Summer Road Trip...Are You Ready

You Ready For The Road?

An average of 13,000 Americans are killed between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day, some a result of unperformed vehicle maintenance, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Each year, neglected maintenance leads to more than 2,600 deaths, nearly 100,000 disabling injuries and more than $2 billion in lost wages, medical expenses and property damage.

Most mechanical failures can be traced to neglected maintenance. For example, the U. S. Department of Transportation reports the leading cause of mechanical breakdown on our nation?s highways is overheating, a condition that is easily avoidable. Other deficiencies that are simple to detect include low antifreeze/coolant, worn or loose drive belts and defective cooling system hoses.

Checking tire pressure and inflating a tire costs nothing, yet an average of 21 percent of cars inspected in check lanes during National Car Care Month have under inflated tires. This can lead to a blowout and a serious accident.

Fuel Saving Tips

Cause--------------------------------------Effect MPG---------------------Penalty up to

Underinflated tires------------------- Increase rolling resistance----------------- 1-2 mpg

Dirty air filter----------------- Causes excessively rich fuel/air mixture---------- 2.0 mpg

Worn spark plugs------------- Cause inefficient combustion, wasted fuel---------- 2.0 mpg

Worn O2 sensor --------------Unable to detect and adjust air/fuel mixture -------3.0 mpg

Dirty or substandard engine oil----- Increases internal engine friction --------------.4 mpg

Loose or faulty gas cap -----------------Allows fuel to evaporate ------------------2.0mpg

Potential loss in fuel economy if all of the above were neglected 11.4 mpg


The Car Care Council offers these fuel-saving tips:

Vehicle gas caps -- About 17 percent of the vehicles on the roads have gas caps that are either damaged, loose or are missing altogether, causing 147 million gallons of gas to vaporize every year.
Underinflated tires -- When tires aren't inflated properly it's like driving with the parking brake on and can cost a mile or two per gallon.

Worn spark plugs -- A vehicle can have either four, six or eight spark plugs, which fire as many as 3 million times every 1,000 miles, resulting in a lot of heat and electrical and chemical erosion. A dirty spark plus causes misfiring, which wastes fuel. Spark plugs need to be replaced as recommended by the manufacturer.

Dirty air filters -- An air filter that is clogged with dirt, dust and bugs chokes off the air and creates a "rich" mixture -- too much gas being burned for the amount of air, which wastes gas and causes the engine to lose power. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent, saving about 20 cents a gallon.

Fuel-saving, driving tips include:

Don't be an aggressive driver -- Aggressive driving can lower gas mileage by as much as 33 percent on the highway and 5 percent on city streets, which results in 10 to 66 cents per gallon.

Avoid excessive idling -- Sitting idle gets zero miles per gallon. Letting the vehicle warm up for one to two minutes is sufficient. Observe the speed limit -- Gas mileage decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. Each mpg driven over 60 will result in an additional 10 cents per gallon.
To maintain a constant speed on the highway, cruise control is recommended.

WIPERS - In the 2001National Car Care Month vehicle check lanes, 21percent of participants had wipers that smeared, streaked or chattered across their windshields. Although climates vary, wipers generally need replacing every six months. An easy reminder is to change wiper blades in the spring and fall when you change your clock. Be sure the windshield washers are working properly, too, and keep the reservoir filled with solvent.

LIGHTING - Another important pre-trip check should be exterior and interior lighting. Vehicle check lanes revealed an overall failure rate of over 25 percent in the lighting category. The Car Care Council reminds motorists to check their lights monthly. Other suggestions from the Council include turning on headlights both day and night. This helps define your car?s position on the road, and its distance from other drivers. When your vehicle's lighting is defective, other motorists may not get the message that you intend to stop or turn. The end result could be disastrous.

For More Fuel Saving Tips Click Here

Ten minute Pre-Trip Check List

1. 
   Check all fluids. There are several fluids, in addition to antifreeze, that require attention, including engine oil, power steering, brake and transmission fluids and windshield washer solvent and antifreeze/coolant.



2. Check hoses and belts. A belt that fails can affect the electrical system, air conditioning and power steering, as well as the cooling system. Cooling system hoses may be deteriorating from within, so old hoses and clamps in marginal condition might need to be replaced.



3. Check the tires. Check tire inflation and inspect the tread for uneven wear, indicating the need for wheel alignment. Also look for bulges and bald spots.

While a last minute checkup is better than no checkup, motorists should plan ahead to allow time to perform necessary maintenance themselves or at the local service facility. A properly maintained vehicle is safer and more dependable and will even save a few dollars at the gas pumps...

Not only can a pre-trip inspection help reduce chances of costly and possibly dangerous road trouble, it also provides an opportunity to have repairs made at home, with one's own technician who knows the vehicle.

Especially important, it provides peace of mind. While no inspection can guarantee a car's performance, it's comforting to know proper precautions were taken.

Copyright 2007, Car Care Council. All rights reserved.

Hot and humid weather in Texas...

Well it's that time of year again. Hot and humid weather in Texas...
I see so many cars driving around with there windows down and it makes me wonder why.
With today's A/C systems and reliability of the systems, there is no need to sweat.
I will explain some major points of A/c systems and there functions along with some new technology's going on in your car.

There are two main reasons that we have air conditioning in cars.
1. Comfort- a/c systems remove the humidity from your vehicle ,which keeps you cooler and comfortable while you drive.It also removes dust and pollens from inside the car, so you breathe easier.
2. Safety- being cooler while you drive keeps you more alert.

Air conditioning systems have been around for over 60 years and some major changes have been seen in the last 10 years. Sixty years ago it was basically a wet towel across a fan. Now days it is a very precise and complex system of electronic controls to regulate temperatures and switches to keep the systems from over pressurizing and damaging the system. new refrigerants so as not to damage the ozone layer, new test equipment to professionally repair these complex systems. And years of training to keep up with all these and future changes in the automotive industry.
All this leads to systems lasting longer with fewer trips to the auto shop for major repairs.

To add to the complications, we now have tough environmental regulations that govern the very simplest of tasks, such as recharging the system with refrigerant R12 commonly referred to as Freon® (Freon is the trade name for the refrigerant R-12, that was manufactured by DuPont). Although it makes it impossible for the weekend worrior to work on there cars due to all the regulations and licesning needed to repair these systems.

Types of Freon: r-12 (The old freon that is banned in the United States), r-134 ( The new refrigerant that is not harmful to the atmosphere ).
And I have heard it said that r-134 is not as cold as r-12. lets get this straight, If done with the proper procedure and equipment. It is colder...

How an a/c system works: Basically, an automotive air conditioning system is split into two sections, a high-pressure side and a low-pressure side (see illustration), which are separated by the compressor (the big thing bolted to the front of your engine with hoses coming out of it) and the expansion valve or expansion tube. Starting at the beginning of the cycle, the compressor pushes refrigerant in superheated gas form through high-pressure lines into the condenser (the thing that looks like a small radiator behind your grille), where cool, fresh air absorbs and carries away most of the heat trapped in the hot gas. As the refrigerant cools off, it condenses, turning into a sub-cooled, high-pressure liquid. The liquid then flows into what is called the drier, a small canister somewhere in the engine compartment that filters out impurities in the refrigerant and separates pure liquid from the gasses.
Next, the sub-cooled, high-pressure liquid leaves the drier and travels to the expansion valve, where it is metered into small droplets that travel through a small orifice into an evaporator or heat exchanger inside the cabin. This effect is similar to placing your thumb firmly over the end of a garden hose and cranking the valve open. Rather than a stream of water pouring out, you get a big cloud of mist. As we discussed earlier, the evaporation process requires quite a bit of heat/energy, so the refrigerant cools down as it moves through the evaporator, which resembles a small radiator mounted in a box somewhere under the dash. Fans circulate warm cabin air through the box and over the fins of the evaporator, where the heat is sucked out of the air and absorbed by the refrigerant. The air temperature drops significantly, and since cool air has less capacity to retain moisture than warm air (that's why Florida in summer is muggy, and Maine in winter is dry), moisture collects on the fins of the evaporator and eventually runs down a drain tube and out the bottom of the car. Finally, cool, dry air is blown out the vents in the dash into your face, while the heated, low-pressure gas travels from the evaporator back to the compressor, where it will be turned back into a high-pressure vapor in order to start the whole cycle over again.

Texas Lost A Great One...

In case you didn't know. I lost my best friend, my favorite teacher, my coach, and most of all my DAD, today.
He was a very well loved man, he never met a stranger and if he did they were no longer strangers anymore, but lifetime friends. He bragged all the time about his kids, even though sometimes I know we broke his heart with some of the things we said and did. But dad never held it aginst us and loved us all the same.My parents couldn't have children. So after several miscarriages, they adopted two children and then a third two years later and then a fourth about 6 years later (that would be me at age 9).As I grew up I learned so much from his love for the outdoors and his love for TEXAS. He always took us camping, he was also one of my Boy Scout leaders, We traveled every year for vacations and I mean by car, camping gear and all for 2-3 weeks at a time.He would make sure that we stayed at places where I could fish(even though he didn't fish) and the older kids could hangout and the youngest one a place to have fun.He spoke little about politics and lots about our family. He taught me about nature,gardening,and unconditional love, and how to make friends and keep them.
If you walked into his house you would see pictures of everything about TEXAS, from articles to barbed wire . This man made Sam Houston proud. There were pictures of the navy, shell oil company ( where he ritired from after 30 years ), family, friends, old courthouses, and even his own 5 J branding iron ( I bet he wanted to use it on the kids several times...).And if you ask him about anything in his house he would tell you about it's history and what it meant.
My Dad was a man of honor,love and integerity.
I will miss him...I Love you dad....