Honda’s Linear Air/Fuel Sensor lets the engine sometimes run on extremely lean air-fuel mixtures for fuel economy. But how does it work, and how did they avoid the emissions problem of NOX? In an odd way, they’re the oldest of the ‘new’ oxy-gen sensors. Honda used a special “linear air/fuel sensor” from 1992 to 1995 […]
Last month’s Front Counter Mechanics described the Car Care Council’s Certified Inspection Center (CIC) program. For those unfamiliar with the Car Care Council (CCC), it is a nonprofit organization dedicated to “educating motorists about the importance of maintenance, repair and enhancements for safer, cleaner, better-performing vehicles.” Only the top shops can be Certified Inspection Centers. […]
Maxima Shift problem, Trim preservation, Freeze plug replacement, Timing belt tightening, PCV line check
Our Greek and Roman forebears invented elaborate mythologies to ‘explain’ the things they saw around them but couldn’t understand. Centuries later, we pride ourselves on our scientific knowledge and scoff at those ancient myths. But as I recently discovered while teaching a course in advanced diagnostic techniques, mythmaking is not dead; we’ve just updated it […]
Once there was a fellow named Georg who found out more about electrical circuits than most scientists of the time, and he did it before most ordinary people even realized electrical circuits could occur. His name was Georg Simon Ohm — Herr Professor Doktor Georg Simon Ohm, actually. You should recognize his last name because […]
You can run a business the same way you live your life. To keep both vital, it’s a good practice to periodically review what you’ve grown accustomed to doing. It’s been nearly three years since “Front Counter Mechanics” last discussed marketing. Business has changed since then, and it’s time to revisit and reconsider some of […]
Can you remember the first new car that had a catalytic converter? To sharpen your recollection, the first catalytic converters were introduced in the mid-70’s when the Clean Air Act was first signed into law. The first car to meet the 1975 emissions standards was a Chrysler Avenger, and it was equipped with a rhodium-promoted […]
The Mother of All (well, the mother of most) Fuel-Injection Fuel injection for automotive engines goes back at least to the folks at Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz in 1898, whose mechanical plunger-pumps fueled turn-of-that-century engines until those goldurned newfangled contraptions, carburetors[!], supplanted them. Almost since then — since 1912, that is — Robert Bosch GmbH of Stuttgart […]
Last month we examined the behavior of a failed TW sensor on a 1991 Honda Civic. This month we’ll add a few more details to the diagnosis, and explain the other components that make this system tick. How do the injectors and main relay work? Which injectors fire when? And what about that alternator control? […]
Honda oil leak correction VW no-crank no-start Broken valve springs A/C loss from cigarette lighter fuse