When incomplete or no combustion occurs in one or more cylinders due to improper fuel, ignition, cylinder compression, or air.

The muffler is a part of the exhaust system designed to reduce the noise generated by a vehicle.

Natural pollution has been present on earth since before man appeared and continues to be a factor when discussing air pollution, although it causes only a small percentage of the overall pollution problem. It is the direct result of decaying

This is the switch where you insert the key that starts your vehicle.

The ignition system contains the components that supply spark to your vehicle’s spark plugs. These include the battery, the coil, the distributor (including the cap and rotor), the spark plug wires, the ignition module, and the spark plugs themselves. Older

Timing refers to when the spark ignites the air/fuel mixture. Timing needs to be set exactly right for an engine to run correctly.

An instrument measures levels of a certain system and provides a visual key for those levels. For instance, the gas gauge in your car measures the fuel level, while the temperature gauge indicates the engine temperature.

The intake manifold goes between your vehicle’s fuel system and the cylinder head(s).

A leakdown test is used to find excessive wear in an engine. When a technician performs a leakdown test on your vehicle, each cylinder is tested to see how well it holds pressure. If a cylinder is unable to hold

Liability insurance is coverage only for damage that you inflict on other people or their possessions. It does not cover theft or damage to your vehicle.

Limited-Slip Differential (LSD). An LSD senses the slippage of each wheel it sends power to and redirects power to the wheel with the most grip. Many high-performance vehicles have LSDs.

Hydrocarbons (HC) are essentially fuel which was not burned during the combustion process or which has escaped into the atmosphere through fuel evaporation. The main sources of incomplete combustion are rich air/fuel mixtures, low engine temperatures and improper spark timing.

When your car is on but not moving, and you are not touching the gas pedal, it is idling. For instance, when you are waiting at a stop light, your car is idling.

This is a special kind of circuit found in a carburetor that only operates when the engine is at an idle.

The condensor soaks up excess electrical energy in an ignition system that has points. This prevents that extra energy from jumping across the points when they first open and close.

Part of the ignition system which instructs the coil to send voltage to the distributor.

Part of the ignition system which instructs the coil to send voltage to the distributor. They do this by opening and closing, which turns on and off a circuit.

An acronym for Hydrocarbons. Any number of compounds of carbon and hydrogen used as fuel, such as gasoline. High levels of hydrocarbons in tailpipe emissions are a result of unburned gasoline.

The head gasket seals the cylinder head to the engine block. It is subject to tremendous pressures, and often fails if and when an engine overheats.

The heater core is a miniature radiator that sits in the dashboard. When the heater is turned on, it opens the heater valve which lets hot coolant into the heater core, which then warms the air coming into the vehicle’s