So Fix it

The best fog light bulbs for automobiles produce white or selective yellow light. Fog lights are generally mounted low on the front of your car, aimed toward the road. This provides increased illumination of the road surface for low-visibility conditions such as fog, rain, snow or dust. Fog lights are not a legal requirement and should only be used for low-visibility driving situations. Misused fog lights can produce glare for other drivers as well as excessive foreground glare, impairing your driving vision.

White-Light Fog Bulbs

White light fog bulbs that use xenon gas are durable and long lasting. Further, xenon bulbs are significantly brighter than halogen bulbs. Buy white-light bulbs that do not emit blue wavelengths, as they can cause glare. The PIAA Coorporation makes high-quality white-light fog lights.

Selective Yellow Fog Light Bulbs

Selective yellow light bulbs improve visibility during inclement weather by removing the short wave lengths emitted by blue light. Blue wavelengths cause glare, especially during fog, rain and snow. The PIAA Corporations ion crystal bulbs have less lective white light, however they are considerably more expensive than other market options. More economic options are the Hella Optilux Extreme XY Yellow and the Narva All-Weather bulbs.

Selective Yellow Bulb Coating

If you would like to make your existing head light bulbs into selective yellow lights, you can buy a special coating that will limit the amount of emitted blue light. This is a cost-effective way to achieve similar results with your fog lights.

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.

The 1996 Chevrolet S10 pickup truck features daytime running lights, antilock brakes, independent front suspension, tinted glass, cloth upholstery and a standard monochromatic paint scheme. Options include four-wheel drive, heavy-duty suspension package, leather wrapped steering wheel and a more powerful 4.3-liter Vortec V-6. Base models come standard with a 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine and five-speed transmission. Certain optionally equipped 1996 Chevrolet S10 pickup trucks utilize a four-speed automatic transmission. Knowing the exact type of transmission your vehicle has will enable you to find order parts specific to your vehicle, or find a suitable replacement if repairs cannot be made.

Instructions

1

Open your vehicles passenger side door and open the glove box.

2

Examine the inside of the glove box for a small sticker containing a series of codes. These regular production option, or RPO, codes catalog exactly what options you have installed on your truck. Each code contains three characters; the first two characters of the code will utilize letters, while the remaining character will be a number.

3

Check through each set of codes for "M30", "M50" or "MW2". The "M50" code represents a New Venture Gear five-speed manual transmission, available on 4.3-liter V-6 equipped models; the "MW2" represents a New Venture Gear five-speed manual transmission available for the 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine. Vehicles that features the "M30" RPO code have a GM 4L60-E for speed automatic transmission installed, available on both 4.3-liter and 2.2-liter models.

Drivers depend on their instrument gauges to monitor the cars speed, as well as the amount of miles driven. But for some vehicles, such as the Chevy Trailblazer, problems can arise that affect the gauges functioning.

Identification

A Trailblazers gauges are arranged in an instrument cluster. Normally, the cluster includes the speedometer, fuel and coolant temperature, motor oil temperature, battery voltage and a tachometer.

Features

Many symptoms can point to a faulty instrument gauge, or even the entire cluster. Individual gauges can give intermittent information or stop working completely. Other gauges can look like they are functioning correctly, but are producing incorrect information, such as the speedometer reporting 60 mph when the car is actually traveling at 45 mph.

Prevention / Solution

Many repair facilities can fix your gauges. Depending on the system, some gauges have their motors replaced, while some just need simple calibration. If the damage to the gauge cannot be repaired for a reasonable price it may be best to replace the unit.

Removing a steering wheel lock cylinder can be tricky, and definitely requires patience. But with instructions, the right tools and a little patience, you can easily accomplish this task on your own. The technique may differ among car models, but the same tools are required.

Star Bit Drivers

The star bit drivers tool is used to remove the two sets of screws from the back of the steering wheel. This enables you to disconnect the wires connected to the airbag. The star (torx) drivers are also used to disconnect the horn button from the steering wheel by removing the two screws attaching it. This is done by pushing down a plastic tube, while turning it counterclockwise, and pulling the tube out.

Steering Wheel Puller

The steering wheel puller is a specialized tool used to remove the steering shaft nut locking the steering wheel. This is achieved by sliding the wheel puller through the holes on the steering wheel while removing it. The steering wheel puller forces out the steering wheel by jerking the center tube of the puller against the column shaft.

Wheel Spring Compressor

The wheel spring compressor is used to remove the steering wheel locking center. The spring compressor is fitted on the steering tube and is yarned down. It turns the nut down, pushing the fork down on the center. The spring compressor compresses down the center enough for you to see if the snap ring retainer is loose. If loose, you can easily pick it with a small pocket screwdriver.

Phillips Screwdriver

The Phillips screwdriver can be used to retract the horn pad from the steering wheel, by removing the two screws behind the steering wheel shafts. It operates by turning the screwdriver counterclockwise. The Phillips screwdriver is also used to remove the two screws holding the plastic signal in place by turning it counterclockwise. It also removes the ignition lock holding screw, which is accessed by lifting up the turning signal mechanism. Once this screw is out, it allows you to pull out the lock cylinder off the steering wheel shaft.

Adjustable Wrench

The adjustable wrench is used with a wheel puller to remove the steering wheel. An adjustable wrench is a type of spanner with a jaw that you can adjust to fit any width and is suitable to use with a variety of nuts. It works by turning the center screw on the wheel puller clockwise until the steering wheel is lifted of the shaft. The adjustable wrench also enables you to remove the middle screw connecting the steering wheel to the steering tube by backing it out in a counterclockwise manner.

Needle Nose Pliers

The needle nose pliers is made of hard steel; it has a thin blade with a sharpened edge making it suitable to pick on thin wires. Needle nose pliers are used to expose the locking ring in the keyhole. This is achieved by pressing down the lock ring inward so that it is released from the cap inside. When the pliers compress the ring down enough, the cap pops off by itself.

The advantage of lower shocks is that shorter riders feet can more easily touch the ground. Traditional, externally mounted shock absorbers on any Harley should not be disassembled and must be replaced as an assembly. Sportster shocks are usually 13.5 inches long. Replacement shocks are available in 11.5, 12, 12.5 and 13 inch lengths. This is how to swap them out. The procedure is the essentially the same for all Sportsters, all Dynas and all touring models.

Instructions

1

Raise the Harley on a motorcycle jack until the rear tire is off the ground. This aids access to the inside of the rear fender. Make sure the motorcycle is stable.

2

Remove both saddlebags. Hold the nut inside the fender with a box wrench and turn the bolt head inside your saddlebag with a socket wrench if you have bolt on bags.

3

Remove both bolts that secure both saddlebags. Save the nuts, bolts and washers from both bags for reuse.

4

Remove the Allen bolt and washer on the fender tab at the back of your seat if you have throw-over bags. Remove the seat then remove the throw-over bags.

5

Lower the motorcycle jack until both tires are on the ground and both shock absorbers are relaxed. Leave the jack sufficiently elevated so the bike is upright and resting on the jack rather than leaning left on the jiffy stand.

6

Immobilize the lower shock nut on either of the shock absorbers with a box wrench. Loosen the lower shock mounting bolt with an Allen wrench. Remove the bolt, nut and washer and save for reuse.

7

Loosen the upper shock mounting bolt with an Allen wrench and remove upper shock mounting bolt, washer and cover. Save this hardware for reuse.

8

Remove the opposite shock absorber using the same procedure.

9

Lower the motorcycle jack approximately two inches. Apply thread locker to the lower shock mounting bolt and begin to install the shorter, replacement shock absorber using the same lower bolt, washer and nut.

10

Apply thread locker to the upper shock mounting bolt and finish installing the shorter replacement shock absorber using the upper bolt, washer and cover. Repeat the same procedures on the opposite side of the motorcycle.

11

Reinstall the saddlebags as needed. Reinstall the seat as needed. Completely lower and remove the motorcycle jack.

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.