What is a Radiator Cooling Fan?
Radiator cooling fans can be either mechanical or electric, and they help push or pull air through the radiator. However, these fans aren’t responsible for the bulk of the cooling that a radiator performs.
Author: JD Laukkonen
What is a Radiator?
Radiators are the components in water cooling systems that actually remove heat from the coolant via the mechanism of convection.
What is a Drive Belt?
Drive belts transfer power from the crank or camshaft to the alternator, air conditioner, and other accessories. The first belts were leather, but they’ve been made from rubber and various polymers since the 1920s.
What is a Thermostat?
The purpose of a thermostat is to regulate engine temperature by controlling the flow of coolant. These remarkably simple components have remained relatively unchanged for almost half a century.
What is a Blower Motor?
A blower motor is a simple DC electric motor equipped with a fan cage. These devices are installed in heater boxes and can blow either hot or cold air through the HVAC ducting and vents depending on how the climate controls are set.
What is a Fuel Gauge?
Early motorists went for a surprisingly long time without fuel gauges. The first “gauges” were actually yard sticks, the first dash-mounted gauge didn’t appear until 1914, and even then most fuel gauges were mechanical and read at the tank.
What is an Automotive Service Technician?
An automotive service technician diagnoses, repairs, and maintains cars, trucks, and other vehicles.
What is an Engine Control Unit?
An engine control unit is essentially the “electronic brain” that makes sure your engine is always working properly. To that end, these electronic control units can be responsible for everything from setting the air/fuel mixture to adjusting variable valve timing.
What is a Transmission Control Unit?
A transmission control unit is similar to an engine control unit, but it is specifically responsible for the efficient operation of modern transmissions. In order to accomplish this, a TCU has to take inputs from a variety of sensors and controllers and then delivers output parameters to a number of electronically-controlled components.
What is a Transaxle?
Transaxles have been around almost as long as the automobile itself, but they have really started to gain traction over the last few decades.
