So Fix it

Placed at the front end of most front-wheel-drive vehicles, struts support the vehicles weight while absorbing the shock from bumps and other abnormalities in the road. You cannot depend on a vehicle with bad struts to function properly in an emergency. If you notice any bad strut symptoms, take your vehicle in for evaluation and repair.

Bouncing and Rocking

If you notice that your vehicle no longer drives smoothly and bounces excessively when driving over bumps in the road or braking, your struts many be going bad. You may also notice abnormal rocking and sway in your vehicle while you drive. To test your struts, perform a bounce test by pushing down one corner of your car and letting it bounce back up. If the vehicle bounces a lot, that corner of the vehicle has a bad shock or strut.

Worn Tires

Uneven tread wear on your tires may be a result of bad struts. The excessive bouncing caused by bad struts could result in balding spots, wear channels or cupping patterns on your tires.

Bottoming Out

When your struts need replacement, your car will bottom out when driving over dips in the road, especially when carrying extra passengers. Bottoming out occurs when the struts or shock absorbers fail to support the frame of the car, and your car lands "hard" after going over a bump. You may notice this phenomenon happening in the front of your car. When you brake, your car tends to nose dive when your struts fail.

Leaks

Your struts consist of shock oil, dampening valves, a piston, main seal and a main body. When your struts fail, the internal dampening value or main shaft seal stops working. This results in the shock oil leaking out.

Rattling

When your struts give out, youll notice loose rattling sounds in your car while driving, especially when you go over bumps in the road. This happens when the inside parts of the struts strike the outside of the struts.

Power assisted steering is a mechanism which enables a driver to steer a vehicle more easily. It consists of five parts, including the power steering pump, steering wheel, steering rack, speed sensor and steering fluid. While the complete failure of a power steering is small, owing to the large number of parts involved, things can go wrong. If you know the symptoms, you can avoid costly repairs in the future by identifying the problems early on.

Fluid Color

Power steering fluid is pumped around the system to assist with the turning of a wheels. It withstands up to 1,200 lbs. of pressure, while it flows through the mechanism. The color of the fluid can indicate problems. As old fluid oxidises, it changes from red to dark grey or black. The fluid may also have bubbles in it, indicating an air leakage into the system. Finally, loose debris might be carried in it. Look at the steering fluid for these symptoms, which will show a damaged power steering system.

Fluid Leakages

It is important that there is a constant high level of steering fluid in the vehicles power steering system. This is the blood of the system, if it runs low it indicates that there is a leakage within the system. This symptom shows that there must be a hole in a pipe, or a connection is out of line, and theore causing the fluid to drip out.

Difficultly Steering

As a driver, you may notice changes in the power steering while you drive the vehicle. Instead of applying little force to the steering wheel as you turn corners, the steering might become more difficult--like a manual system. Jumpy steering may also be experienced. This is a sign of a malfunctioning drive belt, caused by excessive heat being generated. Alternatively, the drive belt may lack tension and is sliding out of place.

Unusual Noises

Squeaking, clunking or squealing noises are symptoms of power steering problems. The unusual noises can be caused by a slipping drive belt, which has become out of shape. Alternatively, it could be the steering pump, which is failing. If this is the case, you will hear strange noises when you turn corners. Listen to the sounds coming from the car to assess this.

All vehicles come equipped with small engine components called engine oxygen sensors. Many different types of oxygen sensors perform an array of different functions, and a faulty oxygen sensor can wreak havoc on engine operation and performance.

Rough Engine Idle

Vehicle engines that have a bad oxygen sensor often run irregularly or roughly. Oxygen sensors can control or contribute to many different engine functions, including fuel/air mixture, engine timing and engine combustion intervals. A faulty oxygen sensor can disrupt any of these things and cause a rough engine idle.

Engine Missing

A bad oxygen sensor can impede the air/fuel mixture of an engine or interfere with the engine combustion, both of which can cause an engine to miss, or run irregularly. An engine miss is normally most pronounced at idle or at lower engine speeds; a faulty oxygen sensor can inhibit the normal fuel delivery/combustion within an engine and cause a miss.

Engine Pinging

If a bad oxygen sensor is aligned with the ignition system on a cars engine, it can retard or advance engine ignition timing, which can cause an engine to ping. Pinging occurs when an engines combustion gases are ignited at the wrong times.

Poor Gas Mileage

Depending on the type and/or location of a faulty oxygen sensor, the fuel-delivery and the fuel-combustion systems can be thrown off or made irregular by a faulty oxygen sensor. If too much fuel is injected into an engines cylinders or a faulty oxygen sensor disturbs the delicate air/fuel mixture of an engine, gas mileage will suffer.

Increased Vehicle Emissions

Vehicle oxygen sensors play a critical part in keeping a vehicles emissions within certain parameters. A vehicle can fail a state-mandated smog test because a bad, or faulty, oxygen sensor will not accurately measure various engine ratios or air/fuel mixture concentrations or adjust certain engine operations accurately enough to keep a vehicles emissions in check.