Modern automobiles are either electronic marvels or frustrating contraptions, depending on how you feel about automotive electronics.

Anyone with even a few months of automotive experience probably thinks they know how to do an engine compression test.

When the topic of Japanese carburetors comes up, you usually get one of those responses, and very few which fall in the middle ground between the two extremes.

There are times when hunches need a little extra time to prove themselves, and rushing through a basic test of a component or system can leave you with a lot of false information which leads to an equally false conclusion.

The automotive repair business can be filled with tough breaks, as well as some pretty tough brakes. If you want to keep the latter from turning into the former, it’s important to know when to put your foot down.

We strum away at strings of logic, and just when we think we’ve got the rhythm, we play it all back but it just doesn’t scan.

After a short review, we’ll dig into injector circuit troubleshooting procedures in this month’s Part Two.

Splitting the crankshaft’s work load four ways leaves each of the cylinders responsible for 90 degrees of crank rotation. Under the best of circumstances, this doesn’t make the four banger nearly as smooth as its 6, 8, or even 12 cylinder counterparts.