Not everyone who
comes through our door is an expert about cars. Honestly, we don’t expect them
to be. In fact, there are a lot of things we hope our customers will come to us
about before causing damage to their vehicle. Now that it is October, a month
when pranks and wackiness ensue, we thought we’d share a few of the more
well-known car parts that are, well, fictional. Parts that are completely made
up to bumfuzzle consumers.
If you have been
taken for a ride by another service shop with one of these made-up parts, we
offer our sincerest apologies, and hope that you will come see us next time
before you are taken to the cleaners because your “tri-shaft exhaust flange”
needs to be replaced.
Blinker Fluid. Probably the oldest one
in the book is the claim that you need to replace your blinker fluid. Aside
from the fact that your blinker is powered by the electric systems in your car,
there are a few other factors that should indicate that this is not a thing.
First of all, we invite you to pop the hood of your car and find the valve
where you would insert this so-called blinker fluid. We assume that it would be
located close to the windshield wiper fluid (which is a real fluid you need) or
maybe by the coolant. Try as you might, you are never going to find a place to
put this mysterious fluid.
Even more
mysterious, is if you go to the automotive aisle and try to find blinker fluid.
You’re not going to find any. An internet search will yield some promising
results, however. But you are more than likely going to just get a jug of
colored water.
We do see a
pretty good potential prank in the making here.
Piston Return Spring. This one took a
little digging to try to find the origin of, but we think that we have pieced
together an idea of what this fake part might be meant to do. In most engines,
the piston moves up and down against the liquid gas used for combustion in the
engine. Essentially, this makes the car go. With that in mind there really
isn’t any need for a spring to return the piston anywhere. As it moves in a
cyclical pattern, the piston’s movement is determined by the gas in your
vehicle, not the tension of a spring.
So, if you find
your having trouble getting your engine to go, it might be time to get some
gas. Just a suggestion.
Horn Volume Knob. Not standard in too
many vehicles on the road these days, horn volume knobs really can be considered
obsolete because they have never really existed. We actually think this might
be a good feature to add, but we’re not sure of its practicality. In most cases
if you are having trouble with the volume of your car horn it might not be the
person you are honking at as much as it is the one honking the horn.
The only other
suggestion we have? Press harder on the horn. That should make things louder.
Wiper Sharpeners. We don’t know about
you, but this “as seen on TV” car accessory might be a little misleading. Granted
they are called windshield wiper blades, but that doesn’t mean that they need
to be sharpened. In fact, the sturdier the blade, the better they are going to
clean debris off your windshield.
But we do advise
using a scraper to get the ice and snow off. You will tear up your wipers if
you try to just use them to remove the snow and ice.
With these parts
in mind, you should be able to avoid any embarrassing trips to the service
counter. But don’t be afraid to try to come in and convince us that your “fuel
injector bearing” has come loose. We promise you will get a pretty good laugh,
or at least a quizzical look.
