Basic Vehicle Fixes: Part 1

One aspect that some drivers fail to learn are some basic car maintenance fixes.  Just like anything in life, you need to learn and acquire the knowledge before you can become successful at something.  It is the same thing with driving.  In order to make driving even more enjoyable, why not learn some basic car fixes.  Here are some scenarios that could happen to any driver someday:

1.  Car won’t start

–  First thing you do is check what happens when you turn the key. If you turn the key and nothing happens, no sound and the engine doesn’t crank.  The first thing you should check is the battery.  Either your battery is dead and will need to be jump started or the connectors to your battery is corroded or loose.  Simple open the hood and look at the battery connectors.  If it’s loose then just tighten it and try to start again.  If it’s not loose and it doesn’t look corroded then you will need to get your car jump started.  I found this link on wiki how on how to jump start a car.

–  If the engine cranks but it doesn’t start then it’s a bit more complicated.  Could be fuel related where the fuel isn’t being pumped to the engine or could be main relay issue or no spark to start the engine.  When an engine doesn’t start, it’s either spark, fuel, battery.

2.  While driving, the car won’t go straight or doesn’t feel stable while driving during higher speeds

–  this can only be a few things.  First thing to check will be the tires, are any of your tires flat?  If it is then we found the problem.  If not, next thing to do is to check the tire pressure.  Make sure you have the correct amount of tire pressure on all 4 tires.  If that still doesn’t correct the problem then there are 3 more options to take.  1.  You might need new tires 2.  You might need to get your wheels balanced cause it might not be turning correctly so tire shops put these weights on the wheels to make them balanced 3. You need an alignment.  Any tire shop can help you with any of these 3 options.

There are several other issues that might come up and I will try and discuss them at a later date.  For now, these 2 are the most common issues drivers might have to deal with.

Get out of the Blind Spot

 

 

 

 

 

Pardon my doodle, but I wanted to demonstrate what perfect spacing between cars should be on the road.  Car “C” is far enough away from Car “B” that it isn’t in the blind spot which also makes it far enough away from Car “A” which gives Car “C” enough braking time in case of emergency.  Same with Car “B” which is not in Car “A”‘s blind spot and it has enough room.

One problem people get into on the road without noticing is they stay in a cars blind spot too long.  Sometimes when we drive, we concentrate too much on the car in front of us that we forget where we are in relation to the cars in the other lanes.  It doesn’t matter if you are a professional driver, a daily driver, or a beginner,  if someone stays in your blind spot long enough you will forget which leads to accidents.  (of course, it can be avoided by shoulder checking before changing lanes but I prefer going another step before that to avoid the accident)..

To illustrate my point, if Car “C” stays in this position which is in Car “B”‘s blind spot long enough.  Car “B” will forget that Car “C” is even there.  Eventually, Car “B” might switch lanes thinking there is no car there.  So what Car “C” needs to do, is to either speed up or slow down.  The smart move in this scenario is to slow down which brings the perfect spacing illustrated on the first picture at the top of the page.

Get out of the Blind spot.. Speed up or Slow down..