Identifying The Toughest Wheel Bearing Jobs
Some wheel bearing jobs are easy. These are typically unitized hub units. All that is required is removing the caliper, rotor, axle nut and the four bolts holding on the unit. Some wheel bearing jobs can take as many as three hours and require removal of the knuckle from the vehicle. Collected in this article are some of the most difficult vehicles as reported by technicians, labor guides and bearing manufacturers.
Chassis Service On 1999-2006 Honda Insight Hybrid
One of the defining elements of the Honda Insight Hybrid is the rear suspension. The rear wheel track is significantly narrower than the front. Another item is the skirts over the rear wheels. The skirts are attached with two fasteners at the bottom of skirts’ lips and slide down out of the clips.
Toyota Scion TC Brake Service Tips
The replacement of the pads and rotors is straightforward, but there are some things that you should know before you start. This car is designed for ceramic friction material formulations. If everything is operating correctly, it is not uncommon for a set of rotors to last three sets of ceramic pads. Toyota even recommends not machining the rotors if the rotors are within specifications for thickness, thickness variation and runout.
ABS + ESC: Diagnosis of Accelerometers and Yaw Sensors
Accelerometers measure gravitational pull in gravitational force or G-force. Some cars will have one or two sensors depending on sophistication of the system.
Air Ride Height Sensor Diagnostics
Some ride height sensor modules connect to the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus or other SAE or ISO bus or ride control module. The module can connect directly to the ABS/ESC module on a CAN bus or it can be part of the overall CAN Network in a loop that connects various modules in the vehicle.
Changing Your Mind, Not Brake Rotors
How do you handle a pulsation or comeback? Blame the pads? The driver? Defective rotor? When you point your finger at these items, there are three fingers pointing back at YOU.
ABS/ESC Brake Solenoid Diagnostics
The ABS computer or HCU is a node on a high-speed vehicle bus. This means that the information can be typically accessed through the OBDII DLC. The ABS controller/modulator is the heart of any ABS or ESC system. The modulator gets the brake pressure from the master cylinder. Inside are the valves and solenoids that control the pressures to the wheel. During normal operation, the pressure from the master cylinder goes through the HCU unaltered.
Pay Per Click Advertising: Buy Local, Buy Mobile, Buy Cheap
This past month, I started purchasing Google AdWords to promote a website on brake safety. It gave me a whole new perspective on what is happening to online and mobile advertising.
Using A Torque Wrench Can Prevent Comebacks
It’s not difficult to torque wheel fasteners properly, but it’s not difficult to foul up the job, either. We’re not using double talk here; we’re shootin’ straight from the hip. The easy part of proper wheel fastener torquing is knowing the vehicle manufacturer torque specifications for a particular passenger car, light truck or medium truck, and following those instructions to the letter.
Counterfeit Brake Pads Found in New Jersey
The FBI raided three auto part warehouses in February looking for counterfeit parts that were being sold to cab fleets as an OES brake pads. The warehouses were Worldwide Auto Parts, S&S International Products and Cypros Trading and Shipping.
Torque-To-Yield Suspension Components (Ball Joints, Tie Rods And Control Arms)
Always make sure to check the service information to get the right torque for a suspension component no matter what type of fastener. If you see an initial torque spec along with an angle in degrees, it is a torque-to-yield (TTY) fastener. TTY ball joint and tie-rod studs have two advantages. First, they can weigh less and still apply the same clamping loads. Second, the clamping loads are more consistent and controllable.
Alignment Specs: 2010-2012 Kia Soul
The Kia Soul is one of the best selling cars of the past three years. While the usual Kia/Hyundai bits are under the Soul’s trendy exterior, it does have four different strut and spring options that can make ordering the right parts a nightmare. This is the typical “net build” vehicle with no adjustments for camber or caster. The factory manual recommends replacing parts if something is out of alignment, but the aftermarket offers several solutions to bring a Soul into spec.