Popping open my hood was always a joy. The engine was clean the hoses were new and everything was shiny and beautiful - except for the steering components. The rack was there, the pinion was there (okay, I looked at the Haynes auto repair manual while identifying!) and it was old, but still fully intact and spot on functional.I later came to find out that it is one of the most accurate types of steering available, due to its simplicity and design, there are only two gears engaged taking your steering wheel turn and translating it to the push/pull of your tie rods. The wheel didn't autocorrect for steering malfunction (hence the parking block incident),
but it put you exactly where you told it to go. And it never slipped, which was great - except I couldn't blame my steering when I slid off the ice into the snow on the side of the road.Everyone has probably heard of a catalytic converter. For the longest time growing up, I assumed people were saying "Cadillac" converter, and so I just thought it was a special part found on Cadillacs. Don't laugh. It's nice to know too that it's not "chester drawers" you put your clothes in. It's "chest of drawers" - which actually makes a lot more sense.
But when I did discover that this catalytic converter appeared on more than just Cadillacs, I started to wonder what it was exactly. By a quick word analysis (okay, maybe I'm the only one who does this), it would seem it has something to do with catalysts - you know, the stuff that makes reactions start and/or go faster. And like chest of drawers, the name does correlate with the function in this case as well.
The catalytic converter is responsible for converting (how about that - a converter converts!) harmful emissions from your car's exhaust process into environmentally harmless ones. Specifically it works with hydrocarbons - which are basically just unburned gasoline molecules, carbon monoxide - what we think of as exhaust, the extra after the burning of gas, and nitrous oxides - which are formed during the combustion phase of gasoline ignition.
Amazing! Say goodbye to greenhouse gases, right? Well, almost - not really. The catalytic converter does change carbon monoxide (poisonous to oxygen breathing things) into carbon dioxide, but it does nothing to fix the carbon - so there is still carbon emissions, which are responsible for the greenhouse effect. So it may make them safer for humans and animals trapped in a garage with a running vehicle, it doesn't totally save us from being trapped on a planet with fuel burning processes still pumping carbon into the atmosphere. Another thing is, they aren't on every vehicle, and the car certainly doesn't need one to run. Though, if you do any garage maintenance with the door shut - you should probably make sure yours in present and in good
