What cars use timing chains instead of timing belts?
The good ones, in my humble opinion, use chains. I prefer chains for the longevity, but belts are just fine, except in one particular case, and that would be in interference engines. Belts are cheap and quiet and (relatively) easy to change, but if you have one in an interference engine and the belt snaps the pistons can meet valves in a horrendous and expensive incident. In a non-interference engine, should the belt break the engine just stops running and the repair is cheap and simple. If you buy a used car with a belt, change it immediately despite whatever the maintenance records might say, but a chain? Eh, nothing to worry about…The M20 engine in my BMW is an interference engine with a belt, and I'm always worried that something might break and basically total out the car. I always do the belt change as prescribed, which is every 4 years or 60K miles, but for a while I didn't drive the car much. 4 years rolled around and I had to change the belt (and water pump, since the front of the engine was already apart) again, but this stung a little since it had been less than 9K miles from the last time it was done. The M10 engine in the older BMW? I believe it was the original chain on the engine when I had to replace it at about 300K miles (my own fault for neglecting the cooling system and cracking the block). I never worried about the chain in the M10, whereas the belt in the M20 was always on my mind. It was somewhat telling when BMW went back to a chain in the successor to the M20, the M50 and M52 engines.
Is Toyota a better company than Mercedes?
No, Toyota is not better than Mercedes, and anyone who claims that is delusional. Both are enormous companies, selling millions (Millions!) of cars a year around the world. Both are global, and have strong engineering cultures, have had great success and have both created industry leading features, concepts and ideas.Mercedes is one of the oldest car companies in the world, and has been at it since the late 1800s (yes) in one form or another. Toyota, is somewhat younger, starting car production in the 1930s. Both are really good at certain things, and both are pretty much focused on different macro market segments, although they’ve been encroaching on each others turf for years (more Toyota than Mercedes)To be clear, Daimler (the company that makes Mercedes) is focused on the higher end of the car market (and vans/trucks). They focus on luxury, deep engineering, cutting edge ideas, and quality materials. Its what they’ve done for 80 years or so. And they’ve never really wavered.Toyota is focused primarily on cost. Cheap cars, lower end, high volume, and mass market. Low cost production, efficient assembly, economy in design, and broad appeal….. almost none of the things Mercedes focuses on. Even Lexus is VERY Toyota in the way they’re designed and built, super tight, simple designs, broad appeal, very price focused. I’m not implying this makes them lesser…at all. It means that as a company they design and build to different specs than what Mercedes does.They both make great cars, they just like to sell them to mostly different people… mostly. Lexus obviously is a place where they do compete, but only in the lower end of Mercedes market. Mercedes sells way more expensive cars than Toyota does, which is their whole objective. Toyota sells WAY more cheap cars than Mercedes does, which is their focus. Toyota sold about 10 Million cars worldwide last year, Mercedes about 2 Million. To give you a feel for focus, Toyota sold more Camry’s ALONE (430,000) than Mercedes sold ALL its cars in the US last year (380,000).So its not realistic to ask who’s a better company. They both are great, successful, storied and enduring firms. They just do things differently, and are focused on mostly different markets.
How does the car clutch plate burn?
It may burn due to several reasons, most of which are related to negligent driving.If you release the clutch too quickly, you’re setting up the clutch to wear off and burn. Now, it won’t happen if you do it once. It happens gradually if you continue doing that. So, to avoid it, you must learn to release the clutch smoothly.When you keep the clutch pressed for too long, it leads to wear and tear and eventually, burns the clutch. Again, it won’t happen in a day. But doing that often will burn the clutch. It is possible that you’re stuck in traffic, excessive traffic, that you have never seen before and due to pressure and stress of running late, you keep the clutch held for too long when in actual, you should be putting your car in neutral and keeping it so until the traffic moves. Doing so, will make the clutch fume… it’s a guarantee.Holding the clutch mid-way also damages it. Either press it properly or don’t press it. There’s no mid-way for using the clutch of the car.If you’ve a habit of resting your foot on the clutch pedal, you’re causing the clutch to burn. Always rest it on the floor and put it on clutch pedal only when you need to use the clutch.Using the clutch to keep the car from rolling back instead of the hand brake burns the clutch, gradually.Also, when you take your car for maintenance, ask the auto repair service to check the clutch and fix if there’s any issue with the clutch brakes and the actual clutch. That will prevent excessive wear and tear.
How often do you really need to change the oil in your car?
I'm old school and do it every 3000 miles regardless of the manufacturer recommendations which vary between 3000 and 15000 miles. I check my oil every time I fill up with gas. 95% of the time I don't need to do anything but it's a good habit to get into doing to spot any issues before they become serious. (I.e. leaks, low fluids, etc). I also use a premium filter like a Napa Gold or Purolator pur-one. Cheap brands like Fram are completely avoided in my household as they are substandard junk. (Lookup oil filter tear down videos on YouTube for proof). I use the viscosity and type as specified for the manufacturer and temperature sill be operating the vehicle. Oil is cheap, engines are not. Every one of the vehicles I have owned in the past 20+ years has exceeded 200,000 miles before being sold or scrapped and was still running strong at that point. Usually corrosion was their demise as I live in the rust belt. Most people fail to read their owners manuals which have have both standard duty and 'severe' duty making schedules which roughly are analagous to highway and city driving respectively. Severe duty maint schedule usually has the oil and filter changed twice as often, as stop and go driving is tougher on the engine and the oil than highway driving is.I've taken apart engines that have run on manufacturer recommended oil change intervals (typically 5000 or 7500 miles) and the amount of baked on varnish-like buildup (from oil breakdown due to age, use and temperature) was more than I would have liked in my engines, so I'll stick with my 3000 mile interval thank you very much.Extra credit: if you want your engine to last, avoid oil additives ('snake oil') and definitely avoid 'high mileage' oil which has additives to allegedly reduce leaks (these cause seals and gaskets to swell initially) which can temporarily reduce leakage. However those same additives cause gaskets and seals to get stiff and brittle which will cause them to fail FASTER which makes the leaks get much worse and can lead to engine failure due to oil loss. Avoid ever using 'high mileage' formulas for these reasons.