Top 5 Most Popular Articles in 2011
January 2, 2012
Automotive Video brings you the Top 10 Most Read Articles in 2011! The most popular articles include everything from variable valve timing to Duramax, labscope specifications to parasitic battery drains. Check out what other readers are into and post your comments and questions.
1. Parasitic Battery Drains
Para What? It’s amazing how many IATN posts I see with good techs struggling in the area of parasitic battery drains. How much is too much? How to test? I guess I shouldn’t be amazed. I literally grew up in the family auto electric shop and this kind of thing was our bread and butter. For the rest of the shops out there who have to be experts in everything from the turn signals to the transmission, it can be a bit confusing. So what is a parasitic battery drain?
2. New Twist on an Old Story: GMs Variable Valve Timing
Powertrain engineers continue to extract more power from and reduce emissions on conventional internal combustion engines. When both intake and exhaust camshafts get involved, GM’s variable valve timing system meets both goals. Remember the good old days? Chubby Checker was singing “The Twist” and we had cheap gas and fast cars. I was a young mechanic a decade later, in the ’70s, and I can still re- call hearing my first GM muscle car sporting a performance camshaft loping into my bay. It was the sound of power, and I knew that this engine wasn’t going to the run like the rest!
3. Nissan Variable Valve Timing
Variable valve timing gives engine designers the best of both worlds—power with economy. It is common knowledge that it’s easier to fix a broken vehicle if you have a clear understanding of how it works when it’s not broken.
4. Automotive Labscope Specifications
The problem most automotive technicians face when trying to select an appropriate labscope is reading and understanding labscope specifications and then matching those specifications to the test requirements. Our objective is to explain bandwidth and sampling specs as they apply to automotive testing. Once you’ve read the labscope spec data and compared that data to your requirements you can make a better decision.
5. Exploring the Duramax
Diesel engines all fire their mix using high compression, and they need precisely controlled fuel delivery, both in regard to timing and volume. Diesels typically spin slower than gas-burners, but the torque that diesel engines are capable of producing is practically legendary. That’s one reason heavy-duty truck manufacturers went diesel on their heaviest platforms so many years ago. So, why does a diesel produce more torque?
