Women, Panty Hose and Your Car

Good Morning Drivers!

Honk your horn if you remember the days when you could replace your timing belt with your panty hose?

For better or worse those days are quickly fading (both the wearing of panty hose and the do-it-yourself car repair).  As automobile technology has evolved our collective general knowledge about car maintenance and car repairs has fallen hopelessly behind.  The days of your dad/husband/brother popping open the hood and taking a look at the engine are disappearing at a rapid pace.  Many new cars even have plates or covers over the engine so it always looks nice. 

When I set out to write this blog I wanted to talk about the auto industry from truly a woman’s perspective – not just be a girl talking in the boys language.  The longer I’ve worked at the dealership the more I’ve realized even many of the boys don’t understand the “boys language”.  So, this is the first article in what I hope to make a series.  Together we can figure out why you not only can’t but don’t need to use those panty hose and various other points of interest.

The timing belt has little teeth on it that turn the crankshaft which controls the camshaft which in turn controls the opening and closing of the engines valves.  Sometimes the belts are also used to operate other systems in the engine.

It is important to replace a timing belt according to the manufacturers recommendation and not wait for it to break down.  A broken timing belt can lead to complete breakdown or as suggested in Wikipedia “catastrophic engine failure.”

Timing chains, which some of you baby-boomers may remember, are making a reappearance.  Timing chains do exactly the same job as a timing belt except that they are a chain rather than rubber.  If your car has a timing chain it is likely the engine is designed to lubricate the chain and compensate for any tension issues.  What I see as the advantage for a timing chain is that it will last the lifetime of the engine – no need for preventative maintenance.

Hopefully this has clarified for you the difference between and a timing chain and a timing belt:  and now you know what those panty hose were doing! 

Happy Driving!