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Beginner's guide to car care
Technician teaches car care
Jeff Barrow answers a woman's question on car care while another woman looks at an emergency car care kit.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
By HOLLY KOZELSKY - Bulletin Accent Editor
What do you do when you’re driving all alone and the engine light is blinking or your tire goes flat? Or what if you couldn’t get your car to start in the first place?
About 20 women learned about how to deal with their cars Tuesday at “Emergency Car Care for Women” taught by mechanic Jeff Barrow. The lecture was the last in the New College Institute (NCI) Non-Credit Lecture Series Spring 2008.
Barrow and his wife, Sharon, own Pro Automotive Inc. on Spruce Street in Martinsville. Jeff, who has been working on cars for 27 years, is an ASE Master Certified Technician. He started the business in 1988, and Sharon joined him there in 2002.
“There’s a lot of people who really don’t know what they should about a car,” Barrow said. He answered a myriad of questions from the women in his class. When the hour was up, several followed him outside to as he pointed out things under the hood of a vehicle.
On this page and 2-B are some of Barrow’s tips and explanations.
The NCI lecture series included “Show Me The Money! Financial Aid Information” in February, “Campus Safety Discussion” in March, “APA Writing Style Made Easy — Workshop” and “Memories of Globman’s: Reflections on Uptown Martinsville” in April and “Lanier Farms: Past and Present” in May.
NCI Outreach Educator Steve Keyser, who coordinated the series, said that the college is planning another series for the fall. For information, call him at 403-5600 or visit www.newcollegeinstitute.org.
General tips
• There’s no need to warm your car up before you drive it.
• Keep your tires properly inflated. The proper tire pressure depends on your car. Your vehicle’s tire pressure should be on a placard on the inside of the glove box door, inside the fuel-filler door or on the driver’s side doorpost. The most common is about 32 psi (pounds per square inch).
• Preventative maintenance is much cheaper than fixing problems. An example is the timing belt. “If your car has a timing belt and it breaks, it could cause engine damage depending on the type of engine you have,” Barrow said.
• Don’t forget to check wiper blades! “We usually never think about them until it’s too late” — such as while driving in a storm, he said.
A good way to check wiper blades is to see if they are warped around the edges. If so, they need to be replaced.
The warning lights
• If the oil light comes on, stop immediately. The loss of oil pressure can be caused by not enough oil or failure of the oil pump. Running a car that way could destroy the engine in minutes.
“By all means, if your oil light comes on, STOP. If you don’t do something quickly, you can kill your car,” Barrow said.
• If the coolant or antifreeze light is on, be careful. Your car is on the verge of overheating. Stop, if you can safely.
If not, turn OFF the air conditioner and turn the heater on full blast. This will help dissipate heat from the engine. If you are climbing a long hill, turn the air conditioning off or shift into a lower gear.
• The ABS light means that the Anti-locking Brake System isn’t working. The brakes still work fine and you may continue driving the car, but take it to the shop to have the anti-locking system checked.
• The check engine light is the “most misunderstood light of the car,” Barrow said. It doesn’t mean you are in any kind of danger. It is the emissions control light. It tells you if any part of the emissions control system (which is to prevent too much pollution) is not working right. It should be checked, but the car can be driven safely until you do.
Brakes
“Brakes are very important — something you don’t want to take chances on,” Barrow said. “Even if you can’t get going, you need to stop.”
• Don’t slam your brakes on and hold the pedal down. Instead, tap the pedal down gradually. Slamming and holding the brakes can make the car skid.
• An anti-lock brake system (ABS) takes control of your car during sudden stops. It gives the quick tap-tap-tap of the brake pedal to avoid the brakes locking, which would make the car slide.
• To get better use out of your brakes, take stops gradually. When coming to a stop sign, coast up to it rather than keep the gas on, then braking suddenly. “The less energy you put into the brakes, the longer they last,”Barrow said.
• If you hear a grinding or squealing sound when the brake pedal is applied, you probably need new brake pads.
Sometimes good brakes just make noise even though they shouldn’t. “That’s annoying but OK,” Barrow said. That squealing is caused by the materials used to make the brake pads.
• Rotors are metal discs on the vehicle that brake pads grab onto to stop a car when you apply brakes. Rotors can get up to 1200 degrees when you’re stopping a car under extreme conditions.
• If your car vibrates when you apply the brakes, the rotors could be warped. This is due to heat. This trouble can be caused by too many abrupt stops. This trouble can be avoided by stopping gradually.
• Brake fluid absorbs moisture. It needs to be replaced every couple of years.
Checking fluids
Before you check your engine’s fluids, make sure your vehicle is parked on level ground. Otherwise, the reading won’t be accurate.
Whatever you’re checking, there should be a dipstick located next to the cap that covers the filling tank. Pull out the dipstick, wipe it off with a paper towel or towel, and put it back in. (Don’t ever go by just the first reading.) Pull it out a second time and check it.
Dipsticks have two marks: the lower mark to indicate that the tank is low and the higher mark to indicate that the tank is full. Add fluids to bring the reading close to the full mark.
Most fluids are checked when the vehicle is off, but transmission fluid should be checked when the vehicle is running.
Checking oil
In the photo at right, Steve Keyser, outreach educator at NCI, watches as Jeff Barrow checks the oil in his truck.
• To check oil, pull out the oil dipstick, wipe it clean and put it back in. Pull it out a second time and look at how far up the stick the oil goes. It should fall at or just below the full mark. In the photo above, Barrow is pointing to the full mark, which the oil goes up to, meaning that this vehicle has enough oil.
• Oil should be changed every 3,000 miles, Barrow recommended. If you don’t drive that far in a year, then your oil should be changed at least once a year.
When oil gets low or goes too long between changing, it starts carrying impurities and engine sludge through the channels of the engine. Barrow compared that to our arteries getting clogged up with cholesterol.
• What the oil is called refers to its weight (how thick or thin it is). The most common oil used around here is 5W30 or 10W30.
How long does a battery last?
“Any battery over five years old can go out at any time,” Barrow said. A battery does not give any warning that it is about to die, so your best bet simply is to replace it after five years, especially when winter is approaching. The two main factors that wear down a battery are temperature and age.
Driving distance and frequency have nothing to do with it, he said. If you don’t drive often, though, you should crank up your car every week or two to keep the battery charged.
Jump-starting a dead battery
• Don’t smoke or let jewelry, long hair or loose clothing get in the way.
• Make sure both batteries are at the same voltage (most are 12 volts).
• Pull the cars close but not touching. Turn off ignition, lights and accessories in both cars.
1.) Begin with the car with the good battery. Clamp the positive (red) cable on the positive terminal (it should have the color red and a “+” sign near it) of the good battery.
2.) Clamp the other positive (red) cable to the positive terminal on the bad battery.
3.) Clamp the negative (black) cable to the negative terminal (it has the color black and a “-” sign) of the good battery.
4.) Clamp the other negative (black) cable to clean metal part on the car of the bad battery (not to the negative post on the dead battery. The sparks could cause an explosion).
5.) Start the good car, wait 30 seconds, then start the car with the dead battery. Let both cars run for 15 seconds.
6.) Disconnect the cables in the reverse order.
Remember this easy word association: Red = positive = hot ... Black = negative = cold
Changing a flat tire
A spare tire, jack and wrench should be stored in your car to save you from a flat tire situation. If you have a flat tire, keep driving until you find a safe place to pull off the road.
Before jacking the car up, loosen (don’t remove) each lug nut on the rim of the flat tire. Lug nuts can be on extremely tight. The average person may not have enough arm strength to unscrew one, but leg strength combined with body weight would do the job. Put the wrench on the lug nut. Using the force of your body weight, step down on the wrench with your foot. To unscrew, turn the wrench to the left; to tighten, turn it to the right.
Once each lug nut is loose enough for you to be able to finish it by hand, jack up the vehicle. Once the tire is off the ground, take off each lug nut, then take off the flat tire.
Spare tires were made only for limited use — just enough to get you home and then to the garage. Don’t drive on one too long. When you have your car serviced, have them check the air in your spare tire, too.
You can safely drive on a flat tire for a couple of miles. It will ruin the tire, but the rim should remain OK.
Remember this easy word association: Right is tight; left is loose
Checking and filling coolant (antifreeze)
Nowadays, you can check the coolant (antifreeze) of most vehicles just by looking at the overflow tank instead of opening the radiator.
“If the car is overheating, please, please, please do not take your radiator cap off! I’ve been to the hospital twice for that,” Barrow warned. The fluid is under extreme pressure and could shoot up and burn you. To make sure the radiator is at a temperature OK to handle it, squeeze the hose beside the overflow tank. If it is too hard to squeeze, it’s too hot to remove the radiator cap.
However, there is no need to open the radiator if you put coolant in the overflow tank. Fill it to about half full.
For information on what to do if your car is overheating while you’re driving, see the section on warning lights at right.
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