Today's motor car contains thousands of parts. Trying to understand a machine with this many parts can be rather overwhelming. Remember that an automobile motor is simply a machine that creates, magnifies, and utilizes energy or power for the purpose of moving a vehicle forwards or backwards. All these thousands of parts have this purpose in common.
Continuing our analogy, a human body has hundreds of parts itself. However, if you break the body down into its basic components, it consists of organs, bones, muscles, skin, blood, nerves and so on. If you had a clear understanding of these key components, what they do and how they do it, then the complexity of the body would start to make sense.
Certain mechanical ("performed by a machine") parts are vital to the running and coordination of a car. They let fluids flow, or prevent fluids from escaping. They push onto or into other mechanisms to make them work, or they pull other things along. They take power and transfer it, or they magnify the power received and send it on. In reality there are just a few basic types of mechanical parts that occur many, many times in different forms, shapes, and sizes with different functions. It will make an understanding of cars a lot easier if they are familiar to you.
Cooling system problems result in overheating and engine damage if not handled at once. Overheating could be caused by:
a) a bad water pump
b) a clogged radiator
c) leaking hoses
d) a broken radiator fan
e) a bad radiator core
f) a broken thermostat
g) the radiator cap needing to be replaced
h) low coolant level
The steering system
The following difficulties could develop with the steering system:
a) the tires are worn
b) the wheels are out of balance
c) the wheel bearings have gone
d) the front end has gone out of alignment
e) something is wrong with the steering column
f) the joints connecting the steering mechanisms are worn
g) the steering box mechanism is faulty
h) the shocks are bad
i) the car frame is cracked
The starter wakes up your car. The work of the starter system begins with the placing of the ignition key into the ignition switch (which is usually located next to the steering column) and turning it to switch on the ignition.
Turning this key connects up the power from the battery to what is called the solenoid. The solenoid is a switch (rather in the same way that a light switch lets the electricity through to a light). The solenoid allows electricity to move through to the starter and wakes it up with a jolt.