Programming My Car

A number of people are still perplexed or having a difficult time getting auto mechanics to take them seriously. Are you one of them? Did it ever occur that your mechanic convince you that your car problems are just imaginary? Clueless about fixing cars and stuffs related to it?

When your know-how about cars and repairs is just about zilch, it’s high time to make a timely move.

Not to worry, Wikihow shares some steps and tips to sort your car problems:

1. Steps

1. Before you go in, call about the problem so that you can find out what kind of questions they're likely to ask or what information they'll need from you when you take your car in for its service.

2. Ask the service manager when is the best time to bring your car in so that you can have an unhurried chat about your vehicle.

3. Go over the problems with him and give him a written report of the problems.

4. If he doesn't know what you are talking about, have him drive it around the block so that he can acknowledge and understand your concerns. Make notes on your list in his technical-speak to make sure you're both on the same page.

5. Leave the list with him.

6. When you pick up your car, drive it around the block to check that all the problems have been solved and bring it back straight away if any of the problems persist.

7. If your car is new and you have persistent problems that the service dealer cannot fix, call up the factory and arrange for their service department to look at it.

If you want more tips, click here.

Winter is just around the corner and motorists should be armed with knowledge to help keep them safe during this season. You should take care of your car and have it ready to face a tough battle with Mother Nature this winter. Apart from that, you should also learn how to keep yourself safe when driving during winter. With the season getting colder, it is very inviting to get some sleep whenever you can. You can also be sleepy while driving.

But you should never sleep while driving especially during winter. So I want to share some tips to you from Wikihow on how to stay awake while driving this winter season. Here they are:

• Try opening other windows in the car slightly to modify the way the cold air circulates in the car or blows across your face.
• Modify how much wind enters the car so that the heat from the vents is not overpowered and can keep your hands warm.
• Wear clothing appropriate for the current outside temperature. This technique may take some experimentation, so at least bring a winter coat, a scarf, a winter hat, and gloves. Thin gloves can be useful with this technique as they can help insulate the hands but also allow heat from the vents to pass through.
• While it may seem that blowing air would dry your eyes, cold air tends to make your eyes water more readily which helps reduce feelings of fatigue.
• When your face is cold, you'll be more alert. Compare it to a time when you tried to fall asleep in a cold house or while camping and your body was warm but your face was uncovered and cold.
• When your hands are warm or hot in a cold environment, your body will be more comfortable. Think about holding your hands over a heater or fire when you're cold and how the heat is absorbed and distributed through your body though it is originating mostly at your hands.

So there you are, stay safe.

Do you envy smart drivers? You too can be a smart driver. You don’t even have to be a professional driver to be one. Just read and follow the steps posted below. Driving smart also saves money and saves lives plus it does make good sense. So read on guys and learn more.

The first thing you reed to do is to buckle up. Make sure that both you and your passengers are wearing seatbelts. Wearing the seatbelt is mandatory especially in all states in the US. This is a good preparation because if you and your passenger become part of an accident and they find you are not wearing seat belts, they may charge you with a crime.

Make sure that you allow more room for your car and the next car - meaning keep a safe distance. Remember to always drive slowly. Never underestimate the power of your car especially when it is speeding down the highway. This type of irresponsible driving usually causes death on all the drivers on the road and because of overspeeding, they usually get into accidents.

Be alert and watch every intersection. Most of the crashes happen on intersections in urban areas. Drivers who are running red headlights are the ones who get caught in an accident.

You should always drive defensively. Remember that drivers are always making illegal maneuvers and you should always be ready to avoid this problem.

Never take any prohibited drugs and alcohol while you drive. Smoking is also banned in other states in the US. 50 states prohibit doing these vices during road drives. If you are intoxicated, do not allow any passenger to ride with you. Better yet, have a friend hail a taxi for you. 

Winter season is coming and it’s going to be freezing and foggy outside. This time of the year, streets will be covered with white snow and of course, fog will be everywhere. Motorists should be cautious during this season because a lot of the accidents accounted frequently happen during this period. So what do we need to avoid this bad occurrence from happening? The answer is to install some fog lights in your car!

If you’ve decided to purchase a pair of fog lights, the only problem left is how you will install these lights in your vehicles. Here’s how…

• Buy the required materials: fog lights, wire, electrical tape, relay (see step 2 above for info!), light bulbs, switch, fuses, mounting brackets, hardware to attached brackets and lights, wire strippers and wire nuts.
  
• Take away the lights from the box and confirm their amp rating.
  
• Obtain a switch of appropriate rating. If a switch of equal or higher ratings cannot be located you will need a relay.
  
• Make use brackets to affix them in the preferred location.
  
• Situate a suitable place in the vehicle to install the switch for the lights.
  
• Install the switch in the vehicle.
  
• Find a source of power beneath the hood that does not openly fasten the wires to the battery. 
  
• Connect as follows: source to switch, switch to lights, lights to source. Skip to Step 11 If you locate a switch of the needed rating above.
  
• Affix the relay somewhere under the hood.
  
• Fasten the Light circuit to the "Load" side of the relay. Tie the relays other load terminal to the light closet to it. Attach the remaining bonds on the light to one of the connections on the other light.
  
• Join the switch. Run wire from a power source to one of the "Control" terminals on the relay. Attach the other terminal to the switch.
  
• Connect the remaining switch terminal to the negative of the power source.
  
• Install the bulbs.
  
• Start the car and test. If selected sources fuse blows, replace and try connecting to another source.
  
• Continue if it all works. If not, make sure and check the connections once again.
  
• Cover all joints with electrical tape to guarantee water tightness.
  
• Close the hood and you’re ready to go!

 Happy vacationing!

Every car maker is going greener these days and to take part of the latest craze, the Volvo Car Corporation decided to add to the Volvo C30 a greener touch. Now, the car is going to be an exclusive racing car with bioethanol (E85) as fuel and will be seen on the Green Racing for Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) for the next three more years.

According to the head of Powertrain and Engine at Volvo Cars, Derek Crabb, "Our decision is based on the positive attention and the good results that the recently concluded STCC season has meant for Volvo's brand.” Crab has also been recently appointed to lead Volvo's Racing department. He also added, "It is now time to take the next step for the coming STCC seasons, and to meet the growing international interest in green racing.”

The new Volvo car is using Flexifuel and the upcoming 1.6D efficiency which has an average fuel consumption of 0.45 liters per 10 km or 52 mpg-US/62 mpg-UK with its fewer CO2 emission rate of below 120 grams per kilometer.

Derek still says, "The decision to leave this year's racing car, a Volvo S60, was fairly simple. The Volvo C30 is a somewhat smaller and more agile car with excellent driving characteristics, even in the standard version.”

"Development of the new racing car will be done jointly by Volvo Cars and Polestar Racing, who has successfully handled our participation in STCC for several years. However, it is currently too soon to provide any detailed information about the construction of the new car. The objective, on the other hand, is crystal clear - we will develop a winning car,” he concludes.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS (VOLVO C30 E85 FIA SUPER 2000): 

Body:
A standard C30 body reinforced by a safety cage and side impact protection on the driver's side, developed in collaboration with Caran.

Aerodynamics:
Front splitter (the lower section of the bumper) and a rear spoiler wing developed by Polestar in Volvo's wind tunnel.

Engine:
A fully aluminum, transversely mounted, 5-cylinder, inline, four-valve, 1999 cc engine. Only minor modifications are permitted on the cylinder block and cylinder heads, while valves, cam shafts, pistons, connecting rods, and the crankshaft have been replaced by racing-specific components. Oil:Castrol 5W-30

Output/torque: 280+ hp at 8,750 rpm/Approx. 230 Nm at 7,300 rpm.

Fuel: E85

Exhaust system:
Stainless steel with catalytic emission controls, specially manufactured by Ferrita.

Driveline:
6-speed sequential gearbox with straight-cut gears, manufactured by Hewland. Front-wheel drive. Mechanical differential with a torque controlled ramper and friction discs. ACHS 184mm two-disc carbon fibre clutch. Oil: Castrol TWS 10W-60.

Weight: Minimum weight 1,134 kg including the driver (58-60 kg).

Front wheel suspension:
Öhlin's McPherson struts developed together with Polestar. Racing-specific support arms and adjustable anti-roll bar.

Rear wheel suspension:
Multilink system with coil springs and Öhlin's dampers. Racing-specific support arms and adjustable anti-roll bar.

Front brakes:
Performance Friction
4-pistion callipers with radially and axially ventilated discs 332x32 mm.

Rear brakes:
Alcon 2-piston callipers with axially ventilated discs 290x10 mm.

Steering:
Servo-assisted rack and pinion.

Wheels:
17x10,0" BBS wheels

Tires:
Michelin 17", slicks (no tread), or rain tires

I found this list at Auto Spectator’s official website. For more relevant news, log on to their site.

Misfortunes do happen. And when they attack, you have to know your allies- especially if your very self is not capable of fighting them.

In the middle of the road, you only have limited allies to rescue you. When your car succumbs to engine, radiator and lotsa auto parts failure, and you think you can’t handle them on your own, it’s clever to know a good mechanic to lend you a hand.

How do you find a goof auto mechanic? Here are some savvy steps from Wikihow:

Steps:

1. First, try to research various automotive certifications. A good auto mechanic will be ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) Certified and should have a display indicating him as such.

2. Another thing to look for is affiliation signs. AAA will certify some local repair shops after examining their credentials and business policies, and they will have a list of those shops on their website.

3. I encourage you to "stake-out" your local shops. By that I mean drive past and check out the facilities. You should be looking for key details such as the cleanliness of the grounds and work areas. Take notice of the makes, quantity, and quality of the other customers' cars. If you drive a 5 year old Ford truck, and the only vehicles you see around are run-down, old Fiats in the parking lot that probably isn't the place for you.

4. Ask around. Your friends, family, and colleagues have cars, and have to get them serviced somewhere. Find out how they feel about their mechanics.

5. When in doubt, you can always go back to the dealership. They almost always charge a higher labor rate and more for the parts, but they're supposed to know your vehicle and be able to get the job done.

Tips:

After you find what you believe to be a quality mechanic, but before you dedicate your car to that person, test out the relationship you will have with him. Take your car in for just an oil change to see how he is going to treat you.

Warnings:

Be weary of a repair station that always wants to do more than you asked for. It's nice of them to check your vehicle over for potential problems, but if every time you go they find something major wrong they're probably trying to rip you off. It's called up-selling a job. Flat-rate mechanics make their money doing it.

Now you can be confident amidst overwhelming possibilities of car trouble.

Nowadays, burglary is pretty rampant. Anywhere you go, thieves and robbers come aplenty. This is the reason why you have to equip your property with a theft prevention device - especially your cars.

In purchasing a theft-prevention device, follow these steps as provided by eHow:

Step One. Lock your car doors regularly, and close the windows and sunroof. Take your keys with you. A ridiculous number of cars are stolen simply because owners forget the basics.

Step Two. Contact your insurance company to ask if antitheft device discounts are offered on premiums.

Step Three. Consider where you typically park your car: Would you be able to hear the alarm? Would it be ignored if it went off?

Step Four. Deter thieves with indicator lights, window decals ($2 to $5), and/or large and heavy-gauge steel objects such as steering wheel or tire locks ($80 to $200).

Step Five. Know how effective any theft-prevention measures you're considering actually are. A determined thief can cut through certain steering immobilizers or shut off a simple alarm.

Step Six. Look at the range of antitheft devices. They include audible alarms, a concierge system or cellular alarms that notify police, or locking steering-wheel cover, steering-column covers, locking steering-wheel bars, electronic immobilizers (kill switches, secret switches), engine or fuel-system locks, tracking devices and delay devices.

Step Seven. Evaluate what level of protection you'd like. (Car ugliness is not a deterrent to car thieves.) Some alarms ($150 to $1,000) arm automatically, as do tracking devices ($400 to $1,500) for locating the car after it's stolen. Steering-wheel ($25 to $100) and column ($100 to $200 installed) locking devices must be manually put into place each time.

Step Eight. Budget for ongoing expenses. Low-tech solutions like mechanical immobilizers ($10 to $125) don't have to be professionally installed, nor are there monitoring fees attached.

Step Nine. Purchase your antitheft device. Low-tech devices are often available at auto-supply stores or the automotive section of general retail stores. Your local car dealer might install car alarms and immobilizers. Otherwise, companies that sell and install car electronics (radar detectors, sound systems) often install car alarms and immobilizers.

In buying the precise anti-theft device for your car, consider other measures, discounts, cost, convenience, effectiveness, installation, visibility, and environment factors.

Additionally, eHow has provided some overall tips and warnings. They include the following:

1. If you use a steering-wheel immobilizer, attach it so the lock faces the dashboard, making it even harder for thieves to remove.

2. Some manufacturers etch their cars' parts with the vehicle identification number (VIN). You can have any car etched ($20 to $100), which helps you recover a stolen car or parts. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration site (nhtsa.gov) has a list of manufacturer-etched vehicles.

3. Have any ignition immobilizer installed by a professional with lots of experience and who guarantees the work. Since these link to the car's electrical system, shoddy work can harm the system or the immobilizer.

You know exactly how to do it. Now do your thing!

It's all good and well that you know how to take care of your car. It is of course a requirement that you should take care of your car so that you can use it for a lot of years to come. Maintaining it in proper condition not only increases its resale value, it also ensures that you will not suffer any inconvenience if the car malfunctions. But when it comes to sell your old car to buy a new one, there are also things that you should know. Although you might have had already bought a car in the past and you know more or less what happens when closing a deal with a sales rep, you might not get the best deal if you are not aware that there are things that you just don't say to a car dealer.

And just what are these things? Forbes gives us ten things that we should never say to a car dealer. The autochannel.com lists these things here. I want to pick just some of those tips to share with you here. According to Forbes, one of the things that you should never say to a car dealer is "I'm ready to buy now." According to Forbesautos.com: " This is an admission of weakness and an invitation for the dealer to throw out a price that's slightly below the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) to see if you'll take the bait. It shows that you're too eager and willing to consider an offer, and it also gives salespeople the advantage by allowing them to talk you up as opposed to you talking them down. But by adding some very precise parameters, you'll sound confident and strong from the start."

Consumer Reports also advises car buyers to never go to a dealership on the day that you are going to make a purchase. You must weigh all options and use the Web to your advantage. There are a lot of sites which can give you enough information on a certain car that you might be considering to buy. But don't take their word for it. Even if Consumer Reports or Edmunds gives a certain car high ratings, you should try it on your own. That's because you will be the one who will use the car and the car that you should buy is the one that fits you perfectly. So make sure that you test drive a car that you are planning to buy before making a decision. You might end up with a car that does not fit you if you do not test the car first.

Don’t you know that preventive maintenance is one of the types of defensive driving? Yes it’s a fact!

You’re protecting your car and yourself from any troubles that might come up later when you drive. That’s why it is advisable to always have your car checked on a regular basis because preventive maintenance is necessary if you want your car to live a pretty decent life. You don’t want to hurt your beloved car and spend a lot of cash on repairs, right? So here are some tips on how to do preventive maintenance in your car. It’s easy - and best of all, it’s economical! It’s a do-it-yourself tips from www.supercarinsurance.com. Dig in! 

Under the Hood

• Check the coolant level weekly. Some cars have transparent reservoirs with a level marking. Fill to level marking with 50/50 solution of anti-freeze and water. CAUTION: NEVER OPEN THE RADIATOR CAP WHEN ENGINE IS HOT
• Inspect belts and hoses monthly. Replace worn, glazed and frayed belts.
• Check transmission fluid monthly while the engine is warm and running, and parking brake is on. DO NOT OVER FILL!
• Check engine oil every other fill up. To maintain top perform, get a oil change every 3000 miles or three months, which one comes first. Replace the fuel filter too.
• Check the air filter every month. Replace is when becomes dirty or every tune up.
• Check brake fluid monthly. In need to fill, add the approved type and check for possible leaks in the system.
• Check windshield wiper fluid. In winter, keep an eye on the freezing point of the fluid.
• Check the battery weekly. With every tune up, have the mechanic check the battery. Make sure it has no corrosion and the cables are attached securely.
• Check power steering fluid monthly. Inspect the pump and hoses for leaks.

Around the Car

• Inspect windshield wiper blades. Blades should be replaced once a year or when smearing or chattering occurs.
• Make sure all lights are clean and working. This list includes brake, turn and emergency flashers. Keep spare bulbs and fuses in vehicle.
• Keep tires inflated to recommended pressure. Check the tires for holes, rips, tears and excessive tread wear. Also check the nuts and bolts to make sure the tight and firm.
• Look around and under the car for any leakage.
• Look underneath the vehicle for any loose or broken exhaust clamps or supports. Check for holes in muffler or pipes.
• Check all mirrors around the vehicle.

You don’t deserve to be called as a good rider if you cannot provide the appropriate maintenance and care for your vehicle right? So, you better be knowledgeable about these things because every car owner is responsible for his car. It’s like a mutual understanding between you and your car; it’s a give and take relationship. If you love your car, it will love you back. And if you don’t; you’ll end up stranded in the middle of the street!

One of the basic things one should know about cars is how you take good care and read the tire’s situation. Every car owner should have understanding about these rubber stuffs. They must know its construction, how to mount and dismount it, its maintenance and care, how to troubleshoot and to take safety measures. In order for you to do it, here are the areas that you need to know and the tips you need to follow in reading between the tires; or simply maintaining your car’s tires courtesy of :   

1. The right size. Sizing is the process of choosing the tire by determining its rim width. This means that the tires must not be wider or narrower than its original equipment tires because to choose otherwise will distort motorcycle handling.
2. Pressure. Pressure increases with temperature. Thus, a rider must check tires regularly especially during winter season. Advisable tire pressures can be found on the manufacturer's reference table. Check them out in order to have a safe tire pressure.
Never bleed air from a hot tire. Also avoid riding when tires are under inflated because this can lead to premature wear, tire failure and damage to the carcass.
3. The Wear. Regularly inspect the wear indicator in the tire grooves. You will know that the tire should be replaced if the wear indicators are leveled with the surface of the tread at any point.
4. The Valve. Always use valve caps to prevent air loss and to avoid dirt from entering the valve.
5. Warm-up. Each time you ride on your motorcycle; always begin at a moderate speed. This will gradually condition the tires up to their normal operating temperature. If they have already achieved a full warm-up then they will have an optimal grip.
6. Break-in. After warming up, avoid rapid acceleration or hard cornering. Do this for the first 50 kilometers of your ride up to the extent when the tread area is totally worn off.
7. Repairs. Try to learn the basics of motorcycle repairs so that you will not be groping in the dark when discrepancies occur. Another option is to consult tire experts to attend to tire repairs.