What are some car-repair jobs you always wished you could do but have never done?

the computers that read them are though. They can tell when the sensor isn't behaving right.

competition has meant better rustproofing is required to maintain a good reputation

the points gap changed due to sparking & physical wear in the mechanism. That changed the timing.

:)

plug gap opening up or carbon on the insulator could take out the spark on old ignition systems. Not so much now.

Very much. Also decades of experience, time proves what works well & what doesn't.

NT

The timing changes because the points gap alters. Put in an electronic aftermarket replacement for points with, say, an optical or magnetic sensor, and the timing never varied. Except for gear wear on the distributor but that's over a very long time span.

Two strokes are always harder on spark plugs.

A lot of technology in spark plug, especially in the metalurgical side.

You understand the efficacy of slotted and/or drilled rotors the first time you experience brake fade.

In the emissions world, a longer zap is what you need. A short zap can lead to a misfire so that's a no no. In order to get a longer term spark, there arose a need to go to high energy ignition systems.

I have Toyotas precisely because they have a chain.

Bzzztt. GDI has brought the scourge of carbon buildup back.

It's also that but in order to understand the improvements you would need to delve into the books on automotive engine design such as this one I have in my library here;

The city would have *specified* the bin requirements in the tender specs.

That's because the *internal* piping has rotted away placing *all* loading on the flange.

Hmmm, Last car I had for 8 years, never touched the exhaust system.

High energy ignition systems, platinum electrodes.

I first worked overseas when I was 26 years old.

That makes sense that the voltage zap is higher voltage nowadays, so, I guess the metal erosion was offset with the platinum cap.

Since spark plugs are cheap and yet, platinum is super expensive, that platinum cap must be pretty thin, don't you think?

I just opened my tuneup kit, where those gap gauges are still there!

I think our kids and grandkids are more worldly at five years old than we were at 20 in the days of yore!

I have to agree with you that if I knew a vehicle had a belt, and especially if it was an interference engine, for me, that car would be nearly worthless.

Just like FWD cars and tricked-out cars are, to me, nearly worthless.

Thanks for reminding me of the days of yore.

Here's my ancient timing light to check all of that:

And my very first dwell checker which I don't even remember how to use:

Because this dwellmeter was so much easier to read the value off of:

Yup. They fouled. And then they fouled again. And again. You got very good at filing them down to sharp edges.

I'm not so naive to not know that there is a lot of engineering, even in the rib and resistor design, but their actual use, when we put the correct one in our vehicles, is pretty simple I think.

Spark. Spark. Spark. Spark. Spark .... (rinse, repeat).

It's interesting we all universally feel engines last longer, but I wonder if it's not that the *car* lasts longer.

For example, tires last longer. Ball joints and u-joints and wheel bearings last longer. The body last longer. The exhaust lasts longer.

What doesn't last longer on a car nowadays?

Those are interesting advantages of EFI which are: a. Less gasoline dilution of cylinder walls b. Less contamination of the oil

So, fundamentally, people seem to be saying that carburetors contaminated everything more than does EFI, which reduced the life of the engine.

Googling for what you mean by "GDI"...

Pros and cons of gasoline direct injection...

What's so great about gasoline direct injection anyway?

Now that's an interesting concept!

If my bimmer requires higher-octane fuel, and if I add lower-octane fuel instead, and if I can induce pinging, then the moment that the engine pings, it vibrates "just enough" to shake loose carbon deposits (until the engine timing is retarded to eliminate the pinging).

I have never heard of that, but, it kind of sort of makes sense. Is that what you're implying can happen?

Thank you for correcting my assumption.

So it's a higher voltage zap for a longer period of time.

What's the old voltage? Something like 10K to 15K volts, right? What is the new voltage zap?

I see what you mean now.

Keeping the gas and combustion deposits out of the oil has to work. Of course, so does changing the oil (and SB->SN oil quality). And polyetheramine detergent in the gasoline.

Until this thread, I had not realized that the cylinder wall was being washed with gasoline, but it must have been because that's what a choke essentially does, and certainly what the accelerator pump did.

Fair enough. But if someone can't just tell me the answer, then that just means one or both of two things.

1. Nobody actually knows the answer (because if they can't simplify, they don't know it).
2. The answer is known but it's so freaking complex that nobody can summarize it (see #1 above).

If the answer can't be summarized *accurately*, then it's not known. So if I look it up, I'll just find out the same thing that everyone else already found out - which is that it's too complex to summarize accurately.

Which was my point.