Be gentle, I don’t know much about mechanics except for what I’ve learnt from years of owning used cars. We recently bought a 2000 CRV Honda, so far it works very nicely, but I have some questions that, well… may sound stupid.
1.- The key of our car has a chip inside, apparently the engine will only start by introducing the appropriate key in the switch. How does that work? Is it impossible to steal the car short of towing it?
2.- It is possible to turn off the car and withdraw the key while still in gear. Yesterday I accidentally left the car in reverse and it did reverse about a meter. I was stunned, and scared. My brother, who knows a lot about mechanics says that you can do that with all cars, but I don’t recall having done that with any of my previous car. If I remember correctly you could only engage with by opening the switch (I’ve only owned authomatic transmission cars). Am I wrong?
3.- The steering wheel doesn’t seem to be aligned. I took the car for service and changed all the tires (when I bought the car the tires were in bad shape), which included alignment but it didn’t help with the steering wheel. What should be done?
4.- 4X2 Vs 4x4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Thank you very, very much for your answers. You guys never let me down.
I’ve done this several times. You’re probably lucky that you’ve only done it once.
What exactly makes you say the steering wheel is misaligned? Do you have trouble steering? If you take your hands off the wheel for a moment while driving does the vehicle continue in a straight line?
There are two kinds of these out there. One is actual chip. It is powered when put near the ignition, and transmits a very weak signal to the car that says to start. That is the expensive type. The other is on the key part itself is what look like a chip with a metal stud sticking out either side. This is actually a resistor. The car messures the resistance across that, and if within tolerances it will start. Yes cars can still be stolen with those features. It just makes it harder, not impossible.
Been awhile sense I have driven an auto, but I remember being able to remove the key from any gear, but not being able to start the car unless it is in park or neutral. My last automatic would start in any gear because the sensor that senses the gear was broke.
Not sure what you mean here. If you mean that when the tires are straight that the steering wheel isn’t straight then the only thing I think you can do is remove the stearing wheel and put it back on straight. This one I am not sure of. It never bothered me as long as the car drove straight.
4x2 gives increased fuel econnomy (not moving all those extra parts), but has reduced traction compared to 4x4. Reduced traction is normally not an issue. 4x4 gives increased traction for times you need it (off roading, snow, ice), but because you are now powering all 4 wheels your fuel milage will go down. Not sure on a Honda CRV, but on my truck (Dodge 3500) you do not want to use 4x4 unless you are on a surface that allows wheel slip. Engaging 4x4 will lock all tires to the same speed so if you take a corner the outside tires will try to turn faster than the inside tires, and can cause big problems. Guess it is hard for me to list advantages and disadvantages of each because I think of them as being used for 2 different purposes not really comparable to each other. If you want to know when to use either then I can help.
1.- CharlesW handled this nicely. The signal or resistance is read by the ECU (“computer”) or perhaps a separate module. Without the proper reading, the ignition and fuel injection functions are not energized. Bypassing this is a major pain in the backside.
2.- All modern cars I’m familiar with require an automatic transmission to be in park before the the key can be turned to the lock position, and the key to be in the lock position before it can be withdrawn. If you can turn it to lock without its being in park, or remove the key without its being in lock, something is worn or broken.
3.- The steering wheel should point straight ahead when the car is going straight. If it doesn’t, the car is not in proper alignment. The alignment should have taken care of this. Take it back and have it corrected. Alignments aren’t guaranteed because they can be thrown off at any time by hitting a curb or pothole, but if it wasn’t straight immediately after the alignment, I’d have to think the alignment wasn’t done right, and the shop shouldn’t charge to rectify it.
It’s been a long while since I worked as a mechanic, but I recall that steering wheels fit on splines cut into the steering column. Maybe the steering wheel was removed at some point—repairing a horn connection, for example—and was replaced out of position. Being off a matter of a couple of splines will make the steering wheel appear off-center. Since you say that an alignment job and new tires didn’t help the steering wheel position, my diagnosis seems reasonable. Of course, if there is a lot of “play” in the steering wheel, other factors must be considered.
Exactly. And that includes checking that the steering wheel is properly aligned on its shaft. It’s rather rare that it’s out of position, and it’s not unreasonable to charge extra to reposition it if necessary, but it darn well should be checked.
Alignments are done with a centered steering wheel in mind, as mentioned. Part of the process is to center the steering wheel and fix it in place before adjusting toe, making sure to have even amounts of toe on each side.
Bottom line, whatever the cause, it should not have left the alignment shop with a steering wheel not pointing straight.
Our roads are slanted so that there is a slope so youre going straight but your steering wheel isn’t, this is natural. Shouldn’t happen on a freeway though. If on a freeway you push the brake a little & your steering wheel veers to one side then its time for an alignment check.
If the key can be turned to lock with the tranny not in park, something in the shifter interlock. The problem could be at/near the shifter or in the steering column, possibly including the lock cylinder.
If the key can be removed when it’s not in the lock position, a problem with the lock cylinder.
On the cars I have looked at (not Honda’s) the system that prevents the key from being removed unless in Park is a cable that runs between the ign lock down and around to the shifter. When the shifter goes into park the cable moves to a position where the ign cylinder will rotate all the way to where it can be removed. Simple and lo tech.