Posted by Raul on January 24, 2011
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If you decide to diagnose your vehicle why it doesn’t start, check first the Crankshaft Position Sensor instead of the Ignition Pack and harness…it’ll save you a lot of time!
Last week I’ve been spending a lot of time with a vehicle that simply refuses to show what the problem is and why it doesn’t want to run. I’ve checked the ignition; timing; wiring; fuel delivery system; vacuum controls for leaks; etc, and it shows everything fine, yet it refuses to run!
For many years I’ve considered cars as a reflection of people; not only because we all tend to choose a car for a shape and characteristics that suppose to reflect us in many ways, but mostly because vehicles tend to “behave” in the same way we people do.
Take for instance this vehicle I’ve been working on (and still not finished); doesn’t it look like those situations where we are asking a loved one “What’s the matter?” and the only response we get is “Nothing”.
So we quietly think and analyze every memory we have from the past couple of days, trying to find a reason why our loved one is “functioning” in a completely different way than normal. We ask questions, but the answers don’t give any information of what the problem could be.
With the vehicle I’m working on, if the problem showed clearly, it’ll be really easy to apply a solution and the necessary corrections to make the car run smoothly again. The whole process would be quick and painless, and would avoid any unnecessary frustrations and loss of time.
With an honest answer to the question of “What’s the matter”, a change in common actions, or corrections of results about past ones, could mean the solution to the affecting problem, so the situation would be corrected, the problem solved, and friends again, without any misunderstandings and bad moments to everyone involved in the situation.
But just like some vehicles simply refuse to tell openly what the problem is, and somehow start a game of deceiving, with a loved one the same exact situation can happen, leaving us all like that car mechanic (me), who is trying to find the solution by just observation, testing and analysis of responses as the only way to get to the real reason for the change in operational mode.
I know in human situations many times the refusal to “talk” could be with the intention of not hurting feelings, but if both parts have love for the other, then the one with the problem could trust the other and be capable of openly telling what the problem is, and the other part should be able to accept a possible painful criticism that could mean the need of changing a personal behavior.
A car mechanic would want to know what the problem is in the vehicle because his intentions are to fix that problem, and is willing to accept the possibility to have to disassemble lots of components just to reach the part that is the reason of the failure; compared to the driver of the car that, normally, is not interested in fixing anything by him, but in only to have a good running car to use.
So, instead of being just drivers in our love relationship, we have to become mechanics ready to diagnose and repair any problem the relationship might incur in, no matter how much work might be involved from our part.
And like that stubborn car I’m working on, please, please, just tell what the problem is, instead of playing games that only make the mechanic think of the possibility of sending a still good working car to a junk yard!
We already have too many “good working units” roaming the lands in despair after being “discarded”, just because too often in their relationships they refused to tell what the problem was.
Raul
Posted by Raul on January 13, 2011
When you take a look at car manufacturer information about the fuel consumption (or economy) they claim, you’ll see that you live in an era of extremely efficient cars. If you make the calculations for yourself, you’ll see that is not so.
The internal combustion engine (gas and diesel engines) have a design that is more that one hundred years old, and what is being improved throughout the time is the efficiency of operation, but the concept is still outdated. A gas or diesel engine uses about 30 percent of the fuel it consumes…the rest is lost mostly in heat.
Looking at the information sheets in windows of new cars you’ll see mileages of 18 to 25; 25 to 31, etc. But a simple procedure will tell you how much fuel you are really burning in your daily errands.
Next time you fill up the tank, do it until the nozzle jump off by itself, then set the partial odometer to zero and drive as you usually do. When the time comes to fill up the tank again, do it also until the nozzle jump off by itself, write down the mileage in the partial odometer and divide that number by the amount of gallons shown in the receipt. You’ll be surprised by the numbers.
With this little test you’ll be able to discover several things:
-The real mileage your vehicle is giving you
-Which brands of fuel gives you the best mileage (there is difference!)
-Which driving habits give you better mileage
-Early detection of mechanical and electrical problems in your engine by the drop in mileage (if you keep doing this every time you fill up the tank)
From what I’ve seen, sport utilities and pick up trucks usually give around 14-18 MPG, while a four cylinder car will be in the 20-27 MPG margin, which is a 50% more miles per gallon.
If you drive an average of 1000 miles a month (which is normal for most people), and switch from a sport utility vehicle to a four cylinder car, you will save around 20 gallons of fuel a month, which in turns, could be a saving of 50 dollars a month, or 600 dollars a year!
If we multiply this savings in gallons of fuel by the number of cars in the US, we could see that several tankers can get lost in their way here. The amount of pollution can be greatly reduced, and even the streets will become instantly “wider” by the use of smaller cars. All on top of personal savings for everyone driving a car 
Raul
Posted by Raul on January 10, 2011
When I see high school teenagers driving a fairly new sport car, having lunch at a restaurant, meeting at a Starbucks for a friendly chat while sipping a coffee or some surfing in a modern laptop, it makes me wonder how their lives will be in the future.
What would happen when, from an early age, a teenage kid gets accustomed to experience and enjoy some “pleasures” of life that are supposedly reserved for an adult that already have accomplished something in life?
The first time can be magic, but the time number twenty is not that much, and by the time number fifty, it has become a routine that classifies as a standard necessity instead of a pleasure to enjoy.
Parents provided and children had an easy life. Asking for a car at the age of fifteen; having money to eat at restaurants, having a coffee at Starbucks and using the latest cell phone in the market; living the life of a well paid professional when still going to High School and sometimes not even getting good grades!
How much money they will have to generate in the near future to sustain a higher life that has become just the base for them? What could be a nice honeymoon trip when graduation from high school with a “C” implies a cruise to the Bahamas?
I can understand the concept of giving the “taste” as a motivational way, but when the results in school don’t reflect constructing the base to reach the presented image and standard to achieve; then the good intentions become a misleading guidance.
Instead of earning every little advantage, that should create the mentality of working hard to supply the needs and enjoy a small luxury from time to time, the concept generated in teenagers these days is that they have to be surrounded by the expensive and the latest, and disregarded the part of generating the income necessary to supply such luxuries.
It is acquiring prestige by the possession and continual use of the latest material elements, rather than the pride of being good at something.
And then, what would happen when the material possessions are lost due to…let’s say…a falling economy. Those who have lived a life of pride based on owning material luxury would become lost and without identity when loosing the material elements; while those who acquired pride by the sense of knowledge and expertise will still have their pride, even if is under a new, deprived economic situation.
Something to think about…
Raul
Posted by Raul on January 3, 2011
Looking at a child immersed in playing at something; a child’s wonder with the world around; when they look intently at a flower or the clouds going by in the sky. How amazing it is that they can become so absorbed in the now, in the moment of observation; that they can become in their games whatever they want to be.
Then as adults we tend to go by lists of activities and responsibilities that have to be fulfilled as proper adults.
This is all fine and appropriate in a mechanical society fed on productivity and trade, yet we soon experience the lack of wonder and the magic of moments that, as responsible adults, tend to disregard as childish behavior.
And the problems of attention and the sense of unhappiness settle in…
So what if for a moment, while in a secured environment, like at home, we let ourselves to just become that lost child that still lives inside us? What if we let ourselves to be that child and accept the possibility of becoming amazed by simple things like the clouds going by in the sky, maybe the strange flying path of a house fly, or perhaps the perseverant march of an ant in a day’s work? Or even for a moment to believe we can become whatever we want to be!
Taking in the possibility of becoming a child again, even if it’s against society concepts of adulthood, we can experience for a brief moment the wonders of nature, the pleasures of life, the amazing elements of this planet all around, and with it, recover also the lost capability of intently attention based on the marvel of a moment.
We trick ourselves not even knowing what we are doing, but just by following the established path by previous generations, and taking in the concept without questioning, we accept a condition as the proper way to behave, even if it is at our own demise.
Let’s try for a moment the childish ways of complete, undivided attention to a simple situation, like observing the images of winter; the colors and the changing world around, and let ourselves enjoy a brief moment of living, rather than a big chunk of wasted life.
Raul
Posted by Raul on December 10, 2010
Choosing a CD to play sometimes can be just overwhelming!
After so many years collecting the music we like and love, we may end up with a huge collection of albums. And when the time to choose comes around, we might not decide so easily what we want to listen.
It does happen not only about music, but almost about everything in life related to the accumulation of material stuff. Pictures, books, movies, even pens collected in a jar for any time use.
Sometimes I think of myself of a little, furred creature, that takes anything and everything around that can carry, to hide it in a hole in the ground, not even knowing for what reason!
Then I look around the house and wonder how all this stuff got here? (chip-chip-chip…I’m that furred creature, remember?).
We do tend to accumulate “just in case” as an element of security and self assurance; then we have to deal with the accumulated stuff as a chain that prevent us from going around to explore new grounds (we have to protect our treasures!).
A human being, born naked, but with a powerful brain capable of learning and adapting; and a amazing body that allows him to interact in a physical medium; becomes a furry creature dedicated to the accumulation of physical elements, to be surrounded in a hole by the treasures that takes the amazing capabilities of its brain to just the feelings of something going wrong. How curious creatures we are!
(Chip…chip…chip)
Raul
