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If you’ve ever heard a strange knocking sound coming from your engine — as if someone were gently rapping against it with a small hammer — it could be coming from a condition known as rod knock.
What is Rod Knock?
As your car gets older, the bearings that hold its engine’s connecting rods to the car’s crankshaft wear down, causing a gap to form. As you can imagine, given that your engine spins at thousands of RPM, the result is the parts slapping against each other. Rod knock is the phenomenon that occurs when your engine’s connecting rods strike the crankshaft as it spins.
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To say that the Ford Maverick is a sales success is undoubtedly an understatement: It has outsold every one of its potential competitors, including the Hyundai Santa Cruz, Honda Ridgeline, the entire Lincoln lineup, and even its fellow Ford, the Ranger.
Now, while certainly a highly versatile pickup, the Maverick’s towing capacity maxes out at 4,000 pounds, and even then, that’s assuming you’ve purchased the car with the optional 4K Tow Package upgrade. Without it, the tow rating drops to just 2,000 pounds.
What Can You Tow That’s 4,000 Pounds or Less?
If you were to upgrade to the 4K Tow Package, you would be able to pull a 17-foot camper, a 20-foot utility trailer, a moderate-sized boat, and even a small livestock trailer.
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Most trucks exist to tow and haul, not sip fuel, but some can deliver reasonable or even excellent mileage with reasonable driving. Below are a handful of trucks with some of the best MPG offerings:
Ford Maverick (37 MPG)
Ford has been selling its Mavericks hand over fist ever since they debuted, and for a good reason: The Maverick provides reasonable utility alongside daily driveability, capable of towing up to 4,000 pounds with the right equipment. Even with a bed full of cargo, it never loses its car-like driving dynamics, and with its hybrid version, owners can get a combined 37 MPG.
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Some car parts last so long that they lull owners into a false sense of security. These parts only go bad after 100,000 miles or so, making it all too easy to forget they even exist until it’s much too late. Case in point: the fuel pump, which can cost hundreds or even thousands to replace!
How Important is the Fuel Pump?
Your car will not run unless its fuel pump is working, given that — as its name implies — it is responsible for moving fuel from the gas tank into the engine. Typically, you won’t have to worry about your fuel pump for at least 100,000 miles, with failures being incredibly rare before then. Be that as it may, you need to know how to spot an issue with your fuel pump to stop it from becoming a much larger problem.
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Before you even read on, you might be wondering what a catalytic converter even is. In short, the catalytic converter is an essential piece of your car’s emissions control system, responsible for taking in the toxic pollutants that would normally be emitted from your vehicle’s tailpipe and converting them into far less toxic substances.
Even with an understanding of what the pieces actually are, you may still wonder why thieves have an interest in taking them. It seems like an oddly specific part, and there must be more valuable parts on your car to steal, but in actuality, stealing catalytic converters has more to do with the substances inside them and how valuable they can be.
Precious Metals
Within catalytic converters are various precious metals, specifically palladium, rhodium, and platinum, which can sell for upwards of tens of thousands of dollars per ounce! However, extracting the metals is no easy feat, which is why thieves generally steal and sell entire catalytic converters to recyclers who can handle extraction.