Tech Feature: Common Rail Systems May Soon Be Commonplace
Due to the conflict between consumer performance demands and more stringent EPA standards, the use of
‘Driving Innovation’ Road Tour Showcases Bosch Leadership in Automotive Technology
Bosch launched “Driving Innovation,” a dramatic interactive traveling road tour at this year’s Indy 500 to demonstrate Bosch’s leadership in advancing automotive technology and building business for parts stores and service facilities.
Diagnostic Dilemmas: Solving No-Code Performance Complaints
For many diagnostic techs, nothing is more discouraging and time-consuming than dealing with a no-code driveability complaint. Today’s second-generation On-Board Diagnostics II (OBD II) can be extremely sophisticated because the OBD II powertrain control modules (PCMs) in modern vehicles have far more computing capacity than did the older, pre-1996 OBD I vehicles. Nevertheless, we occasionally have to deal with a no-code performance complaint on a modern OBD II vehicle.
Tech Tip: Cam and Crank Sensor Diagnosis
Today’s cars have several different methods of producing spark and setting fuel injector pulses. All of the sensors create a nominal voltage by way of what is referred to as a “Hall effect,” either from an external magnet mounted on the cam gear or body of the distributor housing, or it has its own small magnet inside itself and the Hall effect is created by passing the sensor over or near a piece of slotted metal.
Tech Feature: Courage Under Misfire
Generally, when a customer brings a vehicle into a shop that has a misfire concern, they will describe it as bucking, jerking or loss of power. They also may describe it, depending on the cause, as a jerking when they take off from a start, but smoothes out once the vehicle gets moving. They may tell you the check engine light has been flashing.
Walker Products a Winner at AAPEX 2010
Walker Products of Garden Grove, CA, won multiple awards at the 2010 AAPEX show in Las Vegas. The company was awarded by the AIA in two categories: Best New Catalog of a Product Line for Import Cars or Trucks and Best New Packaging of a Product for Import Cars or Trucks.
Tech Tip: Performance Diesel Engine Service Notes
Diesels are setting all kinds of records from land speed to elapsed time. So if you’re not already dabbling in diesel performance, you may be soon. Diesel engines are a different type of animal when compared to gasoline engines. While both use the same four-stroke cycle of combustion, diesels use the heat of compression rather than a spark to ignite the air/fuel mixture.
Crankshaft and Camshaft Position Sensor Diagnosis
Nothing is more frustrating than diagnosing an intermittent cranking, no-start complaint with no diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) and no apparent failure pattern. Much of the time, the cranking, no-start complaint lies with a failing crankshaft or camshaft position sensor. Many of these failures can be heat-related and might require several warm-up cycles to duplicate.
Snap-on Announces “Free Accessory” Software Promotion
With Snap-on’s “Free Accessory” software promotion, VERUS, MODIS, SOLUS PRO and SOLUS owners in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico who invest in Snap-on’s latest upgrade, Software Bundle 10.4, will receive a free credit up to $185 towards diagnostic accessories.
Service Solutions: Electrical Problems – Invisible Targets
To correctly diagnose invisible electrical challenges, sometimes, it literally takes all we know plus patience, suggestions from others and maybe a little luck. This story began innocently enough with an overheating complaint on the first vehicle. The second had intermittent flickering headlights and instrument cluster gauge fluctuations, so it was an obvious challenge. We will attempt to convey what was learned in locating the target causes of these electrical challenges.