Do your nostrils itch whenever you turn on your car’s A/C? Does your cabin have this moldy smell even with air fresheners? Then you probably need to change cabin air filter.

A clogged air filter not only lowers the quality of air in your cabin; it can also bust the A/C blower. So be sure to regularly clean or replace your cabin air filter every year or every 12,000-15,000 miles.

Changing cabin air filter is so easy you can do it in less than an hour. For a guide on how to change cabin air filter, watch the video below.

What should you do when you’re already having quite too many problems with your engine? Well, prices and service charges change every now and then–pretty much like your budget limit. So we dare not give any specific answer to this question. Instead, we’ll provide you things to consider whether you’ll rebuild or replace your ride’s motor.

Engine Rebuilding

- Since you’d only be tinkering with select components, it might give 20-50% savings compared to engine replacement.
- You can customize your engine and determine the kind of parts that would be used in it.
- You get to buy components such as gaskets, seals, rings, bearing and lifters from the brand of your chocie and with the manufacturer’s warranty.
- You get to buy engine rebuilding kits that really match each other.
- You’ll be helping mother nature since you wouldn’t entirely junk your old engine.

Engine Replacement

- You don’t have to outsource labor to tear down the engine components and put them back again.
- You don’t need to go to machine shops to get the engine block bored, resurfaced, refinished, etc.
- You get to enjoy about 2-3 years warranty on brand-new engines.
- You don’t have to buy components separately since you can get a complete engine assembly.
- There are now remanufactured engine assemblies that perform just like brand-new ones but are far more affordable.

Unusual noises from the engine compartment never fail to make drivers get off their seats, prop up the hood, and stare at the engine, wondering where the buzz, rattle, ping is coming from. Well, with so many parts under the hood, it’s no wonder some car owners drive themselves half-crazy finding out where the noise is coming from. So we’re providing you some pointers, which might help you troubleshoot the special sound effects your engine makes whenever you crank it up and drive.

1. Engine Mounts

When you got loose engine mounts, you’d most probably hear an occasional thud or rattle from your vehicle’s engine. The sound especially becomes obvious when the throttle is closed.

What you can do is check the engine mounts and the bolts that secure them. If the bolts are loose, tighten them. But if the problem is with the rubber element in the mount, the best thing to do is to replace them before they totally give way and cause your engine to twist or get misplaced in its mounts.

4.  Hydraulic Trouble

This covers all hydraulic components, which may be probably stuck or not calibrated. These include components in hydraulic suspension and braking systems.

The Hydraulic Brake Booster (source: motorera.com)

2.  Mechanical Trouble

Your vehicle’s problem in this case would be with its stationary and moving parts, such as the rocker arms and pistons. Your auto parts may give in and cause trouble due to poor lubrication, corrosion, lack of clearance, too much friction, poor temperature control or ventilation, and improper adjustments.

Defects and broken rings in the piston head cause inefficient combustion in the chamber.

3.   Electronic Troubles

Your vehicle got a problem of this sort if it has malfunctioning electronic gadgets and controls, such as the ECU and other sensor-dependent equipment.

The Electronic Control Module — the master computer responsible for interpreting electrical signals sent by engine sensors and for activating automated engine components and processes accordingly in order to produce optimum performance. (definition by motorera.com)

So you’d find it easy to determine where  your vehicle is having problems, here are the kinds of automotive trouble you can try to use in troubleshooting.

1.  Electrical Trouble

This auto problem is caused by faulty electrical gadgets or equipment, such as your spark plug cables and alternator.  You have a problem of this kind if you’re having difficulty in generating, starting, ignition, lighting, and circuits.

Spark plug defects (click image to see in full resolution)

Here are some of the things to check when your engine won’t start even if you got enough fuel:

1. short circuit or broken wire

2. worn-out starter (gas) or solenoid (diesel)

3. corroded electrical connections

4. battery has no charge

Cogged V-Belt

This is called the V or vee belt because its cross section is V-shaped. This is narrower than the serpentine belt and is usually not more than half an inch wide. Its tapered sides fit around a pulley or gear with matching grooves or teeth on it. This kind of belt is better to use with high load applications; its grooves give it a firmer grip on the pulleys or gears, preventing slips and prolonging the belt’s life.

There’s also the standard V-belt. It’s just as wide as the cogged v-belt but it has no grooves on its underside. It’s ideal to use only in light load applications which doesn’t require the precise turning of gears.

Drive belts used in automobiles today can be categorized mainly into two: the serpentine and the cogged V-belt.

Serpentine Belt

Also called a poly-V-belt (because its cross-section looks like many Vs put side by side), this type of drive belt is so named because it’s long that it can “snake” around different pulleys. Usually half to one inch wide, it is flat-faced on one side and has lengthwise grooves on the other. The grooves, which can be as many as eight, fit in similar lengthwise grooves on the sides of the pulleys and lessen the belt’s tendency to slip.