Drive it Forever
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Q. It seems to me that there is a byproduct of fuel cells' operation capable of producing vast environmental and safety effects that have not been addressed, to my knowledge.
So how about reporting about the effects of millions of vehicles spewing water vapor upon the world's dirt, stone, asphalt, and concrete roadways? How slick will the roads be? Will visibility be affected by fog, mist, or rain? Will the atmosphere cool or heat up?
I remember watching a refinery and an adjacent electric-power-generation complex, 30 years ago, spewing steam behind Long Beach, Calif., and producing local precipitation. What will be the effect of millions of fuel cells on roadway safety and atmospheric heating and cooling?
A. Mile-for-mile there's as much water vapor, if not more, coming out of the exhaust pipes of conventional internal-combustion cars and trucks as there would be from fuel-cell vehicles.
Q. My wife has a 2004
I serviced military vehicles for 35 years, and they had American sizes. To replace the brake pads on this vehicle, do I need metric tools?
A. Welcome to last week. Pretty much the entire American automotive industry changed to metric more than 20 years ago.
For a while there were some odd things like the Mustang that had a 302 engine with SAE-size fasteners, mounted in a chassis with SAE fasteners, with a transmission with metric fasteners.
As older components were redesigned, however, they were replaced by metric parts. I think the only real inch-sized dimensions on new cars worldwide is the bead-seat diameter of the rim.
So you'll need metric sockets and wrenches, and probably even some Torx sockets for the brakes.
Q. I have a 2000 Ford Contour with an automatic transmission. While I was driving on the freeway, using cruise control, it jumped out of gear and has been doing so intermittently since then.
What is causing this?
A. Here's the obvious question: Have you checked the transmission fluid? Low fluid levels will make it pop out of gear.
Otherwise I can't really be much more help. I'd suggest getting the fluid changed at a transmission shop and getting an estimate. Might be something simple, like the linkage.
Q. I have always been hard pressed to find an error in Popular Mechanics articles.
However, in your June 2008 issue, you failed to mention that
I am a Toyota/Lexus tech with 20 years' experience, and a longtime reader from the days when my father subscribed to PM. Keep up the great work.
A. Oops.
Toyota isn't the only one that pre-dilutes the coolant. And that's a problem for me: There are always a couple of quarts of leftover water in the cooling system after draining and proper flushing. If the coolant you're adding is pre-diluted to the correct 50/50 mixture, then there's no way to fill the system and achieve the proper dilution.
That precludes flushing with water. You'd have to simply drain the coolant and refill, leaving an undetermined quantity of exhausted coolant and sediment on board. That might be OK for a service department that's trying to turn over as many cars as possible in a day, but it's not OK for me.
I like my way better: Drain, flush, add half the system's capacity of undiluted coolant and top off with water for a clean 50/50 mix.
That doesn't mean that you have to run the garden hose into the radiator for 20 minutes, purging gallons of fluorescent-green coolant onto the driveway until the street looks like the Incredible Hulk lost control of his bladder.
A couple of drain-and-fill cycles is plenty.
Mike Allen is a senior editor for Popular Mechanics magazine. Questions should be sent via e-mail to driveit@nytimes.com.
