Why Chevrolet Spin Phase Out

1984 - 1988 Toyota Corolla 1.6L Liter Distributor Replacement | Removal | Chevrolet Nova

BundysGarage:

HELLO MY LITTLE BUNDY BUDDIES BUNDYS GARAGE
BUNDY HERE HEY TODAY WE ARE WORKING ON A 1988
TOYOTA COROLLA WITH A 1.6 LITER YOU CAN ALSO
FIND THIS ENGINE ON A CHEVY NOVA THIS ENGINE
ACTUALLY HAS A TIMING BELT SO JUST TAKE NOTE
OF THAT IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THE TIMING BELT
ON THIS COROLLA WE'RE ACTAULLY CHANGING OUT
THE DISTRIBUTOR AND I JUST SHOWED YOU RIGHT
THERE JUST MARKED ALL THE 4 PLUGS WITH MARKING
SO I KNEW EXACTLY HOW TO PUT IT ON TOOK A
PICTURE OF IT WITH MY CELL PHONE WHEN I GOT
DONE MARKING THEM SO WHEN IT CAME TIME TO
PUT EVERYTHING BACK I KNEW EXACTLY WHERE THEY
WENT I'M ACTUALLY TAKING OFF THE FRONT COVER
THERE IT'S 3 8MM BOLTS THAT HOLD THIS THING
ON SCREWS YOUR GOING TO NEED A RATCHET QUARTER
INCH RATCHET AND A 8MM SOCKET AND YOU NEED
A 8MM WRENCH AS WELL NOW I'M REACHING DOWN
THERE GETTING ALL THE VACUUM LINES OUT YOU
CAN ALSO TAKE A PICTURE OF THAT JUST SO YOU
KNOW HOW THE VACUUM LINES GO BACK ON WHEN
IT'S TIME TO REINSTALL IT TAKING OFF THAT
FRONT COVER AND THE REASON I DID THAT IS BECAUSE
THERE IS A 12MM BOLT ON THE BACK SIDE THAT
YOU CAN'T SEE SO IF YOUR FACING IT IT WOULD
BE ON THE BOTTOM LEFT THERES A 12MM BOLT YOU
HAVE TO REMOVE AND IT MADE IT JUST A LITTLE
EASIER TO GAIN ACCESS TO THAT BOLT WITH THAT
FRONT COVER OFF OF THE DISTRIBUTOR JUST CHECKING
MAKING SURE ALL THE VACUUM LINES ARE OFF THIS
WAS NOT HARD AT ALL REALLY VERY VERY EASY
SO RIGHT THERE YOU CAN SEE THE BOLT I HAVE
MY HAND ON IT RIGHT THERE I HAD ALREADY LOOSENED
IT UP SO I'M JUST PULLING IT OUT THERE IS
ONLY ONE BOLT THAT HOLDS THE DISTRIBUTOR IN
AND I'M JUST GRABBING IT AND PULLING IT STRAIGHT
OUT TOWARDS ME THEN I HAVE THE ELECTRICAL
CONNECTOR THERE I FORGOT TO UNPLUG SO THAT'S
PRETTY EASY YOU JUST PULL UP ON A TAB AND
YOU SEPARATE THE GREEN PART FROM THE BLACK
PART AND IT'S FREE AND CLEAR NOW THE WEIRD
THING ABOUT THIS IS IT KEEPS EATING THIS COROLLA
KEEPS EATING DISTRIBUTORS FOR WHATEVER REASON
THIS TOYOTA COROLLA WITH A 1.6L KEEPS EATING
DISTRIBUTORS IF YOU GUYS HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS
WHY IT DOES OR WHY IT IS HAPPENING PLEASE
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU
THINK I'M KIND OF THINKING LEANING TOWARDS
THE ALTERNATOR MAYBE THE ALTERNATOR IS GOING
BAD AND SHOOTING A SURGE THROUGH THE ELECTRICAL
SYSTEM WIPING IT OUT SO THERES THE BOLT THE
12MM I JUST PUT IT BACK INTO THE ENGINE BLOCK
WHILE I WAS WAITING FOR THE NEW DISTRIBUTOR
TO COME NOW I'M JUST TAKING SOME OLD ENGINE
OIL PUTTING IT ON THE NEW O-RING FOR THE DISTRIBUTOR
YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT COATED WITH OIL
OR GREASE OR SOMETHING SO THAT IT GOES IN
NICE AND EASY SLIDES IN NICE AND EASY YOU
DON'T WANT THAT O RING TO ROLL OVER ON ITS
SELF AND THEN YOU WILL HAVE A MAJOR OIL LEAK
SO IT JUST KIND OF CLICKS INTO PLACE IF YOU
WANT YOU CAN CLOCK THE DISTRIBUTOR WITH THE
OLD ONE WHAT I MEAN BY THAT IS MARK A PLACE
ON THE ENGINE BLOCK AND MARK THE DISTRIBUTOR
AND THEN WHEN YOU GET THE NEW DISTRIBUTOR
TRANSFER THAT MARK FROM THE OLD DISTRIBUTOR
TO THE NEW ONE AND THEN LINE UP YOUR MARK
ON THE ENGINE BLOCK JUST SO YOU KNOW EXACTLY
WHERE IT CAME OUT COMING UP YOU HAVE TO THAT
12MM BOLT IS THE WAY YOU ADJUST THE TIMING
ONE THE ENGINE SO IF THE BOLT IS LOOSE YOU
CAN ACTUALLY MOVE THE DISTRIBUTOR CLOCKWISE
OR COUNTER CLOCKWISE AND JUST DEPENDING ON
WHERE YOU NEED IT TO BE SEE RIGHT THERE I'M
MOVING IT AND JUST DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU
NEED IT TO BE ON TIMING IS WHERE YOU WILL
ACTUALLY END UP LOCKING THE BOLT DOWN INTO
SO THERE YOU CAN SEE I'M PUTTING THE BOLT
IN FOR ME IT'S MORE OF A FEEL AND SOUND KIND
OF THING I JUST LET THE ENGINE WARM UP AND
THEN DEPENDING ON HOW HIGH I WANT THE RPMS
IS WHEN I'LL START ADJUSTING THE DISTRIBUTOR
SEE I'M MOVING IT RIGHT THERE AND ONCE I FIND
THAT SWEET SPOT THAT'S WHEN I'LL GO AHEAD
AND LOCK THE BOLT DOWN HERE I'M JUST PUTTING
IN I HAD TO REMOVE ONE OF THE SPARK PLUGS
WIRES TO GET THE GET ACCESS TO THE 12MM BOLT
SO I'M JUST TAKING THAT AND PUTTING THAT BACK
INTO PLACE PUTTING ALL FOUR SPARK PLUG WIRES
BACK INTO THE DISTRIBUTOR BASED ON MY MARKINGS
ALL THE VACUUM LINES ARE IN HAVE TO PUT IN
THE CONNECTOR NEAR THE BOTTOM I'M JUST REACHING
IN THERE RIGHT NOW AND MAKING SURE THAT 12MM
BOLT IS ALL THE WAY SEATED IT'S NOT TIGHT
IT'S JUST HAND TIGHT AND THEN I'M TRYING TO
START THE VEHICLE THE BATTERY IS TOO DEAD
TO START THE VEHICLE SO I HAD TO GET MY CAR
SOME JUMPER CABLES TO BE ABLE TO START IT
JUST BRINGING IN MY JUMPER CABLES RIGHT HERE
AND THEN I START THE COROLLA THE WAY I FIGURED
OUT THE DISTRIBUTOR WAS BAD THE OWNER WOULD
SIT IN THE CAR AND I'D ACTUALLY PULL OF THE
SPARK PLUG WIRE OFF THE SPARK PLUG AND AS
HE CRANKED IT I'D WATCH FOR A SPARK BETWEEN
THE SPARK PLUG WIRE AND THE SPARK PLUG AND
I DIDNT SEE ANY SPARK SO I KNEW THE DISTRIBUTOR
WAS BAD SO HERE I ENDED UP STARTING THE VEHICLE
I KNOW IT'S KIND OF LOUD BUT I JUST WANTED
TO GUYS TO HEAR IT A LITTLE BIT IF YOU CAN
SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL THANKS TO EVERYBODY
I'VE HIT 25,000 SUBSCRIBERS AND LOOKING FOR
THE NEXT 25,000 AS WELL AND HERE HERE IN THE
FINAL SCENE I GO AHEAD THE ENGINES WARM I'M
JUST GOING IN THERE MAKING THE FINAL ADJUSTMENT
BASED ON SOUND AND THEN I COME IN WITH A 12MM
WRENCH TO LOCK THE BOLT DOWN LOOKING BACK
I DON'T THINK WOULD HAVE TAKEN OFF THE FRONT
COVER THE 3 8MM BOLTS ALL I WOULD HAVE TO
DO IS REACH IN THERE LIKE THAT FROM THE PASSENGERS
SIDE WITH A 12MM WRENCH AND GET THAT BOLT
LOOSE AND I THINK THE WHOLE THING WOULD HAVE
COME OFF AFTER I GOT THE VACUUM LINES AND
THE ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR AND SPARK PLUG WIRES
OFF OF IT SO THERE YOU GO GUYS IF YOUR WORKING
ON A 1988 TOYOTA COROLLA WITH A 1.6L IT'S
A 30 YEAR OLD CAR BUT IF YOU NEED TO CHANGE
OUT THE DISTRIBUTOR THAT IS HOW YOU DO IT
VERY VERY EASY ANYBODY COULD DO THIS NOT HARD
AT ALL SO THERE YOU GO GUYS

Chevrolet Bolt EV Traction Motor - Deep Dive

WeberAuto:

Hello, I'm professor John Kelly and this
is the Weber Auto YouTube channel.
In this episode we will be disassembling
the drive unit the electric motor and
gear reducer out of our 2017 Chevrolet
bolt on the hoist behind me here. now
this drive unit and electric motor
combination is is all one piece,
unlike the Nissan Leaf that has a drive
unit that unbolts from the electric
motor. This drive unit is rated at 150
kilowatts which is 201 horsepower, it is
also rated at 360 Newton meters of
torque which is roughly 266 foot-pounds
of torque.
Now let's let's talk about torque just a
little bit. That torque rating is what
the motor itself is capable of producing,
that is not the same as the torque that
ends up at the wheels of the vehicle, so
for example the Chevrolet Spark EV
produced by Chevrolet before the Bolt
here
actually had an electric motor that
produced 540 Newton meters of torque, the Bolt EV electric motor only produces
360 Newton meters of torque and so you
might be misled into thinking that the
Spark EV had more torque; well, the motor
did, but not the torque delivered to the
axles that drive the wheels. So the gear
reducer right here on the side of this
drive unit has an impact on that because
gear reduction is also torque
multiplication minus frictional losses, so
the Spark EV had a 540 Newton meter
electric motor but it only had a three
point one five to one gear reduction
unit which resulted in about 1700 Newton
meters of torque at the wheels, at the
axles. the Bolt EV electric motor
produces 360 Newton meters of torque a
whole 180 Newton meters less of torque
from the motor, but it has a seven point
zero five one eight to one gear
reduction through this gear reducer
which multiplies that 360 Newton meters
of torque by seven point zero five one
eight, which gives us over 2,500 Newton
meters of torque at the axles. So there
are other electric vehicles out there
that are being produced right now that
have higher torque higher motor torque
than the Bolt EV
but what would be interesting, I and
I don't know what their gear ratios are
yet, is to see what is the torque
actually to the axles what's the torque
to the ground because that's what you'll
feel when you step on that accelerator
pedal, that's the torque to the wheels
that makes the vehicle move. The design
of this drive unit this electric motor
it has a peak amperage draw of 400 amps
versus 450 as for the Spark EV so it
uses less current to provide more torque
so it's a more efficient better design
electric motor. The electric motor in
this drive unit spins clear up to 8810 rpm where the
Spark EV only spun up to about 4500 rpm,
and we'll take a look at some
differences in the electric motor design
and the stator winding design that
allowed it to spin at those higher rpms
without the AC losses that typically
occur at higher rpm. As mentioned in the
previous video on high voltage
components of the Chevrolet Bolt EV this
drive unit uses about 2.9 litres, around
3.1 quarts of Dexron HP fully synthetic
base transmission fluid automatic
transmission fluid. It also is cooled by
the General Motors Dexcool 50/50 mix
of coolant and deionized water. Okay
let's take a look at the outside of the
housing here of this drive unit. The
official name or designation of this
drive unit by General Motors is the
1ET25. The one means it's a one speed
trans axle, this doesn't shift, E means
it's electronically controlled, T means
it's a transaxle, and the 25 is a
relative torque rating. Alright, right
here on the front of the transmission is
the actual last eight digits of the
vehicle identification number and you
can see that MMF right there, that is
the three-digit regular production
option code the RPO code that you can
find on label in the back of the Bolt EV if
you take out the lower compartment
carpet and look in what looks like a
spare tire tub, there's a label on the
driver's side that has a whole bunch of
three digit codes on it
MMF just means that's which transaxle
or transmission this vehicle came with.
Okay right here on the top of the trans
axle is the transmission range selector
actuator and this is a brushless DC
motor with a gear reducer that actually
moves the shift lever to put us in to
Park reverse neutral Drive and low, now
technically inside of this drive unit it
there's really only park and not park,
but there is a position sensor in here
called an internal mode switch that will
monitor which position the transaxle
range selector is in so that the vehicle
can act appropriately. For example the
shifter itself on the center console is
not directly connected to the drive unit,
it's just an input to the computer that
controls this actuator, so when we go to
the reverse position for the neutral or
drive or low, there's a feedback on the
internal mode switch electrical
connector right here, that lets the
engine control module, even though this
doesn't have an engine, know which gear
range you have selected so that it can
request the trends axle act
appropriately. Also, right here by the
electrical connector for the internal
mode switch is the transmission fill
plug, so if you want to put fluid into
this transmission you need a 14
millimeter wrench or socket to take this
plug out and put the Dexron HP fluid
into the transmission. There are two
drain plugs on this transmission, one for
each side, so there's one down below on
each end of the transaxle the driver's
side and the passenger side, there's
there are two separate drain plugs to
get the fluid out of each side, now
there's only one fluid that goes
throughout this entire transaxle but
because of how its baffled and set up
inside to remove all the fluid you need
to remove both plugs.
Now speaking of fluid and fluid level
when you drain fluid at whatever the
recommended fluid change interval is or
if you're doing service work on the
transaxle here and you're adding fluid
you need to know when to stop adding
fluid, so on the other side of the
transaxle right here is the transaxle
fluid level check plug, so the drain
plugs right down here, the fluid level
check plugs here, the fill plug is on the
other side so you take the fill plug out
you take the fluid level check plug out,
and you add fluid until fluid comes out
over here, and then you let it sit and
stabilize for a minute add a little bit
more and make sure that fluid comes out
comes out to a slow drip, and then the
instructions tell us to put both plugs
back in and go drive the vehicle until
the transmission fluid temperature
reaches 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees
Fahrenheit and then double-check the
fluid level again to make sure that
comes out at a very slow drip. Alright,
while we are here on this side of the
transaxle we have an electric motor an
electric pump for the transmission fluid
so there's a big filter we'll see when
we take this thing apart down the bottom
center of this transaxle it will pull
fluid up from the filter and then put it
into what's called the oil sump so the
oil sump is basically just a great big
bathtub looking area up here that the
pump fills full of fluid and then there
are these little drain channels that
fluid drains down to cool the stator
windings and lubricate bearings and so
on and we'll see that once we get the
cover off so we have an electric 12 to 14
volt driven electric motor that pumps
fluid throughout this transaxle. From
what I read this pump only works when
you are in Reverse or Drive, it does not
pump when you're in park or neutral.
Alright, we have another electrical
connector right here, this connector is
for the resolver which measures the
angle of rotation the direction of
rotation and the speed of the electric
motor rotor itself, and then there's a
transmission fluid temperature sensor
that is in the bottom of this
transmission case cover here. All of
those are accessed electrically through
this electrical connector right here. As
you may have seen in my other video on
high-voltage components we have the air
conditioning compressor of the bolts up
here and then we have our coolant pipes
that go into what's called a coolant
sump in the bottom of this transaxle and
we'll see that here in a few minutes but
we have coolant going in coolant coming
back out and goes through a series of
cooling fins and cooling circuits to
absorb heat from the transmission fluid
right here on the back we have the
electrical connection for the
three-phase cables that come from the
the
single power inverter module that sits
two modules above here. Three-phase
orange cables come down to drive the
electric motor, there's a cover
the cables bolt on and then there's a
cover they'll holds the cable in place.
We have a transmission vent right here,
let's just take that vent off while we
vent tube off while we're here now you
can see the oil sump area again on the
top and the cooling sump coolant sump
area here in the bottom all right there
is one additional plug on the side of
the case with the electric motor and
there's nothing in the service
information to indicate this but I
believe this is a pressure test plug to
check the pump output pressure, but I
can't find any information on what that
fluid pressure should be. Okay, I'm going
to be disassembling this transaxle right
here on the workbench but there actually
is a special fixture to hold this
transaxle and allow you to rotate it and
disassemble different pieces of it and
still be able to rotate it for
convenience. I have this special adapter
as you can see here in this photograph
but the way it's mounted it's too high
and too difficult for me to disassemble
in that holding fixture being in a
wheelchair, so the workbench is where I'm
going to disassemble it, but I wanted you
to know there is a special fixture for
that and I tried it it just doesn't work
for me.
by the way this transaxle weighs about a
hundred and seventy pounds or 77.4
kilograms. Okay, well we're ready to
start disassembly, the first step is to
remove this oil pump the 12-volt power
oil pump, it has three bolts right here
and a few seals underneath it as you can
see here there are two seals that seal
the pump to the transmission case right
here there are two bolts that hold the
cover over the pump gears themselves
there are no instructions on
disassembling this so I assume we're not
supposed to disassemble it but that's
exactly what I like to do
take things apart I'm not supposed to as
long as I can get them back together and
make it work again here we go we've got
a Jew rotor style oil pump there's an
o-ring right here that needs to fit in
this groove to seal and then the cover
just bolts on okay the next thing on the
list is to remove the left-hand and
right-hand output shafts that go into
our differential side gears in the gear
reducer this is the left-hand side right
hand side over there it calls for a
slide hammer and a old pilot bearing
removal tool for a manual transmission
so this is the pilot bearing removal
tool right here and a slide hammer and
we are supposed to put this up inside
and put it into the snap ring groove for
the CV shaft and then pop it out well
come to find out the snap ring groove is
thinner than the tip of this tool that's
supposed to go into it and I didn't
realize that's what the problem was and
I had a hard time getting these output
shafts removed I finally got him out but
once I got a mound got looking at the
tool versus what they were supposed to
be grabbing I realized I need to grind
these down make him a little thinner so
that they'll actually fit into the
grooves of the her for these CV shaft
snap rings that are there so since I've
had this entire transaxle apart before
and I'll put it all back together
I've removed those snap rings they'll
hold these output shafts in place so I
can just pull them out by hand right now
this big long left hand output shaft
goes right through the center of the
rotor of the electric motor itself it's
it's hollow in the middle
and it has a big heavy-duty bushing
right here on the outside with the axle
seal and this is our left-hand output
shaft and then the CV shaft itself plugs
into here that goes to the left front
hub and bearing assembly and tire and
we'll assembly so there's our left-hand
axle shaft there's a snap ring that fits
in that groove right there typically and
I've just removed and I've just removed
that snap ring for ease for this
demonstration here obviously I'll need
to put that back in when I reassemble
so that's the left-hand axle shaft on
the other side we use the slide hammer
again and pull out the right hand axle
shaft as you can see this one is much
shorter than the other one and it has
the support bearing in the differential
case itself that holds it in place and
its own snap ring that I've already
removed and of course an axle sill here
on the other side as well okay the next
thing on the list is to remove this
transaxle case to remove the case I've
got to take the linkage off and our
actuator off and then we've got these
bolts to go all the way around and then
we'll be able to see the gear reduction
transfer gear and the final drive ring
gear and differential gear set so I'll
take the clip out and lift up for a
linkage on the shift actuator and then
take the bolts out
okay here's the shift actuator assembly
itself transmission range selector
actuator kind of a great big piece I
I've seen some of these that are smaller
right I'm not sure why this one is so
giant I'm not I've never seen one this
big but it obviously does the job of
mechanically shifting the transmission
range lever since you have an electronic
shifter on your center console alright
let's take these bolts out of the trans
transmission case okay I've got all the
bolts out of the transmission case now
we can attempt to slide it off it has a
couple of dowel pins they'll hold it in
place there's a couple of pry points
plus one right back here and another one
right here there we go
I'm going to come in with a plastic
mallet here and just tap lightly there
we go okay we can see inside of the
transmission case itself and the only
things in here of real interest are the
transmission internal mode switch right
here we got the electrical connector
right here harness right there that
connects to this outer blue connection
connector that will read which Range
Park reverse neutral low you have
selected with your transmission shift
lever and then we have the parking
linkage right here we've got Park
reverse neutral Drive
and low now of course normally
transmission fluid would would be
pouring out of here of whatever didn't
get drained out when you drained it
previously but I've had this apart and
cleaned everything up before we have our
ring gear right here and our
differential gear set and as notice we
have real nice ball bearings here these
bearings since their ball bearings
instead of tapered roller bearings have
to have in place shims so there's a
special shimming procedure to control
the end play of these bearings that will
have to go through when we reassemble it
so you're supposed to take these shims
off and throw them away well and then
replace them with new new ones when you
go back together I suggest that you take
them off and measure them and then hang
on to them because you might you might
need them again when I took these off
previously and measured them they were
almost all identical in the thickness so
there are six of these shims for the six
ball bearings that are in this transaxle
four of these shims measured exactly
half a millimeter in in with the other
two one of a measure one millimeter in
width and the other one measured 0.9
millimeters so you need to keep track of
what thickness shim you had where and
write those down so that you you'll have
an idea of at least what it was before
you took it apart now if you're just
going back together and you haven't
changed any shims or any parts inside
just reuse the old shims but if you're
changing a bearing or any of these
internal pieces you need to go through
the special measurement procedure that
we'll see when we go back together to
determine if these shims are correct
okay so there's there's special shims on
each of these
bearings I've measured all of them RIT
written their dimensions on the ziploc
bag here that I keep them in and will
refer to those when we go back together
all right now we just need to remove the
counter gear right here and the final
drive a ring gear and differential gear
set this is where our short little
output shaft plugged in right here and
then our long one came all the way
through on the other side okay before we
remove these gears there is a an
aluminum gasket with a rubber seal
embedded into it the instructions tell
us that is not reusable
there is also an oil baffle right down
here to channel transmission fluid away
from the ring gear to reduce losses as
it rotates into it and to splash oil up
into different channels to lubricate the
the bearings if we look in this case
half right here you can almost see what
looks like a funnel right there for the
fluid to drain back down and lubricate
this outer bearing and a similar one
here on this other other side for that
bearing so we've got a oil baffle to
remove all right I've got the oil baffle
removed on the other side of that is our
magnet for metallic particles from gear
normal gear wear and other malfunctions
okay now we're ready ready to remove
these gears pull out on the counter gear
and then pull out on the final drive and
it'll come right out if you don't pull
out on that counter gear first there's
not enough clearance for the final drive
Unit two clear so here's our final drive
you can see our open differential gear
set inside there here's our sim on the
other side as well
all right the instructions tell us that
we can if we won't want to remove the
park linkage in the internal notes which
I don't really care about that that's
just regular stuff that you'd see in any
other automatic transmission so let's
continue on with things that are unique
to the bolt
evie drive unit here the one ET 25
transaxle so let's turn the transmission
case around and we'll take off the
transmission case cover here on the
driver's side
now the SAE document the details the the
bolt evey drive unit here that I told
you about in the high voltage component
video tells us that the drive unit
itself was designed to be serviceable in
the vehicle that's why they have a case
removable case cover on one side and a
case cover on the other side for the
gear reduction unit you can leave this
Center portion with the electric motor
in it in the vehicle and just remove one
or both case covers to do service work
on components inside the case covers
seal replacements resolver replacements
internal modes with replacement and so
on but anyway we're going to take off
this case
cover next from the driver's side all
right this case cover is going to be a
little harder to get off than the other
one because the rotor that has internal
magnets embedded inside of it has now
magnetically pulled itself over to the
stator because we are no longer
centering it inside of the stator itself
and so it puts a it pulls it off to the
side just a little bit so there's a
prying
right here
and there's a pride point right down
here another prior point right here
there we go okay so here's our case
cover and it has an aluminum gasket
that's not reusable as well our case
cover has this long transmission filter
that's not serviceable without
disassembling things as you can see has
a temperature sensor down inside of it
right there and then this is our
resolver our serviceable resolver that
measures the position speed and
direction of rotation of the electric
motor rotor inside the transaxle here
let's turn this around oh by the way
down inside of the bearing housing there
is a shim for the ball bearing right
here on the rotor itself so we're
looking at the stator and the hairpin
six conductor deep stator design a
unique design we'll talk about that a
little bit more once we get the stator
out we have a lubrication channel right
here where fluid is going to drip out of
our oil sump and run along and drop down
on to the stator windings themselves and
cool the the stator windings it also has
a drip channel that comes over and goes
down to this bearing here to lubricate
it
so we've just got an 8 millimeter head
bolt holding the filter in place and as
you can see the filter just has an
o-ring seal on the one side and you can
see the pick up filter screen filter
element on the inside so this is going
to reach all the way in up underneath
the the stator itself to pick up the
fluid on the back side of it and on the
back side of it is the inlet of the
coolant so that would be the cooler oil
on the back side there all right then on
the resolver it just has eight three
eight millimeter head bolts to hold it
in place and one electrical connector
this resolver only bolts in in one
location it's not adjustable it has
automatic learn unlike the older Toyota
Prius resolvers that that would actually
come out of alignment
if you unbolted them and there was no
way for you to line them back up okay so
here is our resolver pull back on the
connector position assurance clip
depress the tab and remove the resolver
itself the resolver is a serviceable
unit when and if it ever goes bad but it
should should never go bad all right
then the remaining wire harness and the
pass-through connector here just goes
over to our temperature sensor okay next
on the list we need to remove what is
called the center support this is what's
supported the driver's side ball bearing
of our differential case assembly
okay this is our center support it's
held in place with six bolts and aligned
with two dowel pins right there now with
that removed there's nothing to stop our
transfer gear from sliding out it's just
a tight fit on the bearing in the bore
as it should be just pray lightly
sometimes these will just slide right
out and right in and other times they'll
they'll fight you here we go okay so
here's our transfer gear it's ball
bearing and shim so put that shit over
here with the others okay right here in
the end of the case we still have a
lubrication channel right here from the
oil trough the oil sump I mean right
there and then we have a cover for the
three-phase electrical connector right
here as well then on the other side we
have that oil distribution channel right
here that cools the stator so we've got
to remove that we are now to the point
where we are ready to pull this rotor
out but we just can't grab on to it and
pull it out it has some super strong
neodymium magnets multiple layers envy
configuration inside of this stator
you're not going to pull it out by hand
and you sure don't want to come in here
and start prying on it so the only way
to get that rotor out of there if you
want to remove it for service replace a
bit bearing on it or the gear on the
other side or another bearing or just
replace the rotor itself for whatever
reason loss of magnetism and trouble
code sets or whatever
it takes a special tool to pull it out
without having it rub on the stator
frame itself and without having it
injure you with you trying to pull it
out and it's pulling back in with all
its magnetic strength so true get that
out there's a special guide tool that
will hold it centered in the stator and
we need to set that up next and it
starts on the other side here so there's
a special tool kit that costs almost a
thousand dollars to Center this rotor as
you pull it out I found one on eBay for
a little bit less than that but but it's
a very expensive tool but if you want to
do service work on this transaxle you've
got to have it so let's bring in the
special tools okay so I brought in the
special tools to keep the rotor centered
there's a special spacer with a notch in
it to clear that notch right there this
is just gonna fit in there just like
that then there's a plate that bolts on
over the top of this to hold it in place
these don't need to be super tight
they're just holding that little spacer
in place so I'll just lightly Snug those
up then there's a sleeve here that's
supposed to fit down the center of that
rotor but these sleeves are a little bit
too big I've had to take sandpaper and
send them down to make them fit inside
of this rotor and I don't know if that's
because the tools were made for a first
design rotor and then they changed it or
if they just made the tools incorrectly
but these tools are from what used to be
can't more tools the special tools
supplier for General Motors it's now
Bosch service solutions so Bosch you may
want to take a look at this this tool
here the DT five two zero one one
- one - three because it doesn't fit
it's not doesn't Center up inside the
the rotor as well as it should
i've had to sand it down just a little
bit and then i'm able to tap it in a
little bit there but I think that it's
supposed to be if it's supposed to be a
tight fit but it should be able to slide
in by hand I believe then we have a
guide pin that's going to go through the
center of that then we have this outer
housing the bolts in place to hold the
guide pin in place so the blue sleeve
this one here because there's one for
the other side also centers the rotor
into this plate and then this sleeve is
centered into this plate so we've now
centered the rotor on this side of the
stator so now we need to go to the other
side to put additional tools in to get
it centered and then pull it up and out
okay at this point if I had the
transaxle mounted in that special
rotating holding fixture I would just
simply rotate it on its side and get the
get the rest of the tools hooked up but
I don't I'm not able to use that so I'm
just going to put some extra long bolts
in this side of the case to hold the
case up off of this tool when I tip it
over to support it as we pull the rotor
out
okay so here we go we're going to tip
the tip the whole thing up on its hand
just like that so now we've got
clearance for the tool underneath and we
can get the upper tools set up to pull
the rotor up and out all right while
we've got the transaxle tipped on its
side let's take this oil sump cover off
and show you what's inside of there so
it's just a big empty trough and you can
see has one two three four five six
holes in it where fluid is going to go
out and drip down on other parts inside
of the transaxle for stator cooling and
for the ball bearing lubrication the
cover itself has that same aluminum
gasket that's not reusable also while we
have this transaxle on its end let's
turn it over and take the coolant sump
off next okay here's our coolant sump
you can see this pipe right here is
where the coolant comes in and it has to
wind back and forth back and forth and
then come back out over here the coolant
sump which is visible from the bottom of
the car with the under car cover removed
also has that same aluminum gasket
that's not not reusable why are they not
reusable I don't know maybe the aluminum
crushes these I'm going to see if I can
buy replacement gaskets at the local
Chevrolet dealer it seems like I saw a
service bulletin saying that all these
parts are serviceable now and it gave
the part numbers for them but if not
none of these are damaged it only has 35
miles on it and I'll reuse them and see
what happens
okay so coolant sump oil sump so now we
are ready to pull out the rotor assembly
so to pull out the rotor assembly we
have a guide pin it's going to come in
and screw into that dowel they had a
threaded end on it all right so this
threaded guide pin did not line up
exactly perfect with the guide pin down
below I can't tell if we're just
spinning the whole thing there we go
all right it's screwed all the way into
that alignment dowel from below now we
have this tool that has three holes that
go over the holes where the stator bolts
are so we need to remove the stator
bolts next these stator bolts are not
reusable three stator bolts so we put
this tool over the top of that we want
to be very careful that we don't damage
pry lean or set anything on the stator
windings here that could cause damage to
them so we'll get that lined up just
like that now I'm going to reposition
the camera so you can see
how tall this next tool is that fits on
here all right we have two clamshell
type tools that are going to come in and
clamp down over the resolver cam rotor
there and this bearing they're gonna go
just like that except I need to split
them apart so I can get the next tool in
it says this big tall piece right here
that's going to go over and down into
our stator bolt holes so we've got this
threaded shaft we've got this adapter
right here that these little clamshell
tools are going to hook into and then
the threaded shaft with a nut on the top
of it we're going to tighten that nut
and pull the rotor up out okay so the
tricky part of giving this hooked up is
getting both of these
clamshell tools over this lip right here
so I have to loosen the nut on the top
and let it come down let me turn this
you can see what's going on
there we go okay so we slide that open
clamp the clamshells around it put this
sleeve over the top of it to lock the
clamshell in place snug up this nut to
hold the lock in place and then from the
top here we start to pull up on the
rotor itself I'm going to get
repositioned bring my chair up a little
higher here so I can reach that nut it
takes quite a bit of turning to pull
that out okay here we go thirty
millimeter wrench we want to turn the
nut and prevent the shaft from turning
so I'm just going to hang on down here
as it comes up those guide pins the
guide dowels keep it from rubbing on the
stator frame although although there's
almost a strange ratcheting sound as I'm
pulling this out that makes me think
it's barely contacting the the stator
laminations or the rotor laminations
anyway we'll pull it out and take a look
see if we can see any witness marks you
can see the top of the rotor now is
starting to appear
I think we're finally clearing the top
of the yes we are it all of a sudden got
real easy to turn the nut so we no
longer have the magnet pulling out or
resisting us pulling out okay you can
see the entire length of the rotor here
get another bearing down below it and a
gear below that now we're supposed to
just lift up on this and and pull it out
I'm not sure if I'm strong enough I may
have to bring in the the engine hoist to
pull it out of here but it's just
sitting on these three non-magnetic
aluminum poles here and we've got the
weight of the the rotor assembly itself
I measured it earlier but I can't
remember what it is at this moment but
let's see if we can lift this up and out
though I cannot so let me get the engine
hoist we have to lift it up high enough
to clear that alignment dowel so I've
got to lift it up probably four more
inches 100 millimeters or so okay I've
never tried this before it's just a lift
strap let's bring it up
okay the lifting or the tool was getting
stuck in one of the holes for the the
stator bolts there we go
okay here we go
and we've cleared the alignment dowel so
slide the case out of the way here and
we'll let that back down
oh let's see how much that weighs it
says it weighs 60 pounds with the tool
the tools probably 10 pounds of that
okay we have to remember that this rotor
is highly magnetic very strong eight
pole magnetic field around this thing
and so we need to keep it away from
anything any metal particles or any
tools or anything else that could cost
cause it to receive damage on its
laminations here in looking at the the
laminations from removing it I don't see
any obvious damage at all there let's
let this down and take the the tool off
and just look at the rotor itself
little clamshell pieces out of there
these tools are magnet earth iron some
some sorts so we got to keep those away
from the magnetic field as you can see
these blue bars are aluminum they're not
sticking to the the rotor itself and
then plastic of course works great with
the magnetic fields so now we've just
got our rotor we've got our drive gear
down here I've got a ball bearing and
another ball bearing there's another
shim down inside the case a bigger
diameter shim for this bigger diameter
bearing all right I'm going to get some
wooden blocks to put this in all right
here's the rotor for the bolt
evie as you can see this bearing seems
to have some sort of a gray coating on
the outer race where this one does not
and on the counter gear bearings they
also have this gray coating it doesn't
say anything about what that gray
coating is for I suspect it's to prevent
corrosion from the dissimilar metals
with possible induced currents going
through them with the the motor running
vehicle going down the road I've seen
this type of coating on universal joints
in universal joint caps universal joint
caps bearing caps in an aluminum
driveshaft the same color I don't know
if it's the same material but if any of
you know what this coating is for if
you'd please put that in the comments
below I'd appreciate that
I'm just speculating okay so we've got
the rotor out of the way this is a
serviceable piece now the last piece to
remove is the stator assembly itself and
it has three special guide pins that go
into the stator bolt holes and screw
into the transaxle case and then they're
tapered on the top here and that's to
allow you to slide the stator out
without it binding inside so I'll slide
that over there rotate it down and just
pull out slightly
here it comes just like that so here's
the stator for the Chevrolet bolt Eevee
if we zoom in close and look at the
stator windings you can actually see
there are 1 2 3 rows of these hairpin
conductors which means they are 6
conductors deep in this stator and from
what I read in the SAE document on this
new improved motor that helps reduce the
AC power losses at the higher motor rpm
a typical stator like in the previous
Chevrolet Volt had 2 rows instead of 3
so they were four conductors deep in the
Chevrolet Volts and six conductors deep
here and one of the people that was on
the original design team for the
Chevrolet Volt told me that when they
designed this electric motor and it's
designed for maximum efficiency and hand
power that there was no other motor out
there that could even match the
efficiency of this motor and they said
that they designed this motor to be the
next small-block Chevrolet so to say of
power trains so the small-block
Chevrolet was and still is a very
popular very powerful v8 engine and has
been for many many years and their
intent was to have this motor design
maybe even this drive unit be in
multiple platforms with the same high
power high efficiency motor system if we
look at the other side here of the
stator windings you can see the the
other end of the hairpin conductors and
then there's a drip channel right here
for oil to come out of that oil sump and
to drip down and go down and lubricate
the stator windings because these get
really hot this is the heat source
inside of the transmission and it and
although it gets hot it doesn't get as
hot as the fluid
although the fluid gets hot it doesn't
get hot as a normal planetary gearset
style automatic transmission and the
cooling system surge tank reservoir cap
was only pressurized to 5 psi for this
loop of the cooling system so much lower
amounts of heat compared to an internal
combustion engine with a torque
converter heat generating planetary
gearset style of automatic transmission
now just a couple of things to get
wrapped up with this disassembly video
because we will reassemble it showing
the special measurements for the shims
and everything when we go back together
but one thing I wanted to show you about
these electric vehicles is how simple
they are and when I mean when I say
simple I don't mean simple design
meaning it was easy to design these
simplicity is not necessarily easy but
if we look at the number of rotating
parts in this entire drive unit
there are basically three main rotating
parts we've got the rotor assembly that
then turns the counter gear right here
that then turns the final drive three
pieces no clutch packs no bands and no
sprags no roller clutches no Pistons
none of those hundreds of parts that you
would see in a typical automatic
transmission let alone the internal
combustion engine that this is replacing
of course there are three main moving
parts these pieces here but each one has
two bearings on it so there's six more
pieces so there's nine total and then
inside of the differential here we have
two side gears and two differential
pinion gears so that makes for a total
of 13 possible moving parts inside the
of this drive unit and only when you're
turning corners would the side gears in
the differentials
be rotating at a different speed than
the differential case so a real basic
very reliable system these electric
vehicles and and this one is is very
efficient and that the design is very
compact to where this left-hand output
shaft remember goes right through the
center of the rotor instead of being
offset like on the the Nissan Leaf and
other electric vehicles out there so
congratulations to Chevrolet and the
design team that came up with this
amazing and efficient and simplistic
evie drive unit and I think it's
absolutely beautiful so coming up I hope
to shoot a reassembly video with all the
measurements for this drive unit and
then we've got all of these parts out
the drive unit all of the electronics
and our and our Chevy bolt back here on
the hoist is totally empty yeah under
the under the hood so we've got to put
that all back together and and make it
work again even the battery is out the
whole thing is stripped as far as the
powertrain is concerned and we're gonna
put that back together and and make it
work and hopefully get it converted to a
DC fast charge thank you for watching

2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Reveal - Finally, A Mid-Engine Corvette!

Edmunds:

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CARLOS LAGO: We just watched
the reveal of the 2020 Chevrolet
Corvette Stingray.
The base price is going
to be less than $60,000.
That's incredible.
This is the eighth generation
Corvette, and of course now
it's mid-engine.
There is a 6.2-liter
V8 right about here.
Now, that's a big deal
for a lot of reasons.
Well, one, it's the first
time that a Corvette
has gone mid-engine.
Two, it brings a ton
of performance benefits
and it makes a pretty radical
change to what Corvette is.
Really quick, that engine
is still a pushrod V8.
That means it's low, it's
sacrificing a little bit
of valve train sophistication
for sitting low in the car
itself.
It's attached to an 8-speed dual
clutch automatic transmission.
The only transmission
offering, and of course, it
drives the rear wheels.
Now, it makes 495 horsepower
with the performance exhaust,
and with Launch Control, and
with the performance options,
like the Z51 track package
that was on the C7, and so on,
enables 0 to 60 in less
than three seconds.
Push is pretty spectacular.
Now, one of things
that happens when
you switch to a
mid-engine configuration
is of course all that space that
was once cargo volume is now
engine volume, I guess?
But there's still
a trunk behind it,
which Chevy says can
fit two golf bags, which
is pretty impressive.
It shows Chevy's
commitment to understanding
the practicality
aspect of the Corvette,
and why owners really
appreciate that.
It makes this car more
usable for more people.
On top of that, there's also
a front trunk, or frunk,
up front.
Combined, both of those
compartments make 12.6-ish
cubic feet of cargo space,
which is pretty important.
Let's go a little
bit further up.
One of things they maintained
was the removable roof,
which has always been a
highlight of Corvettes.
It's nice to be able to
take the roof off and just
go for a cruise.
There are a couple of
other big, dramatic changes
to the rest of the car, as well.
Gone are the
transverse leaf spring
setup that used to underpin
Corvette for a long time.
Now we're just down
to coil overs, which
is more traditional,
and should make
for a really sophisticated
ride and handling,
especially when paired with the
magnetic fluid-filled shocks
that Corvette's been using
in recent years, and those,
we've really liked a lot.
Chevy says in the
press materials
that the Corvette equipped
with all-season tires
can generate 1 G laterally.
That's ridiculous
for all-season tires,
and that's such a high
amount of grip capability
that actually all Corvettes
now will have a dry [INAUDIBLE]
oiling system to ensure constant
lubrication to important engine
bits when you're
cornering really hard.
A lot of really
exciting stuff there.
Let's move our way to the front.
And one of the real advantages,
beyond all the performance
headroom, of having the
engine in the middle,
because it's putting more
mass on the rear tires,
giving them more traction to
brake, accelerate, and handle,
but you also move the passenger
compartment quite a bit
forward in the cabin.
And that means you can
put the hood down lower,
because there's no
longer an engine there.
You can make the
windshield bigger.
That gives you a
better sight line.
And because there's no
longer an engine blocking it,
you can have a shorter
and more direct steering
system, which makes the
whole thing feel more direct.
It also helps when you're
closer to the front wheels, too.
It makes the process
feel a little bit better.
Let's find a way to
hop inside and talk
about what's going on in there.

The interior's a
pretty dramatic change,
like the rest of
the car, I guess.
Two seats, of course.
Squared-off steering
wheel, which
looks interesting, but
in my experience, cars
that use this design work
pretty well because you have
four unique points
of contact that
help in doing hand-over-hand
steering around tight corners,
or when you're in a power
slide, as I like to do,
it helps you locate where
the center of the wheel
is really quickly.
Big digital gauge cluster
behind that, infotainment
display here, all
very driver-oriented
how it wraps around you,
especially this little trim
piece of HVAC controls.
Very interesting decision.
It's going to be a while
before we actually figure out
if we like it or
not, but I will say,
I like having physical buttons
rather than digital ones buried
in the menu.
One of things we
haven't talked about
is something that's
really impressive,
and that's a button
hidden up here
that lifts the front
end of the car when
you're approaching like a
speed bump or your driveway.
And the cool thing is when
you do that, you can actually
have the GSP system
remember where that was,
so when you get home, you don't
have to always hit that button.
Or if there's always a speed
bump or a pothole on your drive
home, the car will just
learn that as you use it.
And that's a really cool
thing to have in a sports car.
There's nothing more
embarrassing than scraping
the nose on your sports car
as you leave your driveway
in the morning.
Very, very embarrassing.
There's a lot here that we're
going to learn, and experience,
and talk about.
But for the time being, this
Corvette looks really cool,
and we can't wait to drive it.

2019 Chevrolet Silverado - Review & Road Test

Kelley Blue Book:

When Chevrolet first revealed their
fourth-generation full-size Silverado
they dangled it from a helicopter onto a
massive stage.
Hey, our reveal is just as extravagant.
Okay so maybe we need more helicopter
budget, but we're on dirt and those used to be pine trees. So here it is the
fourth-generation Chevy Silverado.
Okay, I can't.
You know I'm not sure this looks that
different from the previous model. There
are four grille options, this is one of
them and it's bigger and beefier than
the previous generation, but other than
that it looks pretty much like a
Silverado. It does have a steeper
windshield and adds a roof spoiler for
better aerodynamics, but also rides an
inch higher than the third generation.
Thanks to its new bigness the second row
in the crew cab expanded. There are three
more inches back here of space for your
legs, but if you prefer to haul stuff
inside the 60/40 seats fold up. There are
a lot of cool storage spaces.
Check out that cubby. It's pretty neat.
This is bigger than some apartments I've
lived in.
Bed size also benefits from the
Silverado's expansion to the tune of
seven inches of width thanks to GM now
stamping the beds into pieces. It's also
stronger, which is a good thing for tough
payload.
Even the 12 standard tie-down loops are
stronger, and there's an optional power
tailgate, which we think is cool. The
Silverado comes in eight models. The Work Truck
comes with vinyl or cloth seats
and 17-inch wheels, remote keyless entry,
a USB port, seven-inch touchscreen and
Chevrolet's Infotainment 3 system with
Apple CarPlay and Android Audo. Optional
safety features include front and rear
parking assist, lane change alerts with
blind zone warnings, and rear
cross-traffic alerts. Those are some good
options for a base model truck. The
Custom trim adds 20-inch aluminum wheels
and LED tail lights. The Trail Boss adds
a 2-inch lift and the optional Z71
off-road package, which of course
requires four-wheel-drive and includes a
locking rear differential, skid plates,
and 18-inch Goodyear Duratrack tires
for off-roading. Step up to the LT trim
and there's the aforementioned
optional off-road equipment, an
eight-inch touchscreen comes standard as
well as a step up to the 8-speed
automatic transmission from the 6-speed
in lower trims. Hill descent control is
also a good option for when you're
coming down from all those mountains
you're driving over. The LT Trail Boss
includes the off-road capabilities of
the custom Trail Boss. Looking for a
sporty or Silverado the RST trim
includes body coloured exterior trim LED
lighting and 22s.
This high country is at the top of the
Silverado trim mountain, and it is swank
at the summit. Everything is covered in
leather and it's pretty comfy in here in
a truckie kind of way. Both front seats
are heated and ventilated and the
driver's side has 10-way power
adjustment including lumbar. Micah!
It's wireless charging capable and the
storage in the center console is so big
you could probably fit a whole bucket of
fried chicken in there.The Bose audio
system is awesome, you know what, if I
went camping I would probably just stay
in here. Six powertrain choices are
offered on the Silverado. Those larger
two are new options and include GM's new
dynamic fuel management system which is
able to use as few as two cylinders
cutting fuel to the rest for improved
fuel economy. The diesel option is new too. Some EPA numbers weren't available for
various power trains at the time of this
videos making, but here are those that
are.
The 4.3-liter V6 offers up 285
hp and 305 pound-feet of torque.
The 6.2-liter V8, which is in this High
Country crew cab I'm driving has 420
horses and 460 pound-feet of torque. With
a curb weight of 5,000 pounds, a payload
capacity of a little over 2,100 pounds,
and towing capabilities of 12,000 pounds
I'd say that power is going to come in
really handy. That's cute.
Incidentally that's less towing capacity
than a similarly powered Ford F-150 but
more than the RAM 1500 and the same as
the GMC Sierra, which makes sense because
they share power trains. But how does it
drive I hear you ask? You know what? I
have a really good way to find out. Why
thank you.
On the road the Silverado feels sturdy
and solid but surprisingly un-trucky. It
actually drives like a much smaller
vehicle. That might be thanks to Chevy
shaving off up to 450
pounds depending on which Silverado you
drive. The Silverado makes easy work of
curvy mountain roads and is maneuverable
enough to not get you in too much
trouble when parking in relatively tight
spots. The High Country's more refined
road manners are partly due to a 10-
speed automatic transmission with which
it is equipped. Shifts are quick and
smooth. It's tight ratios keep the engine
closer to peak power when at full
throttle. It also makes for easier
operation when towing. It's too bad this
transmission is only an option on the LT
trim and above with the diesel or 6.2-
liter engine. The cabin is quiet. I don't
hear the road and there's no notable
vibration or noise coming from the
engine when that DFM system is doing its
thing. You know if someone was looking
for a midsize crossover alternative with
more utility and towing capacity then
the Silverado drives nicely enough that
it should be considered an option.
Base price on the Work Truck will cost
you around $31,200 including
destination. Our tricked-out High Country,
which is at the top of the spending
spectrum is more like $67,000. This one
also has the Deluxe package that
includes safety features like forward
collision alert, lane keep assist with
lane departure warning, low speed forward
automatic braking. It also has a sunroof,
all-season tires, as well as the Tech
package that gives us the surround
vision camera and head-up display. Those
safety features come in handy especially
in a big truck like this. Sometimes
little things like Miatas or cyclists
are really hard to see. You know, I kind of
feel like the blind spot warning is
pretty much on all the time in this
thing.
The purchasing sweet spot though is
probably the LT trim that starts at just
under 40 large and comes standard with
the 5.3-liter engine and the 8-speed
transmission, but is optional with the
diesel engine mated to the 10-speed. It
also opens up more optional packages
that include tilting and telescoping
steering wheel and navigation. If you're
in the market for a full-size truck the
fourth-generation Silverado has a lot of
competition to check out including the
F-150, Sierra, Ram 1500 and even the
Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra,
but the Silverado has a lot of great
qualities to consider. It's well equipped,
nicely powered and a good-looking truck
that rides nicely on the road. See no
splashy helicopter entrance necessary.

Disassembling our crusty Chevy "Stovebolt 6" engine project | Redline Update #25

Hagerty:

- All right, as you can see,
the other day we got the
216 out of the pickup truck.
We did a little bit of cleanup work,
basically trying to get access
to a lot of bolts on that.
We didn't take a ton of time,
we probably could've taken
a power washer and such.
We did hope that we could see
a little more of the paint and such.
Really all we can make out at this point
is it appears that the
bell housing on this
may have been painted some sort of red.
The block, what paint it did have on it
appears to be maybe a silver color,
and the the tin looks like black
based on, like, right here.
Looks like the valve cover
and the side cover was black.
And then you can just
make out Thriftmaster here
across the side of the valve cover.
So with that, my next task is to
get this bell housing off,
and get it on the engine stand,
and then just stripping it down
for all the parts that we can reuse,
and we'll go from there.
(upbeat music)
So this mechanism across the back,
I should have showed you
before I took it off,
but any rate, what it amounts to
is this is the starter
button on the bottom of the,
you know, inside the cab, where I had Ben,
I told him to hit the starter,
and there's physically a
plunger that he pushes,
and when that pushes down here,
this actuates all this mechanism.
And then there's a lever
arm on stop of the starter,
and that is the solenoid,
solenoid in the sense
that it just actuates,
or makes the contact
from the positive wire through the motor.
(wrench clicking)
(drill whirring)
(hammer thudding)
(wrench clicking)
On this intake and exhaust setup,
you have a separate intake, and
a separate exhaust manifold,
but they're held down by a common bolt,
so there isn't an individual.
So actually, here, initially it looks like
this may be broken off, it
may be just a dowel pin,
I don't know until I get there,
again, I've never had these apart.
This is actually pretty typical,
even into Jeep four liters of the '90s.
The idea is use this clamp,
as you pull this tight,
it's pushing the exhaust
and the intake, creating that clamp load.
Let's just call it an oversized washer.
But I'm gonna heat in the head area here,
(fire roaring)
here, in all what's
there, one, two, three,
four, five, six bolts.
Heat up that area, it'll
just help get things loose.
And I'm either gonna have to do it now,
or I'll have to do it later,
I might as well do it now
on the initial teardown.
(upbeat music)
So this motor has,
according to the odometer,
54,000 miles on it, which,
quite honestly, I can believe.
Of course the oil specs of those days
was not consistent, wasn't
certainly as good as it is today,
so you get any kind of heat
buildup, it would cook the oil,
and of course you get all this baked on
oil and sludginess.
So progress-wise, our head is off,
valve train is out, oil pan is off,
timing cover obviously is off,
we're at the point where we
wanna pull the camshaft out.
And of course the lifters are
stuck partway in the hole,
I got some of them out.
And now I'm really trying to figure out
how this oil pump comes
out quite honestly,
it's pretty interesting little setup.
My understanding is whenever you have
these little catches on the
bottom of the main rods,
is that that's actually scooping oil,
and that's how the rod gets oiled.
Now, these were never engines
that saw a lot of RPM,
so low RPM, no big deal.
Very similar in fashion to,
like, a Briggs & Stratton motor
that we currently use, they have a little,
what they call a dipper.
So that's where we're at on this.
There has been a little head
scratching to figure this out,
I've never done one of
theses, as mentioned.
And I probably shouldn't
tell everybody that
as I'll blow my cover, but
I gotta be honest.
All right, so we're gonna
keep working on this,
see where we get.
Idea is today we want this completely,
completely tore down,
and off to the machine shop.
(upbeat music)

2019 Chevrolet Silverado Review and First Drive — Cars.com

Cars.com:

we're here in some of the most beautiful
parts of the country the Idaho Wyoming
border where we've had our first chance
to get behind the wheel of the 2019
silverado half-ton now there's a lot to
talk about with this truck but we're
gonna try to keep it focused I'm going
to talk about the interior the bed our
off-road impressions how it tows and
what it feels like on the highway inside
the Chevy trail bus is e71
it's got the cloth interior the new
redesign Center stack which is closer to
the driver and passenger to control the
nav system and any AC functions it's got
a nine switch line up here depending on
what features you have and also the
four-wheel drive system is now in the
upper left-hand corner both with the tow
haul mode and a sport mode and
thankfully they've put the trailer brake
controller down here and easy access
here at the right hand but it also has a
huge center console whether you have the
storage bin here in front or whether you
have the middle seat that pops up with a
hidden storage underneath the seat you
still have tons of room inside for any
of your personal gear here at the back
we love the dual exhausts they've also
redesigned the bumper steps to make it
easier to access the bed itself here on
the tailgate push button electronic drop
and also on some trim packages all it
takes is a push of the knee and it
automatically closes all by itself but
the bed itself has some of the most
interesting features we've seen in a
pickup bed in a long time on the floor
cold rolled steel for strength also the
walls the walls themselves are made of a
high-strength steel so this is probably
some of the strongest beds in the
half-ton segment also 12 different
tie-down points each 500 pound capacity
on every pickup truck with nine other
exterior holes to give you a total of 21
different holes that you can have for
tie-downs to keep your cargo safe but
the feature we like the most
the optional 120 volt 3 prong plug
right here in the bed on the off-road
course the trail boss is z71 was
impressive there's no other way to
explain it this vehicle has a 2-inch
suspension lift makes room for bigger
wheels and tires more aggressive treads
the Goodyear Wranglers but also has
monotube Rancho shocks very good for
this kind of obstacle course that we had
created here by Chevy for us we had a
log run we had a hill climb over some
loose dirt rock we also had a
rock-strewn area very similar to a
Rubicon Trail and then we also had a big
mud pit that we were able to get up some
speed and do some very nasty splashing
but this vehicle does very well it's
going to compete very well with other
off-road packages it's not a Ford Raptor
but it's a very impressive
when it comes to trailering Chevy is
really upping their game in fact they've
created for this new half-ton Silverado
they've created what's called the
advanced trailering package which is the
combination of integrated cameras along
with a lot of accessible information
they haven't loaded right into the nav
screen that they can get any time they
can program different types of trailers
that they're going to be using and they
can keep track of the fuel economy and
different connections around the truck
in fact you can even check from the
driver's seat whether or not all the
lights on your trailer and your vehicle
your tow vehicle are all working at the
same time now the connections here
accommodate a fourth camera it has to be
hardwired but it can provide you with a
view off the back end of the trailer so
when you pop it into reverse you know
exactly what's behind you when you're
trailering now we had a chance to take
this trailer a 6,000 pound cargo trailer
out on the road and we have to say that
this is a very comfortable and confident
vehicle to tow with
6,000 pounds isn't your normal weight in
fact that's probably more than 90% of
people are going to be towing with their
half-ton pickup truck but we can say
with the suspension changes and also
this technology advancement with this
trailer package this is probably one of
the best trailer packages we've had a
chance to derive so we're out of the mud
we've disconnected the trailer we're
back on the highway so this is just two
lane road where it's 6,000 feet so the
powertrain feels a little underpowered
but that's okay because there's a lot of
horsepower in both the 5 3 or the 6-2 v8
engines that are available for this new
Silverado on the road very composed this
is probably the single biggest
improvement not that the last half-ton
Silverado was bad but this one is so
much better it's almost difficult to
even compare the two very composed
especially into hard corners it's a
wonderful little switch that puts a
little racing flag up on the information
- that
to know you're in sport mode you get a
little tighter feel to the steering
wheel little quicker response on the
throttle and this thing just stays
hugged to the ground we're in the trail
boss so that means we're a little higher
because of the suspension lift but
there's nothing about this vehicle that
feels tippy or you know out of sorts
whether we're pushing it we've pushed it
a few times around some corners it
absorbs every kind of corner that we
could throw at it no matter what the
speed is that we're going into that
corner so I mean overall this is a very
impressive feel on two-lane highways it
seems like almost any of the trim
package combinations are very versatile
doing moderately well if they're
four-wheel drive but also doing very
very well if you want to get a little
more enthusiastic on pavement what's our
biggest takeaway from our time behind
the wheel of the 2019 silverado half-ton
is how far they've come now we love the
classics but this new half-ton pickup
truck looks like it could be a game
changer for Chevy and we love the fact
that they're requiring on every single
vehicle and this isn't a government
mandate but every single vehicle on the
door jamb lets the owner of that
specific truck know exactly what the
maximum trailer capacity is and maximum
payload capacity is for each truck
that's about safety and we like that for
more information about this truck go to
pickup trucks calm
you

2019 Toyota Tacoma - Review & Road Test

Kelley Blue Book:

According to some questionably reliable
internet sources, the word truck was
derived from the Latin trochlea, which is
a structure in the knee that, do you know
what, whatever. This is the Toyota Tacoma,
and wherever the word came from trucks
are good. This one is no exception.
Unlike sport utility vehicles which err
on the side of not being fully utilized,
trucks are purpose-built vehicles that
their owners generally use as intended.
Toyota has a long history of making
durable affordable trucks and this
third-generation Tacoma excellently
fulfills that promise. It's practical and
versatile with myriad configuration
options. Short- or long-bed, regular or
double cab, two- or four-wheel drive, with
two available engine options. The first
of those is a 2.7-liter 4-cylinder
engine, but if it were me buying this I'd
go for the 3.5-liter V-6 which is the
direct injection Atkinson Cycle engine.
It makes excellent power, which comes in
handy when you're towing the up to 6,800
pounds or hauling the
1,275-pound
payload. A properly equipped Tacoma can
haul one of the best features available
on the Tacoma is transmission choice.
Ford and Chevy don't even offer a manual
anymore, and the other paltry stick
shifts out there are usually only
available on stripped-down four-cylinder
based models, but Toyota knows their
customers and offers the six-speed
manual transmission as an option on all
three of the more sport focused TRD
model. The TRD Sport like this one I'm
driving the TRD Off-Road and the TRD Pro
for the base SR, SR5 and higher Limited
trims. The six-speed automatic is your only option.
There aren't a lot of frills on this
truck even on the TRD Sport and I'm
actually ok with that. Outside it's
good-looking has some rugged angles. I
particularly like the way the front end
of Toyota trucks look. They've got some
authority.
The interior is simple but it has
everything that you need including the
electronic transfer case that will get
you into low gear when you're heading
off-road. Yes, there is the requisite hard
plastic but you know there are some
interesting materials in here. This
fabric that's both here and on the door
panels. It seems like it would be really
durable. Also, it feels kind of neat and I
kind of would take a backpack made out
of it. Gauges are big and easy to see and
on the center stack the buttons and
knobs are well positioned and within
reach. While there's not a ton of room in the
cabin, especially for passengers back
here. There is some interesting storage
space. No it will not hold a bucket of
fried chicken like the Silverado but the
center console is not bad, and hmm very
creative.
Nothing illegal please.
Toyota does offer up option packages
that include extras like keyless entry,
wireless charging, a backup camera,
leather-trimmed seats, an optional
seven-inch touchscreen instead of the
standard 6.1-inch one as well as
Toyota's Intune infotainment system with
navigation, and other apps, so while
Toyota has an integrated Apple CarPlay
into some of their vehicles and
according to the company are
entertaining the idea of Android Auto
there is nary a whisper of either one of
them in this truck. I might be getting
addicted to it and need an intervention.
EPA estimates aren't groundbreaking, but
hey, it's a truck hey another theory on
its name origin incidentally is from the
word truckle, which is an old wheel and
pulley system. Nope, still don't care. I'm
not gonna lie on the road the rides not
super smooth, but it's well mannered and
doesn't feel really heavy or cumbersome
even with the TRD tuned Off-Road
suspension. A note to modifiers though if
you start putting bigger knobby or
altering tires on this the ride is going
to get a lot rougher.
The steering doesn't have great feel but
it's not as imprecise as on some heavier
trucks. I don't feel like I'm sig zagging
all over the road, but I do hear a lot of
that road noise inside the cabin. Again
trucks off-road though the Tacoma TRD
Off-Road and TRD Pro are your best
options for serious wheeling. Their
beefy shocks smooth out bumps and are both
equipped with a locking rear
differential, durable plastic fenders,
crawl control, and multi-terrain select,
and if that's not enough for those
enthusiasts, out there there are
truckloads of aftermarket products
specifically made for Toyotas that live
in dirt. I love that we got a manual. The
throws on the gearbox are smooth. Man
this truck is really easy to drive, which
is probably why it's one of Toyota's best
sellers and has excellent resale value. I
might be biased, I probably am, but I
could drive this every day. Hey, I have a
birthday coming up. The base two-wheel
drive model Tacoma SR has a starting
price of about $26,500
including destination
charges. While it may not be overflowing
with standard features it does come with
skid plates over its four-cylinder mill
and front suspension, three USB chargers
and hill start assist. Throw in Safety
Sense which is Toyota's suite of safety
features that come standard across all
trims and features things like pre-
collision warnings, lane departure alerts,
and dynamic cruise control and that's a
pretty good package for the price. About
$10,000 more will get you
the TRD Sport which lands somewhere in
the middle of the cost spectrum and is
what I'd consider the sweet spot in
terms of capability features and great
value. The top of the mountain TRD Pro
has some serious off-road extras like
projector beam headlights, all-terrain
tires, the reinforced TRD skid plate,
active traction control,and a TRD-tuned
off-road suspension with two and a half
inch Fox internal bypass coil overs and
rear remote reservoir shocks, as well as
extra safety features such as blind spot
warning and rear parking assist are
available as additional option packages.
The TRD Pro will cost you closer to
$43,500 but still not a bad price for a
pretty capable truck in a world where
you can now spend upwards of a hundred
grand for a gravel hauler. There aren't a
ton of other options in this segment.
Smaller lighter trucks just aren't
abundant these days, but the Nissan
Frontier, Ford Ranger, Chevy Colorado and
GMC Canyon are worthy adversaries. While
this third-generation truck might soon
be ready for a mid-cycle refresh it's
still good-looking. You can get it in
tons of configurations. It can rock haul
and rock crawl, and it's full of safety
features. Hey
a truck by any other name, well it's
definitely not a Tacoma.

2019 Chevrolet Blazer | Just One Problem | TestDriveNow

Steve Hammes New Car Reviews:

While the compact and 3-row SUV segment has
been growing by leaps and bounds, this 5-passenger
midsize type has been getting squeezed out.
But with our insatiable appetite for utility
vehicles these too are on the comeback. This
is the all-new Blazer.
When we last saw it a decade and 5 cogs ago,
the TrailBlazer was an American-built, body-on-frame
sport utility whose key competitors included
the Ford Explorer and Dodge Durango…models
that’ve since moved on to the 3-row arena. 
Having its name pruned once again to simply
Blazer, this 2019 Mexican-made reboot weighs
nearly 300-pounds less, now arranges its 6-cylinders
in a V formation, produces more horsepower
but less torque and improves MPGs by over
30%; collectively, a microcosm of the industry’s
evolution during its 10-year hiatus.
Similar in length, wheelbase and ground clearance
to the TrailBlazer before it, the new Blazer
is marked by daring design and robust levels
of technology.  This one here is the sporty
RS trim with a host of distinguishing traits
and blacked-out features that lend it a Camaro-like
persona.  Not for the introverted, the Blazer
RS is a visually stunning specimen with a
futuristic patina and crazy 20” Dark Android
wheels.  So you see it and think it’s going
to be all spicy and sonorous, but in reality
it’s soothing and serene.
The Blazer’s design says racy but this SUV
is more of a teddy bear, with the headline
being quiet and soft.  This RS trim is all
about style and the V6 is very strong but
the Blazer coddles its occupants with automatic
everything and technology that doesn’t fight
you.  For something that looks this cool
though there’s not a lot of excitement here. Over
300 horsepower produces some torque steer
when you step on it and while the 9-speed
is typically very smooth there is one exception;
in stop and go traffic it tends to lurch ahead
as you slow down and start again…something
GM should address with a software update because
it sullies an otherwise pleasing experience.
Though a large one - this is the Blazer’s
only real gaffe and it seems like something
that could be addressed with a software update.
This V6 can be found in over a dozen current
GM products and here it’s rated at 308 horsepower
and 270 pound-feet of torque so acceleration
feels more than adequate and the all-wheel
drive system is the one utilized in recent
Buicks - sourced from driveline supplier GKN,
it incorporates torque vectoring technology
to help steer the vehicle making on-road performance
more stable and dynamic as well as enhancing
off-road capabilities. Plus, it makes the
setup more fuel-efficient by providing an
AWD disconnect; driver selectable when not
needed.  Other modes include Sport, Off-Road
and Tow that affect steering effort, shifting,
torque distribution and traction control with
a simple twist of the knob.  And I’m all
about the Blazer’s forgiving, compliant
suspension tune and hushed, Buick-like cabin
while at the same time appreciating its gutsy
motor and precise yet relaxed drive.
On a cool day like this as soon as I fire
it up my heated seat and steering wheel automatically
go into action. I like the simplicity of the
controls and the intuitive use of technology.
And the Blazer has a healthy dose of that
with wireless device charging, WiFi hotspot,
the Marketplace feature that provides convenient
access to a number of food and service vendors,
the safety alert seat that vibrates the bottom
in the direction of potential dangers, the
customizable gauge display, air vents that
double as thermostats, auto high beams and
dynamic radar cruise control. But the look
and feel of it all doesn’t match it’s
over $48k price tag.
The RS AWD is priced from just under $45,000
while other less adorned trims with 4-cylinder
power start in the low $30s.  With everything
you see here including the Cadillac-esque
rearview camera mirror, MSRP is $48,270 and
in that lofty air I just need a little more
luxury in the presentation.  I also need
a 360 degree camera button that’s not buried
within the touchscreen.  And heck, might
as well throw in a heads-up display.
The rear seats benefit from tilt and slide
functionality as well as a flat floor so 5-passenger
accommodations it truly is.  There’re also
heated with additional USB ports.  A panoramic
roof is optional.  And then in the back,
the bowtie projection automatically triggers
as you approach to show you precisely where
the foot activated sensor is, and cargo management
is more thoughtful with a sliding divider,
lots of cubbies, underfloor storage and remote
levers to the drop the rear seats.
Bigger than the Equinox and smaller than the
Traverse, the Blazer fleshes out Chevy’s
SUV lineup with a boldly-styled yet quietly
composed midsized comeback.

How V8 Engines Work - A Simple Explanation

Engineering Explained:

Hello everyone and welcome in this video
we're going to be learning how V8 engines work
starting off simple and then diving into the details of the 3D printed Chevy Camaro lS3 V8
engine seen here so starting with the very obvious
V8 engines get their name from having a cylinder block in the shape of a V in this case at 90 degrees and
from having eight cylinders in this case the numbering starts at the front most piston on the right
and then works its way back 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
This engine operates under the same basic principles as any other gasoline four-stroke engine
focusing on just a single cylinder first the piston pulls in air and fuel as it moves downward
then it compresses that air and fuel as the piston moves upward next a spark plug fires
igniting the air fuel mixture and forcing the piston downward and
finally the piston pushes out the exhaust gasses on its way back up before the cycle repeats itself now in a V8 engine
this cycle is happening in eight different cylinders at different times
instead of multiple cylinders firing at the same time you want them to be spread out so that power delivery is smooth for
this Chevy V8
the firing order is 1, 8, 7, 2, 6, 5, 4, 3
with eight cylinders
there is a cylinder firing for every 90 degrees of the crankshaft rotating
which means that at any point in time there are two cylinders on the power stroke a
four-cylinder engine would only have one cylinder firing at a time meaning the power delivery wouldn't be as smooth
so now let's look at the valve train to see how air flows in and out of the engine
the intake air comes from the top of the engine and into the sides of the cylinder head
the exhaust flows to the sides of the engine
exiting the exhaust valves from the cylinder head looking at the cylinder head removed from the engine you can see that
there is a single intake valve and a single exhaust valve though it's also common to see engines with two intake valves and two exhaust
valves in this case the larger valve is the intake valve and the smaller valve is the exhaust valve
the pushrod valvetrain gets its name from the metal push rods
which activate the rocker arms which open up the valves the camshaft
located in the center of the V of the engine block has lobes on it
which pushed the push rods up opening the appropriate valves here
you can see a simple
demonstration of the push rod being used to open up the intake valve
it presses against the rocker arm seen in red forcing the intake valve open the camshaft
which operates the valves is geared to the crankshaftm
which is what ultimately all the Pistons are trying to rotate for every two rotations of the crankshaft the
camshaft rotates once if we remove the oil pan from the engine we can see the operation of the crankshaft the
crankshaft is the yellow shaft and there are added weights to it for balancing the engine the connecting rods are in brown which connect the
crankshaft to the Pistons what's cool about V8
engines is that the two pistons across from one another are actually paired to the same crankshaft bearing so moving on to those large yellow
counterbalance weights
looking at the first pair of cylinders
you'll notice that as one piston reaches the very top the counterbalance is directly across from it
balancing out the force as it rotates another 90 degrees it now counters the other Pistons force
rotating another 90 degrees the first piston has reached the bottom and the weights counter that downward force with an upward force and then
finally another 90 degrees later the second piston reaches the bottom
where its downward force is once again countered with an upward force.
This is actually balancing out a rocking moment caused by the Pistons movement in full swing
though the whole engine may look complicated from a balancing standpoint
it actually is extremely smooth running with no first or second order
vibrations and only a first-order moment that is countered out through the crankshaft design
all of this is to say that the engine runs very smoothly now this particular V8
is what is called a crossplane V8
which means each connection point on the crankshaft is
offset 90 degrees meaning the pistons operate in two planes or a cross plane the alternative is a flat plane crank
shaft where the pistons are simply offset 180 degrees meaning they all operate in a single or flat plane
the advantages of this engine style include its large
displacement which often correlates with generating lots of power while in a generally compact and very rigid form they have very little vibration
however compared to some engines
they have a relatively higher center of gravity and are complex
since they require two separate cylinder heads rather than just one like an inline engine generally speaking although
they are compact in form they are still quite heavy compared to smaller style engines though of course while producing more power
if you found this helpful
I have included links to other videos you may enjoy
also a huge shout out to Erik Harrell for lending me the 3D printed V8 engine.
I will include links to his work in the video description as always feel free to leave any questions or comments below and
thanks for watching.

2019 Chevrolet Silverado; Mercedes-Benz Goes Electric | Talking Cars with Consumer Reports #167

Consumer Reports:

The truck wars are heating up.
And we just picked up a brand
new Chevrolet Silverado 1500.
Also, Mercedes Benz
introduced their new EQC SUV,
part of their new plans
for electrification.
And we answer your questions
next on Talking Cars.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

Hi, everyone and welcome back.
I'm Jon Linkov.
I'm Jennifer Stockburger.
And I'm Ryan Pilakowski.
And some announcements this week
about new electric vehicles,
we've also got the new Chevrolet
Silverado in our test fleet.
We'll talk about
that with the RAM.
And then we have viewer
questions, so lot of stuff.
Let's jump in Jen.
Mercedes Benz introduced
their, or showed,
their new EQC all electric SUV.
Can you tell us about it?
Right, so this is a, you
know, the first in Mercedes EQ
line of electric vehicles.
So that's kind of a big deal.
Electric intelligence is
what it stands for, right?
Right.
And C means that it's
kind of C-class base size.
C-class platform, right?
So it all has meaning, right.
I wondered what the German
word for intelligence
was that made it a Q, but
anyway, different issue.
But anyway, fully electric,
402-horsepower rating,
80-kilowatt battery,
floor mounted,
which means some
of the space stuff
maybe isn't an issue,
two electric motors
for all-wheel drive, right?
So you get all-wheel drive.
But more so it's
kind of the industry
that the big players are
beginning to introduce
electric vehicle lines.
We've talked about Volkswagen,
you know, Mercedes, so yeah.
Tesla had the Model
X. Jaguar has the--
now, let me get this right.
The I-PACE-- the
E-PACE is not electric.
The I-PACE is the
electric, right?
Right.
You know, Ryan, it's kind of
a GLC Mercedes Benz, GLC SUV.
What do you think of that model?
And do you think it would
translate well to electric?
Yeah, I mean, it all sounds
really good actually,
because the GLC we liked quite
a bit here at the test track.
I know I liked it.
If they can make it
actually go 200 miles--
Right, I think that's the key.
That's the key.
It is that size of the GLC.
I think they have something.
The price is probably
not going to be low.
I mean, let's face it.
That's the unfortunate
part I think.
But maybe it'll be reasonable.
I don't know.
But I think they'll have
something if they can do that.
Yeah, I mean, they claim that
you could charge in 40 minutes,
the battery can.
Depending on the
status of the charge,
you know, there's a lot of
caveats with this announcement
right now, almost 80%, from
10% to 80% in 40 minutes.
But does it mean something
big for the industry?
Or where does it fit?
I think it's good news for
the electrification industry,
if you will.
I don't know what
you want to call it.
But Mercedes is a big name.
And they have the infrastructure
and the knowledge,
the know-how to do
this stuff on a bigger
scale I think, than even
Tesla, you know, if it works,
if they can figure that out.
But it's--
We'll, you know, you
raise a good point.
And you know, Jen,
Tesla kind of what?
Proof of concept in a sense.
You know, Mercedes, they're
established, like Ryan said.
Right, right, maybe more--
I mean we joke about German
engineering and the rigidness,
but that's probably a
good thing in this case.
They're going to
make the technology--
And they might --work --have
been using all this time
sitting back a little bit
watching, learning, figuring--
who knows what they
have up their sleeve?
They could do
something impressive.
I find it interesting,
diesel was their way.
When it was hybrid and electric,
the Germans were like, nein.
You know, we are
going with diesel.
Diesel is the way to go and
all of a sudden scandal--
This is a big deal.
That they're accepting the
fact that maybe electrification
is the way.
Well, I think there's
two you talked about.
There's two tipping points.
One Ryan just mentioned,
the 200 miles.
Now, electrics are
a practical vehicle
that you can actually
get somewhere
without having to charge.
And you talked about Tesla.
And I think that's kind of
a hesitation for others.
Tesla did a huge thing, in that
they not just made the car,
they built the infrastructure
and the charging stations.
We have not seen
that from others
introducing electric vehicles.
Volkswagen has the plan as
part of their kind of penalty,
you know, their punishment
for the diesel scandal.
But we haven't seen
it yet, like you said.
But I think those two
need to go hand-in-hand,
that you can get somewhere,
charge, and get back.
I have a question
for both of you.
So OK, is 200 miles
or around 200 miles
acceptable for both of
you or either of you?
And also, would you
buy an electric?
Big toss up.

I think 200 miles is the key,
300 would be even better.
Sure, more is better.
But for me-- and again, we're
here in rural Connecticut.
The infrastructure is not there.
So for me-- and you know,
I think I've mentioned,
we have a place in Vermont.
I'm not going to Vermont
and finding a Tesla
or any other charging station.
They're getting there.
We just passed a coffee shop.
We were in Vermont
over the weekend,
three charging stations in
Newfane, Vermont, new coffee
shop.
Tesla?
I think they were Tesla.
I didn't get close.
But three Tesla
charging stations
in this little rural
town in Vermont.
So it's coming.
What about you, Ryan?
No, not yet.
I mean, if they start
getting up over 200 miles
and there's more to choose
from at a lower price,
I could see maybe
having a second vehicle.
But right now-- and I
forget to charge this thing.
You know, it's just I could
not have just one car.
I'm a dingbat.
I would forget.
And it would just be
not good, trust me.
Oh, shoot, I forgot
to charge again.
I mean, I think--
no, I'd be walking.
I'd be riding my
bike half the time.
I swear, I'd forget.
You have to keep it in the back.
I mean, where I live, if I
worked in the city of Hartford,
because I'm outside of
that, that would work.
If my employer had charging--
I mean, we have them
here, but you know,
it's a different situation.
That would work And
families close enough.
But yeah, a trip to Boston would
be one of those tic-tac-toe,
make connect the dots to charge.
And you know, goodness forbid
there's weather, traffic
jams on I-90, stuff like that.
It kind of leads
to another question
we had from someone
about hybridization
electrification of cars.
And I want to read it, because
it refers to the RAM eTorque
system.
We'll get to that.
Recently, I saw a review
of the 2019 RAM 1500.
Can you explain what
eTorque is and how
it is or is not beneficial?
Is it kind of like a hybrid?
Jen, you want to
jump on that one?
Right, so it is kind of like
a hybrid, a mild hybrid.
We use that word mild hybrid.
So in that they are using
an electric motor to one,
help the stop-start technology.
And I will say, I
found it seamless.
I wasn't sure it had it.
It was so seamless.
Right, it stops at traffic
lights and restarts.
I was like, is it even stopping?
And it was.
And then it's the
other piece of that,
is this 48-volt
power system, which
is, you know, there's so much
running electrically now,
that they're having
this 48-volt platform.
It's going to be necessary
to run all these things.
Online we said,
the 48-volt system
provides a short bump in power
delivery, regenerative braking.
Chrysler estimates this
mild hybrid system.
So that's what they're calling
it, 10% boost in fuel economy.
So we have it in testing.
Yeah, it's a unique system.
I mean, it's a giant
alternator-battery system.
And it acts a an alternator
when you're cruising along,
but it gives you a little boost.
On the v8 model, it gives
you 130-foot pounds of torque
in taking off.
And that's a big deal.
That's where you use a
lot of fuel, just getting
the vehicle moving
a lot of times.
And any little bit
helps, so it's unique.
Well, you know, we're putting
the RAM through testing.
And we'll have fuel
economy numbers coming up.
But it perfectly leads
into a huge competitor
in the giant pickup truck
market, the new Chevrolet
Silverado.
And it's 48,380, the RAM
that we're testing is 50,820.
We all drove it.
We've all been putting
some miles on it.
Both of you tow, so
Jen, let's go first
how it performs
as a tow vehicle.
Right, so I think the
power train's very good.
And I think it'll be great.
It is a bit more truckie riding.
So in towing or when it
has stuff in the bed,
I think it will ride better
when you can settle down
that rear end a little bit.
And personally, it's a little
more bare bones interior,
but I think--
again, you're talking to someone
who uses a truck for a truck.
We have hay and grains and
shavings every single week
in the back of our truck.
And I think sometimes
when you've covered--
excuse me-- covered
in horse hair,
you don't necessarily want
that plush of an interior.
Whatever you're doing.
You know what I mean?
I want it to be cleanable.
So I actually kind of
like the more sparse--
is that the right word?
Spartan.
Interior.
Again--
Utilitarian, yeah.
--it's a $50,000 truck.
But I kind of liked
that it was more
on kind of the functional side.
Ryan, boat towing or--
Yeah, no, that's why
I agree with Jen.
It's firm.
It rides like a truck.
But it was designed to
carry loads and whatnot.
I actually had weight
in both of these trucks.
OK, the RAM and the--
None of this is scientific
or-- this is objective data.
This is subjective.
Like the RAM, I had probably 400
pounds in the back of the RAM.
And it sat down a little bit.
I was surprised.
But it also rides really
nice without weight in it.
Well, it has coiled springs
under there versus a LEAF,
so it has a better
ride overall, unladen.
Exactly.
I had probably a
little less weight
than that in the Silverado
and it settled the truck down.
I mean, I think it even
shifted a little better.
So the RAM was more like
this in the settling.
And the Silverado--
Silverado didn't squat,
but it rode nicer,
because it had some
weight in the bed.
But it's designed that way.
I think it's going to be maybe
a little more of a rugged work
truck than the RAM,
but depending on what
you're looking for, you know?
And that's a key
question, because what
are people looking for,
because you know, in my town,
a lot of--
In Jon's town.
A lot of people buy
really loaded trucks.
And you never see them towing.
You never seen them
carrying a load.
The biggest load
they carry is, you
know, the family coming
back from maybe Costco
or some kind of big-box store.
You know, and they're
$60,000, $70,000--
The loaded paper towel.
--trucks.
You look great.
And the ride can't be--
yeah, right, you look great.
But the ride can't
be that enjoyable.
They're almost like--
well, you said--
Well, it's depending
on the truck.
So in the RAM, it probably
is very enjoyable.
You go back-- do you
remember back in--
we used to do, in our
ride-comfort, a full-load ride.
We actually loaded up
the bed and then judge
the ride based on a full bed.
What we found is
people, to your point,
people aren't using
them like that.
So we don't even do
that test anymore.
They're like a SUV
without a cover.
Yeah, so I would encourage
people, you know,
if you're between--
I don't know what the right way
to get a full load in, maybe
bring some sandbags or something
along and do maybe a test
drive both ways.
If you're going
to use it loaded,
don't judge it completely
on its unladen ride.
You touched on something
about the price.
And I looked at them both.
I mean, the RAM feels nicer.
It has more features really,
than not for much more money.
I mean, we're looking at maybe
$2,200 in our test vehicles.
It has XM.
It has a larger screen
with Uconnect, which is--
the GM one's good,
Uconnect's better.
It is better.
It has power-folding mirrors
and a power-sliding rear window.
Now, the GM truck has
a huge rear window,
makes it easy to see out,
but that venting is nice.
Parking sensors front and rear,
which helps with the truck,
because the front end.
You cannot see over it, right.
The key thing, I mean,
again, let's just make
a round number, 50 grand.
Neither of them has
advanced safety gear.
The RAM has a little bit of a
parking assist for the back.
It'll stop if it thinks
it's going to hit something,
but no automatic emergency
braking, no forward collision
warning, not even blind spot.
And again, you got some
big blind spots in trucks.
That's a disappointment to me.
Something that I
thought was interesting,
is the Silverado-- at least the
1500 always been a lower truck.
This truck's tall.
It's going, I think, after--
you know, Ford always has
these big, brawny grills
and they're tall.
The RAM actually seems lower.
And the Silverado went up.
I needed the handle.
And the hood I notice it's
big and it's a little bit
to look around.
The steering is still better.
I think that it has the best
steering out of the three
trucks, the F-150 included.
I don't care for the
steering in that or the RAM.
But it's a big truck either way.
I was just going
to say, I'm also
looking for stuff that
makes shorter stature.
You know, women buying
trucks, which again,
and we've talked about.
There's a lot of horse women.
In the Silverado, that
step in the bumper that
let you get in the bed,
the assisted gates,
you know, the Silverado
had a power-lift gate.
Most of them are easier
now, grab-handles
to get in, all of them have
that, adjustable pedals.
Silverado did not have
the adjustable pedals.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
RAM does, F-150 does.
So things like that make
it easier for someone
who is a little shorter.
It's an important truck
for GM, in the sense of A,
they compete with Ford for the
best-selling vehicle in America
each year.
Not truck, vehicle.
Vehicle.
Right, right, not just truck.
Small volume.
And secondly, it is
going to be the basis,
the platform basis
for their SUV's,
so the Chevrolet Suburban, the
Chevrolet Tahoe, the GMC Yukon,
the GMC Yukon XL, the big ones.
And last generation, they
didn't launch Silverado well,
according to the Consumer
Reports' annual auto survey
reliability data
from our members.
And those trucks
also had problems.
Hurt the others,
hurt the others.
They also had reliability.
So we'll see getting
them through testing
in the next couple of weeks.
We're going to move to questions
right now, because we've
got a lot of great ones.
We had that one about eTorque.
But we've got a--
We through the
eTorque in up there.
Right.
So the first one, e
have a video question
about all-weather tires.
Take it away.
Hey, Talking Cars.
So I've been thinking
of getting some snow
tires for my new Ridgeline.
But I really don't want to
changing tires over every six
months.
I saw your reviews on
some all-weather tires
from Toyo Celsius CUV,
Goodyear WeatherReadys,
and some Nokian WRG3's,
RG4's or new, I guess.
I'm in the same
state as you guys.
And I don't need to go to
work when it's extremely bad.
But I do need to be able to
drive when it is snowing.
Are these new all-weather
tires decent enough, especially
in something like a Ridgeline?
It's pretty heavy.
I'm leaning towards
the WeatherReadys.
But I also kind of like
the Toyo Celsius CUV.
Thank you, have a great day.
OK, a really good
question and something
we hear from people a
lot about type of tire
for the transitional weather.
Ryan our black-donut expert,
what should this gentleman do?
So it's a great
question, because this
is the exact situation why
these tires were designed for
or what they were designed for.
People that do encounter
snow, but don't
want to be hassled with
the tire change over.
Actually, we just
got done testing
our last all-season
program of car tires.
And there's actually
five all-weather models
that we tested in the
performance all-season group.
And there's a good spread.
I mean, we have a
couple at the top,
middle, and then
closer to the bottom.
And I think they're
a great compromise.
They are still a compromise.
Tires are always a compromise.
In what way are
they a compromise?
Well, you know, you can't have
a tire that is amazing in snow
and is amazing on wet roads.
It's just-- there is one.
He skewed more towards
snow, but yeah,
give up maybe something else.
So yeah, I mean, I definitely
recommend an all-weather tire.
Take a look at our
ratings, we just
came out with all new ratings.
And there's five
different models in there.
If that doesn't work,
if you can't maybe
find something that
fits you, you know,
there, the next
best thing is really
a set of snow tires
on wheels ready to go.
And you can go to
a local tire place.
And they'll mount them
for you, maybe even
store your other tires, so you
don't have to deal with that.
I know sometimes
storage is an issue.
Can you give us a rundown
just in the brands
that are making them?
And also are there any
worries that you may have,
because I think they're
kind of limited.
It's interesting.
You can look at these
tires and they all
look radically different.
I mean, the Michelin looks
almost like a summer tire,
but they do it all
with compounding.
The grip comes from compounding.
The Nokian looks
like a snow tire.
It's really unique.
But it's usable on dry roads.
Exactly, if you
look at our ratings,
you'll see the benefits of each.
So right, consumerreports.org,
we've got our ratings.
And we might have some
free content up there too.
But members can go to
consumerreports.org.
Also, send us your
video questions.
We really like those, text it
to TalkingCars@icloud.com, send
them in via our YouTube site.
Wherever we can get
questions from you,
we want to answer them.
So moving on, we have a
question from a young viewer
who's buying his first car.
Hi, I'm 15.
I love cars.
And I'm coming up on
buying my first one.
I live in a place
that snows a lot.
And my parents want
me to buy a car
with either 4x4 or
all-wheel drive.
I have no idea
what to look into.
And I have a budget
of about $10,000.
What should I get?
So first I'm going to
steal Jen's game, because--
Stealing my game.
--everyone has to come
up with a suggestion.
But I'm going to
go to Jen first,
because Jen maintains a list,
top used cars for teens,
fits right in here.
Jen, go.
At the risk of being repetitive,
just to say, you know,
we try to balance not too big,
not too small, not too fast,
not too slow, obviously
reliable, obviously full
of safety features.
The Goldilocks of cars, right?
Yeah, right kind of the
Goldilocks and that's
how we narrow that
teen driver list.
So my pick was--
I mean, my gut at first was
to go to all the Subarus,
you know, reliable.
I think, you know, I said I'd
lease one for my own daughter.
But if you look there, resale
prices are a little higher.
So where I ended up
for him is a RAV4.
Toyota RAV4.
Yeah, 2009 or later, excellent
reliability, ESC was standard.
I would really like
you to get something
with Electronics
Stability Control,
regardless of what you
buy, please look for that.
Four-cylinder, so
it's not too quick.
But fuel efficient.
Fuel efficient, reliability
was excellent, room,
your all-wheel drive, that's
what I settled on, RAV4.
Ryan, what did you
bring to the table?
So I went down the
Subaru road, just
because all-wheel drive and
they do make great cars, a 2010
or later Legacy.
The Impreza is too small.
I think the Legacy
is a little bigger.
It's a nicer car, I think,
a little more solid.
And like Jen said,
definitely try
to get stability control, 100%.
I was looking-- there's
some Hyundai Santa Fe's
mentioned, Santa Fe Sport.
I saw the Forester.
I went with the Impreza.
Both of you knocked it--
We didn't knock
it, I just didn't.
Truly, I just didn't.
So I'm not knocking it.
I just was weighing out the--
But you both gave reasons
not choose it here.
Non-turbo, key, no
WRX, no WRX, OK?
That's--
And you look at the price range.
You could see these 22,000.
That's the WRX.
And summer tires or super-ultra
high performance all-season
is not going to
give you snow grip.
You know, you can
look 2010 to 12's.
You know, that's
the lower end of if.
You might get some high mileage.
Also, pretty good reliability
and owner satisfaction data
from our annual auto
survey of CR members.
So I think all great option.
You want to know the other
one I through in there?
Toyota Matrix.
There's just not a
lot of them around.
There isn't.
But that was a great car.
I forgot about the Matrix.
You got to put snows.
He wants an all-wheel
drive or 4x4.
Well, you can get
all-wheel drive.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, you could get
an all-wheel drive.
But I thought that was--
Rare car.
Yeah, rare car.
You maybe not be
able to find one.
Proper tires, though.
That's on our list, so.
Right, in any case.
OK, so we have one more.
We have an electric
vehicle hybrid question
from a viewer in the
Dominican Republic.
Hello, from the
Dominican Republic.
Yay, I love our
international audience.
I think it's the first one.
First one from a island
versus --and are Canada.
--youthful.
A whole lot of questions
from the youngsters.
That's good.
Well, they're texting.
They're doing the text.
That's good.
That's good.
So let's start.
Hello, from the
Dominican Republic.
I spend over an hour
in traffic every day,
burning fuel and traveling
five to eight miles at most.
Sounds like he lives in
San Francisco instead.
[LAUGHTER]

On weekends, I take the
family to the mountains,
which is a 200-mile round trip.
I know hybrids and EV's
are different animals,
but which one would perform
better in stop-and-go traffic
driving environment?
What do you think?
We've already talked about that.
Right, so I think in his case
a hybrid is the perfect one.
EV's would work for his commute,
but may not work for the travel
into the mountains.
Exactly what we said
five minutes ago.
That he's not going to find
a charger in the mountains.
So to me perfect
person for a hybrid.
And stop and go is actually
where hybrids excel.
You know, you think
of long commuter miles
on the highway, that's actually
not where they get their most
benefit.
It's in that stop and go,
in the city, perfect car.
So I would say,
absolutely go with hybrid.
Then you have the option and
when you're on your weekend
to the mountains, that
you have the backup.
You don't need to
worry about charging.
I thought a Prius,
Toyota Prius or Prius V.
The V is a little bigger.
You go to the mountains, you
can carry some extra stuff.
You know, one thing that
I was thinking about,
the charging infrastructure.
You know, I mean, what do
we see here in the States?
Right, well, we
were just talking
about how in Connecticut,
we don't have that many.
I mean, there are chargers, but
maybe in this area there isn't.
And you know, that deters me
from wanting an electric car.
I don't know what
it is down there.
I can't imagine it's
better than here, you know,
in terms of frequency
of chargers.
So you know, that's
one of the things.
I looked online.
It seems like there's
only one or two chargers.
Maybe that's only one or two
public chargers in the --it's
Dominican --not
Republic --to say
--he can't have one at
home, but yeah, right.
Right, but still and
then we go to the mileage
of an EV or the range, you're
going to maybe get 200 at best.
And that's a Bolt
or a Tesla Model 3.
If you buy a LEAF,
that's way low, right?
Batteries don't like heat.
You're going to be
using the AC a lot.
You know, that range
is going to be lower.
Any suggestions for Him?
Yeah, the only thing I added--
and you're right, Prius,
Prius V would be
great with something
maybe slightly larger, if
they're camping or going
on a round trip.
I said Highlander
hybrid or a RAV4 hybrid,
so keeping in that
Toyota vain, but yeah.
What about people who
maybe aren't living there,
but want an EV?
There is some news
about them actually.
Right, so we just
published an article.
It's an industry thing.
But right now, if
somebody is looking
to get into the
electric vehicle market,
there is a glut-- we
actually us that word.
Of used EV's in
the used car market
to be had for super reasonable.
We're talking about 1/3
of what they're MSRP was.
$10,000, you can get into a
LEAF or something like that.
Albeit, not 200 miles
range, but if you
wanted to pick up a second
vehicle as a commuter vehicle,
now is the time.
We even said, what a great
way to get new safety features
in a $10,000 car.
We talked about
this young driver.
It's hard to get ESC
yet for under $10,000.
You really got to look.
But a brand new car,
$10,000, great teen vehicle,
great way to try it, great
way to get a second car.
Yeah, if you live in
that kind of situation
I was talking
about, you know, you
have a commute 20 or 20
miles or you can charge,
that really works.
Yeah, if you have the parking
and a charger at home,
would be awesome time.
Yep, well, you know that article
and more about EV's and hybrids
is free on consumerreports.org.
And members can get our
ratings on EV's and hybrids.
That's going to do
if for this episode,
so remember to check the
show notes, also, send us
those video and text questions
to TalkingCars@icloud.com.
We really want them, potentially
for another all-question
episode down the road.
Thanks for watching and
we'll see you next time.
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