…Could fit on the back of an A1 sized poster. It might seem like a bit of an odd start to a post, but I really couldn’t help myself. As I’m known for having a bit of knowledge about cars, sometimes I get asked by friends, relatives and the like what might get up with their car, or indeed which new car to buy if they are lucky enough to be getting one.
The interesting question I got that sparked the idea for this post was from a colleague at work (who for obvious reasons will remain nameless). A while ago she had an old Rover (never a good start in your motoring career really as you could potentially be spending more time on the hard shoulder than anywhere else) that I diagnosed as having an alternator problem. Lo and behold, I was correct. Naturally, when she started having problems with her new Ford Ka I was the person she turned to.
Apparently, the issue was related to a grinding noise that she had when turning the wheel and sometimes under braking. I was going to have a quick look after work but unfortunately got held up in a meeting, so off she went duly driving the car with some sort of problem. I gave her a call and she went through the symptoms again. I had a quick think, consulted the trusty Haynes and told her that she needed to check her fuel levels.
She came into work the next day, informing me that I was in fact correct – the fuel levels were too low, the mechanicals weren’t getting lubricated and the grinding noise was the car informing her of this fact. She’d got the fluid topped up, only to discover there was a leak. This also explained the fact that the car didn’t have enough fluid when she’d only had it a week.
Naturally, I had two questions for her. First, did the dealer not have it serviced and checked before selling it on? Second, did she not think to check under the bonnet herself to try to discern if everything looked as it should? Apparently, the answer to both was no.
This draws me to the point of this article. I find it quite amazing that there are so many people out there who don’t know their spark plugs from their elbow. The amount of people I’ve seen by the roadside recently with SOMEONE ELSE having to pull over to change a tyre for them has simply been staggering. I’m not saying that everyone should be able to service their own vehicle but being able to check oil levels for instance is crucial.
I know that not everyone is the type who has to at least partially know how something works before using it, but in my opinion it should be mandatory that a learner driver must know how to check fluid levels before being given a ‘Pass’ certificate. For those of you out there who are quite content in your ignorance, I’ll give you another article in the future which you can refer to make sure that your car has enough doodads and thingumies to keep running smoothly.
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