Beginner's Guide: What Are Brake Drums and What Do They Do?
A brake drum is a cylindrical drum that is attached top the inside of a car’s wheel, and so rotates at the same speed as the wheel
Car repair Tips and Tutorials Archive
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Beginner's Guide: What Is the Water Pump and What Does It Do?
A water pump is vital to a car engine’s operation because it ensures the coolant keeps moving through the engine block, hoses and radiator, and maintains an optimum operating temperature. It is driven by a serpentine belt (aka accessory belt or auxiliary belt) from the crankshaft pulley.
Beginner's Guide: What Are Brake Shoes and What Do They Do?
The brake shoe is a curved piece of metal with high-friction material (the brake lining) attached to the outside of it. It is attached to the backing plate inside the brake drum with a series of springs and levers, and rests against the hydraulically operated wheel cylinder.
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Beginner's Guide: What Is a Lead-Acid Battery and What Does It Do?
The simple definition of a battery is a storage device for electrical energy. This energy can then be used to power electrical circuits within a car.
Beginner's Guide: What Is the Oil Pump and What Does It Do?
A car’s oil pump is needed to make sure the engine oil reaches all moving parts that require lubrication during an engine’s operation.
Beginner's Guide: What Is a Hill Holder and What Does It Do?
A hill holder is an automatic device, also known as hill hold by VW and hill-start assist by Audi and Ford, that activates when you press the foot brake when the car is at a standstill and usually on an incline.
What is the lifespan of your car's brakes?
The lifespan of a vehicle is almost impossible to quantify. That’s because any vehicle is made up of thousands of individual components, each of which has been designed and engineered to last a certain amount of time before age and fatigue cause it to fail or need to be replaced.
Beginner's Guide: What Is the Expansion Tank and What Does It Do?
An expansion tank is one part of a complex overall car cooling system that’s designed to keep the engine operating at exactly the right temperature. In the sealed cooling system that’s present on most cars, it is partially filled with air. The air in the expansion tank provides a ‘cushioning’...
7 Different Ways a Head Gasket Can Fail
Head gaskets have to deal with multiple tasks at the same time, which means they can fail in many ways. Haynes explains the symptoms.
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Beginner's Guide: What Is the Radiator and What Does It Do?
A radiator is just one part of a complex cooling system that’s designed to keep a car’s engine operating at just the right temperature.