Ending Fuse Confusion

In life, the little things mean a lot. Car fuses for instance -- they're little, and if you're a typical driver, fuses are out of sight, out of mind. You also probably have no spares. That's a problem, because a blown fuse can leave you with a car that won't run, has no lights, won't shift, or a host of other disabling or dangerous failures.

Keeping spare fuses is a great idea, but deciding which ones to buy can lead to a headache. That universal assortment you've had for years is worthless on your newer car. Many assortments don't have a single fuse for newer cars.

Over time engineers have redesigned fuses, invented totally new fuses, and made most of the familiar types obsolete. Nearly all fuses commonly used today are relatively or totally new designs.

It's inevitable, yet most of you are destined for a nasty surprise when a fuse blows. Your old fuse assortment has followed you from car to car like a shadow. As each new car arrived, your old fuse assortment and other emergency items were moved to the new car. Fuses have changed, and many safety items have a shelf life, so you may find yourself unprepared for even minor emergencies.

The first fuse redesign left us with one popular new fuse called ATO. ATO fuses were the standard for years, but as cars gained more electronics, more fuses were needed. This meant either more space or smaller fuses, and the Mini fuse was born. Minis are shaped just like ATO's, but are only about half as big. Those mighty Mini fuses now dominate fuse panels in today's vehicles.

So, the ATO is now mostly obsolete, and the Mini reigns supreme, but it doesn't end there. Cars have circuits which conduct large amounts of electricity, and need large fuses. Once upon a time these circuits were protected by a perverse device called a fusible link. These were pieces of wire designed to melt if overloaded, and melt they did.

Replacement required a technician and a hundred or more dollars. Today these circuits are protected by Maxi fuses, which look just like Minis and ATOs, except they're massive. On top of the fuses I just described, engineers have designed an endless variety of vehicle specific fuses.

There is a lesson here. ATO fuses are available everywhere, sometimes even in grocery stores. But, Minis, Maxis and vehicle specific fuses can be a real problem. Getting one of these off the beaten path could take days. Solution? Your owner's manual identifies your car's fuse types, so make a list and buy proper spares. The owner's manual will also explain where the fuses are located, and they may be in some rather bizarre places. Everyone knows under the dash but under the hood? In the trunk? Under a seat?

Read the manual, explore, become familiar before it happens. You'll really appreciate those few minutes of preparation when a fuse blows and you have the proper replacement, as well as know where to install it.

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)

Posted by:  | 08/05/08    Comments | PermaLink

Cars For School

It's time for back-to-school car shopping.

This should seem easy, but in reality, it often becomes an intimidating and confusing misadventure. There are questions to answer, research to be completed, negotiations to conduct and a big money transfer. How do I find the right car, set up a budget, pay for it, insure it, maintain it and lots more?

What follows may seem elementary, but to see the results of not following the rules, visit a repossession lot. They're filled with the shattered dreams of well-intentioned drivers who either didn't know, or didn't follow the rules. Their mistakes leave them buried in debt, their credit in shambles and desperate for transportation. Avoiding mistakes requires research, and while the internet is a great source, be careful, because it's rife with crooks. Only rely on trusted sites.

Begin by setting up a budget to determine the total amount you can afford to pay monthly for transportation. Then, select the type of car, and remember that choosing the make and model is mostly subjective, not a numbers process. If you're buying a used car, it's important to understand that the condition and service history are far more important than the brand name. A highly respected but poorly maintained car isn't nearly as desirable as a less revered make with impeccable credentials.

Once the car has been selected, you have to decide if you can actually afford to own it. This requires knowing much more than the price of the car. Begin with an insurance price quote. Next, estimate how many miles you'll likely drive on a monthly basis, followed by a fuel economy estimate from fueleconomy.com.

With those numbers in hand, divide the number of miles per month by 75 percent of the EPA city mileage rating, times the price of a gallon of fuel, and you have a realistic estimate of monthly fuel costs. Finally, add $100.00 per month for maintenance and repairs. The total of those costs subtracted from your transportation budget will match, leave an overage or yield a deficit. This final number determines if you can afford the car.

But wait, there's more. If you can afford the car, have a qualified technician check it from bumper to bumper. Also, buy a vehicle history report to see if it has been in an accident or has some other major concern, such as flood damage or odometer tampering. Never exchange funds until the car has passed every test.

Never fall in love with a specific car, because love trumps common sense every time. Buying from a licensed dealer is far less risky than buying from someone's driveway. Don't buy a car you can't pay off in 48 months or less. Never sign a document with blanks. All agreements must be in writing and approved by a manager. Verbal agreements and promises are worthless. If there are existing problems, the dealer should give you a signed document stating what they will do and when. Never buy a car in the rain - they're all beautiful when they're wet. And perhaps most important of all, everything including price, interest rates, extended warranty prices, and financing programs are negotiable.

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)

Posted by:  | 07/28/08    Comments | PermaLink

Cool Gas

I believe the saying is "I do declare," what I don't believe is when that phrase was coined, it had anything to do with gasoline. But no matter, because "I do declare" there is a lot of garbage being printed and spoken about gasoline.

Apparently everyone who can surf the internet or can speak has somehow become a gasoline expert. The reporters who last week couldn't spell gasoline are churning out information this week as if they were engineers and utterly conversant in all matters revolving around gasoline. Unfortunately, these folks are often less informed than before they searched the Internet. They have become part of a huge problem created by pitiful wannabes, idiots, and pranksters on the Internet.

A bunch of slop found being reported on the internet talks about what time of day to buy gas. The stories suggest you should buy your gas early in the morning or late at night, because the gas will be cooler and denser. Although colder gas is denser than warm gas, and therefore provides more energy per gallon, temperature doesn't apply to time of day.

There is no best time of day to buy gas. It's shocking that so many people no longer take the time or have the ability to analyze information. Think back - were you awake and paying attention during fifth grade science class? If so, you may remember that ground temperature doesn't change by the hour. Actually ground temperature doesn't change daily or even weekly, it changes by season. So, because gasoline is stored in underground tanks buried in non-temperature-changing earth, gas temperature doesn't change.

Idiots, pranksters and non-thinking reporters keep telling us we can save money by filling up at a certain time of day due to the temperature of the gasoline in underground tanks. It's bad information that probably originates either in the minds of cyber-punks who think deceiving folks is great sport, or those who slept through science class. Otherwise they would know the obvious. They would know that ground temperature changes with the change of seasons, and even then, it's well into the colder or warmer season before there is any substantial change in ground temperature.

Also, it takes days for the temperature of thousands of gallons of liquid to change. Even without the insulating and stabilizing qualities of the earth around the underground storage tanks, the thousands of gallons of gasoline in the tanks would not change on an hourly basis.

There will be a slight difference in energy content per gallon if you fill up while the tank truck is unloading, but only in the summer. Because the tanker has been out in the sun for an extended period of time, the gas going into the ground may be warmer and therefore less dense. The warmer gas will have a slight effect on the general temperature of the gas in the ground but even then the difference is so negligible that at today's prices driving to another station will use more gas than you could ever save.

So, you can quit trying to plan your life around when to fill your fuel tank. It really doesn't matter!

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)

Posted by:  | 07/21/08    Comments | PermaLink

Their Knowledge is Your Power

Some say knowledge is power, but when it comes to cars, knowledge equals money in the bank. But be forewarned, a huge percentage of what you hear and read (especially on the internet) is completely bogus. You will find plenty of good information in your owner's manual. So be unorthodox; read it!

It's important to know what the people who designed and built your car recommend. Although trustworthy, owner's manuals are not perfect, because new problems and their solutions come along all the time while your owner's manual never changes. You sometimes need a source for information that's goes beyond your owner's manual.

This means having access to Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) and recalls. TSBs are memos issued by vehicle manufacturers that contain solutions to specific problems. Fixing a problem is usually easy, but finding the fix can require enormous amounts of testing, sometimes hundreds of hours. The solution might come from the factory or field, but once the fix has been verified, the manufacturer publishes a TSB. With a TSB, your technician doesn't have to spend hours testing or replacing parts.

At the professional level, TSBs are stored on disc or accessed online. For do-it-yourself or personal enlightenment, you can access TSBs through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or by subscribing to an online service like ALLDATA.

Why should you care? By knowing the TSBs that apply to your cars you'll better understand what to expect when problems arise. For instance, you might have an expensive-sounding noise during acceleration. But you know there's a TSB that says this is a common problem easily fixed with a hose clamp around an exhaust heat shield. So by investing a few minutes of your time doing research, you save a lot of money. With a TSB the technician simply follows its directions.

Automobiles are complex and difficult to repair, so asking a shop about their service and information system before allowing the shop to work on your car is important. If you feel you don't need to ask questions because the only thing that matters is the lowest price, you're courting problems.

If the shop doesn't have access to information, look for one that does. When a technician can't access information, you pay to find answers that have already been answered. But information systems are a lot more than TSBs, they also provide maintenance schedules, general and specific repair procedures, capacities, labor times and approximate parts prices. If you're happy with the shop you're using, but they don't have an information system, supply your own. With a subscription to ALLDATA, you'll have online access to the same information the pros use. Before taking your car for repairs, you will be able to look up applicable TSBs, as well as approximate labor times and parts prices. That way you'll know what may be wrong, and you'll have a rough guesstimate of what it should cost.

Automotive information is available, inexpensive, easy to access, and can bring peace of mind to your repairs. When you know what to expect, you know some jobs are harder than they appear, while others are easier. Being informed makes you a better customer, because it provides a basis for more realistic expectations.

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)

Posted by:  | 07/10/08    Comments | PermaLink

A Better Tire Gas

It makes up 78.084 percent of earth's atmosphere and is vital to our survival, nitrogen is also great for your tires.

Nitrogen in tires has a couple of notable advantages over plain air. First, nitrogen doesn't leak out of tires as fast as regular air. That's because nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen molecules.

Oxygen makes up 20.9 percent of our atmosphere, and therefore in theory, makes up 20.9 percent of what you pump into your tires from your air pump. Oxygen molecules actually move between the molecules of the rubber in tires, nitrogen is a great choice. Nitrogen's bigger molecules stay in tires longer so pressure remains more constant for a longer time. This means less topping off, longer tire wear and better fuel economy. Slower pressure drop is a huge advantage, but the bigger issue behind the switch to nitrogen is water and oil. You wouldn't know it, but when you pump air into your tires, you're also buying water and oil.

Usually that elicits a response that implies, "You're nuts, that's not even possible." Not only is it possible, but some water and some oil is guaranteed. To inflate tires, the air has to be compressed by an air compressor. Air compressors have two major problems, they're lubricated with oil, and they heat the air. As compressors wear, some lubricating oil leaks past internal seals and mixes with the air, then as the heated air cools, humidity in the air condenses into water. So inflating tires also means adding small but damaging amounts of oil and water at the same time. Unfortunately, if the compressor you're using has seen a lot of service, you may get a lot of water or oil, or both.

Of course oil, and water don't mix, but oil and rubber sure do, and oil degrades rubber. Over time, this degradation causes leaks and in some extreme cases, tire failure. Then there's the water issue, you can't put air in your tires without getting some water. That water damages everything metal and electronic inside the tire.

Long ago, that wasn't much of an issue, but tires have changed, wheels have changed, and electronics have entered the picture. Water that makes its way into tires causes the wheels to corrode. It isn't unusual to find wheels so badly damaged by corrosion they need to be replaced or repaired after only a few years of service.

Now there's a new complication, electronic sensors. Federal law now requires cars to have Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS). These systems use electronic pressure sensors mounted inside each tire. The sensors are extremely reliable and durable, but they are also sophisticated and don't like to be bathed in nasty, oily water from poorly maintained air compressors. They are also expensive to replace.

Here is where nitrogen has a clear advantage, as nitrogen is completely dry, and has no oil in it to damage tires, wheels or TPMS sensors. Nitrogen is not a miracle, but it is beneficial, inexpensive, and something I use and recommend. Look for green valve stem caps that signify that tires are "filled-with-nitrogen."

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

Posted by:  | 07/01/08    Comments | PermaLink