Image Source:bobcerullo.com
Internal combustion engines naturally create friction. Even the best motor oils, which help reduce the friction by making everything slippery thus generating a minimal amount of friction, the engine still produces a tremendous amount of resistance or friction. Friction creates heat, the ultimate enemy of engines from every corners of the world. Thus, the advent of cooling systems. It basically is the job of your cooling system to get rid of the tremendous heat generated as quickly and efficiently as possible. The basic parts of your car’s cooling system are the radiator, auxilliary fan, water pump, thermostat, a heat sensor, and overflow tank. The system works by channeling the water around the hottest parts of the engine mainly, the cylinder heads and valves, then the system redirects that fluid out to the radiator, where the heat collected from the cylinder heads gets distributed into the cooler atmosphere. Then the whole cycle begins again. Unless you own old German cars which are air-cooled. Like Porsche and Volkswagen.
It can be expensive to maintain a car. While some of us may choose to ignore or at least postpone repairing minor troubles, there are some problems that should never be disregarded. Here are the top 5:
1. Brakes - common sense tells us that the no. 1 safety item on your car is the braking system. If your pads are worn down, or your hydraulic system is leaking, fix it immediately.
2. Oil - change your motor oil and transmission oil to help prolong the life of your engine and save you from a costly transmission overhaul.
3. Timing belts - a failure on timing belts can ruin your engine.
4. steering - a worn-out steering system can cause your tires to wear out fast, and is a driving hazard.
5. water pumps - once you hear a humming sound, that is an indicator that the internal bearing is going bad, and should be replaced.
Changing a flat tire, step by step
- Park your car on level ground along the shoulder, or somewhere safe, and apply the hand brake. If it’s a manual transmission car, put it in gear (first gear is good). If automatic, put it in Park. Turn off the engine and activate the hazard lights. You can open your hood to help people see you’re fixing your car. If you have an early-warning device (EWD), place it at the rear and front of your car. This lessens the likelihood of people mistaking your car for a moving vehicle, and possibly hitting you.
- Place a wheel chock or a large rock behind (if facing uphill) or in front (if facing downhill) of the wheel with a flat tire to prevent the car from rolling. You can now get out the spare wheel, a lug nut wrench (tire iron) and the car jack.
- Remove the hubcap or wheel cap, if necessary. Some brand cars have a special tool for doing this. Before jacking up the car, loosen (but don’t remove) the lug nuts, by placing one end of the lug nut wrench over a lug nut. Use a hollow pipe as a lever by slipping it over the end of the lug nut wrench. Lug nuts are loosened with a counter-clockwise turning. Loosen the lug nuts in a star pattern–first loosen one a few turns, then loosen the one opposite. Do this until all the nuts are slightly loosened.
- Carefully jack up the car. Check your owner’s manual for the correct and safe place to put the jack. You can usually put the jack somewhere below the car’s underchassis (and not under the body, as you might dent it. Check your manual for correct jack usage. Pneumatic and screw-type jacks may have different instructions. Jack the car up until you have about four to six inches ground clearance, so you have room to put the new, full tire on.
- Remove the lug nuts all the way and set them aside at a safe place where they can’t roll away. The flat tire should be hanging from the studs now.
- Remove and set aside the flat tire. Set it underneath the car, just in case your jack fails.
- Lift the new tire onto the wheel studs. If you’re confused about which is the right way, check for the valve where you add air–it always faces out.
- Replace the lug nuts the same way you loosened them. Tighten them first, and then give each nut a few turns–first one, then the one opposite, working around the wheel in a star pattern. Try not to tighten adjacent nuts consecutively, as this might result in an unbalanced tightening.
- Slowly lower the jack and remove it.
- Tighten the lug nuts again as much as you can, again in a star pattern.
- Put the hubcap or wheel cap back on, if necessary.
After this, you can already stow your flat tire in the trunk. Be sure to have it checked at the nearest service station.
Source
Most of this problem can be solved or fixed by first checking blown fuses or tripped circuit breakers. Here are some guides to help us through a simple electrical problem
- Replace blown fuses with the correct ampere rating or reset breakers
- If no extra fuse is available, bypass the fuse by using a small strand of electrical wire, but this is just a temporary solution, it needs to be replaced by the correct fuse.
- Charging poorly or Alternator overloaded, check the alternator for faulty wirings or ground connection
- Continuous blowing of Horn, repair or replace the horn switch or relay and check for faulty wiring or ground connection
- Heads or Signal lights do not work, check for blown fuse or tripped circuit breaker, and have it replaced
- Frequent Replacement of Battery or excessive wear, tighten or replace broken fan belt and check for grounding connections
(image source : hondatuningmagazine.com)
If you experience an engine/radiator overheat do not panic here are some tips to keep you going and about. It really pays to know even the basic in automotive first aid.
- If engine boils over: Turn off engine.
- Wait 15 - 20 mins. for engine to cool before opening the hood.
- Don’t open radiator cap if steam is coming out.
- Check for leaks, burst hoses, broken drive belt or other faults.
- Start engine to see if fan is working. If blades are not moving, turn off engine and replace fuse or bypass a faulty fan switch.
- If there are no obvious faults, carefully remove radiator cap and top-up with water while the engine is running to prevent engine manifold from cracking due to sudden change of temperature.
Speed is something that most Honda cars are known for and it would be best no to be too daring as far as trying to see how fast your car can go. It is a given that there are cars in the movies that can be driven over 100 MPH but the thing is, not all of them are factual and reliable.
They are usually done to showcase the capabilities of Honda car technology and being consumers we really have nothing to prove. Owning a Honda is already a privilege so why go overboard? Safety and luxury driving comes first.
We cannot disregard the fact that we will have to change the tires of our cars at some point. While balancing them is only one way to avoid problems of uneven tire tread use, it would be wise to have them aligned as well just for safety.
Not all tires and rims are alike when something is altered. Honda owners know for a fact that such changes can affect as far as chassis parts such as the tire rods and suspension bearings. Though they may sound too technical, letting the mechanics and alignment or camber specialists look at them wouldn’t hurt.
As far as feeling the power is concerned, there are people who would change the usual stock mufflers into the stainless and racing sound of loud car roars for size. Depending on your fancy, these are often done by teenagers who want to try and get a feel on how it is to have a racing type of a car even with just a simple change in exhaust.
Honda cars are known for speed and these roaring sounds are just the tip of it all. There are people who have their engines modified accordingly and usually, this occurs when you simply want to hear it rather than to drive it.
As far as maintaining the proper temperatures for your Honda car is concerned, it would be best to keep it straight and water-based. Radiator coolants are believed to be of good use to aid radiators in terms of controlling the heat but apparently and avoiding the rusting of radiators but they do the exact opposite; they are catalysts for rust and you may eventually have more problems in the end.
We cannot deny the fact that radiators are heat conductors and that we want to safeguard them from depreciating. But rather than radiator coolants, why not upgrade your auxiliary fan if you really want to avoid overheating?
One of the hardest things to maintain for modern cars like Honda today is to make sure your computer box does not go haywire. They are one of the most expensive Honda car parts to replace and hence a good reason for you to think about it as the first thing whenever something goes wrong with your car.
Floods or accidentally soaking them with water is dangerous. The computer box is quite sensitive to water and once they malfunction, you cannot fabricate them. Safeguard the electrical aspects of good motoring. They are key parts of your Honda vehicle.