At Ken’s we understand that second only to your home, your vehicle(s) are your biggest annual expenditure.* We also know how it feels to be driving down the road and experience something wrong with your vehicle that you weren’t expecting. That sudden knot in your stomach, wondering if your transportation is going to get you were you need to go or break down and leave you stranded. We know because we have traveled that road, felt that anxiety and didn’t like being at someone’s mercy for help.
Our interest in Automobiles began from those feelings of not wanting to be controlled by things we didn’t understand or people that knew more about our cars than we did. You have probably felt that way too, when a mechanic tells you something that just doesn’t make sense. When they tell you this has been going on for quite a while and has caused some serious problems. But you’re thinking “Wait just a minute. This only started happening yesterday”.
The other problem is that they don’t make them like they used to! That’s right and it’s also good and bad. Gone are the days when the automobile engine was a fairly simple thing. Anyone with a little common sense could get under the hood and figure out most problems. Parts were more readily available and seemed to last longer. But with societies (and the government) demands for better engineering, better performance, better fuel economy, safer vehicles, things have changed dramatically over the years. Today the average modern car can have up to 50 separate computers controlling an array of things. Arguably the most important computer is the one that monitors engine emissions and adjusts spark plug rates, fuel injection and the air to fuel ratio in the engine in order to keep noxious emissions as low as possible.** Other computers control the ABS anti-locking brakes, the air bags and even the door locks just to name a few. Did you realize if you change the size of your tire the computer still thinks you have the factory recommended tires on and that can (and probably will) change the accuracy of your speedometer. Imagine trying to explain to the officer that just pulled you over for speeding that it wasn't your fault, the car was lying to you!
To be continued...
* U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
** http://www.physics.org/facts/apollo-really.asp