What Every Woman Should Know About CARS - And Man

Ebony, May, 2001

WHEN Alice Brown's main man parked his shiny new ride in front of her house, she didn't go gaga over its color. Instead she looked him in the eye and asked, "How many cylinders does it have?" Before he could regroup, Alice told him to "pop the hood," and began inspecting the car herself. Six weeks later they got married in Jamaica.

Alice Brown (not her real name) is typical of a new breed of car-savvy Black women---educated consumers who have taken it upon themselves to learn the ins and outs of their car. These women can approach a repair shop without the fear of sounding ignorant, and they can get out of a sticky situation without panic.

Keisha Jones is another example. When her sports can died in the middle of the expressway during rush-hour traffic, she didn't panic and wave a handkerchief at passing motorists. Instead, she popped the hood and found the culprit: a white, powdery substance around her battery terminals. She reached into her purse, pulled out a fingernail file, scraped away the corrosion, tightened her battery terminals, started her ride and drove off--all without breaking into a sweat or making a panicked phone call to Mr. Jones.

Car specialists say understanding how your car works is vital for male and female drivers. If your car was "born" after 1981, chances are that electronics control more than 86 percent of your car's functions, and today it's best to have roadside assistance and the phone number of a trusted, licensed auto mechanic.

Your car is made up of several related systems that can be maintained with just a few preventive measures. Your engine runs on a mixture of gasoline and air. (You control the amount of air that passes through the throttle plate and into the engine with the gas pedal.) It's distributed through a series of passages to each cylinder, and then fuel is added to the air-stream by a fuel injection system (which replaced the outdated carburetor.)

Engines are defined by the number of cylinders they have, and the way the cylinders are laid out. (As a rule, the more cylinders, the more powerful the automobile.) Motor vehicles will have from 3 to 12 cylinders that are arranged in the engine block in several configurations; in-line engines have their cylinders (4,5, or 6) arranged in a row. The "V" arrangement uses two rows of cylinders in a side-by-side pattern, hence the V-6, V-8, V-10, and V-12 engine identifiers. Each cylinder contains a piston that travels up and down inside the cylinder bore, and all of the pistons are connected through individual rods to a common crankshaft.

The starting system, the core of the electrical system in your car, begins with the battery, which produces voltage and delivers current. When you insert the key into the ignition switch and turn it to the starting position, a small amount of current passes through the neutral safety switch to a starter relay that 'allows high current to flow through the battery cables to the starter motor. The starter motor (an electric motor with a small gear attached to the end) then cranks the engine so that the piston can create a suction that will draw the air-fuel mixture into the cylinder. A spark created by the ignition system will ignite the air-fuel mixture when the compression in the engine is high enough; if all of this happens at the right time, the engine will start.

The automotive battery needs periodic inspection and cleaning to insure that it stays in good working order. Inspect the battery to see that it's clean and held securely in its place. Battery cables are a large-diameter, multi-stranded wire that carries the high currents necessary to operate the starter motor. Care must be taken to keep the battery cable ends (terminals) clean and tight. Your battery cannot do its job without a functioning alternator.

The alternator generates and delivers electrical power to the battery and the rest of the vehicle's electrical system.

As you may already know, your engine needs oil. Oil is to the engine what blood is to the body, and the quickest way to burn out your engine is to starve it of oil. Oil is pumped under pressure to all of the moving parts of the engine by an oil pump. According to AAA, one of the best things you can do to extend the life of your vehicle is to change the motor oil regularly. Transmission fluid is another necessary nutrient for your auto--check your owner's manual for the manufacturer's recommended replacement schedule that can range from 30,000 to 100,000 miles, and can require the replacement of a filter as well. Check your owner's manual for the manufacturer's recommended schedule.

The fuel system stores and supplies fuel to the cylinder chamber, where it can be mixed with air, vaporized, and then burned to produce energy.

The transmission, a device connected to the back of the engine, sends the power from the engine to the drive wheels and makes sure that the power is delivered to the wheels while keeping the engine within the revolutions per minute (RPM) range. It does this through various gear combinations; in the first gear, the engine turns much faster in relation to the drive wheels, while in high gear the engine is loafing, even though the car may be going at a high speed. The transmission also has a neutral position that disconnects the engine from the drive wheels, and reverse, which causes the drive wheels to turn in the opposite direction (allowing you to back up.)