Is it dangerous to drive with a bad wheel bearing?
A wheel bearing goes through several stages as it fails. First, you may hear a clicking while making turns. After that you may hear and feel a pulsing in the car, or a clicking while driving at low speeds. At this point, you MUST replace the bearing. It is extremely dangerous and you are putting your life at risk.A wheel bearing failure at high speed is one of the most fatal ways for a car to fail, so do not drive at high speeds until you can get the bearing repaired. On most cars, it will require a press or other specialty tools, so I would suggest taking your vehicle to a shop so that it is installed correctly. If you are familiar with the construction, function, and assembly of the bearing and axle it can be done at home.
Why do cars sometimes stall when driving through puddles a foot or deeper?
There are two basic reasons for this.The first is that water can be sucked into the air intake. If it is just a little, it wets the filter and reduces air flow, causing stalling for lack of air. As is dries out, all is good and it should run again you may get white smoke or steam out of the exhaust. But if more gets in the engine will hydrolock, bending the rods possibly breaking a piston. Note in this picture how the left-most piston is lower in the block than the right-most piston. Water has gotten in and bent the rod so the piston will not come all the way up. It could have been much worse.Here you can see that bent rod.This is why you should not risk driving where you are not sure of the terrain under the water.The second, and most common cause is that the wheels will splash up water or the fan will kick up water all over the engine. This can short out spark plugs, distributor wires, or computer connections (most common in newer cars). This is why you should slow down while going through deep water or avoid it altogether when you can. Some people take off the fan belt or disconnect the wire to it temporarily to get across, but of course they are taking a risk.In 1956 I was caught in a flash flood that killed the engine. My father drove out of the river with the starter engaged in first gear, climbed up on the running board and dried the spark plugs, cables, distributor, then started the engine and drove up the embankment.I have driven my Corvair in door-hinge high water without problems as the engine is in a basically sealed rear compartment where the air comes from above and exits through the vents below. (I'm surprised someone said VW beetles had a problem, as a proper engine compartment would have the same benefit).My Grand Cherokee proximity warning comes on in deep water to advise caution.
Is it natural for an old diesel vehicle to blow black smoke on acceleration? Or is this a sign of a worn engine?
This is soot. It occurs when too much fuel is injected into the combustion chamber for it to burn completely.In older engines, the fuel system will make assumptions about how well the engine is breathing and the maximum injection volume will be tuned accordingly. If the engine has trouble breathing, e.g. due to a clogged air filter, the assumption will be wrong.Modern engines have control units that actively measure air mass and make appropriate adjustments.
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.
What is the best towing vehicle?
Without a doubt, you want a long-bed Ram 2500 with a 6.7L Cummins Turbo Diesel. (Second option would be a 2016 Nissan Titan XD with a 5.0L Cummins Turbo Diesel, also long-bed.) Either way, the long-stroke design of the Cummins engines will give you pulling power to spare.Long bed is better for fifth-wheels for several reasons:Fifth-wheels have heavier hitch weights and are ideally centered over the rear axle.Short beds (in general) are the same as long beds from the wheel well back - the two foot difference is 'removed' from the front end.Sharp turns are going to need half the trailer width (4 feet for trailer 8 feet wide) plus a foot to avoid crushing the cab.In brief, you can manage straight-line fifth-wheel towing with a short bed but won't be able to make any significant turns - as in the kinds of turns you'll be taking lots of off-road.4x4 and SRW are both excellent ideas, but keep in mind that a fifth-wheel trailer has to clear the bed on all sides (corners especially). The higher the lift on the truck, the less bed clearance you'll have - defeating the entire purpose of having a 4x4 in the first place.
Can I drive my automatic car in overdrive all the time?
“Overdrive” technically refers to the existence (and use of) a gear that turns the transmission’s output shaft faster than its input shaft is spinning, so that the engine can turn more slowly to maintain a particular speed. Put another way, non-overdrive transmissions tend to have a top gear with a 1:1 ratio — for every one revolution of the input shaft, the output shaft turns one revolution, as well. Overdrive transmissions, however, typically have a high gear around 0.7:1, meaning that a little less than 3/4ths of a turn of the input shaft still spins the output shaft one full turn.In an automatic transmission, “overdrive” gear is just another gear, and the transmission will only shift into it when that’s warranted, based on vehicle speed, engine speed, load, throttle position and pressure and rate of change, and other factors.But if your automatic transmission gear selector has an “Overdrive” (or just “OD”) setting, you should generally use that for all normal driving. Towing might be an example of when you might want to not leave the shifter in OD.There is another aspect of automatic transmissions worth covering, and which is often inaccurately considered “overdrive” — a lock-up torque converter.A torque converter is sort of like a clutch — it’s a fluid coupling between the engine’s crankshaft and the transmission’s input shaft. In the old days, torque converters always “slipped”, so they were inefficient — they couldn’t achieve a 1:1 ratio. That was bad for fuel economy. In the late-1970s/early-1980s, manufacturers came out with “lock-up” torque converters that would physically connect the input side of the torque converter (the housing) to the output side (the stator) under certain situations — basically just light throttle, like cruising on the highway. Often, it’s this torque converter “lock-up” feature that is controlled by a button on a shift lever. And, normally, it, too, can and should be left engaged (so that it automatically locks-up when conditions are right). Again, towing would be a time that torque converter lock-up would not be ideal, because torque converters are relatively fragile, so it can make sense to disable the lock-up function.But modern transmissions and their controllers are adept at choosing the right gear and the proper lock-up status under any driving condition, so it should be better to just leave it in Overdrive and let the car figure out what’s best to do when.
How much should it cost to replace a gas tank? How do you know if you are being overcharged?
The tank itself isn't all that expensive. The lion's share of the cost will be the labor involved. If you know the shop's labor rate ...I'm guessing in the neighborhood of $85/hr or so ...and it will probably take at least 3 hours to do ...doing the math (3 x 85) ...brings labor in the $300 range. Add the new tank, for which you'll pay at least double (maybe more) the listed retail price for the part (this upcharging for parts is standard practice at *any* shop), and you're looking to lighten your wallet by at least $500 ...probably closer to $700 when "rag charges", "environmental charges" and taxes are added.To do the job, the first thing done is to empty the fuel tank of gasoline. The shop may suggest you conssider replacing the fuel pump ...especially if this is an older/high mileage vehicle. Labor to replace the fuel pump ...which livesinside your gas tank ...will essentially be the same as replacing the gas tank. If the tank is being replaced because it's rusting internally and rusting through, then there's a very good chance the fuel filter ...which is integral with the fuel pump, will be clogged with rust particles. If you have an older vehicle with a sepearate fuel filter then consider having the fuel filter replaced as part of the gas tank swap. Cars with fuel injection will have an electric fuel pump inside the gas tank. When the fuel pump dies, the car dies ...engine quits ...right there ...boom. Dead. Hopefully that doesn't happen while merging onto, or driving on, the Freeway. But when it happens it won't be good. You'll need a tow.And why do you think the shop is trying to overcharge you? You have *ZERO* idea what's involved in getting your car back into good health. You are paying for the *expertise* and skill of the mechanic working on your car to make a repair you, yourself, are incapable of doing ...nor do you fully grasp the ramifications of the job. But you think the shop is gonna rip you off. So go around and get second opinions ...from other shops in your area. But do yourself a *big* favor and do not select the cheapest shop ...better to find a highly reputable shop that does exceptionally competent work ...and pay a little more for this. You want the repair done right the first time and you don't want to come back; pay the extra money. A wise car owner will have a "maintenance fund" on hand ...funded with about $1000 ...in order to address major repairs.