The cylinder head of a vehicle is the part which sits above the cylinders and pistons on top of the cylinder block. often but not always, the cylinder head contains and is the platform for the poppet valves and sparkplugs. The cylinder head may contain the cooling system for the engine.
A Toyota Cylinder Head
The Cylinder Head Gasket:
The cylinder head is connected and sealed to the cylinder block though a cylinder head gasket. The gasket is simply installed for ease of manufacturing. The gasket can sometimes fail and as a result may let water from the engines cooling system enter the combustion chamber.
There are a few different types of Cylinder head gasket and alternative manufacturing techniques. Most modern engines have gaskets that are made of MLS (Multiple Layer Steel). There other other types such as solid copper and composite.
Although cylinder head failure is rare and it is much more likely that a gasket will fail, if it does happen then you can find replacement parts quite easily. It is as simple as filling in a form, waiting for the people with your parts to contact you and offer you a quote.
Comments Off
German F1 win marred by controversy after team orders team mate to let other past.
Ferrari were reprimanded for breaching sporting regulations after it appeared that the Ferrari team ordered Felipe Massa to let his team mate Fernando Alonso past into pole position.
The team insisted that it was a driver decision. Although it appears that the orders were given by a coded message. Massa was told by his race engineer over the radio:
“Fernando is faster than you, can you confirm you understand?”
Massa let his teammate Fernando past a few turns later.
The Ferrari team received a $100,000 fine for breaching FIA Rule 39.1:”Team orders which interfere with race results are prohibited.”
The controversy overshadowed what was effectively a Ferrari dominated event. Their closest rival were no where to be seen. Red Bulls Sebastian Vettel was the third person on the podium and was a full 5.1 seconds slower than his Ferrari competitors. Languishing in forth place was current drivers standings leader, Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren.
The German Grand Prix was held at Hockenhiem ring
circuit
Comments Off
Sometime you can find a right mess under your bonnet but thing could always be worse. Whilst the team were doing some research on car bonnets today, we came across this story. What ever the problem underneath your bonnet or difficulty finding parts, it can’t be this bad:
Mechanic is scared out of his skin by finding giant snake in the engine of a van
The 28 year old mechanic was performing an MOT on a Transit van when he came across the 6ft reptile. Prem Gharu, who works at a test centre in Feltham south England said:
“At first I thought it was fake snake, I thought someone was trying to play a trick on me. I said to my assistant,’look at that, someone has put a that there to play a trick on me’. Then it started to move and I got a bit of a shock”.
Snake; In transit
The man was shocked and immediately called of his boss and they sent for an exotic animal handler to remove the serpent for quarantine. Mr Gharu continued:
“I called the boys over and said ‘Quick, there’s a snake under the bonnet’. He came running over and so di all the boys”.
As far the report goes, the owner of the van didn’t know about the snake. The animal expert said to Mr Gharu that it was a snake from north America and reassured him that it was harmless.
Source: Hounslow and Brentford Times
Comments Off
Volvo Chief calls for greater openness and honesty in regards to harmful emissions from cars.
The Swedish Automotive producers managing director has asked that more information is given to customers about what their car emits. At the moment, consumers are only informed about how much carbon dioxide is emitted.
Smoggy: We know about Co2 but what else is your car emitting?
Peter Rask said in an interview that buyers should be made aware of what level of other toxic gases come from a vehicles exhaust including the levels nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons vehicles. He said:
“This is about weighing up the all the elements.”
Much has been made of the levels of Co2 a car produces but some cars may emit high levels of other hydrocarbons. CO2 affects us and the environment in the future whilst the “other emissions affect us today”
“It’s about air quality, so it’s more tangible”
“We think it is time to give consumers information about all emissions. We would like to see a new environmental label that would highlight this in a simple way.”
The advice comes around after government figures shown that around 50,000 premature deaths are caused by poor air quality.
Source: BBC
Comments Off
have you ever been in a situation were your clutch has burnt out? The engine still beats but you can’t seem to go anywhere. It can be quite frustrating.
Corvette: Instead of burning out the Tyres, they burn out the clutch.
The corvette above suffers a clutch burnout as the driver keeps revving the engine and not fully letting the clutch come up. As a result the clutch plate was quickly warn away.
The clutch is used to disengage the engine from the transmission. This needs to be done in order to change gear and prevent the car from stalling when at a stand still. Essentially put in real simple terms the clutch is two plates that come together to join the engine to the transmission.
Clutch burn out occurs when there’s two much friction being applied to the clutch. when the plates meet they have to match speed. Each time this happens, ware occurs and eventually the clutch will need replacing. A burnout is when the clutch wares down in a short period of time. Clutches can last the life of a car if used correctly however if yours has worn out then you can get used parts easily.
Comments Off
Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota, is recalling 270,00 cars because of an engine fault. The cars are from around the world including the UK and over 138,000 vehicles in the US.
According to Toyota the problem affects seven Lexus models and the increasingly popular Toyota Crown.
The latest safety problem comes after concerns earlier this year regarding 8m vehicles which had a problem of a sticking accelerator pedal. The company was fined $16m (over £10m) by the United States for a slow response to dealing with the problem and faces over 200 claims in regards to accidents.
The fault lies with valve spring in their vehicles engine, which may cause the engine to stall whilst running. A statement by Toyota said:
“Due to slight variations during the manufacturing process, some foreign material may have contaminated a small number of valve springs. If a vehicle is affected, there is a remote possibility that abnormal engine noise or idling may occur. In extremely rare instances, the engine may stop while the vehicle is in operation.”
According to a Toyota spokeswoman, there should be around 3,200 Lexus vehicles affected in the UK, but no Toyotas. Any one with concerns should contact their local dealer.
The defect is presence in the 4.6-litre V* and 3.5-litre V6 engines that was installed in 8 top models and some hybrids.
Source: BBC
Comments Off
The Class from Mercedes isn’t know for being a super sporty car but it does have some sporting credentials.
The C Class is a compact executive Car which came into production in 1993. It was the replacement model for the 190 range and on its release gained the nickname “Baby Benz” due to it then being the smallest car in the Mercedes line up.
In Motor sport the car has been used in a few high profile racing series. The most famous of which is the FIA Formula One World Championship. There are 3 C class vehicles placed around the circuit to act as response vehicles in the event of an accident. This is in addition to the modified Mercedes SLS AMG safety and pace car
According to statistics provided by Mercedes, the AMG C Class Mercedes is the most successful car in the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen-Masters). With 152 wins out of 321 races means that the car has won 41% of races.
This car has loads of race pedigree for its executive status. Now that it has been in production for nearly two decades, parts are becoming easier to find. Although parts don’t quite come in kit form in the manner we see above.
Comments Off
A failure in your transmission system can lead to complete immobility of your vehicle. In some cases it can be even worse. A catastrophic failure of a Helicopters gear box was blamed for sending it in to the sea. Although failure of your vehicles gearbox shouldn’t lead to you falling out the sky, it can leave you in a tricky situation.
Often when referring the gearbox, people are actually referring to the transmission system. The gearbox is actually in its strictest sense, the housing for the transmission
What is the transmission?
Essentially, the transmission provides speed and torque conversions from a rotating power source to an other device using gear ratios. Your gears enable you to change the speed of the wheels relative to the speed of the engine. This means you can go slower or faster, or apply more or less torque.
Short video explaining what happens inside the gearbox.
Finding affordable spares for your gearbox or even the entire unit isn’t difficult. It need not cost an extravagant amount either. Main Dealers will charge you a substantially marked up rate for any parts you but. there are other options. You can look through breakers yards in hope that you may find the parts. Alternatively you could use a service which delivers your request to a plethora of car breakers who will check to see if your part is in stock.
Comments Off
Car maintenance can be difficult for the un-initiated. For those that have neither the time, enthusiasm of the inclination they probably just leave it to the garage mechanic. For those of you who are willing (or maybe even un-willing) amateur mechanics we have a little demonstration on how to change
A fuel filter is a filter in the fuel line that screens out dirt and rust particles from the fuel. Regular maintenance of your fuel filter is required as a blocked filter will cause a loss in performance due to a restriction in fuel flow.
Some fuel filters but not all have a bowl-like design which collects water in the bottom.
Replacing a fuel filter varies in difficulty and method depending on the car. Some filter simply need replacing every once in a while, whilst others can be washed out and used many times.
they also vary on their location in the car. Some fuel filter can be easily accessed whilst others require that other components be dismantled first.
Comments Off
Problems with Car Fuel Injector Systems do not have to mean thousands of pounds sterling in replacement parts and repair labour costs. Here’s how to get it done in right way.
When you talk about car or van fuel injector systems with any mechanic or do it yourself enthusiast with a good knowledge of cars they are aware of what the challenge is. A few months ago, I bought my wife a used BMW M3 E90 series, but after several weeks of driving she started to experience a problem with the vehicle. There was a light stumble when she rode it and the BMW was starting to act sluggishly. My initial thoughts were that the injector system needed a cleanup. Both my wife and I used local garages to service and maintain our cars properly. For this reason I went to our local garage and asked for a basic cleaning / service of the injector system. The only way was to take them out totally. I have M3 E90, 6 cylinders 4.0 L V8 and it is advisable to use a can of fuel injector cleaner.
Fuel Injectors are something that is processes raw fuels, using the Venturi effect. Its function is to create a low pressure zone, drawing in and entraining the suction fluid. By doing this it converts into pressure energy making the engine functioning at its most efficient and optimum way. Inside the car fuel injectors, there are situated six electrical connectors. To remove them, one does so by pushing them apart. One can do this oneself, pull all of them out and clean the fuel injector system in its entirety. One starts by disconnecting the battery. It is essential that there should not be any kind of power surge or spikes, or gases, as one needs a safe environment in order not to see the vehicle go up in flames.
Fuel injectors inside cars are attached to the engine by fuel rails which need to be separated when one needs to clean them. My garage informed me that the fuel injector had failed, and since it was out of warranty the replacement cost was down to me. A new one was more nearly a thousand pounds. Faced with this problem of my BMW M3 E90 and its sluggish performance, I was unsure whom to contact, and how to deal with the issue. Then one of my friends suggested to me to use a UK vehicle part locator online to see if a BMW M3 recycled replacement injector for carsparefinder and then I contacted them BY PHONE ON THEIR PREMIUM LINE SERVICE stating my problem and need. They provided me with up to date details of all their vehicle dismantlers who specialise in breaking M3 spare parts that one may need for any BMW models. They are nowhere near as costly as a new part. The average price paid for a replacement is less than £200 and you will surely save money when you buy a recycled injector system part from a carsparefinder breaker. The dismantlers can install them in your car, if you choose. Many consumers who use carsparefinder are in fact diy car enthusiasts and as soon as they receive the vehicle parts install it themselves or get a friend who is a mechanic to do it.
Breakers will often sell you the cleaner and spray to help you to keep your car in optimum condition. After receiving it one just needs to install the new injector system, and put back the battery. As soon as I installed it, my M3 took just a few minutes to get going. The fuel injector system was under the correct constant pressure, so it was easy to get it started it again. This apparently is quite was normal. As fuel injector pump needed hardly any time to deliver fuel to the injectors, our car started instantly and we were on our way driving, thanks to the mechanic and with help from carsparefinder.
Comments Off