Auto Repair Advice

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Part of getting good service from your mechanic is accurate communication of noises and symptoms of the car trouble you are having. Here is a quick look at the most common drivetrain noises you may hear and the possible problems.

- Low frequency vibration when turning a corner usually points to a wheel bearing going bad. This usually sounds like a thump…thump…thump noise and varies with speed and how hard you are turning. To diagnose, your mechanic will raise your vehicle off the ground and check the amount of play in the wheel bearings. You can do this yourself with a jack in your driveway.

- High frequency clicking when making low speed sharp corners is a classic sign of a CV joint going bad. Front wheel drive vehicles use a constant velocity joint which can wear over time. If the boot which protects the joint from dust and keeps grease in, is damaged the wear can happen even quicker.

My Fiance got this forward the other day and asked me if it was real. Thought a few of you out there could have gotten this in your inbox and wondered the same thing…

Begin Email…

Subject: Fw: Good to know

Most of us drive a lot - so if you didn’t know this it would be important.Ina

Subject: Good to know

EVER KNEW THIS BEFORE…

I wonder how many people know about this? A 36 year old female had an
accident several weeks ago and Totaled her car. A resident of Kilgore ,
Texas she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining,
though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and
literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very
stunned at the sudden occurrence!

When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened he told
her something that every driver should know - NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN
WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON. She thought she was being cautious by
setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in
the rain.

But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on when
your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the
pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you
take off like an airplane. She told the patrolman that was exactly what
had occurred.

The patrolman said this warning should be listed, on the driver’s seat
sun-visor - NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR
ICY, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the
cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don’t tell them to use
the cruise control only when the pavement is dry.

The only person the accident victim found, who knew this (besides the
patrolman), was a man who had had a similar accident, totaled his car
and sustained severe injuries.

If you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn’t know about
this, then it was all worth it. You might have saved a life.

NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow
you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.
End Email…

Let’s start with the mechanics of this claim. Hydroplaning is when water comes between the tire and the road, braking the friction bond. This can cause your vehicle to go out of control due to lack of traction. When you set your cruise contol, the computer reads the speed of your wheels turning and uses the revolutions per minute to calculate speed. If anyone has ever spun the tires in the snow, you will notice your speedometer increasing in speed as you push on the gas pedal. This is an important fact in this story… the cruise control reads the wheel speed, not the actual speed of the car. So when your tires loose contact with the road during a hydroplaning situation, the tires are still spinning so your cruise control thinks you are going the same speed. If anything you will slow down when hydroplaning since your tires will no longer be propelling the car forward.

The second part of the story is about the car flying into the air… this is totally 100% false. For you to have enough wind resistance to flip a car over, you would need to be traveling way over the speed limit (over 100mph). This part of the story is a very typical exaggeration found in most urban legends.

With all that said, it’s still not recommended to use your cruise control in severe ice, snow and very heavy rain because of your delayed reaction since your foot is not on the pedals of the vehicle.

Take Care,

Kevin Schappell

P.S. To check out any potential urban legend I always check out Snopes before I reply or forward to anyone.

Question:

Everytime i’m driving my car,i here this clicking noise when i turn the
wheel to the right..i’m afraid i might “break” something or possibly have
the car stop running while i’m driving…what is this and also when i leave
from my parking spot,there seems to be a grease spot on the ground…i know
it is not the oil in my car..so what is it?

Answer:

More than likely the clicking is the CV joint (constant velocity) if you have a front wheel drive car.  And the spot you see on the ground is the grease leaking out of it.  There is a boot which is supposed to keep the grease in the CV joint, but over time it wears out and may split.  This will allow the grease to leak out and dirt to get into the CV joint.  This will cause premature wear and the clicking noise you hear.  Get the car to a mechanic ASAP, if the CV joint snaps, you may lose control over the vehicle.

Kevin

Question:

There’s been something going on with my clutch ever since my floormat got
shoved up in there and was pushing up on where the clutch thing connects to
the master clutch cylinder. It’s not leaking any  fluid, but it’s almost
like air is getting in there. I’ve seen a lot of info about how the slave
cylinders have needed replacement on many of the Sonoma models (mine is a
‘98), but I really don’t feel like that is the problem. The issue comes and
goes and sometimes it’s worse than other times. Sometimes I’ll get in and
push in the clutch and it’s perfect, other times there’s no clutch at all
and I can’t get it into gear for my life. Do you think it’s some sort of
sensor, or electrical issue that the floormat interference started? Or is
it something more serious (and expensive) like the slave cylinder? My dad
knows a lot about repairing cars/trucks but not so much with the electrical
stuff, and he’s pretty sure that’s what it is. Any ideas before I shell out
a pretty penny at the garage?
Answer:

As far as I know, there are no electrical connections or sensors on the hydraulic clutch system for your vehicle.  If there was, it would be a fluid level sensor, which would not keep the system from working.  Do you have to add fluid to the clutch master cylinder?  Is the level low?  I would suspect either a low level, or a bad slave cylinder.

If your level is low, I would fill it up and monitor it.  If it the level stays high, then I would say that you just got a little air in the system from the level being low.  If the level drops again, then the fluid is leaking somewhere.  Either the hose or the slave cylinder.

Kevin

Question:

Hi Kevin:

It is interesting stumbling on this site.

My 1992 Honda Ballade makes a noise in idle running. Pressing the clutch stops the noise. What part of the clutch could this noise be coming from? What could be the cause from your own view?

-Tunji

Answer:

Question:

What is a stud? How would one get broken and would it make the steering mess up,pump rack and pinon-95 Nissan Altima

Thank you
Karen

Answer:

There could be a couple of studs on the front of your car. A stud is a threaded piece of metal which is attached permanently to another part of the car. So when tightening the nut, you do not have to hold the back side of the stud. In other words, it’s a bolt which can not turn, thus allowing you to tighten the nut without holding the bolt.

There are wheel studs which go through the axle flange and through your tire. This stud is what the lug nut threads on to and holds your tires in place. Most cars have 4 or 5 studs per wheel. Not likely that this caused a problem with the power steering.

There are also studs which the power steering pump and rack and pinion mount to, both could cause problems if they snapped. These studs could break due to fatigue, or hitting a curb with the tire.

Take Care,

Kevin

I use this trick when checking out a used car. Since you can not climb under a car and check how much material is left on the clutch disc, you can only guess the condition. Using the following tips you can get closer to an educated guess and hopefully make a good decision.

1. Operate the clutch and observe where the clutch grabs. It should grab about 2″ from the floor. The motion of the pedal should be smooth and even. Make sure you have the emergency brake on when doing any of these tests.

2. Listen for any chatter or squealing when operating the clutch. Is there a grinding noise when the clutch is depressed? This indicates a worn throwout bearing, and will require the transmission to be removed to replace it. You can assume if the throwout bearing is bad, the clutch is not in the best condition.

3. Put the car in 2nd or third gear and let the clutch out slowly. (make sure the car’s emergency brake is on, and you have your foot on the brake) Does the engine RPM decrease and almost stall? If it does, the clutch still has some life in it, and is doing it’s job. If the clutch slips, and the engine does not sound like it’s going to stall, there is a good chance the clutch needs to be replaced.

4. While on a road test, does the transmission shift smoothly? Is there any crunching when changing gears? A crunching noise when shifting usually indicated bad sychnonizers in the transmission, but can sometime just be the clutch cable being out of adjustment.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you are inspecting a used car, or trying to diagnose your own car. A manual transmission car can be a blast to drive, and offer better fuel economy, but presents unique issues when trying to evaluate it’s health.

More information on your Car’s driveline

Kevin