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All internal combustion engines have a timing belt or some way to connect the camshaft with the crankshaft in an engine. Other methods include timing chains and timing gears. I feel a brief tutorial on timing belts may help many people from having to buy a used engine someday. Obviously there are other engine choices should your engine fail, such as: reconditioned engines and even brand new engines.

Most of the small front wheel drive cars have small engines that use a timing belt to connect the camshaft to the crankshaft. This is part of the timing system in an engine. Simply put, if the timing belt brakes or is put on incorrectly, the valves hit the top of the pistons and destroy the engine. Very uncool and expensive.

Many of you folks may have noticed a warning sticker on the timing cover. Basically it reads: Replace Tining Belt Every 80,000 miles (some cars have different mileage arrangements, but 80,000 miles is about par for the course). Several hundred bucks may seem like a lot of money, and it is, however it beats several thousand dollars if you ignore the warning plate. This would be considered preventive maintenance to the max degree because of the ramifications of a failed timing belt.

Choose a competent repair shop who employs top notch  auto mechanics to examine the car and help you decide if the time is now for a replacement timing belt. If your luck ran out and your engine fails, call GotEngines.com at 1-877-268-0664, and speak with a trained and experienced expert. Use our GotTransmissions.com Blog as an available resource for your every day automotive needs.

The MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor has nothing to do with your GPS. It is one of the controls on an engine that when it fails causes severely poor engine performance. It also will turn on the engine lite. If your engine light or idiot light as it is affectionately called comes on than going to a competent mechanic for a diagnosis is your safest and most cost effective bet.

Ford fuel injection MAP

A MAP is one of the sensors used in an internal combustion engine’s electronic control system. Engines that use a MAP sensor are typically fuel injected. The manifold absolute pressure sensor provides instantaneous manifold pressure information to the engine’s electronic control unit (ECU).

The quantity that the manifold absolute pressure determines is used to meter fuel. The amount of fuel required is directly related to the amount of air entering the engine. The mass of air is directly proportional to the air density, which is directly proportional to the absolute pressure and inversely proportional to the absolute temperature. Engine speed (RPM or revolutions per minute) determines the rate, at which air mass is leaving the intake manifold and entering the cylinders.

Testing: With OBD II standards, we start by hooking up a scan tool to the vehicles OBD (on baord diagnositics) adapter to test the EGR (Exhaust gas recirculation) valve for functionality during driving. Some manufacturers use the MAP sensor to accomplish this. In these vehicles, they have a MAF (mass air flow) sensor for their primary load sensor. The MAP sensor is then used for logical checks, and to test the EGR valve. The only accurate way to do this is during a deceleration cycle of the vehicle when the current vacuum in the intake manifold is at it’s highest level. During this high vacuum cycle the PCM (Pulse-code modulation) will open the EGR valve and watch the MAP sensor’s values.

Got it? Ha!

That is enough for today. The bigger point here is that if the engine lite comes on and or your car stops performing well, do yourself a favor and go to a competent repair shop. If you find your engine has failed or is in need of dire repairs call GotEngines.com at 1-877-268-0664 for a strategy on how to choose the finest pre-tested rebuilt, used or brand new engines. Subscribe to our blog at GotEngines.com Blog for all types of educational and helpful automotive and light duty truck information, in terms you will understand.

 Speedometer function on modern cars built in the early ’90’s and up is a function of many electrical components sending signals to the computer. By the late ’90’s all cars switched to electronic speedometers. This is one of the primary input signals that controls nearly every function of tranmsission operation. Now a days, if the speedometer quits working, the automatic tranmsission stops shifting. What is most important to know is that a bad VSS can cause all sorts of engine problems too, including serious engine damage or failure.

The “older” cars used small plastic gears and a speedometer cable to relay speed to the speedometer. If the cable or the plastic speedo gears broke, the only thing that quit working was the speedo. With the complexity of a modern day cars computerized electrical system it became necessary to integrate speed with other functions such as:.. when the transmission should shift, how hard it should shift, when to downshift and even effects engine operation. It is all integrated into a complex system.

Generally speaking the “engine light” will come on if the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) stops working, in conjunction with a loss of the automatic shifting features. Realistically speaking it is important to take the vehicle to a competent repair shop  instead of a dentist and have a mechanic hook an automotive electrical scan tool to the adapter. Early hookups were called OBD1 (on board diagnostics1), in 1996 or 1997 all automakers were mandated to use the same universal adapter, which fits all cars, called OBD11 (on board diganostic11). This was a great simplification, because every brand of car had it’s own proprietary adapter causing the need for many adapters.

I think it is a great mistake not to have your car scanned first even if you do the repair yourself. Some of the auto parts stores sell affordable scanners or more precisley ‘code readers’ for the home mechanic. A code is what the scan tool reads on the screen. It may be a number like code 24 or a letter and a number like A347. Once you “pull” the code you can look it up in a code book, usually included in the scan tool kit.

That being said, here is how a VSS works:..There is a trigger wheel on the output shaft of the transmission that spins anytime the vehicle is moving. The VSS is in the transmssion housing and it is aprroximatley thirty thousandths of an inch from the trigger wheel. When the car moves, the VSS counts the revolutions of the trigger wheel and sends it to the cars computer which transforms the ‘pulse counts’ or revolutions into a signal that goes to the speedometer and reads speed and mileage. It also sends all types of signals to the various engine sensors. Not to complicated, right?

I’m writing this in response to a question that one of our readers sent in about:.. no speedometer and a no shift problem. Anytime an engine lite comes on is a good time to go to your favorite repair facility and at least have the car scanned. By not scanning the car, you will be guessing at the problem and may waste money on unnecessary parts, more important, you may cause further damage to your transmission and car. Most people don’t even want to know how much it costs to replalce a transmission with one of the options available.

The whole purpose of this GotEngines.com Blog is to give you real life facts about finding the right repair shop and the most qualified engine and transmission supplier and provide answers to your questions for your needs. We also hope you find it helpful in other ways. Please get your free subscription delivered to youe email box.