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Grex > Cars > #121: The Winter '02 Car Care Item |  |
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| Author |
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| 25 new of 184 responses total. |
gull
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response 73 of 184:
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Jan 24 15:49 UTC 2002 |
A front end alignment would also let you know if any of the suspension
components were bent in the collision.
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rcurl
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response 74 of 184:
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Jan 24 16:10 UTC 2002 |
A loose tie rod is sufficient to cause wobble (....and then one day my
tie-rod broke, and things got worse).
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jep
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response 75 of 184:
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Jan 24 17:18 UTC 2002 |
Thinking about the truck more, I'm thinking I overlooked aerodynamics.
The front grill is missing, and the hood is bent and doesn't shut
properly. It's held down by a rope and bungee cord.
I'm sure my mechanic would have mentioned anything like a tie rod
problem, or anything that would make the truck dangerous to drive.
We've gotten them to do a lot of work; somewhat over $4000 last year on
our various cars, between my wife and I. (Maybe more like $5000.)
I guess I'll ask my wife what kinds of problems she is aware of.
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gull
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response 76 of 184:
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Jan 24 19:06 UTC 2002 |
It *could* be aerodynamics, but I'm not conviced. It's a pickup; it has the
aerodynamics of a boxcar anyway. If it *is* due to the hood being bent, I'd
expect to see the hood vibrating and buffeting a lot.
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russ
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response 77 of 184:
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Jan 27 20:00 UTC 2002 |
Re #64: The things that blow in alternators are rectifiers, regulators,
brushes and bearings. ISG's will not have brushes or bearings, and the
electronics will probably be external. Fixing them may be quite a bit
easier than a conventional alternator.
Re #66: The hydraulic hoses required for a given amount of power are
still bulkier and more cumbersome than wires. Hydraulics are good for
things where you need considerable amounts of power and the alternator
is good for 1 KW or so, tops. When you have 5-10 KW of electric power
on tap, the evaluation changes. You need electric power regardless,
but eliminating hydraulic power steering gets rid of a whole subsystem.
This starts to seriously affect vehicle complexity and cost, favorably.
Re #67: The ISG makes sense when the power required to crank the engine
is similar to the electrical power required to run the accessories; once
you're driving the power steering and A/C compressor electrically, you're
there. If you can play games with battery-assisted acceleration and
regenerative braking, so much the better. Every bit of recovered energy
pays off.
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rcurl
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response 78 of 184:
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Jan 27 20:20 UTC 2002 |
I'd say that hydraulics are better for *force*, not power. Most
hydraulically operated devices, like bulldozers, backhoes, cranes, lifts,
etc, operate very slowly but with very high loads.
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gull
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response 79 of 184:
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Jan 27 20:57 UTC 2002 |
There's been a lot of talk about switching over to a higher-voltage
electrical system in cars. 42V (charging a 36V battery) seems to be a
popular value. There are a lot of good reasons for doing so, starting
with the fact that a higher voltage means lower current, which means
less copper is needed for the wiring harness. The voltage-drop
problems that appear with 12V headlamps once the contacts are a few
years old would also be a lot less noticable.
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twill
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response 80 of 184:
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Feb 5 23:57 UTC 2002 |
Hi, I'm Twill!
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bdh3
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response 81 of 184:
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Feb 6 07:45 UTC 2002 |
yer mother.
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mdw
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response 82 of 184:
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Feb 12 04:14 UTC 2002 |
Hydraulic motors are generally smaller than the equivalent sized
electrical motor. A good example of this is the hydraulic transmission
of any ordinary car -- the torque converter typically can pass about 100
hp of power in continuous duty operation. An equivalent rating electric
motor would probably be close to the size of the gasoline engine, at
least when done using traditional materials (supposedly modern materials
and electronics are changing this.) Hydraulics do work particularly
nicely in applications which require a lot of force at very low speeds
-- it's a lot more compact than an electrical motor with a lot of
reduction gearing.
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gull
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response 83 of 184:
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Feb 12 21:52 UTC 2002 |
True. That doesn't seem like a good match for a radiator fan
application, though. I *have* seen hydraulic motor drives for fans
elsewhere, but it was always in situations like hydraulic fluid coolers
where you'd have hydraulic power available anyway. Hydraulic motors
are also often used in explosive atmospheres where an electric motor
would be dangerous.
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mdw
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response 84 of 184:
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Feb 12 23:56 UTC 2002 |
Actually, lots of fan belt driven radiator fans have a hydraulic
linkage. It's a self contained unit, no hoses, but this is a cheap way
to get reduced fan speed at high speeds.
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gull
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response 85 of 184:
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Feb 13 00:13 UTC 2002 |
Yeah, true. The 'fan clutch'.
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scott
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response 86 of 184:
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Feb 13 02:38 UTC 2002 |
Ick. Imagine the mess when all the 10 year old cars with hydraulic
accessories are leaking fluid all over the place.
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gull
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response 87 of 184:
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Feb 13 16:13 UTC 2002 |
Most of the cars on the road already have hydraulic power steering, and
cars leaking power steering fluid all over the place doesn't seem to be
a big problem.
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russ
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response 88 of 184:
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Feb 14 00:30 UTC 2002 |
Re #86: You mean, like power-steering systems?
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scott
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response 89 of 184:
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Feb 14 03:41 UTC 2002 |
Yeah, I guess it doesn't seem like power steering systems leak that much.
But then there *is* a market for power steering fluid. Presumably it is used
to replace stuff that leaked out.
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gull
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response 90 of 184:
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Feb 14 14:38 UTC 2002 |
Yeah, but compared to, say, engine oil, the quantity of fluid in the
system is really small. Total capacity of the system in my Honda is
only a quart or two. It does leak, incidentally, but at the rate of
about a pint a year. It's so slow the fluid never hits the ground,
just sort of accumulates around the ends of the steering rack. Most
cars I've had didn't lose any power steering fluid at all.
Brakes are another example of a hydraulic system on current cars, but
in that case the results of a leak are so obvious and dramatic that
leaks usually aren't allowed to persist for long. (People don't like
it when the pedal sinks under their foot.)
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russ
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response 91 of 184:
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Feb 14 20:46 UTC 2002 |
There's another hydraulic system on the majority of modern cars, and
that's the automatic transmission. Most transmissions seem to go their
whole lifetime on the fluid they came with from the factory.
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russ
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response 92 of 184:
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Feb 15 03:57 UTC 2002 |
Re #90: Brakes use ethylene glycol rather than petroleum-based
hydraulic fluids. (The reason is that glycol absorbs water,
preventing it from freezing or corroding the brake parts. This
isn't necessary for power steering and transmission systems which
are kept dry by the heat of their operation.) Glycol is
biodegradable, so you wouldn't notice an ecological problem
even if fair amounts of it leaked.
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rcurl
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response 93 of 184:
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Feb 15 08:23 UTC 2002 |
Glycol is also less destructive of the hoses necessary for brake
lines. However glycol is very bad if heated to high temperatures,
and it is an inferior lubricant. It should also be added that glycol
is quite toxic, although initially inebriating. The green fluorescent
dye (uricine) is added to it to suggest that it isn't healthy.
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gull
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response 94 of 184:
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Feb 17 01:25 UTC 2002 |
Re #91: Most probably do, but you're *supposed* to change it every so
often.
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mooncat
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response 95 of 184:
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Feb 18 15:46 UTC 2002 |
Okey dokey... so I have this 99 Alero that's not been giving me any
trouble at'all, til today. It's got power steering and on the way in to
work this morning (luckily I was almost all the way there) it got a bit
harder to steer, then in pulling into the office parking lot it was
almost impossible to turn the wheel. Haven't really had a chance to
look yet, or call a mechanic, but does this sound like, to anyone, it
just needs more power steering fluid?
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jmsaul
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response 96 of 184:
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Feb 18 15:49 UTC 2002 |
It sounds to me like you need an older car. Jim has a 1968 Volvo without
power steering that you can have if you come get it. It will start if you
push it downhill.
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jazz
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response 97 of 184:
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Feb 18 15:52 UTC 2002 |
Actually, Anne, it could be either. First thing I'd check is to see
if the (I'm presuming it has one, most cars these days do) serpentine belt
is broken.
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