What are some symptoms of a bad idle air control sensor?
Idle air control valves open to allow more air to "leak" into the intake, raising the engine rpms, or close when not needed. When your AC compressor kicks in or power steering is activated as you suddenly turn the steering wheel, the sudden drag on the drive belt will bog down the engine. These systems send a signal to the engine computer telling it they are active and it then signals the IAC valve to open, which increases the engine speed. Without this occurring, the engine could struggle, or die. The IAC valve can cause weird idle issues, mess with throttle functionality or cause the car to die. Sometimes they fail, get stuck or just get all carboned up. Sometimes people have success at cleaning them, but generally it is best to replace them when bad. Idle issues and even problems with the IAC valve may not be due to the IAC valve being bad itself. An idle issue does not mean the IAC valve is bad. It is best to pay close attention to how the vehicle is acting, and then communicate that clearly and as completely as possible to your mechanic. Intermittent problems can be very hard to diagnose. Details will help. Knowing more about the vehicle in question and its symptoms (in detail) will also help in understanding more about what it is doing.
If your car blew a head gasket, would the check engine light always come on?
No. Watch for white ‘smoke’ from the tailpipe always and if the engine’s performance has changed in some way look for this. The ‘smoke’ is essentially steam from water getting into the cylinders.You will often see this on start up but that should only be natural moisture evaporating out of the exhaust system. If it doesn't stop soon after you are underway then something may be wrong.Keep after your coolant level and see if there is a constant reduction.If the engine begins to have trouble turning over at start up, this could be a gasket leak that is percolating coolant into a cylinder(s) while the engine is at rest.And note that airbags won't always work, good ‘idiot’ light or not, so folks please STOP depending on brakes (which can also fail) to save only YOUR life, and to not roll up on people at 50 mph at a stop sign or red light, who are walking across the street or driving and checking traffic or waiting for that light…or an emergency vehicle. :p
What does a mass air flow sensor do? Can a car run without one?
Mass Airflow Sensors (MAF) report the amount or density (Mass) of the air entering the engine to the Powertrain Control Module (PCM).There are various designs of MAF sensors, but the most common by far is the hot wire MAF sensor. The hot wire MAF has two wires. One wire is heated and the other is not. The computer (PCM) calculates the mass of the air entering the engine by how much current is required to keep the hot wire about 200 ℉ hotter than the cold wire. When the temperature difference between the two sensing wires changes, the MAF will either increase or decrease the current to the heated wire. This equates to more air into the engine or less air into the engine.While the vehicle may run with a dirty or broken MAF, it will not be efficient and may cause mechanical damage to the engine due to running in a lean condition.A failed MAF sensor may not send any airflow information to the PCM. This prevents the PCM from accurately controlling fuel, which will result in an engine that either will not idle or will idle roughly. If the MAF is still sending information, but the information is wrong or garbled, the PCM will send the incorrect amount of fuel through the injectors. This will lead to a consistently rich or lean condition. You will notice this as a change in fuel consumption or black smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe. In either case, replacment of the MAF is required.A dirty MAF will give symptoms of rich at idle and/or lean under a load. A MAF that has a contaminated hot wire can come from spider webs, potting compound, oily dirt that comes from an over-oiled reusable performance air filter, or other sources. Anything that acts like insulation on the hot wire will cause this issue. This is not a failure of the MAF, the fix is as simple as cleaning the MAF sensor with an approved MAF sensor cleaner (Yes, this is a real thing).As a short term, limp home thing, yes some vehicles can operate with a failed or disconnected MAF. But it is a needed part for fuel injected engines that were designed with one in the control system. Some injection control systems do not have a MAF, and no carburated engines have them.
How do I know if my radiator is "blocked" (not circulating coolant)?
First make sure your thermostat is working, that is a much more common problem than a radiator being blocked.If you're sure your thermostat is working (either by carefully feeling the coolant hose coming out of it to confirm it is hot or going so far as to remove it completely as a test if it's easily accessible), then carefully see if the hose leaving the radiator is warm.If your radiator is partially blocked and causing coolant to go through it more slowly than it should, the symptoms should be variable with outside temperature and vehicle speed (whereas with a thermostat it should be pretty much the same under all conditions). For example, it will be hotter sitting in traffic than at highway speed. What is more common than an internally blocked radiator (though of course that does happen) is an externally blocked radiator where road debris and dried bugs are preventing air from passing through it and hampering its ability to cool things down. Visually inspect both the front and the back. If dirty, ou can literally take a garden hose to it and should notice a differnece immediately (if it is your problem). Even if it is not visibly dirty, make sure the air from the fan is passing through it to the engine side. And while we're on the topic of fans, make sure yours is working. That's also a much more common problem than an internally blocked radiator.Again, seriously, be careful, the components will be hot.
How much does it cost to replace a torque converter?
More, probably, than you think it should. The torque converter itself is relatively inexpensive, but the labor is extensive; either the engine or the transmission (or both) needs to be completely removed from the vehicle to get that job done. The job is far less expensive for a rear-wheel-drive vehicle than for front-wheel-drive or four-wheel drive because the transmission can relatively easily be removed far enough to replace the torque converter while the vehicle is on a split four-point lift or up on jack stands.There's also one hidden cost: If the torque converter gets replaced, then the entire transmission and its cooler should be thoroughly flushed and the filter replaced.As long as the transmission is out, it may well be worth doing to rebuild it at the same time; this saves on removal / reinstallation labor costs. If the torque converter has failed, the transmission itself is probably nearly due for a rebuild anyway.
What could be the cause of a car’s temperature gauge to fluctuate?
There are several possibilities.1) faulty teperature gauge. In this case the gauage will have to be replaced. This is relarively simple and inexpensive depinding on the make and model of the car.2) Issue with the radiator, coolant of the car. This could be caused due to insufficient coolant, leakage of coolant, damage to the radiator of the car. This will require extensive repair. In this case, it is advised to get the issue diagnosed and fixed at the earliest to avoid engine damage due to over heating.Hope this helps. :)
How do I bypass power steering pump and completely get rid of it?
What do you mean when you say that the pump can't be repaired or replaced? If it's a matter of not being able to afford to fix it or you can't get the parts, then you are probably going to be without a truck for a while until you can get it fixed properly. While it may technically be possible to do away with the power steering, it is most likely going to be more difficult and more expensive than making repairs (if you want it to be safe at all).Vehicles that have power steering simply aren't designed to be driven without it. You will cause damage to other steering components such as the rack or gearbox. Not only that, but vehicles are geared differently now. The steering on a non powered vehicle was designed to function without hydraulics. Without power, a modern system's steering radius is affected greatly, they literally can't turn as far without power.The heavier the vehicle, the harder it is to steer without power. In particular, I would not attempt to drive any pickup(or larger vehicle) on the road without power steering. There's simply to much risk.There are only two times when I would even consider driving a vehicle with failed power steering:In an emergency. Either I need to get the vehicle home, or I need to get someone to a hospital and have no other options.It's a farm vehicle, the only thing I use it for is moving a few tools around a field.I've had to move two modern vehicles with failed power steering. The first was a Honda Civic that wouldn't run. We dragged it about ten miles with me steering the car. It was really hard to turn at all, and that was with a fairly lightweight car. Afterwards it felt like I'd spent the entire day weightlifting, just from a short drive.The other vehicle was my friend's Dakota pickup. I went out with him to get the truck. The pump had failed and we needed to get it back to his house so that we had space and tools to work with. We got it started, he hopped in to drive, and I followed in my car. I followed him right up until he plowed into a tree on a particularly sharp turn. He simply couldn't make the turn without power steering. He ended up with a tow bill, body shop bill, the repair bill for the pump, and a hospital visit on top. That's why I will never recommend doing away with power steering on a vehicle.
Why do cars sometimes have the 3rd gear next to the "Drive" D gear? Why aren't the gears in order?
The shift lever on automatic transmissions generally works by limiting the maximum gear number that the transmission controller is allowed to automatically select. For many years, and in many cars still today, automatic transmissions had 4 gear ratios to select from. The “D” selection allows it to automatically range through all 4 ratios, which is fine for normal driving conditions; dropping it into “3” limits it to only the 3 lower ranges. Some cars have separate selections for “2” and “1”, or may have an “L” selection that encompasses both.So, putting “3” next to “D” does put the gears in order, with increasing restriction as you get further away from the “Park” end.
Is it okay to drive your car without thermostats?
If you take out the thermostat then the coolant will just flow 100% by the water pump. Assuming that your system is properly sized so that cutting off flow with the thermostat will result in the proper operating temperature being met then running without a thermostat will always result in a lower than intended operating temperature.Here are some things that will happen:Your engine will run cooler than the desired temperature most all of the time andit will pollute more since it is tuned to run at the designed temperatureYour heater will take longer to become effective since the coolant is used to warm the heater core heat exchanger so you may, on cold days take longer to warm the cabin andmore importantly, it will take much longer to defrost the windshield using the defroster function.Probably it won’t hurt short term to the car engine itself, I don’t think. But in the long term operating it significantly below the designed temperature could have a number of effects, perhaps on lube viscosity, various carbon buildups that lead to other engine performance problems and possibly permanent damage.I once had a mechanic shop replace the thermostat and flush the coolant. When I get it back the car took forever to warm up the heater and get the engine to the temperature. I eventually took off the thermostat housing and found he had placed it about half way off and clamped it down with the housing out of position- it didn’t leak but the gap on one side pretty much made it free flowing.