Q: Should I replace my timing belt in my car? It is a standard drive… I have owned this car for 10 years, it has 190,000 miles on it and I have never replaced anything on it except for an exhaust pipe.
A: A big yes, you should replace your timing belt. You should replace the timing belt somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 miles, manual transmission or automatic. The owner’s manual normally has the timing belt change intervals mentioned. Severe engine damage could occur if belt breaks, so changing the belt in time is crucial.
When the check engine light comes on, you should always have it checked out…
But what does it mean exactly, when the engine light comes on? The main thing your engine light is telling you when it is on is that there is something wrong with the Emission output of your vehicle…
When your engine light comes on it means that something in the drive train of your vehicle (the engine, transmission or differentials) has malfunctioned to the point that it has changed the standard fuel and exhaust emission output, for the year, make and model of your vehicle.
For example, an engine miss would change the output of your emission. When the engine miss-fires (misses) it expels unburned fuel and air out the exhaust, causing more pollution.
The exhaust has oxygen sensors which monitor the amount of oxygen in the exhaust emissions, when the oxygen levels are out of parameters too long the computer in your vehicle, that receives all the information of the performance of your vehicle, turns on the ‘check engine’ light. You may never feel your vehicle run badly and still the check engine light would be on. The computer in your vehicle will also store a trouble code and it will freeze frame data of the event, making it easier for a technician to diagnose your vehicle and see what the exact problem is.
There are numerous emissions monitored that way, for example, the amount of fuel vapor that returns to your fuel tank is also monitored. That system goes through routine testing; it lightly pressurizes the vapor return hoses, piping and fuel tank. If it would leak off pressure (which means raw fuel vapor being emitted into the atmosphere) this system would notice and it would turn on the light as well.
The stored data in the computer of your vehicle, like I mentioned, makes it easier for the technician to find the cause of the problem, with the data of the computer he can pinpoint the location that gives trouble. Understand though that that when someone accesses the trouble codes in the computer of your vehicle, it may have a sensor reference with it that says something like: ‘O2 sensor lean’ or ‘rich’. This does not necessarily mean the sensor itself is lean, rich or bad in any way, in this case the sensor might tell us the oxygen levels are way off, but this is where the technician checks under the hood…
At one point I had a customer call my garage one day frustrated because he had four new oxygen sensors and his check engine light kept coming back on. The part store had sold him new oxygen sensors because their ‘trouble code reader’ said “‘Oxygen sensor too lean” and they thought the sensor were bad… However when he pulled up to my garage I could hear what sounded like a large vacuum leak on his engine (sucking air in where it is not supposed to go in). When he explained his concern, I installed my Diagnostic Computer, and sure enough he had an ‘Oxygen sensor too lean’ code, but when I examined his engine I found the vacuum leak. Al I had to do was a slight repair with a vacuum hose worth 50 cents; clear the code in his computer and a road test after.
In this example the oxygen sensors had been performing properly, but they were not actually ‘lean’, instead that was their way of telling the computer that there was too much oxygen leaving the engine, the cause of this was the vacuum leak. The air inlet sensor did not know that extra air was entering the engine, but the oxygen sensor in the exhaust did notice the extra oxygen that was leaving the engine, from the emission program in the exhaust, this illuminated the ‘check engine’ light.
When you go to the gas station to fill up your car, there is always the choice of three different levels of octane gas, from low to high. Why are there different levels, and which one does my vehicle need? These are good questions. First let me explain a bit what it is, octane…
When gas is sprayed into the engine, the heat of the engine turns the gas in to a vapor. The spark plug sets of a spark to ignite this vapor. Sometimes however, the gas mixture detonates to early, when this happens you often hear an extra sound, called a ‘knock’. Octane is an additive put into gasoline to control unwanted knocking. The higher the level of octane, the less likely knocking occurs.
Why then three different levels of octane and not just one level; high?
Higher octane fuel burns slower, which in turn gives more thermal energy, so you should get more power from higher octane fuel. But the byproduct of a hotter engine is more carbon waste and it won’t clean your engine out, just the opposite…
Then, why not one level; low?
Lower octane actually burns cleaner; however, if hauling heavy loads, especially on hilly or mountainous terrain, your car or truck won’t perform as good as it does with higher octane level. The three different levels are to suit the different needs.
Most all vehicles today are engineered to run on the lower octane rating, after all, less emission is supposed to be the main motivation for the engineering of today’s cars and trucks. In normal situations I run a lower level octane, to spare my engine and the environment. However, if I need just a bit more performance I will run a higher octane level.
If your car does not go straight when you let go of the steering wheel while driving (don’t do this to long!), the chances are high you need a wheel alignment. Another sign that you need alignment is when your tires wear unevenly (only the outer or inner edge of the tire)
When you align your car you either align your two front wheels or you do all four of them. If you have a solid rear axle, there is not much point in aligning your rear wheels since the chance of them going out of alignment is negligible.
In case of independent suspension you need to do an alignment on all four of the wheels on our vehicle. No point in aligning just two wheels because you will end up having to go again on a later point.
Why should you have an alignment done at all on your car?
There are two good reasons:
- Safety
- Saving money
Safety – We want our vehicles going straight down the road. Your vehicle should not drift or veer out of your lane. Another important aspect is proper handling, alignment plays a big role in how your vehicle responds during maneuvers.
Safety and saving money – wear on your tires: if the wheels are not aligned it will wear the tires unevenly. You don’t want to wear the tires unevenly, this will shorten their lives, and furthermore, uneven wear could cause them to blow out.
Safety and saving money – When the tires toe in or toe out, you are scuffing your tread (like snow plowing on skis) which would cause them to feather and they will wear out faster (feathering happens when the edge of each tread rib develops a slightly rounded edge on one side and a sharp edge on the other) and again, they could blow out. Also, you are making the car work against itself, always trying to slow down while you’re driving, which will cost you more gas. When the tires are straight they don’t feather and the vehicle rolls more efficient, promoting better fuel economy.
So yes, it is always a good idea to make sure the wheels on your car are aligned!
