On first glance, hydrogen seems to be the ideal fuel for automobiles and other vehicles. It doesn’t seem like one could get any cleaner burning, since hydrogen burns (oxidizes) to form simply water vapor. Nothing else! No pollution! What a seeming advancement over our current internal combustion engines that put thousands of tons of pollutants into the Earth’s atmosphere, as well as giving off massive amounts of heat that contribute to global warming, and many other environmental problems.Hydrogen (H2) plus Oxygen (O) makes H2O, water, or actually, water vapor, at higher temperatures. And Hydrogen is actually capable of nearly meeting those high expectations.And there is even a concept, and somewhat of a device, called a Fuel Cell (originally conceptualized in the 1830s), which can use this reaction to generate electricity. During the 1960s, NASA developed Fuel Cells which produced electricity for spacecraft. They worked reliably and fine, but they were horrendously expensive. There have been people trying to make inexpensive versions ever since! In the early 1990s, some breakthroughs were found. The concept of a Fuel Cell is actually pretty simple. You provide a supply of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas (which is usually from the air) which are separate, with a unique barrier between them. The simplest version of a Fuel Cell is to allow the NUCLEUS of the hydrogen atom to pass through the barrier while not allowing the electron to also pass through. The electron is then caused to follow some DIFFERENT path to eventually get to where the nucleus had gone to, where the end result will be water molecules. The electrons are negatively charged, and when they are forced to follow that alternate path, they are MOVING CHARGE which is the same as an electric current. In words, it therefore seems quite simple to have a Fuel Cell produce electricity. However, in practical terms, there are lots of complications! It may still be ten or twenty years before any reliable technology will exist which has tolerable cost.But Hydrogen itself has an ENORMOUS disadvantage, as well as many smaller ones. It cannot really be considered a “fuel” at all! Yes, it IS, but it isn’t! It IS because of the exothermic chemical reaction described here. It ISN’T because it does not occur naturally. We have such an attachment to petroleum and natural gas and coal and uranium BECAUSE they exist naturally. We actually have the technology to manufacture petroleum, but it would be so involved and expensive to do that it would never be worth it. Hydrogen is very different. It is so chemically reactive that it IMMEDIATELY combines with nearly any other atom (ion, actually) that happens to be near it. So there is NO natural supply of Hydrogen, anywhere on Earth.Read on at the link this is one of the most informative sites on hydrogenCrew Chief News source: MB-Soft

As I got into my car at my local YMCA recently, I noticed a Prius parked next to me with a For Sale sign in the window. It read: “’05 Prius, $14,999, 97,000 miles.” This beige Prius looked to be in good condition. And with gas prices topping $4 a gallon, it certainly seemed like a good deal for a gas-electric hybrid that gets 48 mpg in the city and would cost about $23,000 new. But one question nagged at me: as the odometer approaches the century mark, how much life is left in this car’s electric battery? And then an even scarier question occurred to me: if the battery runs out of juice, how much would it cost to replace it? Those concerns short-circuited any interest I had. So I put the key in the ignition of my far less fuel-efficient car and drove off.Hybrids these days are hotter than a laptop battery, with sales up 58 percent last month. But what happens if the battery on your hybrid goes dead? After all, hybrids have been on the road in America for eight years, racking up hundreds of thousands of miles. Automakers say those big batteries under the seats are holding up well. But when they power down, replacing them will cost you thousands. That thought might have been a caution light for me, but it isn’t for the growing gridlock of used hybrid buyers. On the car Web site MyRide.com, the number one search term last month was “Used Toyota Prius”–up 944 percent since January. “People are ignoring the concern about battery life,” says J.D. Power auto analyst Michael Omotoso. “Their immediate concern is, ‘Oh my God, gas is $4 a gallon. I need a hybrid. I’ll worry about battery replacement five years down the road.'”When hybrids first hit the road in 2000, there was plenty of fear-mongering, especially here in Detroit, where the Big Three were drunk on cheap gas and big SUV sales. Back then Motown execs warned darkly that rescue workers could be electrocuted trying to save trapped motorists who crashed in these high-voltage contraptions. And those giant batteries could cost $10,000 or $15,000 to replace once they ran down, maybe after 100,000 miles or less.It turns out those safety fears were nonsense. But while the battery replacement cost was overblown, it is not insignificant. Philip Card of Utica, N.Y., says a Toyota dealer wanted to charge him $3,900 to replace the battery on his 2001 Prius, which had 350,000 miles on it when he bought it used on eBay this year for $4,357. Card knew the battery might be running on empty when he bought the car, but the retired engineer hoped to convert the car into a plug-in hybrid that could get 100 mpg. Before he had a chance, though, his Prius had a brownout. “It lost power drastically,” he says. “It still moves around, but with no pep at all.” He’s decided to park the Prius rather than replace the battery. He’s going to scavenge parts from it to fix up two other Priuses he owns. What’s his advice for other used Prius buyers? “If they’re going to take it to a Toyota dealer for service,” he says, “they better have deep pockets.”The stiff cost of replacing a battery at your dealer helps explain why an underground aftermarket in Prius batteries is emerging. Since last year eBay has seen an 850 percent increase in Prius batteries changing hands. Prices for used Prius batteries–which come from junkyards and auto body shops–range from $450 to $1,700, says Famous Rhodes, director of eBay Motors parts and accessories. “As hybrid vehicles hit the tipping point in age,” he says, “the demand is growing significantly.”The hard part about these cheap batteries: once you buy them you have to figure out how to install them. That’s labor-intensive work for which dealers can charge $900. But Rhodes does not recommend that amateur mechanics try to tackle this high-voltage repair job. “This is not something where a DIY can just open up an installation manual and put in their own batteries,” says Rhodes. “You need to have a mechanic or an electrical technician do it.” News source: NewsWeek

With the high gas prices the 02 sensor has been a hot topic of discussion lately. Can it improve your mileage if replaced? Under certain circumstances yes it can. If you have had an antifreeze leak or any gaskets replaced or your vehicle has high mileage it can cause a problem with the 02 sensor. The anti freeze and the silicone gasket material can foul the sensor. It is a very sensitive sensor considering it sits in the exhaust system under high heat conditions. It is one of the items that should be checked during a tune up or if your mileage falls off. Usually if it causing problems it will set a check engine light but not always. A word to the wise if you are getting better than average mileage do not replace the sensor as it may decrease the mileage. Do have it checked because if it is allowing the engine to run to lean it may cause damage The 02 sensor is difficult to test without a lab scope and a special adapter that evens out the sine waves, and a tech that knows how to read them.

As rising gas prices seem to show no sign of letting up any time soon, you could actually be your own worst enemy, adding fuel to the fire, by overfilling your tank!Have you ever found yourself at the gas pump trying to fill your gas tank up with an unreasonable amount of fuel? Have you ever thought, “If I can just squeeze 25 more cents into this tank I will not have to fill up for another ¼ of a mile”?The truth is, there are many risks, and factors to take into consideration, when overfilling your tank. The parts of your fuel system that are supposed to be soaking in gas 24-7 are designed and formulated to do their job for years. But the parts that aren’t supposed to soak in it – things like your fuel filler tube or the rubber seal where the filler meets the chassis – can suffer from continual saturation.Those things were not made to be soaked in fuel on a continual basis, and if one of those parts is damaged, you could be shelling out some serious cash in auto-repair bills.We have been told for years, that if we don’t fill – up, we will leave more air space for the gas to evaporate. With that in mind, ignorantly people will top off their tanks, sometimes causing more damage than good.I actually have a friend who can never seem to fill his tank, without somehow wasting it on his hands, clothes, or shoes. So, while he thinks that he is saving money by topping off, he is actually wasting Fuel, harming his clothes, and possibly even damaging his vehicle.And if you are one of these “save the earth” types, think about all the pollution from the wasted fumes floating up into the atmosphere when it is spewing from your tank. Fuel vapors contribute to bad ozone days and are a source of toxic air pollutants such as benzene.Vapor recovery systems on Fuel pumps are designed to prevent vapors from escaping into the air. Continuing to pump gas after the automatic shutoff can damage this system, and result in Fuel spills.The bottom line is this. When you are at the pump and the nozzle clicks, causing the pump to stop, hang it up. Anything more that you decide to squeeze in is not even going into your tank, causing you to pay for pollution and possible future auto repair!Chris Chism is committed to providing consumers a way to use the internet to obtain the best services and merchants in their geographical location. News source: Bettercarbetterearth

There was a time when you switched on your car, waited a few seconds for the oil to circulate, then drove off. But now there s a whole bunch of bits and bytes that need to power up too.Technology is playing a major role in vehicles today. No kidding. It s there to keep you safe, help you get the most out of your fuel, go somewhere new and be entertained along the way.Some cars, like the top-end Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan, are brimming with the latest gadgets and gizmos. For example, it will turn on the wipers when it starts to rain, it will slow down if someone cuts in front of you, and turn up the radio if the highway noise is too loud.Although few of us will own an S-Class, it s important to pay attention to the top end of the market since many of their advanced features will eventually trickle down to Planet Earth where the rest of us buy our cars. Today s top-end vehicles have infrared cameras that help drivers see living objects in the night. Because humans and animals give off heat, a special camera is able to expose those hidden obstacles for drivers on a small screen.Ford and Microsoft, meanwhile, have teamed up to offer an in-car digital entertainment system known as Ford Sync. It s supposed to get all of your personal devices, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and MP3 players to work with the onboard audio system. Sync will chat with your device through either a common USB computer plug or a Bluetooth wireless connection, which is a popular feature on most phones. Memory-card slots are also available. For starters, you can play your portable device s (an Apple iPod, for example) music collection through the audio system, letting you pick the song, artist or album by voice command. Ford Sync will read out text messages for you and let you make hands-free calls.A recent development has been the use of light-emitting diode (LED) lights, both inside and outside of the vehicle. They shine brighter, are supposed to last longer and use less energy than conventional bulbs. In the case of brake lights and turn-signal indicators, they re quicker to react with shorter warm-up times and almost no after glow as you would get with a standard filament-style bulb.A whole lot of technology comes with hybrid gas/electric vehicles, which continue to grow in popularity for 2008. These still use a traditional gas engine, but it s helped by at least one electric motor during high-fuel-burn situations such as acceleration. These aren t electric cars, but a mix of old and new. You don t have to plug this one in as the batteries that run the electric motor usually around 200 volts are automatically charged as you drive.Technology can also affect a vehicle s ride quality. Gadgets exist to change a car s suspension setting as it s driving down the road. A system used by some companies, such as General Motors, uses magnetized metal particles in the shock absorbers to either stiffen (more voltage) or soften (less voltage) ride control.Audi and others hope to curb accidents resulting from drivers not checking their blind spots with lane-change warning systems. A radar placed in the rear bumper of the car will warn the driver if another vehicle is lurking in the blind spot by flashing small lights on the corresponding side mirror.Over at Nissan/Infiniti, the company s lane-departure warning system, which is optional on the entry-level new EX35 wagon, not only lets you know when you re drifting out of your lane, it now has the ability to automatically apply the brakes either left side or right side to get you back where you belong. Even more interesting is self-healing paint for the EX35 that will repair light scratches all by itself. Depending on the scratch and ambient temperature, an average self-repair can take about a week.What s in store for the future? Daimler, which makes Mercedes-Benz vehicles, is working on a technology that informs other cars of dangerous conditions on the roadway. Dubbed Car-2-X Communications, vehicles talk to each other using radio frequencies. The idea is that on-board sensors would capture fog, black-ice, obstacles and traffic conditions, sending valuable data to following vehicles. The system has a range of about 600 feet. The network functions between vehicles and doesn t require a central transmission tower. Mercedes is hoping that other manufacturers will jump on board and put similar technology into their cars. After all, it won t work if it only works with Mercedes-Benz.So that s just a sampling of some types of technology you can get on your next vehicle and some you can look forward to. And as technology gets cheaper and smaller to squeeze into tight spaces, look for it in your next entry-level car.n Maurice Cacho is a feature writer with Wheelbase Communications. You can drop him a note on the Web at [url”>www.wheelbase.ws/mailbag.html. Wheelbase Communications supplies automotive news and features to newspapers across North America. News source: MercuryNews

GM is testing lithium-ion batteries for future use in the Volt which will be released in about 2 years. The Volt is an extended range plug in electric vehicle. The tests are being conducted in Warren and the malibu is the test vehicle.The Volt can travel 40 miles and 150 miles with the use of a conventional engine to charge the batteries.The up side to this is that althrough no design elements have been released, they are using the Malibu for a test vehicle so this could be a decent size car, not the roller skate we have seen in the latest electric cars.

General Motors Corp. has agreed to settle a series of class-action lawsuits claiming a faulty engine coolant damaged thousands of customer vehicles.Under the settlement, GM would reimburse class members between $50 and $800 for repairs linked to Dex-Cool, an orange coolant that GM included in cars and trucks beginning in 1995.The total cost to GM will depend on the number of customers claiming damages, but the plaintiffs’ attorneys estimate the settlement could cover up to 20 million initial and secondary buyers of GM vehicles that used Dex-Cool. They also say the price tag could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars.A California state court gave preliminary approval to the settlement last week and a Missouri court plans to consider it Friday.”We fought for about five years to recover monetary damages for people that would be meaningful and I think we achieved that,” said San Francisco plaintiff attorney Eric Gibbs, who estimated most people spent between $600 and $900 for repairs. “The recovery for most of the people will be pretty good.”GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the company was not admitting any wrongdoing but is settling the case to cut down on legal bills.”Our experience with Dex-Cool is that when the cooling system is kept full and properly maintained we haven’t seen any problems,” he said. “These kinds of things appear to be issues of low coolant, which isn’t unusual with high-mileage vehicles, so we decided to agree to the settlement.”GM owners have filed a dozen breach-of-warranty lawsuits in state and federal courts across the country, including California and Missouri, where one of the earliest cases was filed in April 2003.The cases all claim vehicles with Dex-Cool often damaged the engines or created a rusty sludge in the radiators that caused the vehicles to overheat.Under the agreement, GM will reimburse some of the cost for intake manifold gasket replacements, cooling system flushes and heater core repairs sought during the first seven years or 150,000 miles, whichever came first, that the class member owned the vehicle. Considering that some vehicles may have been sold and the new owners also paid for repairs alleged to have been caused by Dex-Cool, individual vehicles may generate more than one settlement.Negotiations on a settlement began shortly before the Missouri case was scheduled to go to trial in November. They culminated with the agreement being filed in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, Calif., on March 20. That settlement covers 49 states.A separate Missouri settlement, with the same terms as the California one, is scheduled to go before a judge Friday in Jackson County, Mo. Missouri had a separate settlement as it was the first states to grant class-action status to the claims, said Jack Brady, a Kansas City-based attorney and co-lead counsel.”It could be multiple nine figures; it depends on how many people make the claim,” Brady said. “I think it could be a huge settlement.”Gibbs said the attorneys will receive up to $23 million in fees and $2.8 million for expenses.The settlement covers GM vehicles with 3.1-liter or 3.4-liter V6 engines for model years 1995 to 2003; those same brands with 3.8-liter V6 engines for model years 1995 to 2004; and small trucks and sports utility vehicles with 4.3-liter V6 engines for model years 1995 through 2000.The deadline for submitting claims is Oct. 27 for states outside Missouri and a week later in Missouri, assuming the judge grants preliminary approval Friday.Crew Chief Note How many times have I preached this. Took 5 years and 16.5 million (another source 20mil) in attorney costs. News source: Forbes.com

Were paying $1 for a gallon of Fuel. The auto industry is exploring energy-saving ideas that they would have considered zany just a few years ago. Automotive history is ripe with tales of inventors with promising new engine technologies who were never able to bring their “ideas” to market.Ethanol Injection One of the most promising new ideas in energy efficiency comes from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The proposition: get more power and efficiency out of turbocharged motors by injecting ethanol, methanol or E85 (85% methanol, 15% Fuel) into the engine at times of higher demands for power. Shows a 30% increase at MIT. “With aggressive turbo charging, you get a heavy case of knocking if you try to use regular fuel.” The direct injection of ethanol into the combustion chamber has an evaporative cooling effect and eliminates the knocking. Ethanol Boosting Systems thinks it is possible to get as much as 330 horsepower and 360 foot-pounds of torque from a 1.9-liter engine using regular-grade Fuel as the primary fuel. Fuel Tech, Meet Diesel Daimler and General Motors are experimenting with motors that run on Fuel but combine features of traditional Fuel engines (fuel ignited by a spark) and diesel technology (fuel ignited by compression of fuel and air). Daimler calls its version the DiesOtto. Two-Stroke, Four-Stroke An even more radical long shot is an internal combustion engine that switches between two- and four-stroke operations. Most consumers associate two-stroke with chain saws, grass trimmers and smelly exhaust,.The Camless Engine Over the past two decades, automakers have adopted variable-valve technology, in which various mechanical systems vary the lift and duration of valves opening and closing for intake and exhaust in order to maximize power and efficiency and minimize exhaust emissions. This technology in one form or another is widespread in modern automobiles. The next big breakthrough could be the camless engine, a motor that does away with the conventional camshaft to operate the engine valves and replace them with electromechanical or hydraulic-powered values.The lure of the camless motor? A significant reduction in internal friction from powering a crankshaft and associated belts, gears, etc., as well as precise control of valve timing. The challenge is designing a camless system so that a possible failure of the valves is not catastrophic to the engine; other issues are reliability, noise and vibration

The 2008 Subaru WRX STI and all 2009 Subaru’s have a type of coolant “Subaru Super Coolant”. This coolant is blue and has a “S” in the middle with a red cape.The new Coolant must not be mixed with any other type of coolant. When the cooling system is serviced the new coolant must be used.Adding any other coolant will effect the protection capabilities of the coolant, which Subaru claims will last 10 years.This should eliminate the hazardous waste and also be a money saver and be better for the environment.It is more expensive than regular coolant and the current Subaru coolant. Also the fact is not every quick lube will have it available mainly due to the cost. 10 years of service seems like a long time for coolant and many will be faced with large repair bills when the wrong coolant is used.The GM lifetime coolant has caused numerous problems, as have some of the rice burners I have a problem leaving synthetic oil in for the recommended time I cannot imagine leaving the coolant for ten years.

DETROIT – When General Motors Corp. pulls the cover off a new supercharged version of the Corvette at the Detroit auto show next month, it will unveil a performance car designed to rival or better even the fastest, most expensive exotic cars from Europe.But the Corvette’s chief engineer says the 2009 Corvette ZR1 may be the last in a long tradition of Detroit performance cars, endangered by stronger federal fuel economy regulations and limits on carbon dioxide emissions.”High-performance vehicles such as this may actually be legislated out of existence,” Tadge Juechter said at a recent showing of the ZR1, which is designed to have around 620 horsepower.President Bush on Wednesday signed into law legislation that will bring more fuel-efficient vehicles into auto showrooms and require wider use of ethanol, calling it “a major step” toward energy independence and easing global warming.The legislation requires automakers to increase fuel efficiency by 40 percent to an industry average 35 miles per gallon by 2020.But Juechter said to sell one of the Chevrolet supercars, GM would need to offset that with cars that get 45 mpg.”It could really be an endangered species,” he said.Aaron Bragman, an auto analyst with the consulting firm Global Insight, said predicting the death of the muscle car might be premature.The Corvette, he said, is fuel efficient when compared with its competitors. Although fuel economy figures weren’t released for the ZR1, the current 505-horsepower Corvette ZO6 gets an estimated 15 mpg in the city and 24 on the highway, according to GM.The ZR1, he said, gets around the same mileage as a Chevrolet pickup truck, and GM won’t be getting out of the pickup business because of gas mileage standards.”I think it’s a little over-dramatization,” Bragman said. “GM wants to sell big, high-performance, fun cars. And typically that’s what Americans want to buy.”Performance cars of the future may be powered by smaller engines or electric motors, he said, but they won’t die.The ZR1 will have a top speed of more than 200 mph, driven by an all-new supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 engine. It has 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels and a suspension tuned to provide extraordinary cornering grip, GM said.The car has a carbon-fiber hood, fenders and roof for weight savings, and its huge carbon-ceramic brake rotors give it great stopping power, the company said.The ZR1 will cost around $100,000 and probably will go on sale next summer. News source: Forbes