Dave’s auto & tire center

610 NORTH HOOSAC ROAD, WILLIAMSTOWN MA

(413)458-0256

NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2008 (maybe, maybe not)

EVAP SYSTEMS CODES: One of the more common codes we see when the CEL (Check Engine Light) comes on is one of a series of possible evaporative emissions codes. This system is actually a part of your fuel system. Since gasoline evaporates so easily (it is actually in its gaseous form that it is explosive), gasoline vehicles need a system to trap those fumes and recycle them to your fuel tank or engine. In older cars, to perform this function, the charcoal canister was hooked up to the fuel tank by a series of rubber hoses which vented to the intake manifold and into the engine. The modern system is not all that different, except that there are a series of solenoid valves and sensors. The valves control the flow of fumes from one part of the system to another and the sensors determine if the valves are working properly or if there are any leaks in the system. The sensors will pick up a loose gas cap, a rust hole in the system, a stuck valve. The major culprit causing problems to this system is rust. The valves are metal as are most of the lines between the tank and the filler neck. Leaks in the lines between the tank and the engine are pressurized by the fuel pump and are not picked up by the sensors, however your nose will readily detect these leaks. The small leaks in the evap system often require a smoke machine be hooked up to determine where the leak is. If there is more than one leak the biggest will get fixed first, as the smoke will take the path of least resistance. Once one leak is fixed the system is rechecked to insure there are no others.

OXYGEN SENSOR CODES: Remember the first time you had a check engine light come on in you car—decades ago—and you best friend told you it was probably an oxygen sensor and not to worry about it? We hear quite often, when people call to set up and appointment for a CEL, that it’s probably just the oxygen sensor. Most cars today have more than one sensor and they are no longer really oxygen sensors. Each exhaust manifold will have one air/fuel ratio sensor, which, ironically, measures the air/fuel ratio. The sensor takes readings based on what has been burned in the combustion chamber and what remains in the exhaust. The computer then makes its adjustments based on those readings. The next sensor in the system is a less complex sensor that sits behind the catalytic converter which sends readings to the computer which then compares the readings from the front sensor and the rear sensor to determine how efficiently the catalytic converter is working. If the converter is not working up to snuff (where does that expression come from, snuff just makes me sneeze) a “cat efficiency” code will be set. When we get a cat efficiency code we usually reset the computer, and wait to see if the code to returns. There are times when the computer seems to pick up a problem which is not persistent, but if the code comes back its bad news. We then have to make sure the sensors are working properly, and, if so, replace the converter. Luckily, as emission standards have become stricter, converters are replaced much more often than they used to be, and for many cars the prices have come down. Prices tend to remain high for those vehicles whose converters are only available through the dealer, but many are now available in the aftermarket. Also, some dealerships have told us to only use their converters as the aftermarket ones do not work as well and the cat code will return. This, however, has not been our experience. We have installed many aftermarket converters over the years with no negative effects. If the converters were not working to specification the cat codes would come back, but they do not. Our 18 month 18,000 mile warranty would cover any problems, and we don’t want to be replacing converters under warranty, so you can be sure that we are confident in the cats we install. We have not seen negative side effects and our clients can save from $200.00 to $1000.00 depending on the vehicle.

THE OFFICIAL RESULTS OF THE

DAVE’S AUTO & TIRE CENTER

POLL

The political scene is hot upon us, and nothing shows us humans for what we are better than a political debate, which has less to do with politics and more to do with creative name calling. They should call Ford. Ford Motor Co. has managed to create more new names for existing parts than any other manufacturer. For example, and idle air control valve is used by the computer of a car to open and close the throttle to allow more air into the fuel air mixture, and thus affect the idle speed of an engine. Most manufacturers have the word idle, or air in their name for this part (the less creative ones, which are most, simply call it an idle air control), however Ford calls it a step up motor. Very creative. While managing to be almost totally non-descriptive, Ford has managed to confuse us all on many an occasion. Luckily, Ford does train its personnel in the actual automotive terminology, so that when we call for an Idle air control valve they say, oh, you mean a step up motor. (Actually we mean an idle air control, but we don’t argue. We do sometimes laugh after hanging up). So, we think the political candidates should hire the Ford naming-engineers to come up with new and creative ways to insult each other. This way the watching public will be completely unaware that insults have been traded and thus believe that they were actually being civil to each other. That would be until the pundits manage to get a hold of the Ford manual and look up the actual meaning of what was said (which is a chore unto itself).

That being said, we have done what we could to assist in their quest as we pursue ours. In our quest for the ultimate knowledge (the true nature of homo-sapien-sapien) we asked what is mankind’s greatest invention since fire and the wheel. Little did we know that we would stir up such controversy. The FDA, the EPA, the IRS, the BLM, the FBI, the CIA, the BBC, the NYSE, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, and Animal Planet have all been knocking our doors down for the results of our latest poll. Now, after months of procrastination, we are prepared to let the public know—there are no results from our latest poll. We need a runoff poll. There was a tie. Not just any tie. A six way tie.

There was some interpretation of data required to achieve such a tie. For example we put “The germ theory of disease” and “Vaccines” under Modern Medicine. We put the “Flush toilet” and “Disposable diapers” under indoor plumping. Variations on a theme, thus combined, indoor plumbing would beat all the others by one vote. However, since that was one area where interpretation was required (and adding in disposable diapers was a bit of a stretch), and there were others where it was not, we decided to do something we have never done before, and that is to hold a runoff.

Here are the six greatest inventions of mankind according to our clientele, other than the discovery of fire, and the wheel: Indoor Plumbing, Modern Medicine, The Printing Press, Electricity, The Transistor Chip, and Music.

The greatest crisis facing American democracy in the last century has been apathy and its side effect of low voter turnout, so we are going to do what we did last time to induce people to come out for our poll; give them a chance to win something of value. Last time Lanie Sporbert and Shirley Harris both won $100.00 worth of goods and services from us. We will again draw two winners from all participants and award the same $100.00 worth of goods and services to the winners.

(Here’s an idea. All political candidates should participate in a week’s worth of debates. No advertising should be allowed. A second week should be given to the American people to digest the dialogue—there should be hefty fines for insults and speaking out of turn. We should then be allowed to vote. The winner would then have to pay each person who voted $20.00, the second place candidate should have to pay each voter $15.00, the third place candidate and beyond should each have to give each voter $10.00. I think this would improve voter turnout.)

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

So here’s your chance. Place your mark firmly next to the one you see as mankind’s greatest invention since fire and the wheel. No hanging or dimpled chads here, but an old fashioned mark, clearly indicating your choice. Equally old fashioned counting by an actual person will determine the final winner.

_____ The Printing Press

_____ Music

_____ Indoor Plumbing

_____ Modern Medicine

_____ The Transistor Chip

_____ Electricity

Your Name and Phone Number____________________________________________

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TAKE 5% OFF ANY REPAIR, NOW UNTIL THE END OF MARCH 2008

Just mention this ad to get your discount.

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BOOK NOTES

If a tree falls in the woods, and there is no human in there to hear it, does it make a sound? No. Unless, that is, there is another creature with eardrums hanging around. According to Daniel Levitan, author of This is your Brain on Music, a sound is not made when said tree falls, it creates a vibration which passes through the membranes and filaments of the ear which send signals to the brain which then translate the signals into sound. The sound, it would seem, is all in our heads. (Equally, the vibration must have something like an atmosphere to conduct it to our ears. Sound cannot travel through the vacuum of space, so all those explosions in Star Wars and the like wouldn’t even be a dull thud on another ship, unless they were in direct contact.) This book, and Musicophilia by Oliver Sachs, present interesting studies into the human brain and its relationship to, and creation of, music. Sachs book presents a host of interesting stories about people with different types of brain damage, and the musical effects they have in patients. Also there are stories of how the brain compensates when the ear is damaged, as well as how music can affect mood, depression, dementia, etc… Levitan’s book is more interested in how and why we create music as well as how we react to it and why. Both books are interesting, each in its own way, but they do not make light reading, and in the end I found them tedious. Sachs’ book would work better as a series of articles as one is led through case after case, down a Long and Winding Road. Levitan’s work, though interesting, is dry, and I find myself reading it in bits and pieces as I need to be in the proper state of mind to enjoy it.

The Ghost and the Darkness was a film made a few years back starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. It made famous in modern times the story of two man-eating lions that were hunted down over a century ago. The film version of it was a good part fiction, but the actual story is retold, in brief, in Ghosts of Tsavo, by Philip Caputo. In this book Caputo tells of two trips he made to Africa’s Tsavo National Park in Kenya. He went with groups of scientists to study the lions of Tsavo who are known man-eaters, and the location of the attacks made famous in the film. Ghost and Darkness are the names of the two man-eaters who now reside in a museum in Chicago. But they are by no means the only man-eaters. As Caputo puts it, lions eat primates, and humans are primates. In the end he documents the fact that man is essentially a prey animal to all the big cats, and one more easily caught than many others.

I enjoy reading naturalist writing. But not all nature writers have the ability to catch a reader. It doesn’t hurt Caputo that he is also a great novelist, and reporter. The novelist writes to capture a reader in the grip of his story, just as a journalist does in capturing the moment, so when one turns to nature writing, that ability often transcends genre. Caputo also writes with an understanding of Africa today. His first novel Horn of Africa and his newest Acts of Faith are both portraits of a continent in turmoil. I believe that his work for Ghosts of Tsavo led directly to Acts of Faith.

Caputo recognizes the absurdity of the two distinct realities he is facing in Africa. “Of all the questions currently confronting America and the world, [a study of] why some lions have manes and others don’t doesn’t rank very high on the list.” He relates a part of a conversation he had with an aid worker who said to him: “That’s the difference between the West and here. In the West, you have time to do things like observe lions and measure their skulls. Here, everyone is just trying to survive, day to day. It’s a little like ancient Athens. They had slaves to do the dirty work so Plato and Aristotle and that lot could sit and think.” Caputo writes, “Something of an overstatement….[But] Tsavo and the Serengeti are what tourists—and writers and scientists—want to see of Africa, but the real Africa is millions upon millions of people suffering through dismal poverty, AIDS, malaria, drought, famine, utterly corrupt regimes, overcrowded cities, intractable civil wars.”

Memorable vacations and big game hunts are the main reasons Americans go to Africa. People watch Hotel Rwanda and afterwards discuss the quality of the acting and the relative realism of it. The film, of course, tells one story of a great horror. Intimate Enemy: Images and Voices of the Rwandan Genocide, by Scott Straus and Robert Lyons provides a pictorial of some of the victims and perpetrators of the genocide, as well as interviews with many. In reading these stories of people caught up in the horror one looks at their pictures—they could be our neighbors, they could be us—and I cannot help but wonder how I would have reacted in the same circumstances, where our commonplace morality breaks down, as it daily does in so much of Africa.