When it comes to car repair, many of us are totally clueless. It is strange to think that you spend hours and hours learning to drive a car, but as soon as you are out on the road, you are pretty much left on your own. A lot of the time, people don’t even know what they should be looking out for! Obviously, sometimes a job is too big or complicated to tackle yourself in which case you need to call in a professional. But there are plenty of jobs that you can take on alone. Here are just a few of them.
Head or Tail Light Out
Let’s start off nice and simple. At one point or another, you must have experienced other drivers flashing their lights at you. After flapping around trying to work out what you did wrong, you will have noticed the head or tail light has gone out. Start by working out what type of bulb you need. Once you have got it, you can pop the lights out at the back of the housing and unplug the old bulb. Make sure the car is off when you are doing all this! Slide the new bulb in and all should be well. The only difficulty you may encounter is the irritating plastic covering!
Faulty Spark Plugs
Many people are unwilling to go anywhere near the engine, leaving it to their auto repair specialist. But if your spark plugs are faulty, this should be a problem that you are able to solve yourself. If the plugs are gunked up or misfiring, the engine won’t start properly. Simply pop off the covers and unscrew the plugs before replacing them with some fresh new ones. The only difficulty you may come up against is if the engine is a long way back making the plugs trickier to access.
Oil Change
Remember, you should be aiming to change the oil every 3,000 to 5,000 miles, depending on your car’s age and the type of oil you commonly use. You need to know what type of oil your car needs, where the filter and pan bolt are, and how much oil your engine is able to hold. The three basic steps you need to follow are: loosen the belt and drain the old oil, change the filter and refill the engine with new oil. Couldn’t be simpler, right?!
Squeaky Belts
This is probably the most complicated of the four, but still something you should be able to deal with on your own. Ensure you either have a belt diagram to hand or draw one before actually removing the old belt. Loosen the tension arm using a ratchet, freeing up the belt. Once you have exposed the pulleys, check to make sure no excess rubber, grime or oil could hasten disintegration. Follow your diagram to reroute the new belt, before locking the tension arm once again. If all has gone according to plan, you should be good to go!
