Transmission

Reversing lights are not generally a legal requirement but they are useful. They serve two purposes - to warn other road-users you are about to reverse, and to provide light if you are reversing in the dark. Read more

The hubs of the driven wheels often look similar to those of undriven ones, but there are some differences in the way they are constructed because the driven hubs have to incorporate drive shafts too. Read more

Although they are considerably more complicated than manual gearboxes, with control and operating functions in addition to the gears , modern automatic transmissions are less likely to give problems than their manual counterparts. Read more

If your car has a cable-operated clutch and you find that the gears are difficult to engage, the pedal action is stiff, or there is any sign that the clutch pedal is reluctant to come back up again, then the chances are that the clutch cable is damaged. Read more

Half shafts, otherwise known as axle shafts, are fitted in rear-wheel-drive cars only. They give relatively little trouble during normal motoring, although they are highly stressed components. Read more

In a front-engined rear-wheel-drive car, power is transmitted from the engine through the clutch and the gearbox to the rear axle by means of a tubular propeller shaft. Read more

The first stage in the transmission of a car with a manual gearbox is the clutch . Read more

Internal-combustion engines run at high speeds, so a reduction in gearing is necessary to transmit power to the drive wheels, which turn much more slowly. Read more

Most modern automatic gearboxes have a set of gears called a planetary or epicyclic gear train. Read more