CHEVROLET S10 1995 2.G Owners Manual

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine NOTICE:
Before you add any sound equipment to your vehicle - like a
tape player,
CB radio, mobile telephone or two-way radio - be
sure you can add what you want. If
you can, it’s very important
to do it properly. Added sound equipment may interfere with th\
e
operation of your vehicle’s engine, Delco@ radio or other
systems, and even damage them. And, your vehicle’s systems
may interfere with the operation of sound equipment that has been added improperly.
So, before adding sound equipment, check with your dealer and
be sure to check Federal rules covering mobile radio and telephone units.
Care of Your Cassette Player and Tape
A tape player that is not cleaned regularly is subject to reduced sound
quality, ruining the cassette, or damaging the mechanism. Tape cassettes that
are not properly stored in their plastic cases away from contaminants, direct
sunlight, and extreme heat, may not operate properly and could cause
premature failure of the tape player.
Your tape player should be cleaned with every
50 hours of use to provide
optimum performance. Your radio may display “Cln” (Clean)
to indicate
that you have used your tape player for
50 hours without re-setting the tape
clean timer. If you notice a reduction in sound quality, regardless \
of when
the tape player was last cleaned, try playing a different cassette to see if the
tape
or tape player is at fault. If the second cassette results in no
improvement in sound quality, try cleaning the tape player.
Proper tape player cleaning should be done with a scrubbing action,
non-abrasive cleaning cassette. This is a wet-type cleaning system that uses
a cleaning cassette with pads which scrub the tape head as the hubs of the
cleaner cassette turn. To properly clean your tape player, follow instructions
with the cleaning cassette. If
you use this type of cleaner, the radio may
display an error and eject
the cartridge. This is normal and is the result of an
added feature in the tape player that detects broken tapes. If an error occurs,
you will need to insert the cleaning cassette at least
3 times to thoroughly
clean the tape player.
You may prefer
to use a non-scrubbing action, wet-type cleaner. This type
of cleaner uses a fabric belt to clean the tape head. This type of cleaner
cassette will not cause an error, but it may not clean the tape player as
thoroughly as the scrubbing type cleaner.
3-18

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine A scrubbing action cleaner cassette is available through your retailer (SPO
12344600).
Cassettes are subject to wear and the sound quality may degrade over time.
Always verify that the cassette tape
is in good condition and the tape player
is clean before obtaining service on your tape player.
NOTICE:
Cassette tape adapter kits for portable CD players will not work
in your cassette player. These adapters will cause the radio
to
display an error and the adapter cassette will be ejected.
Care of Compact Discs
Handle discs' carefully. Store them in their original cases or other protective
cases and away from direct sunlight and dust. If the surface of a disc
is
soiled, dampen a clean, soft cloth in a mild, neutral detergent solution and
clean it, wiping from the center to the edge.
Antenna Care
The fixed mast antenna can withstand most car washes without being
damaged. If the mast should ever become slightly bent, you can straighten
it
out by hand. If the mast is badly bent, as it might be by vandals, you should
replace it.
Check every once in a while to be sure the mast is still tightened
to the
fender.
3-19

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Notes
3-20
I

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Your Driving and the Road
Section
1
Here you’ll find information about driving on different kinds of roads and in
varying weather conditions. We’ve also included many other useful tips on
driving.
Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about driving is: Drive defensively.
Please start with a very important safety device in your vehicle:
Buckle up.
(See “Safety Belts” in the Index.)
Defensive driving really means “be ready for anything.” On city streets,
rural roads, or freeways,
it means “always expect the unexpected.”
4-1

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Assume that pedestrians or other drivers are going to be careless and make
mistakes. Anticipate what they might do. Be ready for their mistakes.
Rear-end collisions are about the most preventable of accidents. Yet they
are common. Allow enough following distance. It’s the best defensive
driving maneuver, in both city and rural driving. You never know when the
vehicle in front of you is going
to brake or turn suddenly.
Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is a national tragedy.
It’s the number one contributor to the highway death toll, claiming
thousands of victims every year.
Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to drive a vehicle:
Judgment
0 Muscular Coordination
Vision
Attentiveness
Police records show that almost half of all motor vehicle-related deaths
involve alcohol. In most cases, these deaths are the result
of someone who
was drinking and driving. In recent years, some
18,000 annual motor
vehicle-related deaths have been associated with the
use of alcohol, with
more than
300,000 people injured.
Many adults
- by some estimates, nearly half the adult population -
choose never to drink alcohol, so they never drive after drinking. For
persons under
21, it’s against the law in every U.S. state to drink alcohol.
There are good medical, psychological and developmental reasons for these
laws.
The obvious way to solve this highway safety problem is for people never to
drink alcohol and then drive. But what if people do? How much is “too
much” if the driver plans to drive? It’s a lot less than many might think.
Although it depends on each person and situation, here is some general
information on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)
of someone who is drinking
depends upon four things:
0 How much alcohol consumed
The drinker’s body weight
The amount of food that is consumed before and during drinking
The length of time it’s taken the drinker to consume the alcohol
4-2

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine According to the American Medical Association, a 180-pound (82 kg)
person who drinks three 12-ounce
(355 ml) bottles of beer in an hour will
end up with a BAC of about
0.06 percent. The person would reach the same
BAC by drinking three 4-ounce (120
ml) glasses of wine or three mixed
drinks if each had 1-1/2 ounces
(45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or
vodka.
J
It’s the amount of alcohol that counts. For example, if the same person
drank three double martinis
(3 ounces or 90 ml of liquor each) within an
hour, the person’s BAC would be close to 0.12 percent. A person who
consumes food just before or during drinking will have a somewhat lower
BAC level.
There is a gender difference, too. Women generally have a lower relative
percentage of body water than men. Since alcohol is carried in body water,
this means that a woman generally will reach a higher BAC level than a
man of her same body weight when each has the same number of drinks.
The law in many
U.S. states sets the legal limit at a BAC of 0.10 percent. In
a growing number
of U.S. states, and throughout Canada, the limit is 0.08
percent. In some other countries it’s even lower. The BAC limit for all
commercial drivers in the
U.S. is 0.04 percent.
The BAC will be over 0.10 percent after three to six drinks (in one hour). Of
course, as we’ve seen, it depends on how much alcohol is in the drinks, and
how quickly the person drinks them.
But the ability to drive is affected well below a BAC
of 0.10 percent.
Research shows that the driving skills of many people are impaired at a
BAC approaching
0.05 percent, and that the effects are worse at night. All
drivers are impaired at BAC levels above
0.05 percent. Statistics show that
the chance of being in a collision increases sharply for drivers who have a
BAC of
0.05 percent or above, A driver with a BAC level of 0.06 percent
has doubled his or her chance
of having a collision. At a BAC level of 0.10
percent, the chance
of this driver having a collision is twelve times greater;
at a level of
0.15 percent, the chance is twenty-five times greater!
4-3

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine The body takes about an hour to rid itself of the alcohol in one drink. No
amount of coffee or number of cold showers will speed that up. “I’ll be
careful” isn’t the right answer. What if there’s an emergency, a need to take
sudden action, as when a child darts into the street?
A person with even a
moderate
BAC might not be able to react quickly enough to avoid the
collision.
There’s something else about drinking and driving that many people don’t
know. Medical research shows that alcohol
in a person’s system can make
crash injuries worse, especially injuries
to the brain, spinal cord or heart.
This means that when anyone who has been drinking
- driver or passenger
- is in a crash, that person’s chance of being killed or permanently disabled
is higher than if the person had not been drinking.
Control of a Vehicle
You have three systems that make your vehicle go where you want it to go.
They are the brakes, the steering and the accelerator. All three systems have
to do their work at the places where the tires meet the road.
Sometimes, as when you’re driving on snow or ice, it’s easy to ask more
of
those control systems than the tires and road can provide. That means you
can lose control of your vehicle.
4-4

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Braking
Braking action involves perception time and reaction time.
First, you have to decide to push on the brake pedal. That’s perception time.
Then you have to bring up your foot and do it. That’s reaction time.
Average reaction time is about 3/4 of a second. But that’s only an average. It
might be less with one driver and as long as two or three seconds or more
with another. Age, physical condition, alertness, coordination, and eyesight
all play a part.
So do alcohol, drugs and frustration. But even in 3/4 of a
second, a vehicle moving at
60 mph (100 km/h) travels 66 feet (20 m). That
could be a lot of distance in an emergency,
so keeping enough space
between your vehicle and others is important.
And, of course, actual stopping distances vary greatly with the surface of the
road (whether it’s pavement or gravel); the condition of the road (wet, dry,
icy); tire tread; and the condition of your brakes.
Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive in spurts
- heavy
acceleration followed by heavy braking
- rather than keeping pace with
traffic. This is a mistake. Your brakes may not have time to cool between
hard stops. Your brakes will wear out much faster if you do a lot of heavy
braking. If you keep pace with the traffic and allow realistic following
distances, you will eliminate a lot
of unnecessary braking. That means better
braking and longer brake
life.
If your engine ever stops while you’re driving, brake normally but don’t
pump your brakes. If you do, the pedal may get harder to push down. If
your engine stops, you will still have some power brake assist. But you will
use it when you brake. Once the power assist is used up, it may take longer
to stop and the brake pedal will be harder to push.
Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS)
Your vehicle has an advanced electronic braking system that can help you
keep it under control.
If your vehicle has an anti-lock brake system warning light on the
instrument panel, it has four-wheel anti-lock brakes. Otherwise, it has
rear-wheel anti-lock brakes. When you start a vehicle that has four-wheel
anti-lock brakes and begin to drive away, you may hear a momentary motor
or clicking noise. This is the
ABS system testing itself.
4-5

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Here's how anti-lock works. Let's say the road is wet. You're driving safely.
Suddenly an animal jumps out
in front of you.
You slam on the brakes. Here's what happens with ABS.
A computer senses that wheels are slowing down. With four-wheel
anti-lock: If one of the wheels
is about to stop rolling, the computer will
separately work the brakes at each front wheel and at the rear wheels. The
four-wheel anti-lock system can change the brake pressure faster than any
driver could. With rear-wheel anti-lock: If one
of the rear wheels is about
to stop rolling, the computer will work the brakes at the rear wheels. The
computer
is programmed to make the most of available tire and road
conditions.
As
you brake, your computer keeps receiving updates on wheel speed and
controls braking pressure accordingly.
Remember: Anti-lock doesn't change the time you need to get your foot up
to the brake pedal. If you get too close
to the vehicle in front of you, you
won't have time to apply your brakes if that vehicle suddenly slows or
stops. Always leave enough room up ahead
to stop, even though you have
anti-lock brakes.
4-6

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine To Use Four-wheel Anii-Lock
Don’t pump the brakes. Just hold the brake pedal down and let anti-lock
work for
you. You may feel the brakes vibrate, or you may notice some
noise, but
this is normal.
On vehicles with four-wheel drive, your anti-lock brakes work at all
times
- whether you are in two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive.
To Use Rear- Wheel Anii-Lock
Use rear-wheel anti-lock like regular brakes. You may feel the brakes
vibrate, or
you may notice some noise outside your vehicle, but this is
normal. Let anti-lock work for you, but remember: Your front wheels can
still stop rolling. If that happens, release enough pressure
on the brakes to
get the wheels rolling again
so that you can steer.
Braking in Emergencies
At some time, nearly every driver gets into a situation that requires hard braking.
The four-wheel anti-lock system
lets you steer and brake at the same time.
If you have the rear-wheel anti-lock braking system, your front wheels can
stop rolling when you brake very hard. Once they do, the vehicle can’t
respond to your steering. Momentum will carry
it in whatever direction it
was headed when the front wheels stopped rolling. That could be off the
road, into the very thing you were trying
to avoid, or into traffic.
So, unless you have four-wheel anti-lock, use a “squeeze” braking
technique. This will give
you maximum braking while maintaining steering
control. You do this by pushing on the brake pedal with steadily increasing
pressure. When you do, it
will help maintain steering control. In many
emergencies, steering can help
you more than even the very best braking.
Steering
Power Steering
If you lose power steering assist because the engine stops or the system is
not functioning,
you can steer but it will take much more effort.
Steering Tips
Driving on Curves
It’s important to take curves at a reasonable speed.
A lot of the “driver lost control” accidents mentioned on the news happen
on curves. Here’s why:
Experienced driver
or beginner, each of us is subject to the same laws of
physics when driving on curves. The traction of the tires against the road
4-7