Des Moines Auto Repair

The first commercially produced automotive transmissions were simple manual gearboxes. In the early days of motoring, cars were not affordable for everyone. Roads weren’t suited for the high speeds that we drive at today, so cars simply weren’t built to travel that fast. A standard gearbox had one reverse gear and 2 forward gears. Like with modern manual gearboxes, the driver used a clutch pedal and shift lever to select gears. The clutch pedal disengages the motor input from the transmission, so that the gears are not forcibly turning as they mesh together. The shift lever, naturally, aligns the appropriate gear with the motor input. The perceived problem with these transmissions, though, was that it was inconvenient to have to shift manually. Apparently, it also required a fair amount of force. This made shifting a distraction from the road, and made it unappealing for women to ... read more

The point of a transmission is to improve fuel economy, improve acceleration and reduce engine wear. To do this, your transmission uses leverage to create different outputs from the motor input. Basically, there is an ideal range of RPM’s for your motor to operate in, which we’ll refer to as the powerband. Too low, and you don’t have enough power. Too high, and your engine will be loud, run too hot, and consume copious amounts of fuel. Different transmissions have different ways of creating the ideal torque output for any given situation. Over the last century, mechanical geniuses have pushed the envelope, creating the various transmissions that are available today. Manual gearbox The first type of vehicle transmission to ever be produced commercially was, predictably, the simplest to understand. Manual gearboxes need the driver to select the appropriate gear range for their driving conditions ... read more

  Let’s take a second to pay homage to the 20thcentury geniuses that designed the automatic transmission, because its next-level stuff. In principle, the way they work is actually quite simple ---once its been explained. So for this article, we’ll stick to that, and not worry your head (our ours) with the complex details. So how does an automatic transmission know when to shift, especially when it often needs to shift at different RPMs? While its true that modern vehicles use sensors for most of the of work, the automatic transmission has been around since the 1940’s. Until the use of onboard computers late in the 20thcentury, shifting was controlled mechanically. And even when computers and sensors are used, the things they monitor are still the same. Here’s how it works Mechanical magic The first thing to understand is that the automatic transmission is actual ... read more

What your transmission does for you, and what you can do for it As a vehicle owner and non-mechanic, you don’t need to everything about how a transmission works. All you really need to know is what it does, so you understand two things: The kind of maintenance it needs, and Just how important that maintenance is The transmission, simplified The combustion engine comes with some of its own limitations. Combustion drives the pistons up and down, creating torque in the form of RPM’s. This output is what turns the drivetrain, which turns the wheels. The problem is that there is an ideal range of RPM’s the engine needs to operate in, to keep fuel efficiency up and engine wear down. Gearing can solve this problem. Gears can be thought of as radial levers. Large gears increase leverage, which increases the output of the motor. This means the motor can do more work, within the same operating range of RPMs. However, a larger gear turns slower. For every revolution produced by the motor, a lar ... read more

Despite the fact that winter continues to come at the end of every year, its easy to overlook preparing for it. The cold weather brings dangerous road conditions and reduced visibility. Here are some things to check up on now --- before you find yourself in immediate need in the dead of winter. 1. Test your heat. Just make sure its working. Test your seat warmers, too. If you haven’t used the heat for several months, there’s a chance something might have gone wrong. You’ll need your heat to defrost your windows, and to be comfortable driving in the middle of winter. Crank it up to max and make sure its putting out the right amount; even a small drop in the coolant level in your radiator can make the heat blow lukewarm or cold. 2. Check the quality of your antifreeze. Your antifreeze will eventually expire. When that happens, it can lose its antifreeze properties. Your coolant ought to be changed at regular intervals, anyways. For more on radiator and cooling system maintenance, see ... read more