Super Bowl Car Commercials

Cooling fans suck, radiator fans blow, and Super Bowl fans are known for loving commercials. A lot of times they are better than the actual game.  Whether they are funny like the BudweiserFrogs, sexy like the Cindy Crawford Pepsi spot, or a marketing masterpieceresembling the Apple 1984 commercial, they’re always entertaining.  The auto industry has always been a keyplayer in Super Bowl ads and they will continue to be this year.

Volkswagen found a lot of success last year with acommercial staring a youngster dressed up like Darth Vader.  The commercial not only ranked high for theSuper Bowl, but it also won some awards for best commercial of the year.  The company hopes to grow on this commercial’ssuccess with another Star Wars themed spot. In this year’s advertisement, VW ups the cuteness from a kid to puppies.Check out a teaser of the commercial CLICK HERE

Chevy also released one of their Super Bowl commercials.  It’s called “Chevy Happy Grad.”  The commercial is a humorous romp created bysome miscommunication. Now, I can continue with pompous movie critic phrasessuch as “humorous romp,” or you can just watch the commercial CLICK HERE

Kia plans to air a sixty second commercial, and I don’t knowwhat it’s officially titled but it should be called, “A 12 Year Old Boy’sDream.”  It features UFC Fighter Chuck Lidell,Victoria’s Secret Model Adriana Lima, and Motley Crue.  It’s too bad 12 year olds can’t drive cars,and it is also a shame that I cannot figure out how to put those two littledots over the “o” and “u” in “Motley Crue.”

Other car companies that are going to buy commercial time onthe Super Bowl are Honda, Acura, Hyundai, and Toyota.  And,  for the very first time in the history of the company, Lexus is also going to run an ad during thegame,

What is an Oil Pump?

We all know what a cooling fan is. It is a fan that cools. We also now what a fuel pump is. It's a pump that pumps fuel. So, guess what an oil pump does? It is a pump that pumps Oil.  Woah, the answer to that question was moresurprising than the end of a M. Night Shyamalan movie.  Ok, so the oil pump sounds like a prettybasic part, but it plays a vital role in the operation of your vehicle.

The oil pump inside of an internal combustion engine is usedto lubricate the engine and reduce friction. The pump powers oil through bearings, sliding pistons, camshafts, and othersmall parts. The decrease in friction also means the cooling of pistons,bearings, and shafts. Failure to properly lubricate an engine will result inengine failure.  Now you see howimportant that cleverly named oil pump is.

The oil pump needs to be generating approximately 10 psi perevery 1000 revolutions per minute in order to properly lubricate the system.  If your oil pump is working well but you arestill having a low pressure issue, it may be caused by a clogged oil pickupscreen, too much wear on a high mileage engine, or you just need to add moreoil to your car.  Each car has differentoil requirements.  Higher performancevehicles put more stress on the system and they need more lubricating. 

There are basically three types of pumps, a twin gear pump,a Gerotor Pump, and an internal pump.  Atwin gear pump has one gear connected to a shaft that is driven by the camshaftor distributor.  A twin gear pump turnsat half the speed of the engine and is located inside the oil pan.  A Gerotor Pump has one small gear rotatinginside a larger one.  While an internalpump is a Gerotor style pump, an internal pump turns at the same speed of theengine so it creates a stronger flow. An internal pump design is used onoverhead cam engines.