「Knowledge」 list

Have you ever heard of spark plugs? They are an important part of a car engine, but what happens if you keep driving without changing the spark plugs? What is a spark plug? A spark plug is an engine part that ignites a mixture of petrol and oxygen as it enters the cylinder of the engine. The combustion of the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder drives the engine. Living up to their name, spark plugs usually spark a considerably high voltage of 10,000-30,000 volts in order to ignite the air/fuel mixture. The performance of the spark plugs are critical, as ...

Usually, a car’s oil lamp lights up briefly before starting the engine. However, when the oil lamp lights up while driving, this indicates the car is in a very dangerous condition. Cause of the oil lamp lighting up The oil lamp is a lamp that lights up and warns you when hydraulic pressure is decreasing. Cause of low oil pressure The main reasons for a drop in hydraulic pressure are as follows. Oil pump malfunctions As the vehicle’s mileage rises, the possibility the oil pump failing increases. If the oil pump fails, it won’t be able to suck up the ...

When you hear the word "engine brake" in a conversation, have you ever tried to pretend like you know what it means? There is even a funny story about a driver who said "Please give an engine brake" at the mechanic. What is engine braking? I will also introduce the mechanism and how to use it. What is engine braking? Engine braking is braking that uses the resistance of engine rotation. When the accelerator is depressed, the engine rotation speed rises to generate the power of the car, but when the accelerator is returned, the engine rotation drops, and the ...

Diesel engines are commonly associated with black smoke spewing from the exhaust, right? You can often see, on uphill slopes and the like, trucks spitting out black smoke from behind. I will tell you the reason why diesel engines produce black or white smoke. Black smoke and white smoke are signals of a dangerous engine Care must be taken when black smoke, white smoke, or both are emitted from the exhaust of a diesel engine. Depending on the cause, this may be a sign of a malfunction or failure of the engine, so if you leave it as it is, ...

When the battery warning light turns on while driving, it can make you panic, right? Actually, the battery warning light turning on does not mean that the battery is broken. I will tell you why the battery warning light illuminates and how to deal with it. What is the role of the battery warning light? The battery warning light is a warning light that lights up when there is an abnormality in the state of charge of the battery. Generally, the battery of a car is 12 V, and around 14 V while running, but it is voltage below a ...

A switch with "O/D" written on it on or around the shift lever of an automatic vehicle and its surroundings. Do you know what it is for and when to use it? What is overdrive (O/D)? Cars have a transmission, in order to start from the stopped state and increase the speed. This is easy to picture if you imagine the gears of a bicycle. Bicycles with gears can start moving without exerting much force, and can run much faster than bicycles without gears. Cars also have at least 3 gears. Some even have 8 or 10 speed gears. Starting ...

When most people hear of a car stalling, they think of manual-transmission cars, and situations like failed hill-starts or stalling when starting after waiting at traffic lights. However, in fact, even automatic cars can stall. Why does this happen? The cause of stalling in automatic vehicles Here, we will introduce the engine stalling by symptoms. 1.Quiet stalling without warning On occasion, a vehicle might suddenly stall without any warning when running. There is a possibility that trouble may have occurred in the ignition system. Specifically, there is a problem with spark plug or plug cord. Because the spark plug does ...

There are two buttons on a car’s air conditioner. One is the “recirculation” button, and the other is the “fresh air mode” button. 　 How to use these buttons is one of the things commonly reported as unknown by vehicle owners, so here I will tell you about their distinctions. What is “recirculation mode”? Recirculation is used is to circulate the air inside the car. Selecting this button closes an air duct in the front of the car so that the air from outside the car does not enter the car. What is “fresh air mode”? Selecting this button introduces ...

If there are unusual sounds that have never been heard from the engine or vibrations that are different from usual, it makes us very uneasy, right? Perhaps the engine is causing "knocking". What kind of phenomenon is knocking? Knocking refers to a phenomenon in which abnormal noise and vibration are generated from the engine. These sounds can be heard as a kind of "rattle rattle", "cancan cancan" or "kinkin kinkin". It is called knocking because noise sounds like the sound of knocking on a door. Why knocking happens There are several types of knocking. For each type, I will introduce ...

Automatic transmission vehicles have a shift lever, but some people only use P and D. Understanding the functions of the shift lever will allow you to use your automatic vehicle more functionally. The Function of each range of the shift lever Written on the shift lever of an automatic vehicle are letters, rather than numbers. In an automatic vehicle, the letters or numbers are called the "range". Below is a summary of each range. Other buttons Several other buttons exist in and around the shift lever of automatic vehicles. Operation button The operation button is used to move the shift ...