KsKid

what are some of the major ways that magnets are used in cars? thanks alot guys

F-BIRD'88

Any thing that is electrical and has to move, like a starter motor
or fuel injector or solenoid. or altenator.

On some cars even the goove box is held shut by a magnet.
How about the magnetic pick up in the distributor or crank sensor.
Any thing electrical that converts motion into electrical energy
or the reverse, electrical energy into motion uses a magnet.
(And a coil).

Bort62

Yup.

The also use huge electro Magnets to pic cars Up at the crusher

Or Magnetic #'s At the track.

lol

kevinc

The injector pintles are actuated by electromagnets.

Vader

The alternator, starter, and injectors use electomagnets as well, not true magnetized material.

If you mean "magnets" (like AlNiCo), there are magnets in the cooling fan motor(s), HVAC blower motor, tape deck transport motor, wiper motor, VSS, window motors, hatch pull-down motor, power seat and mirror motors, headlight motors (on Firebirds), transmission pan on automatics, differential covers on Saginaw and Borg axles, the oil drain plug on some later cars, and several other places I'm probably overlooking.

If you meant "magnetism", that would include all of those places listed above, plus the alternator, starter, injectors, power door locks and hatch release, the ignition coil, ignition pickup coil/reluctor, spark plug wires (for supression), every relay your car uses, the SIR firing coil on later cars, the TCC solenoid, EGR solenoid, EVAP purge solenoid, electric horns, A.I.R. port and divert solenoids, every choke coil in the radio, air conditioning compressor clutches, the IAC stepper motor, and several other places I'm probably overlooking as well. Many early carbureted ThirdGens have idle speed control and mixture control solenoids, too.

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So much for stock ThirdGens. For other vehicles there are many other uses of magnets and magnetism:

Aftermarket alarm systems can use magnetic reed switches as proximity sensors for doors, hood, etc. In case you were thinking about the wheel sensors and pressure modulation motors on ABS equipped cars, most of those sensors are inductive (Hall effect) and not true magnets. However, even Hall effect proximity sensors use a electromagnetic coil to create a cone of magnetism around the sensing coil, so they use magnetism too. This also applies to the crankshaft position and cam position sensors on many newer cars. Cam position sensors on some GM engines used an inductive type sensor that had a magnet embedded in the camshaft sprocket. (Some Buicks may still use them - I'm not sure.) Transmission shifting solenoids on 4L60Es and most other newer transmissions are electromagnets. A lot more cars are getting remotely operated doors (motors), rear wipers, variable valve timing (solenoids), ride level control motors and solenoids, power sun/moon roofs, multi-zone heating and air conditioning (more relays, solenoids, and motors), inductive (magnetic) sensors for cam and crank position and wheel rotation, magnetic reed switches for washer fluid, coolant, and oil level monitoring, etc.

Let us not forget, there are also a lot of cars running around with magnetic aftermarket parts, like the Magnetic Fuel Saver. These are permanent magnets. They don't really provide any valuable function, but they do work as intended (the primary design purpose of these devices is to separate a fool from his money - something they seem to do very well).

I'm sure someone else will come up with even more.

KsKid

wow thats alot, before anyone else runs out of breath i dont need any more. heh thanks alot though