switch
What Are Electrical Diagnostics for Your Car
Posted on October 5, 2011 | Automotive Repair.
Cars are very high tech today. There is no doubt that a computer runs a lot of sensors on the car, from the oil pressure to the tire pressure to how close an object is to a car. Even if you don’t have a new car, there are electrical components to your car that need a diagnosis on occasion. What are some of those electronics?
The windshield wipers on an older car are electronic. They have intermittent control, in certain vehicles there is a rear wiper. All of the wipers have a switch that controls their speed. What happens if the speed goes haywire and doesn’t respond to where you turn it? You have some type of short in the circuit.
Other problems that can be electrical stem from the battery. Sure, you need gas to run your car, but if the battery won’t turn over the engine to start it, you won’t ever need that gas. A technician can look at your car and figure out why the circuits on your battery aren’t connected right or tight and get the problem fixed. Coming out from class or work in the dark and having a car that won’t start is no fun.
No matter what type of problem you are having with the car because of an electrical problem, there are a few ways to diagnose it. When a light comes on your dashboard to check the engine and you don’t hear anything wrong, you might be stumped. You can take the car in to an auto parts store or even to the dealership and they have a device you can connect the car up to.
The auto parts store will allow you to do it yourself, since they aren’t authorized to make a diagnosis on your car. The dealership will perform this, since they can fix your car. But what the contraption is is a box with a few wires. The wires connect to wires underneath the steering column inside of your vehicle. Once the part is connected, it will read the car’s computer and be able to tell exactly what code caused the light to come on in the car. The code will be a sensor that is off, a belt going bad or some other circuit that is mis-firing within the engine or other place on your car. Once you know the code, you can have the item repaired and be back on your way.
Do It Yourself Emergency Repairs
Posted on August 9, 2011 | Automotive Repair.
I know what you are thinking – who, me? Repair my own car? Truth be told you might find yourself in a situation where you need to do exactly that. You might get your hands and clothes dirty, but you will not be left standing on the roadside and you will have a feeling of accomplishment when you are through.
First you will need to make sure that you have the necessary equipment. No, this does not need to cost a fortune. You just need a few basic tools like a few screwdrivers, a pair of pliers, some electrical tape and a couple various sized wrenches. Remember though, proper maintenance is key to avoiding most breakdowns so make sure you are following the recommended routine maintenance to avoid many problems.
First, when you break down on the road you should obviously pull over to the side. Now you need to figure out what the problem might be. Turn your hazard lights on to alert oncoming drivers that you are there with a problem. You will find sometimes that people will stop to check on you and even offer a hand.
Next you will need to do a bit of diagnosis. Some problems are obvious such as an overheated engine. In this situation you will need to let the engine cool a bit before you try to do anything at all to avoid the risk of burning yourself. You can open the hood, but do not open the radiator! As the engine cools you can add a bit of coolant slowly to the overflow tank and get to your destination or at least a service station.
If your engine doesn’t start you will need to open the hood. First, does is crank? If not you can use your headlights to determine if there is a battery issue or something else. Turn on your headlights and have someone try to crank the engine. If the headlights dim, your battery needs to be charged. Try jumping it with jumper cables.
However make sure that you have your battery, alternator and other components of the charging system checked out to avoid having the problem again and again. If the headlights do not change when you crank the engine, the problem could be that your neutral safety shift has an issue. Automatic vehicles are equipped with this safety switch to avoid starting the vehicle in gear. Try putting the in gear shift in neutral and see if you can start the engine that way. If you can, your neutral safety switch needs to be worked on.
If the engine cranks but does not start, you could have one of three different problems. It could be air/gasoline mixture, spark or gasoline alone. Spark problems means that the ignition system is not creating the necessary spark to ignite the gas which runs the engine. To test this you will want to take a spark plug out, leave it in the boot, and ground the plug by putting it against something metal.
Then crank the engine and see if you can see spark. If you can’t, you need to determine where the problem is which will require a bit of time. Generally if you do not have spark you won’t be able to do a roadside repair.