12 ms·

How a car works (2012)

508 points by gshrikant 11y ago

csbowe 11y ago
The section on how cars are designed is entertainingly out-dated.
dang 11y ago
Previously discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4974055 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4974055. Edit: after a year or so, reposts are fine. This is just to point out to readers that the site had appeared before—indeed, was an old Show HN.
Lorento 11y ago
Seems to be very dated. Plenty on adjusting carburetors, in fact adjusting all sorts of no-longer-needing-adjusting parts.
- jsingleton 11y ago
  It will be even more dated when electric vehicles take over and internal combustion engines become as niche as steam engines. But then they still make manuals for those: http://www.haynes.co.uk/thomas/ http://www.haynes.co.uk/thomas/
- anon4 11y ago
  Given that there's a lot of dated cars, I don't think the advice is unwarranted.
  - gregpilling 11y ago
    GM stopped putting carburetors in vehicles in 1985 for the US market, which is 30 years ago. When can we let go of old tech?
    - realusername 11y ago
      There is other countries which are using cars other than the United States (shocking I know !) and I have a car which has one.
      - marincounty 11y ago
        Good for you! I will never understand the mostly American tradition of buying a new car every few years? Cars that are so complicated; the owner is forced to bring it to the shop for every hiccup. A lot of cars/and trucks from the late 80's to around 2008, are pretty easy to work on, and with the proper maintence can last 300,000 miles. And if your not afraid of getting your hands dirty--you will never have to pay a mechanic $120/hr to work on your vechicle. These newer vehicles are so complicated--a lot of shops do a lot of learning on your dime. (I have a Toyota with a 22R engine. It has one 350,000 miles and it's never seen a mechanic--except for smog checks, and never failed once. Actually it did fail once, but it was due to an error in a Motor Emmission publication. If you have an older car, and need a Smog check; make sure your smog shop has access to Mitchell manuals online(OnDemand5). They are highly accurate! My dad gave me some good advice years ago. He told me to buy a year specific service manual for every automobile you ever buy.
        bluetomcat 11y ago
        It's due to the perceived wisdom that every car suddenly becomes a lemon after hitting 100k miles. The "low social status" attributed to driving an older car is also at play. Here in Europe, it's not uncommon to see cars in good shape which have over 400k miles on the clock. If you think about it, a European or Japanese mid 90's car with no rust and a rebuilt engine will give you more trouble-free miles, for a fraction of the money.
        rgbrenner 11y ago
        mostly American tradition of buying a new car every few years The average car on US roads is 11.4 years old: http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-ihs-automotive-average-age-car-20140609-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-ihs-automotiv... The average car on EU roads is 8.6 years old. In fact, in the EU only Estonia and Finland keep their cars longer than the US on average. http://www.acea.be/statistics/tag/category/average-vehicle-age http://www.acea.be/statistics/tag/category/average-vehicle-a...
- Stratoscope 11y ago
  I used to love carburetors. Now there was technology you could understand: little needles and valves and levers and jets and gaskets, and if anything went wrong, you could just get a rebuild kit, tear the carb down down, clean it out, and put it back together with the new parts. In fact, rebuilding the carburetor on a friend's VW Beetle gave me the confidence I needed to take the next logical step: rebuilding her whole engine! I didn't have all the right tools, so we took the VW down to the Briarpatch Cooperative Auto Shop on Park Blvd. in Palo Alto. [1] [2] This was like a TechShop for cars: You could get a membership and take your car there to work on it using their tools or your own. Or you could have one of their mechanics help you with the work. I got the engine torn down, all the parts laid out on the floor, and started to think about how to clean it up and put it back together. Then I realized I was in way over my head and called the resident mechanic over to see if he could finish it for me. He did, but only after shaking his head sadly and saying, "This is the worst way to get a job." [1] https://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/dave-smith-transition-clothes-and-cars-that-last-forever/ https://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/dave-smi... [2] http://briarpatch.net/ http://briarpatch.net/
- Svip 11y ago
  Modern cars are very locked-in with computer systems. So fixing many aspects of modern cars is no longer possible for most car owners like it used to be. This seems like a neat site for people with older cars. Although, if you are owning a vintage car, then surely one should know a bit about maintaining that car without having to resort to such a site, but personally, it's nice to know it is there. I mean, its articles on break systems, suspension and steering are useless to me, because I own old Citroëns, but it's nice to know there is a site to go to if I am curious, because I definitely intend to own more older cars (they tend to be more interesting than modern cars).
  - dsfyu404ed 11y ago
    If you're doing basic diagnosis and repair it's pretty easy. ~/ examine problem | pull codes | Google codes | cross reference with original symptoms | perform repair Older cars are much easier to physically work on, mostly because there's less removing parts to get to what you need to fix.
  - mindcrime 11y ago
    Modern cars are very locked-in with computer systems. So fixing many aspects of modern cars is no longer possible for most car owners like it used to be. So true. And so frustrating. I grew up in a household where my dad built and raced stock cars, and was always building hot rods for street racing (sssshhhh, don't tell) and so I grew up working on cars, and for a big chunk of my life I did my own repair work. But as you say, newer cars are so much more challenging. It's not just the computerized bits either, it's the tighter clearances / less space in the engine compartment, the way you often have to disassemble half the car to even get access to the think you need to touch, the specialized tools you need for some jobs, etc. Coincidentally my truck (a 2000 Ford Expedition) died Wed. morning. I am thinking about just going on Craigslist, finding an old 1974 Chevy C10 pickup, or something of that ilk, and buying that. I can do everything on a truck like that myself, all the way down to pulling and rebuilding the engine if need be. because I definitely intend to own more older cars (they tend to be more interesting than modern cars). They certainly can be, in their own way. I mean, I like both, but old cars definitely have a certain special appeal to them.
  - 11y ago
- AlexMuir 11y ago
  Yeah, it's getting dated now and I'm planning on creating some new content shortly. That said, it's still highly relevant for most classic car owners, and large amounts of the developing world.
  - matrix 11y ago
    The old content is awesome and is never going to stop being relevant. I think the key to address the criticisms would be 1) Navigation - perhaps some sort of timeline that accompanies each article so that you can easily see the context that technology is in (e.g. direct injection <- fuel injection <- carburetor). 2) Edit the copy to ensure that old technology isn't identified as new. A quick glance turned up examples like: "Some high-performance engines do not have carburettors...". Good stuff overall though!
- douche 11y ago
  Carburetors are still prevalent on a lot of other small engines - think lawn mowers, tractors, snow-blowers, chainsaws, etc.
donkeyd 11y ago
I heard, that in soviet Russia, the car drives you.
fauria 11y ago
I highly recommend "Engineering Explained" channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineeringExplained https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineeringExplained
- FrankenPC 11y ago
  I second this. I've sunk quite a bit of time on that channel. Excellent explanations.
jsingleton 11y ago
De Lorean Owner’s Handbook: http://www.howacarworks.com/manuals/doc/d3218-owner-s-manual http://www.howacarworks.com/manuals/doc/d3218-owner-s-manual Nice. It must have taken guts to build a car in Belfast during the height of the troubles. Not that it worked out that well in the end, but it is an iconic car.
- Peroni 11y ago
  There's a fantastic article on that very point: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-delorean-how-the-back-to-the-future-car-brought-pride-to-a-troubled-ulster-10334965.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-delorean-...
AlexMuir 11y ago
This is my site! This was a pleasant surprise to find my own site on HN this morning! I wondered why it was getting a few more FB likes than usual today. I'm happy to answer any questions. I finished this redesign last week so any feedback is welcome. The main task was to recreate labels and annotations on the illustrations in SVG format, and to reformat the articles in a way that flows nicely and is responsive, but without needing complex markup in the articles. I'll write about the process if there's interest. I've previously written a little about this project: http://www.howacarworks.com/about/making http://www.howacarworks.com/about/making http://www.howacarworks.com/a-year-on http://www.howacarworks.com/a-year-on Current traffic is 200k uniques a month and it's taken about two years of steady growth to reach that point.
- gshrikant 11y ago
  The site is amazing! For someone only vaguely familiar with the mechanical-side of cars, it was a pleasant surprise to see all this quality content consolidated outside of a textbook. I was reading the sections on suspension systems and the diagrams look just plain beautiful! Dated or not, it is definitely a great place to get some fundamentals straight. So I took the liberty of posting it on HN this morning. Thanks for the great work!
  - AlexMuir 11y ago
    Thanks! I'm curious - did you just find the site on Google? Over the past two months I've re-mastered the old illustrations with a few filters and the difference is incredible. There's still a little more to do but I'm pleased you find it useful. The next step is to update the iOS app with new versions of the pics. Here's a comparison of the pics: Old - http://www.howacarworks.com/images/846/leaf-spring-suspension.jpg http://www.howacarworks.com/images/846/leaf-spring-suspensio... New - http://www.howacarworks.com/illustration/1333/leaf-spring-suspension.png http://www.howacarworks.com/illustration/1333/leaf-spring-su...
    - gshrikant 11y ago
      Yes! It was the top result for 'car damper working' and a bunch of other search terms.
noipv4 11y ago
Nicely done. Man you should really add a section on the Tesla Model S and possibly the Roadster.
- JshWright 11y ago
  Or... y'know... any car from the past couple decades (this material is pretty dated).
giancarlostoro 11y ago
I always feel so uncomfortable about my car considering how old it is, and I know nothing about it or how it works. Everyone around me just cracks open their hoods and fixes their car, swaps tires, etc. I can't just move stuff around without actually understanding what anything is. I honestly have been wanting to learn more about cars. It also helps keep up with mechanics when they tell me things I don't fully understand, I don't imagine they want to sit around all day answering my questions, they probably have other people to work for. I only vaguely understand the things that have gone wrong with my car and the symptoms. Thanks for such a beautiful website, and for everyone else sharing some interesting links. Being computer savvy is not entirely helpful when it comes to the mysteries of cars (not entirely anyway). Btw I would love for there to be an Android app if possible. :)
- dsfyu404ed 11y ago
  They've had an "app" since the early 90s. It's called a "Factory Service Manual" or "Alldata" There's no way an inexpensive phone app could be made comprehensive enough to be a nothing-to-something tutorial, let alone on the fly. Something along the lines of "Siri, how do I fix <problem>," would set people for getting in way over their head. Haynes has an iPad app. I work on enough cars that aren't mine that (if I had an iPad) I'd consider it (but usually I can find a paper manual for under $10 used). In the same way that software is built on thousands of layers of abstraction there's thousands of small steps between only knowing how to drive and designing your own parts for an engine build. 90% of it can also be learned for free on the Internet, just like coding. Pretty much any service or repair is a collection of small simple tasks. Think about the competency level of some of the people that work on cars...doesn't seem so hard to do now does it? Get a Haynes manual for your car and read it cover to cover. Even if you don't do your own work, being familiar with the systems in your car will help prevent shops from taking advantage of you. Working on cars can be like meth. Once you start you're hooked. It often goes something vaguely like this: If you can add gas you can add windshield wash... Checking your tire pressure isn't a big step from there... Changing your oil is easy to do... Changing a belt isn't really and harder than changing oil.. Changing spark plug wires takes literally no tools... You do more minor preventative maintenance and replacement of wear parts, become more competent and acquire a few more tools. Eventually it starts being practically impossible to justify paying $60-$120 for shop labor and 200%-%400 parts cost when I know how easy and cheap some stuff is... "Doing a brake job myself will me cost 1/4 or less of what it would cost to have shop do it and comes with the piece of mind that I didn't cut corners..." "How can I justify paying someone to install a new bumper cover when it just needs to be snapped on and screwed down...and the shop that replaced the one on your parents car couldn't be bothered to use the screws..." "Rear wheel bearings cost under $20 for the set, a torque wrench costs $10 and I don't even need to remove the tire to change the bearings. Hell yeah! This is refreshingly easy..."(90s Tercel, if anyone was wondering) Fast forward a three years and one swapped engine: A sensor fails in a particularly odd way, you diagnose it correctly because you know how the system it's a part of in great detail, that's the value of experience... You're stranded by a minor problem while riding in someone else's car on a Saturday you convince them to have it towed to a shop or Autozone. You've never done that particular repair on that particular model but Autozone's website says it's in stock at that location and they're open until 10...$40 and 1hr later you're on your way to Walmart to buy a clean shirt... You get a call from your dad "Hey, I just got out of my dentist appointment. Remember that joint on the exhaust that you said was pretty bad?" and reply "Is there still <repair stuff> in the trunk to the front left of spare tire or do I need to bring it?" IMO, just start learning about and working on your car. If you want to know something Google it.
teh_klev 11y ago
Previous discussions: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=how%20a%20car%20works&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=how%20a%20car%20works&sort=byP...
- gus_massa 11y ago
  I only see two small and old discussions about this site in the search results. dang found another a previous discussion about this site, with more points and comments, but it has a very different title.
aunty_helen 11y ago
This is great. As for the criticism that a lot of the content is old, most of the core concepts can be explained better with older tech as it's simpler. This allows you to focus on what is happening and leave the extra details about what technology a part or process has for a case by case basis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI is a great example of this. Saying that, an article on direct injection, common rail diesels, efficient turbo charging, variable valve timing, MAF VS MAP EFI would be worth considering.
jshelly 11y ago
I was disappointed to see that there is no guide on replacing brake pads for disc brakes. It seems like everyone in the world knows how to do this but me.
- RankingMember 11y ago
  Youtube <model name> plus "brake pads" and there'll be some guy explaining exactly how to do it on your make and model.
  - jshelly 11y ago
    Thanks for the tip
matthewrhoden1 11y ago
I didn't see the article for when it's 2AM and you can't get that one last bolt off.
- extc 11y ago
  blow torch
- RankingMember 11y ago
  Propane or MAPP gas torch. Heat what the bolt goes through until it's cherry, then wail on it with an impact wrench. The torch is often referred to as "the big red wrench". Also, don't underestimate the power of soaking the stuck bolt in penetrating oil.
  - rpcope1 11y ago
    Even better than any penetrating oil you can buy: ATF + Acetone[1]. Also, having a rosebud torch with Oxygen + Acetylene is a must if you find yourself dealing with rusty bolts often. [1] - http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/penetrating-oil-showdown.350800/ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/penetrating-oil-s...
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
nogridbag 11y ago
Neat site. My father was a mechanic and thus I should know all of this stuff, but I wasted away my life behind the keyboard instead :D I often find videos do a much better job at explaining some concepts. For example, the section on differentials: http://www.howacarworks.com/basics/how-the-transmission-works http://www.howacarworks.com/basics/how-the-transmission-work... After reading this I feel none the wiser. Whereas after watching this ancient Chevrolet training video from the 1930's I feel like I completely understand how diffs work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4JhruinbWc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4JhruinbWc
- AlexMuir 11y ago
  I'll embed that video shortly.
  - nogridbag 11y ago
    Previous HN discussion on the diff video if you're curious: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8513209 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8513209
chrismartin 11y ago
Very nice illustrations, but you are missing important systems that are found on many/all cars from the past 20 years, like front wheel drive, CV joints, closed-loop emissions control, OBD-II and CAN bus, distributorless (electonic) ignition, electric power steering, CVTs and dual-clutch automatic transmissions, and TPMS. Diagnosing a check engine light by reading OBD-II codes, for example, is something that every owner of a car produced after 1996 will eventually need to deal with. You should rebuild your content around systems that are found on the majority of cars on the road today.
sealthedeal 11y ago
Love the site great job
kiddico 11y ago
I've been looking for a site like this for so long! <3
ZeWaren 11y ago
I love the fact that you can buy the pdf using bitcoins.
abakker 11y ago
A few pieces of feedback. In the suspension section, it would be worth explaining a few things about truck suspension, also. Like solid axle, front and rear suspension, both with Coil and Leaf springs. Also, dampers are incredibly important in large trucks/SUVs because if they fail, body roll has much higher likelihood of causing you to lose control. Finally, a "bounce test" really won't work with many SUVs or truck where there is simply no way to compress the suspension to any meaningful degree with your hands. personally, with trucks, I like the "speed bump test" where you drive into a speed bump and if the truck/SUV continues to oscillate upon returning to the correct height, your dampers probably need work. Additionally, since most trucks/SUVs use similar oil volume dampers to cars, the life of their dampers is frequently lower than in cars. The ones in my TRD Tundra lasted about 40K miles.
Kluny 11y ago
Great site! I'm going to add it to my car fixing workflow. Ie, thing breaks -> read relevant article so I understand how the system works -> find a good tutorial -> source parts -> fix. If you are looking for article suggestions: - Article about different fluids and their properties. I'm betting that you've covered oil weights already, but how about coolants? Regular coolant has a lower freezing temp than water, but does it have a higher boiling point as well? Exactly how poisonous is it and what things will it damage when spilled? Same for trans fluid. - Possibly out of scope, but an article about how to source parts for older cars. This has always been a tough problem for me! I go with something like: look up parts schematic from manufacturer's website -> search for part by part number -> try to find the cheapest generic part (though sometimes it's worth it to pay for quality) -> find that generic parts don't exist -> go on a merry hunt for used parts on ebay and at scrapyards.
Syrup-tan 11y ago
There are also some great animations on how a 4-stroke engine works from animagraffs.com; http://animagraffs.com/how-a-car-engine-works/ http://animagraffs.com/how-a-car-engine-works/

508 points by gshrikant 11y ago

The section on how cars are designed is entertainingly out-dated.

dang 11y ago

Previously discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4974055 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4974055. Edit: after a year or so, reposts are fine. This is just to point out to readers that the site had appeared before—indeed, was an old Show HN.

Lorento 11y ago

Seems to be very dated. Plenty on adjusting carburetors, in fact adjusting all sorts of no-longer-needing-adjusting parts.

jsingleton 11y ago
It will be even more dated when electric vehicles take over and internal combustion engines become as niche as steam engines. But then they still make manuals for those: http://www.haynes.co.uk/thomas/ http://www.haynes.co.uk/thomas/
anon4 11y ago
Given that there's a lot of dated cars, I don't think the advice is unwarranted.
- gregpilling 11y ago
  GM stopped putting carburetors in vehicles in 1985 for the US market, which is 30 years ago. When can we let go of old tech?
  - realusername 11y ago
    There is other countries which are using cars other than the United States (shocking I know !) and I have a car which has one.
    - marincounty 11y ago
      Good for you! I will never understand the mostly American tradition of buying a new car every few years? Cars that are so complicated; the owner is forced to bring it to the shop for every hiccup. A lot of cars/and trucks from the late 80's to around 2008, are pretty easy to work on, and with the proper maintence can last 300,000 miles. And if your not afraid of getting your hands dirty--you will never have to pay a mechanic $120/hr to work on your vechicle. These newer vehicles are so complicated--a lot of shops do a lot of learning on your dime. (I have a Toyota with a 22R engine. It has one 350,000 miles and it's never seen a mechanic--except for smog checks, and never failed once. Actually it did fail once, but it was due to an error in a Motor Emmission publication. If you have an older car, and need a Smog check; make sure your smog shop has access to Mitchell manuals online(OnDemand5). They are highly accurate! My dad gave me some good advice years ago. He told me to buy a year specific service manual for every automobile you ever buy.
      - bluetomcat 11y ago
        It's due to the perceived wisdom that every car suddenly becomes a lemon after hitting 100k miles. The "low social status" attributed to driving an older car is also at play. Here in Europe, it's not uncommon to see cars in good shape which have over 400k miles on the clock. If you think about it, a European or Japanese mid 90's car with no rust and a rebuilt engine will give you more trouble-free miles, for a fraction of the money.
      - rgbrenner 11y ago
        mostly American tradition of buying a new car every few years The average car on US roads is 11.4 years old: http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-ihs-automotive-average-age-car-20140609-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-ihs-automotiv... The average car on EU roads is 8.6 years old. In fact, in the EU only Estonia and Finland keep their cars longer than the US on average. http://www.acea.be/statistics/tag/category/average-vehicle-age http://www.acea.be/statistics/tag/category/average-vehicle-a...
Stratoscope 11y ago
I used to love carburetors. Now there was technology you could understand: little needles and valves and levers and jets and gaskets, and if anything went wrong, you could just get a rebuild kit, tear the carb down down, clean it out, and put it back together with the new parts. In fact, rebuilding the carburetor on a friend's VW Beetle gave me the confidence I needed to take the next logical step: rebuilding her whole engine! I didn't have all the right tools, so we took the VW down to the Briarpatch Cooperative Auto Shop on Park Blvd. in Palo Alto. [1] [2] This was like a TechShop for cars: You could get a membership and take your car there to work on it using their tools or your own. Or you could have one of their mechanics help you with the work. I got the engine torn down, all the parts laid out on the floor, and started to think about how to clean it up and put it back together. Then I realized I was in way over my head and called the resident mechanic over to see if he could finish it for me. He did, but only after shaking his head sadly and saying, "This is the worst way to get a job." [1] https://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/dave-smith-transition-clothes-and-cars-that-last-forever/ https://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/dave-smi... [2] http://briarpatch.net/ http://briarpatch.net/
Svip 11y ago
Modern cars are very locked-in with computer systems. So fixing many aspects of modern cars is no longer possible for most car owners like it used to be. This seems like a neat site for people with older cars. Although, if you are owning a vintage car, then surely one should know a bit about maintaining that car without having to resort to such a site, but personally, it's nice to know it is there. I mean, its articles on break systems, suspension and steering are useless to me, because I own old Citroëns, but it's nice to know there is a site to go to if I am curious, because I definitely intend to own more older cars (they tend to be more interesting than modern cars).
- dsfyu404ed 11y ago
  If you're doing basic diagnosis and repair it's pretty easy. ~/ examine problem | pull codes | Google codes | cross reference with original symptoms | perform repair Older cars are much easier to physically work on, mostly because there's less removing parts to get to what you need to fix.
- mindcrime 11y ago
  Modern cars are very locked-in with computer systems. So fixing many aspects of modern cars is no longer possible for most car owners like it used to be. So true. And so frustrating. I grew up in a household where my dad built and raced stock cars, and was always building hot rods for street racing (sssshhhh, don't tell) and so I grew up working on cars, and for a big chunk of my life I did my own repair work. But as you say, newer cars are so much more challenging. It's not just the computerized bits either, it's the tighter clearances / less space in the engine compartment, the way you often have to disassemble half the car to even get access to the think you need to touch, the specialized tools you need for some jobs, etc. Coincidentally my truck (a 2000 Ford Expedition) died Wed. morning. I am thinking about just going on Craigslist, finding an old 1974 Chevy C10 pickup, or something of that ilk, and buying that. I can do everything on a truck like that myself, all the way down to pulling and rebuilding the engine if need be. because I definitely intend to own more older cars (they tend to be more interesting than modern cars). They certainly can be, in their own way. I mean, I like both, but old cars definitely have a certain special appeal to them.
- 11y ago
AlexMuir 11y ago
Yeah, it's getting dated now and I'm planning on creating some new content shortly. That said, it's still highly relevant for most classic car owners, and large amounts of the developing world.
- matrix 11y ago
  The old content is awesome and is never going to stop being relevant. I think the key to address the criticisms would be 1) Navigation - perhaps some sort of timeline that accompanies each article so that you can easily see the context that technology is in (e.g. direct injection <- fuel injection <- carburetor). 2) Edit the copy to ensure that old technology isn't identified as new. A quick glance turned up examples like: "Some high-performance engines do not have carburettors...". Good stuff overall though!
douche 11y ago
Carburetors are still prevalent on a lot of other small engines - think lawn mowers, tractors, snow-blowers, chainsaws, etc.

donkeyd 11y ago

I heard, that in soviet Russia, the car drives you.

fauria 11y ago

I highly recommend "Engineering Explained" channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineeringExplained https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineeringExplained

FrankenPC 11y ago
I second this. I've sunk quite a bit of time on that channel. Excellent explanations.

jsingleton 11y ago

De Lorean Owner’s Handbook: http://www.howacarworks.com/manuals/doc/d3218-owner-s-manual http://www.howacarworks.com/manuals/doc/d3218-owner-s-manual Nice. It must have taken guts to build a car in Belfast during the height of the troubles. Not that it worked out that well in the end, but it is an iconic car.

Peroni 11y ago
There's a fantastic article on that very point: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-delorean-how-the-back-to-the-future-car-brought-pride-to-a-troubled-ulster-10334965.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-delorean-...

AlexMuir 11y ago

This is my site! This was a pleasant surprise to find my own site on HN this morning! I wondered why it was getting a few more FB likes than usual today. I'm happy to answer any questions. I finished this redesign last week so any feedback is welcome. The main task was to recreate labels and annotations on the illustrations in SVG format, and to reformat the articles in a way that flows nicely and is responsive, but without needing complex markup in the articles. I'll write about the process if there's interest. I've previously written a little about this project: http://www.howacarworks.com/about/making http://www.howacarworks.com/about/making http://www.howacarworks.com/a-year-on http://www.howacarworks.com/a-year-on Current traffic is 200k uniques a month and it's taken about two years of steady growth to reach that point.

gshrikant 11y ago
The site is amazing! For someone only vaguely familiar with the mechanical-side of cars, it was a pleasant surprise to see all this quality content consolidated outside of a textbook. I was reading the sections on suspension systems and the diagrams look just plain beautiful! Dated or not, it is definitely a great place to get some fundamentals straight. So I took the liberty of posting it on HN this morning. Thanks for the great work!
- AlexMuir 11y ago
  Thanks! I'm curious - did you just find the site on Google? Over the past two months I've re-mastered the old illustrations with a few filters and the difference is incredible. There's still a little more to do but I'm pleased you find it useful. The next step is to update the iOS app with new versions of the pics. Here's a comparison of the pics: Old - http://www.howacarworks.com/images/846/leaf-spring-suspension.jpg http://www.howacarworks.com/images/846/leaf-spring-suspensio... New - http://www.howacarworks.com/illustration/1333/leaf-spring-suspension.png http://www.howacarworks.com/illustration/1333/leaf-spring-su...
  - gshrikant 11y ago
    Yes! It was the top result for 'car damper working' and a bunch of other search terms.

noipv4 11y ago

Nicely done. Man you should really add a section on the Tesla Model S and possibly the Roadster.

JshWright 11y ago
Or... y'know... any car from the past couple decades (this material is pretty dated).

giancarlostoro 11y ago

I always feel so uncomfortable about my car considering how old it is, and I know nothing about it or how it works. Everyone around me just cracks open their hoods and fixes their car, swaps tires, etc. I can't just move stuff around without actually understanding what anything is. I honestly have been wanting to learn more about cars. It also helps keep up with mechanics when they tell me things I don't fully understand, I don't imagine they want to sit around all day answering my questions, they probably have other people to work for. I only vaguely understand the things that have gone wrong with my car and the symptoms. Thanks for such a beautiful website, and for everyone else sharing some interesting links. Being computer savvy is not entirely helpful when it comes to the mysteries of cars (not entirely anyway). Btw I would love for there to be an Android app if possible. :)

dsfyu404ed 11y ago
They've had an "app" since the early 90s. It's called a "Factory Service Manual" or "Alldata" There's no way an inexpensive phone app could be made comprehensive enough to be a nothing-to-something tutorial, let alone on the fly. Something along the lines of "Siri, how do I fix <problem>," would set people for getting in way over their head. Haynes has an iPad app. I work on enough cars that aren't mine that (if I had an iPad) I'd consider it (but usually I can find a paper manual for under $10 used). In the same way that software is built on thousands of layers of abstraction there's thousands of small steps between only knowing how to drive and designing your own parts for an engine build. 90% of it can also be learned for free on the Internet, just like coding. Pretty much any service or repair is a collection of small simple tasks. Think about the competency level of some of the people that work on cars...doesn't seem so hard to do now does it? Get a Haynes manual for your car and read it cover to cover. Even if you don't do your own work, being familiar with the systems in your car will help prevent shops from taking advantage of you. Working on cars can be like meth. Once you start you're hooked. It often goes something vaguely like this: If you can add gas you can add windshield wash... Checking your tire pressure isn't a big step from there... Changing your oil is easy to do... Changing a belt isn't really and harder than changing oil.. Changing spark plug wires takes literally no tools... You do more minor preventative maintenance and replacement of wear parts, become more competent and acquire a few more tools. Eventually it starts being practically impossible to justify paying $60-$120 for shop labor and 200%-%400 parts cost when I know how easy and cheap some stuff is... "Doing a brake job myself will me cost 1/4 or less of what it would cost to have shop do it and comes with the piece of mind that I didn't cut corners..." "How can I justify paying someone to install a new bumper cover when it just needs to be snapped on and screwed down...and the shop that replaced the one on your parents car couldn't be bothered to use the screws..." "Rear wheel bearings cost under $20 for the set, a torque wrench costs $10 and I don't even need to remove the tire to change the bearings. Hell yeah! This is refreshingly easy..."(90s Tercel, if anyone was wondering) Fast forward a three years and one swapped engine: A sensor fails in a particularly odd way, you diagnose it correctly because you know how the system it's a part of in great detail, that's the value of experience... You're stranded by a minor problem while riding in someone else's car on a Saturday you convince them to have it towed to a shop or Autozone. You've never done that particular repair on that particular model but Autozone's website says it's in stock at that location and they're open until 10...$40 and 1hr later you're on your way to Walmart to buy a clean shirt... You get a call from your dad "Hey, I just got out of my dentist appointment. Remember that joint on the exhaust that you said was pretty bad?" and reply "Is there still <repair stuff> in the trunk to the front left of spare tire or do I need to bring it?" IMO, just start learning about and working on your car. If you want to know something Google it.

teh_klev 11y ago

Previous discussions: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=how%20a%20car%20works&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=how%20a%20car%20works&sort=byP...

gus_massa 11y ago
I only see two small and old discussions about this site in the search results. dang found another a previous discussion about this site, with more points and comments, but it has a very different title.

aunty_helen 11y ago

This is great. As for the criticism that a lot of the content is old, most of the core concepts can be explained better with older tech as it's simpler. This allows you to focus on what is happening and leave the extra details about what technology a part or process has for a case by case basis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI is a great example of this. Saying that, an article on direct injection, common rail diesels, efficient turbo charging, variable valve timing, MAF VS MAP EFI would be worth considering.

jshelly 11y ago

I was disappointed to see that there is no guide on replacing brake pads for disc brakes. It seems like everyone in the world knows how to do this but me.

RankingMember 11y ago
Youtube <model name> plus "brake pads" and there'll be some guy explaining exactly how to do it on your make and model.
- jshelly 11y ago
  Thanks for the tip

matthewrhoden1 11y ago

I didn't see the article for when it's 2AM and you can't get that one last bolt off.

extc 11y ago
blow torch
RankingMember 11y ago
Propane or MAPP gas torch. Heat what the bolt goes through until it's cherry, then wail on it with an impact wrench. The torch is often referred to as "the big red wrench". Also, don't underestimate the power of soaking the stuck bolt in penetrating oil.
- rpcope1 11y ago
  Even better than any penetrating oil you can buy: ATF + Acetone[1]. Also, having a rosebud torch with Oxygen + Acetylene is a must if you find yourself dealing with rusty bolts often. [1] - http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/penetrating-oil-showdown.350800/ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/penetrating-oil-s...

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

nogridbag 11y ago

Neat site. My father was a mechanic and thus I should know all of this stuff, but I wasted away my life behind the keyboard instead :D I often find videos do a much better job at explaining some concepts. For example, the section on differentials: http://www.howacarworks.com/basics/how-the-transmission-works http://www.howacarworks.com/basics/how-the-transmission-work... After reading this I feel none the wiser. Whereas after watching this ancient Chevrolet training video from the 1930's I feel like I completely understand how diffs work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4JhruinbWc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4JhruinbWc

AlexMuir 11y ago
I'll embed that video shortly.
- nogridbag 11y ago
  Previous HN discussion on the diff video if you're curious: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8513209 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8513209

chrismartin 11y ago

Very nice illustrations, but you are missing important systems that are found on many/all cars from the past 20 years, like front wheel drive, CV joints, closed-loop emissions control, OBD-II and CAN bus, distributorless (electonic) ignition, electric power steering, CVTs and dual-clutch automatic transmissions, and TPMS. Diagnosing a check engine light by reading OBD-II codes, for example, is something that every owner of a car produced after 1996 will eventually need to deal with. You should rebuild your content around systems that are found on the majority of cars on the road today.

sealthedeal 11y ago

Love the site great job

kiddico 11y ago

I've been looking for a site like this for so long! <3

ZeWaren 11y ago

I love the fact that you can buy the pdf using bitcoins.

abakker 11y ago

A few pieces of feedback. In the suspension section, it would be worth explaining a few things about truck suspension, also. Like solid axle, front and rear suspension, both with Coil and Leaf springs. Also, dampers are incredibly important in large trucks/SUVs because if they fail, body roll has much higher likelihood of causing you to lose control. Finally, a "bounce test" really won't work with many SUVs or truck where there is simply no way to compress the suspension to any meaningful degree with your hands. personally, with trucks, I like the "speed bump test" where you drive into a speed bump and if the truck/SUV continues to oscillate upon returning to the correct height, your dampers probably need work. Additionally, since most trucks/SUVs use similar oil volume dampers to cars, the life of their dampers is frequently lower than in cars. The ones in my TRD Tundra lasted about 40K miles.

Kluny 11y ago

Great site! I'm going to add it to my car fixing workflow. Ie, thing breaks -> read relevant article so I understand how the system works -> find a good tutorial -> source parts -> fix. If you are looking for article suggestions: - Article about different fluids and their properties. I'm betting that you've covered oil weights already, but how about coolants? Regular coolant has a lower freezing temp than water, but does it have a higher boiling point as well? Exactly how poisonous is it and what things will it damage when spilled? Same for trans fluid. - Possibly out of scope, but an article about how to source parts for older cars. This has always been a tough problem for me! I go with something like: look up parts schematic from manufacturer's website -> search for part by part number -> try to find the cheapest generic part (though sometimes it's worth it to pay for quality) -> find that generic parts don't exist -> go on a merry hunt for used parts on ebay and at scrapyards.

Syrup-tan 11y ago

There are also some great animations on how a 4-stroke engine works from animagraffs.com; http://animagraffs.com/how-a-car-engine-works/ http://animagraffs.com/how-a-car-engine-works/