A bearing made up of hardened inner and outer races between which hardened steel balls roll.

A flexible joint consisting of a ball in a socket, used primarily in front suspensions because it can accommodate a wide range of angular motion. The ball joint allows the wheel to steer and move with the suspension and still receive power from the engine. The term ball joint can also be used to refer to how suspension components are attached.

A resister in the primary ignition circuit that lowers voltage after the engine is started to reduce wear on ignition components.

A barrel is a venturi in a carburetor where air and fuel are mixed, then taken into the intake manifold and then to a cylinder. Carburetors usually have from one to four barrels, depending on the engine application. '2bbl' means that the carburetor has 2 barrels or venturi (or fuel nozzles). A '4bbl' carburetor has 4 barrels, etc. The number of venturi determine the amount of fuel that the carburetor can supply. A 4bbl. carburetor can usually provide more fuel than a similar 2bbl. unit.

A paint system that adds a final clear-coat paint layer over primer and color coats to provide a deep, 'wet-look' shine that resists fading.

Car batteries store and supply electrical current to a vehicle's starting, ignition, and electrical systems.

A rigid axle supporting the non-driven wheels. Also called a dead axle.

Bearings are used to prevent wear when two moving parts are placed very close to each other.

A system where the final drive from gearbox to wheels is by leather or rubber belts that are contained on pulleys. Today many of the engine-driven auxiliaries use belt drives.

A reinforcing bank, normally textile, fiberglass or steel, running around the circumference of a tire and strengthening the tread area.

The line running around a car's body formed by the bottom edges of its glass panels.

Belts are used to drive many engine accessories. Most overhead cam(OHC) engines use cogged (toothed) belts to drive the camshaft(s). Belts drive the power steering pump, water pump, air-conditioning compressors, etc.

From World War I, it described a closed luxury car with small windows, which allowed the occupants to see out but to be barely seen from the outside.

A reduction in claim compensation for a vehicle component which is worn; typically applied to items such as tires, batteries, and exhaust parts; much like pro-rating.

A gearset employing gears shaped like slices of a cone, which allows the axes of the gears to be nonparallel. Bevel gears are used to transmit motion through an angle.

A type of tire in which the plies or layers of cord in the tire casing are laid diagonally, criss-crossing one another at an angle of 30 to 40 degrees.

Any sensor or switch made of two dissimilar types of metal that bend when heated or cooled due to the different expansion rates of the alloys. These types of sensors usually function as an on/off switch.

Bleeding removes fluid from a system, such as a brake or clutch system. When a technician bleeds a brake system, the old fluid is completely removed and replaced with new fluid.

Combustion gases, composed of water vapor and unburned fuel, that leak past the piston rings into the crankcase during normal engine operation. These gases are removed by the PVC system to prevent the buildup of harmful acids in the crankcase.

A type of automobile construction in which the body structure is attached to a separate frame.