By P Sanchez
In the previous installment of this two part blog, we discussed the often poorly understood (or under-appreciated) emissions control device called the Exhaust Gas Re-circulation system and how it not only helps curb tailpipe pollutants but also provides additional protection from engine knock.

We continue acquainting with the EGR system and see how filling cylinders with burnt gas can actually help the engine run better. We’ll also touch on common problems that come upon the EGR (including problems that come about messing with it) and other cool related automotive tidbits. Let’s dive in!

By P Sanchez

I find that one of the most interesting and often times misunderstood component of the modern engine is the Exhaust Gas Recirculation or EGR system. Fitted in most gasoline and diesel engines since the ’70s to meet emission standards, it’s an emission control system that lowers nitrous oxide byproduct in engine exhaust.

It does this by “recirculating back some of the exhaust into the intake which helps reduce combustion temperatures.” Wait, what? Isn’t exhaust hot in the first place? And isn’t nitrous oxide the same as “NOS”, that tank of special gas that racer boy types install on their heavily modded cars to make them go crazy-fast? But why some people think EGR is a performance-limiting device to put-up with? So many questions.

It took some digging on my end to demystify the deceptively simple but ingenious EGR system which I will share with you in this installment of the Auto Repair Blog and hopefully it’ll clear up some of the smoke.

By P Sanchez

If fixing cars was like treating people, mechanics will be analogous to doctors, auto repair shops comparable to hospitals, and medical treatments like replacing a hip-joint, a face-lift and an open-heart surgery will be much like a lower arm ball-joint replacement, body panel repaint, and an engine rebuild respectively. Diagnosis is close to exact as they can be, while treatments are proven best, direct, methodical, might be invasive at times but success rates are pretty good.

But we’re not here to talk about the cost-effectiveness of transmission replacement nor are we discussing the latest dealer-grade OBD scan tools capable of the most advanced bi-directional testing of our increasingly hi-tech vehicles. We’re here to talk about the herbal capsules and health supplements for our hot rods, the latest holistic diets for our daily drivers, the acupuncture and alternative medicine for our automobiles. We’re talking about car care solutions that conveniently come in a bottle.

By P Sanchez
Last time, we discussed tire sealants and radiator sealants that offered quick solutions in an emergency. But whenever a company claims that they have found a way to conveniently bottle the expert services of a mechanic, consumers should always take such an incredible claim with caution.

Sometimes the product is more of a hit-or-miss affair. Other times the product only works in very specific scenarios but the company’s marketing efforts have been a little too liberal in showcasing the product's application. At worst, they rely on the placebo effect and are in general, a big waste of money. We’ll discuss some of these “baddies” and see what most experts think.

By P Sanchez

Panaceas have long been a fixture of culture since ancient times. From magical elixirs that promise eternal life, to aftermarket fuel additives that promise to double the horsepower for your econobox, history has shown that miracles can be bottled and sold. With regard to products for your car, quite a few can be easily dismissed as quack alchemy – like anything that over-promises (too good to be true? Well probably, it is.) while others might be harder to prove or disprove. 

In this installment of auto repair blogs, we’ll tackle a few types of these pour-in repair solutions and see how experts weigh-in about their effectiveness. Which ones actually work as designed, which are just a lot of marketing BS that count on consumer gullibility, and which could actually do more harm than good.

First: The Problem

It could be argued that the modern internal combustion engine is able to make useful work by managing fluids. Fuel is a fluid, and technically so is air. Both are mixed in the engine, compressed and ignited, and hot expanding gas (still a fluid!) is produced. The gas pushes against the cylinder, turning the crank, and driving the wheel. Then there are fluid systems that keep the engine from self-destructing. You got the engine oil and transmission oil being circulated to keep the internal parts from wearing out. You also have the engine cooling system that circulates coolant, a water-glycol blend that keeps the engine at an optimum running temperature. 

There are also fluid-using auxiliary systems. The conventional braking and steering systems use hydraulic fluids to transmit actuation, and the AC system uses refrigerants, a special type of liquid with a relatively high condensation point but with a low boiling point, characteristics needed for AC systems to cool cabin air. 

All these fluids are contained through a complex system of casings, seals, gaskets, pipes, and tubes. But as any owner of an aging car would know, these parts lose their integrity over time. Rubber dries, mating surfaces wear out, casings crack. Then your car starts leaking those vital fluids to places where they shouldn’t be (like your driveway)

The surest solution to any leak is a repair job that almost always requires replacing the leaking part. Unfortunately, car repairs can be a costly procedure and car owners are looking for ways to avoid having a reason for a car job, delay the inevitable, or do the repair themselves. Unfortunately, not all car owners are as knowledgeable and well-equipped as a mechanic in an auto repair shop, so quick-and-easy solutions are often the go-to’s.

Plugging a Hole

If there’s one repair job that all drivers and car owner should know is how to replace a flat tire.   But it’s a job that’s not only dirty but also a bit physically demanding as the average weight of a small passenger car’s tire is 22 pounds, 35 pounds for an average SUV tire, and 41 pounds for a light truck. Enter tire sealants.

Tire sealants are polymer-based liquids that are either pre-filled in tires or pressure-packed in canisters to be injected into the tire’s air valve at the event of a flat (Fix-A-Flat is a common brand). The sealant’s sticky nature is supposed to clog small punctures in the tire’s threads, preventing the air inside the tire from escaping.

Do tire sealants work? If you’re in a pinch, yes. They help you avoid a full-out flat and allow you to continue driving (or more accurately, “limp”) to the nearest auto repair shop where you can have your flat tire permanently repaired. Experts agree, when it comes to safety, don't push your luck: tire sealants are only temporary fixes.

Using tire sealants are not without their caveats. With sealant pre-treated tires, punctures don’t cause a tell-tale flat and so you may need to inspect your tire periodically for damages. Also, this sealant needs to be correctly applied which means evenly coating the inner wall of the tire. An uneven application doesn’t only mean leaving certain areas vulnerable to punctures but may also result in an unbalanced wheel. Some sealants are also caustic to metal so best to not have it touch the rims. 

Stop Leak

As a lot of old-timers will tell you: back in the day when weight-savings in cars was purely for performance enhancement, radiators were made of thick metal alloys that made them heavy but very durable – as they should be! Unlike all these fuel-saving and cost-cutting nonsense we have today, giving us flimsy aluminum and plastic radiators. Plastic! Well, I never.

Pardon the poor caricature but it does point out a flaw with modern car design. Seldom are cars built to last nowadays. Car components have sooner expiration dates, including the radiator. So if you have a decade old car, your radiator springing a leak is par for the course. 

And for radiator leaks, we have radiator sealants. This type would either be powder form or liquid concentrate, which you mixed into the coolant itself and the material fills short hairline cracks or tiny pores that your radiator may have developed which is causing coolant to leak.   If it stops the leak, great! It confirms the size of the damage and it buys you time until the weekend when you should get your radiator properly patched up at car repair center. 

Next Time:

We tackle “The Bad”, products that experts are on the fence with regard to their efficacy in solving a purported problem. After, we take on “The Ugly”, products that sound good on paper but might actually be bad for your system.

By the way, do you have a personal experience about a product that actually “repaired” a car problem for you? Or maybe you want to add more to the discussion. Feel free to leave comments below.

By P Sanchez
​
Last time, we discussed the traditional types of headlight bulbs, the incandescent bulb of classic cars, halogens – the current global standard, and the high-performance HIDs of the last decade. But there’s a new technology that has been implemented virtually everywhere that needs light generation: from smartphone and flatscreens, to indoor and portable lighting, and of course, headlights. we’re talking about LEDs.

The New Kid on the Block.

Light Emitting Diodes are the latest and fastest proliferating lighting technology.  Unlike incandescent and halogen bulbs that heat filaments to glow, and unlike HIDs that need high-voltages to initiate a plasma, LEDs convert electricity directly into light in a low-energy process called electroluminescence. And it’s all part of the modern wonder of semiconductors.

How does it work? Without getting too heavy on the science, the core material in a diode has what’s called a p-n junction. One side of this material has a decidedly electron charge, the other has positive “holes”.  When a suitable voltage is applied to the material, electrons move across to the positive and recombine with the holes. This change in energy states in the particles releases photons – light!

Cool trivia: technically diodes release only high-energy light. In the color spectrum, high-energy (or technically: high-frequency) light is in the range of blues. But how do we get all those different LED color varieties? The diodes are also packed with fluorescent materials that absorb part of the high-frequency light and give off their own light but at a lower-frequency (yellows and reds). By varying the type and amount of fluorescent materials determine the color of the LED.

Currently, LED bulbs for headlights are still more expensive than halogen and HIDs but as global LED production grows, prices continue to drop year after year.

How good are LEDs? For the same brightness that HIDs make (approx 3000 Lumens at 55W), LEDs can do at less than half the wattage consumption, or brighter at 4000 to 12,000 Lumens at the same 50+ wattage consumption. LEDs also have a slightly bluish hue (6000 K) by default but as previous explained, color can be baked-in, with even some LED bulb designs capable of switching between different colors. 

Additionally, LEDs robust design (no fragile filaments or hermetic glass encasing) and high energy-conversion efficiency (low energy requirement, low-heat byproduct) make them the longest lasting of all lighting bulb types.

Other than the cost, current LED bulb replacement has one design flaw. Most headlight housings are designed to reflect light coming from an omnidirectional light source such as halogen bulbs. This is not the case with a lot of current LED bulb designs which the individual lighting units themselves are directional. LED bulb designers attempt to get a more omnidirectional performance from LEDs by orienting multiple units around a shaft. However, there are still a lot of poorly designed aftermarket bulbs that cause uneven and unusual light scattering.

So Many Questions
​
The big question is, which lighting technology is the best for your car, go OEM with halogens, install extra brights with HIDs, or try the latest LEDs? 

Wanting to upgrade to something “fancier” is a personal decision and you can do what you want with your money but if you’re looking for more practical reasons, consider these:

Are your current light bulbs busted or have somehow weakened (just make sure it’s not an electrical problem with your car).

Are you planning to keep your car beyond the service life of a basic replacement bulb?

Do you live in an area where there’s often foul weather and poor visibility?

Do you do a lot of night time driving?

Does the market have bulbs of the type you like but meant exactly for your car make and model?

Are you doing the installation yourself? Consider ease of installation.

Have you checked your local regulations for headlights?

And lastly, just remember: it’s always good to consult with a qualified mechanic at your local car repair. It’s not often you have to change the bulbs of your headlights. In case you do, you may also want it done right.

By P Sanchez

​There was a time when the only kind of light bulb that automobiles had was the incandescent.  Yes, the incandescent light bulb, the same kind that you now only see as an emoji icon for “idea”. Modern production methods of the last century made the incandescent light bulb cheap and reliable enough for the masses and it enjoyed decades of ubiquity as a primary electrical lighting source, including headlight bulbs for cars of yester-years

But its design changed little since the days of Thomas Edison and even with its last iteration, the incandescent light bulb is still relatively inefficient in converting electricity to light, with most of the energy wasted in heat. By today’s standard, the typical incandescent light bulb’s soft yellow-tinted glow is only good for setting a romantic ambiance to an indoor space, and not so good for lighting the evening highway.

But it’s almost 2020 and we’re closer to the perfect evening driving vision with the advancements in headlight bulb technology. We got choices now, three types of lighting, in fact, differing in performance and cost. We’ll go through each of them and by the end, you can hopefully determine which is best for you.

Crash Course

Just a needed quick explainer on how modern lighting works: With incandescent bulbs, electricity runs through a filament which is a metal conductor, usually made of tungsten, that had been drawn thinner than a human hair. This is important because the thinner the conductor is, the easier it is to heat-up with electricity and the brighter it’ll go. 

To prevent the filament from burning out, it’s either sealed in a vacuum chamber or filled with an inert gas such as those in the household light bulb. But incandescent bulbs don’t last because the filament eventually breaks due to fatigue from prolonged exposure to rapid temperature changes, as well as gradual vaporization of the metal filament because of the high heat.

Hot Halogens

Needing a brighter and more reliable light source, automobiles have adopted the halogen type light bulb.  In fact, halogens have been the standard for road vehicles for at least the last 50 years. 

Halogens are technically under the incandescent family as they still heat up a filament to produce light. The difference is that the special filament used gets even hotter and brighter than regular bulbs. So hot that a lot of the material of the filament vaporizes. To keep the filament intact, it’s encased in a halogen gas environment like bromide and iodide using a quartz crystal capsule. In this environment, the vaporized metal redeposits back to the filament.

How good are halogens? We’ll have to talk about Lumens, the standard unit for brightness, Watts (W), a measure of energy, and color temperature (K). To put it in simpler perspective, a 100 W incandescent bulb which is bright enough to light a large-sized bedroom is rated at 1600 Lumens. A halogen bulb can do the same brightness at only 72 W. Typically halogen light bulbs for automobiles consume around 55 W and do about 1100 to 1500 Lumens at best. 

Halogens are more expensive than incandescent bulbs but cheaper than the two other new lighting technologies that are to be discussed. 

Like regular incandescent light bulbs, halogens exhibits a yellow-hue light (3000K) and though they last longer and shine brighter than ordinary incandescent bulbs, they still don’t compare in performance and reliability as with the next two lighting designs.

HIDs, They’re Intense!

Sometimes referred to as Xenon bulbs or arc, HIDs (High-Intensity Discharge) lights don’t use any metal filaments that could burn-out, like those in incandescence and halogen lights. Instead, HIDs make high voltage electricity jump between two electrodes (not unlike a sparkplug). The electrical arc energizes the encased inert gas (usually xenon gas) into a glowing plasma, resulting in a more efficient light production compared to halogens. 

How good are HIDs? For the same wattage of a typical halogen bulb for cars (55 W), HIDs can easily double the Lumens to 3000. They have a cooler bluish-white hue (5000-8000K) and cooler operation, therefore longer service life than halogens. Most HIDs have service lives rated around 2000 hours.

HIDs are more expensive the halogens but they are more expensive too. They also take time to warm-up making them incompatible for high-beams, require special ballasts to run on higher voltage, and their blinding brightness has had some states ban their use.

Next Time

For the last installment of this two-part series, we’ll take-on what’s becoming the new standard in automobile lighting: LEDs. How do they work differently from Halogens and HIDs and are they worth upgrading to? And hopefully, we’ll be helping you make an informed choice on your next car part purchase.

by P Sanchez

Does your beloved car squeak and creak when driving over a rough patch of road? Is your car showing its age and you’re longing for the days of quiet ride and confident handling? Is this line of questioning starting to sound like an introduction to a cheesy infomercial for a cure-all automobile product? Well, it’s not because we’re continuing our little discussion on understanding those annoying sounds our car aging cars make. 

By P Sanchez

Squealing, squeaking, chirping, creaking and moaning. Does driving your car sound like you’re listening to a podcast of National Geographic’s “Night in the Rainforest”? If so, you’re in for some potentially serious car trouble. Realize that all machines will breakdown eventually, it’s just a matter of time. Simpler machines have it good, fewer parts, fewer things to go wrong. And the modern automobile? Hundreds of moving parts. It’s a minor miracle that a few of them can last more than a decade with just minor maintenance (I did only say “a few”).

Of course, only an experienced mechanic can tell for sure what ails your beloved car but it helps a mechanic greatly in diagnosing your car trouble if you can specify the symptoms best you can. (Another word of advice: don’t just leave your car at the auto shop without giving the mechanic a rundown of what’s wrong. They’re mechanics, not psychics.)

By P Sanchez

It’s interesting that there is at least one situation where going “neutral” actually polarizes people. This is a certain case when driving cars with automatic transmission. The use of neutral gearing has stirred more debate among regular drivers and car enthusiasts than the blue-or-gold dress, or even the Laurel vs Yani sound clip. Even experts in the field like long-time mechanics and purported engineers have opposing opinions whether shifting to neutral is advisable at any point of typical driving.

In this installment of the Auto Repair Blog, we’ll weigh in on the merits of both camps and hopefully arrive at a conclusion regarding the use of neutral gearing.

What’s Neutral for?

All internal combustion engines need to maintain minimum rpm to stay running, usually between 500 to 1000 rpm. Lower than that, the engine stalls (dies) requiring unnecessary engine restart. Engine restarting is not only inconvenient but hazardous in traffic situations, and frequent restarting shortens the life of the engine (Most mechanics agree that engine wear and tear happens mostly during start-ups when engine oil is not circulating). Also, frequent restarts shorten the starter motor’s service life, which is rated at about 100,000 restart cycles.

To prevent engine stalls whenever you need to brake to a halt, there has to be a means for the engine to continue running without driving the wheels. In cars with manual transmission (MT), the engine can be either temporarily disengaged from the transmission by depressing the clutch (like during gear shifts) or for longer periods, the transmission can be shifted to neutral. Neutral on a stick tranny disengages the transmission gears themselves, allowing the engine to spin freely while the drive shaft and wheels keep still.

More Acronyms!

Things work differently with an automatic transmission (AT). In an AT, whether it’s belt-driven continually variable transmission (CVT) or the more conventional type that uses planetary gears, the transmission gears can remain “engaged” with the engine all the time and not stall the engine even when a vehicle is at a stand-still. This is possible because of a nifty device called a torque converter (TC for short or we’ll be here all day). 

The TC connects the engine’s flywheel/face-plate assembly to the rest of the AT. Housed within the decidedly torroidal shaped TC (that’s donut-shaped in plain speak) are basically two propellers submerged in oil, one spun directly by the engine (the impeller), the other is connected to the gear assembly (the turbine). 

The usual analogy for the TC is two electric fans facing each other. Switch-on the first fan and it’ll blow air into the second fan, causing the later spin too (technically, this is called “coupling” in an AT). The real trick is when you hold the fins of the second fan which stops it from spinning. Stopping the second fan has little effect on the first fan. The latter will continue to spin and blow air. This is pretty much how a TC keeps the engine at rev even if the gears are locked in place. 

Cool Analogy But Why have a Neutral in an AT at All?

There are situations when it’s imperative to disengage the transmission gears in an AT. Examples would be when the drive assembly has to be serviced by a mechanic or when the vehicle has to be towed. There’s really no debate about that. 

Another area of consensus on when NOT to use neutral is in coasting. People do this as a fuel saving effort. For purposes of safety and vehicle control, you’ll want your engine engaged with the entire drive system even while coasting. This is in case you’ll need to gain speed for some emergency maneuver. 

Additionally, there are doubts about any significant fuel savings that could be made in disengaging the transmission while coasting. Most modern automobile ECUs are smart enough to adjust fuel consumption when the engine is not under load, engaged transmission or not. 

And God forbid you accidentally shift in reverse while you’re busy paying all your attention to the road ahead. Doing so will turn your transmission into metal mush, at which point your only repair option will be a very expensive transmission rebuild.

Neutral on Stoplights, To Do or Not To Do.

This is really where the debate lies. Should a driver just hold down the brake or put it in Park and let the engine spin against the TC and locked gears, OR disengage the gears in Neutral and allow the engine to spin more freely?

Neutral naysayers say it’s unnecessary, just let the TC do what it’s designed for. Some will also add that re-engaging to Drive exposes the gear assembly (clutch bands, meshed gears and all) to greater stress compared to just leaving everything engaged all the time, ready to receive power from the engine at any moment. 

       Other never-neutral proponents reason that constant shifting will wear down the shift lever’s linkages prematurely. These concerns for the mechanicals of the system seem sound although there haven’t been concrete examples of damages directly linked to the use of neutral.

Probably the best rationale for remaining in Drive at a red stoplight is similar to the reasons why you shouldn’t coast in neutral: safety and control. Staying in drive affords you to roll out with the rest of the traffic as soon as possible and it will make you ready to do quick maneuvers if needed.  Lastly, it helps you avoid accidentally engaging the transmission in reverse, which can endanger you and the vehicles behind you in traffic.


Y to the N

On the opposing view, there are reasons why it’s recommended to shift to neutral if your vehicle has to stop on the road for a length of time. First and foremost has something to do with heat. As mentioned, the TC allows the engine to remain at idle speed even when it’s engaged with the transmission gears. Within the TC enclosure, the impeller and the encasing fluid (automatic transmission fluid or ATF) spins at engine speed, while the TC’s turbine that's connecting to the rest of the transmission is locked in place. This arrangement is said to generate a lot of pressure and heat. 
       
Excess heat is the bane of ATF. Prolonged exposure leads to premature oil breakdown. Degraded lube leads to premature wear and tear of the entire transmission system. As such, putting the AT in neutral disengages the transmission gears and allows the impeller, oil, and turbine to couple and the entire TC to spin freely.

Anti-neutrals will say that the excess heat concern is unfounded because of the fact that an AT has an oil-cooling system. The oil-pump is powered by the engine (via the TC) and it’s always circulating hot ATF to the oil radiator for heat dissipation and it does this whether the transmission is engaged or not. 

Pro-neutrals would argue back that any preventive measure to keep ATF breakdown at bay—including only engaging the transmission to move the vehicle to assure cooling airflow around the cooling system and transmission case – and relieving the gear assembly from unnecessary stress, are all worth doing to prolong the service life of the transmission.

Final recommendation:

So is it neutral on the stoplight or not? This might sound like a cop-out but the short answer is: it depends! Fretting about overheating oil is probably less of a concern in colder climates. Newer ATs will also likely use a variable-displacement oil-pump which will provide the same rate of ATF circulation regardless of engine or transmission speed. More importantly, as long as you have the right kind of oil in the transmission, get regular maintenance on your car, and you drive conservatively, then your car should be fine either way. 

Me? I put my 15-year-old econobox on neutral at the stop signs to take some load off the engine and tranny. Plus, it runs an older fixed-displacement transmission oil pump so putting the gears on neutral allows the engine to run the pump faster on idle, ensuring more protective oil is cooled and circulated about while also avoiding the excess generation of heat.