Car and Auto Repair Lingo: Learn It and Love It
Have you ever stopped by your local auto repair garage and listened to the mechanics talking shop and couldn’t understand what they were talking about? Every profession has its own lingo and the industry of car repair in San Diego is no different. If you’d like to familiarize yourself with some inside auto repair lingo, keep reading:
Know What’s Inside: Auto Repair & Vehicle Parts
OEM — Original Equipment Manufacturer refers to vehicle parts that come straight from the brand’s manufacturer. So an OEM part for BMW auto repair would be manufactured directly by a BMW factory. OEM parts are strongly preferred because they are manufactured precisely for their own vehicles. As an example, a BMW part would not be appropriate for a Volkswagen vehicle and vice versa.
Aftermarket — The term aftermarket or aftermarket automotive parts are generic parts that are made for all or most vehicle types. As such, they are not made specifically by or for a vehicle manufacturer. Aftermarket parts can be of high quality but they are generally considered inferior to OEMs and are thusly less expensive. In terms of auto repair, it’s a good idea to ask the auto repair shop if they use OEM or aftermarket parts. In some situations, using aftermarket parts can void the manufacturer’s warrantee.
Terms for What’s Under the Hood
Torque – It sounds so cool to say you just can’t help yourself. Torque. Unfortunately, it is commonly misused. Torque is routinely used as a synonym for power, thrust, and punch; it is all of these things and none of them exactly. Technically, torque is a rotating power (produced by the engine) applied over a distance, such as the turning of a wrench. Torque measures an engine’s capacity for work or acceleration potential.
Horsepower — The term horsepower does not literally refer to the number of horses needed to pull your vehicle. Instead it is the power required to lift 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute. (Horses were originally known for performing work-heavy tasks and that’s where the term horsepower derived.) Different from torque, horsepower is the rate or speed of completing work (or applying torque) over a given amount of time.
Shedding Light on Engine Repair Slang
Knocking Engine – No, we’re not talking about someone knocking on the hood of your car. If there’s a knocking or clanking sound coming from your engine, this is cause for alarm and immediate engine repair. Knocking engines are caused when a mixture of fuel and air bangs around in the engine when it isn’t supposed to. If not addressed right away, a knocking engine will become a ruined engine.
Suspension System “Play” and “Pull”—If you hear your mechanic mention the word “play” when referring to your steering and suspension system, he’s not pretending to drive the car. Here, the term play means the loose slack felt around the steering wheel system. A lot of slack or looseness likely means the parts are wearing out and suspension system repair is needed.
Pulling refers to your vehicle veering too much to the left of the right when you are driving but not steering the vehicle. If your car goes to one side of the other, it is pulling and wheel or suspension system alignment is likely necessary. If your vehicle pulls to one side or the other when braking, this could indicate a problem with the brake alignment as well.
Hesitation – If you hear your technician saying there’s hesitation when beginning to accelerate, they are talking about the mechanical functionality of the vehicle and not the driver being uncertain about accelerating. If your vehicle hesitates or stumbles when you press on the gas, this could be a problem with the ignition system, engine misfiring or an improper mixture of air and fuel.
Car Repair Terms Related to Auto Insurance
Betterment — If you have auto repair performed on an older model vehicle and new parts are added to it, you may have just increased the value of your car. Because you have “bettered” the value of the vehicle, the insurance company may not cover all auto repair costs. The enhanced value of your car may offset a portion of the auto repair costs.
Branded title vehicles — Here’s an auto repair insurance term that people think they know but oftentimes don’t. So any vehicle that interacts with an insurance claim in any way is considered to be “branded” and thusly gets a branded title vehicle. It has nothing to do with brand of vehicle, such as BMW, Mercedes, etc.
If your vehicle gets into a minor fender bender, it now has a branded title. Savvy car buyers can do their research and purchase branded title vehicles for less because with the ding or brand on the title, the cars may be worth less per the insurance. Psst, don’t expect your local auto dealer to tell you that.
So now you know some car repair terms that you may not have been familiar with before. We hope this helps you when chatting with your auto repair technician.
