Cars Blog May Archive

• A headlamp is a light, usually attached to the front of a vehicle such as a car, with the purpose of illuminating the road ahead during periods of low visibility, such as night or precipitation (also called headlights).
• History of automotive headlamps: Mechanics - The earliest headlamps were fueled by acetylene or oil and were introduced by drivers in the late 1880s. Acetylene was popular because the flame was resistant to wind and rain
• Prest-O-Lite acetylene lights were offered by a number of manufacturers as standard equipment for 1904, and Peerless made electrical headlamps standard in 1908
• Dipping (low beam) headlamps were introduced in 1915 by the Guide Lamp Company, but the 1917 Cadillac system was much more useful as it allowed the light to be dipped with a lever inside the car rather than requiring the driver to stop and get out
• In 1927, the foot-operated dimmer was introduced and would become standard for much of the century. The last vehicle with a foot-operated dimmer was the 1991 Ford F-Series
• Halogen technology is considered a technological advance because it makes incandescent filaments much more efficient and can produce more light than was available from non-halogen filaments at the same power consumption
• Early headlamps were always round, because that is the easiest shape in which to manufacture a parabolic reflector
• Quad headlamps—four round lamps, rather than two; one high/low and one high-beam 5-3/4" (146 mm) sealed beam on each side—were introduced in 1952 when the Prevost Car company included them in its Citaden bus model
• High beams (called main beams, full beams, or driving beams in some countries) cast most of their light straight ahead, maximizing seeing distance, but producing too much glare for safe use when other vehicles are present on the road
• Low beams (also called dipped beams) have stricter control of upward light, and direct most of their light downward and either rightward or leftward, to provide safe forward visibility without excessive glare or backdazzle
• North American vehicle owners sometimes privately import and install Japanese-market (JDM) headlamps on their car in the mistaken belief that the beam performance will be better, when in fact such misapplication is quite hazardous
• There are two different beam pattern and headlamp construction standards in use in the world: The ECE standard, which is allowed or required in virtually all industrialized countries except the United States, and the SAE standard that is mandatory only in the US
• In North America, the design, performance and installation of all motor vehicle lighting devices are regulated by Federal and Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108, which incorporates SAE technical standards. Elsewhere in the world, ECE internationalised regulations are in force either by reference or by incorporation in individual countries' vehicular codes
• Headlamps on new vehicles must produce white light, according to both ECE and SAE standards. Previous ECE regulations also permitted selective yellow light, and from 1936 until 1993 this was required on all vehicles registered in France

Is your Dodge Caravan making rattling or thumping noises coming from the front end?

This is a very common experience for caravan owners. The front end of my van was making a racket. I mean it sounded as if it were falling apart every time I went over the slightest bump in the road.

We started by checking out all the front end parts and found one bad axle, which we replaced. To make a long story short, I think we replaced almost every front end part we could find and still the rattling and thumping persisted.

I took the van to a garage that we use for those repairs that we cannot manage on our own. The person who usually does my repairs is a family member. He saves me hundreds of dollars on car repairs, but there are just some things that are kind of beyond his expertise.

I was informed that the sway bar bushings that were replaced were the incorrect ones and that was causing all the noise.

Here is the part of my information that you have been waiting for (sorry I ramble a lot getting to the point)... I was told by the mechanics that Dodge Caravans are NOTORIOUS for these sway bar bushings. Even in a new van, they last for about 15,000 miles before they start making the beginnings of noises and then will progressively get worse.

Also, I was informed that these bushings are two different sizes, one for each side. Aftermarket parts just don't fit right. Be aware of that! Make sure if you have them reaplaced, they are using OEM parts, not aftermarket. That is what was put on mine and they just don't work!

When checking these parts to see if it is the trouble it is best to check them in their normal operating position. The vehicle should be sitting on the floor or on a drive-on lift, since jacking the front end allows the suspension to drop, changes position and applies a load on the components. This often causes the worn or loose parts to be masked and difficult to diagnose.

If you start hearing the rattle or thump coming from your front end, have the bushings checked out first. It may save you a lot of expense replacing other parts that really weren't bad in the first place.

Grilles

Most vehicles feature a grille at the front of the vehicle to allow air to flow over the radiator and cool the engine compartment The grille is often a distinctive styling element, and many marques use it as their primary brand identifier For example: Jeep - seven-bar grille style Rolls Royce - arranges its grille bars by hand to ensure that they appear perfectly vertical Bugatti - horse collar BMW - split kidney Rover - chrome "teeth" Dodge - cross bar Alfa Romeo - 6-bar shield Volvo - slash bar Audi - relatively new, so called single-frame grille The unusual 1971 Plymouth Barracuda grille is known as a cheesegrater Billet grille: an aftermarket part that is used to enhance the style or function of the original OEM grille. They are generally made from billet, solid bar stock aircraft grade aluminum or stainless steel, although some are CNC Machined from one solid sheet of aluminum Tags: auto parts • car grilles • 0 Comments. - Permalink

Fuel Tanks By Car Parts Sales at 05/10/07 09:58 Fuel tanks range in size and complexity from the small plastic tank of a butane lighter to the multi-chambered cryogenic Space Shuttle external tank For one car model, different versions of fuel system designs have to be developed with more or less components, depending on the type of the car, the type of fuel (gasoline or diesel), nozzle models and the region where the car will be circulating Remote opening: Modern cars includes remote opening of the fuel tank fuel filler flap using an electric motor Some expensive cars even have fuel tanks that cannot be opened by hand or by any way from the outside of the car The proper design and construction of a fuel tank plays a major role in the safety of the system of which the tank is a part In automotive applications, improper placement of the fuel tank has led to increased probability of fire in collisions Tags: auto parts • car fuel tanks • 0 Comments. - Permalink Fuel Pumps By Car Parts Sales at 05/02/07 11:13 Fuel has to be pumped from the fuel tank to the engine and delivered under low pressure to the carburetor or under high pressure to the fuel injection system Fuel pumps contain a flexible diaphram that encloses a variable volume chamber of fuel on one side Another benefit of a tank mounted fuel pump is that a suction pump at the engine could suck in air through faulty hose connections, while a leaking connection in a pressure line will show itself immediately A potential hazard of a tank mounted fuel pump is that all of the fuel lines are under high pressure, from the tank to the engine. Any leak will be easily detected, but is also hazardous The electric fuel pump is generally on whenever the car's ignition switch is in the on position The metering of the fuel into the engine is performed by the fuel-injection or carburetor systems Tags: auto parts • car fuel pumps • 0 Comments. - Permalink Fuel Injection By Car Parts Sales at 05/02/07 11:04 For gasoline engines, carburetors were the predominant method to meter fuel before the widespread use of fuel injection The fuel injector is only a nozzle and a valve: the power to inject the fuel comes from further back in the fuel supply, from a pump or a pressure container It is impractical for a single engine control system to fully optimize all criteria simultaneously. In practice, automotive engineers strive to best satisfy a customer's needs competitively Properly designed fuel injection systems can react faster and more precisely to rapidly changing inputs such as rapid throttle movements, and can tailor fuel distribution to closely match the engine's needs across a wider range of operating conditions such as load, ambient temperature, operating temperature, fuel quality, and altitude Emissions, efficiency, and power: Fuel injection generally increases engine efficiency With the improved cylinder-to-cylinder fuel distribution provided by fuel injection, less fuel is needed for the same power output Fuel injection appeared first on American-made cars in the late 1950s Current systems provide an accurate, reliable and cost-effective method of metering fuel and providing maximum engine efficiency with clean exhaust emissions, which is why EFI systems have replaced carburetors in the marketplace Modern systems are nearly all electronic, and use an electronic solenoid (the injector) to inject the fuel. An electronic engine control unit calculates the mass of fuel to inject In contrast to an EFI system, a carburetor directs the induction air through a venturi, which generates a minute difference in air pressure Robert Bosch, and Bendix introduced the first electronic injection systems starting in the 1950s, and they formed the conceptual basis of today's EFI control strategies The optimum amount of injected fuel depends on conditions such as engine and ambient temperatures, engine speed and workload, and exhaust gas composition Continuous Injection: Bosch's K-Jetronic was introduced in 1974. In this system, fuel sprays constantly from the injectors, rather than being pulsed in time with the engine's intake strokes Multi-point fuel injection injects fuel into the intake port just upstream of the cylinder's intake valve, rather than at a central point within an intake manifold Tags: auto parts • car fuel injectors • 0 Comments. - Permalink Archives: • July, 2008 • June, 2008 • May, 2008 • April, 2008 • March, 2008 • February, 2008 • January, 2008 • December, 2007 • November, 2007 • September, 2007 • August, 2007 • June, 2007 • May, 2007 • April, 2007 • 0 index-May-2007-1.html * com * top 100 * 10 * 1699 * Blog * Espanol * Have you added a link to us from your website? (1699): <a href="http://www.cars-buynow.com">Cars Blog</a> Cars Blog; May, 2007 Archive Web site copyright (c) 2007-2008 GLR Sales LLC. (rozwqrzurzwi) Privacy Policy index-May-2007-1 Cars Blog May Archive