Even as a novice or with no experience, there are things that you can undertake as regular maintenances tasks for your vehicle. You can even troubleshoot and use car diagnostics tips to investigate some of the pressing issues yourself before hitting the road to an inspection which is hard to find to begin with and may also cost you some money.
Car Diagnostics – Car Over Heating – What you can do at home?
It’s usual for cars to ever so slightly overheat in hot weather but if your car is overheating consistently and fairly quickly, stop driving it and
- Find a suitable place to park
- Go back home if close enough and once the engine cools down.
If this is not possible few things below can be tried to cool down the engine
- Turn on car heaters full with fan, this will transfer some of the heat away from the engine temporarily.
- Turn off all the other electrical accessories in the car to reduce the load on the engine such as AC.
- If nothing helps then the car is not drive-able. Remember these steps are only stopgap measures to keep you going for a few more miles.
There could be several reasons for overheating however below are the common ones
- Coolant Low
- Coolant Leak
- The radiator Fan belt broke.
You need to be very careful checking under the hood when the car is overheating. The easiest way of checking if the coolant level is low is to open the coolant reservoir and have a peek inside. If the car is overheated very careful in opening the coolant reservoir cover as the Beast inside which can explode on your hand or face. Open the cover gently and let the steam fizzle out there is any, check whether the current level is adequate, if the coolant is low that really means that there is a leakage in the coolant system somewhere. That could be hoses or joints or worst, the radiator and water pump.
The next step is recommended that you wait for the car to cool down before you do anything else. If you have some extra coolant in the car use it to top up the low coolant level and properly close the coolant reservoir again. If coolant is not available and by chance if you have some water use water for the same purpose.
Start the car again and give it the accelerator to push the water through the coolant system. Check out for any leakages that might be spotted, on and around the coolant system. This step helps you to pinpoint the location of leakage.
If the leak is in a dodgy, hard to reach area or in a water pump/radiator, then unfortunately the next destination of the car is at the repairs shop.
If you are convinced that you got some chance of repairing the leak with no obstruction etc, crack on. Once you have been pinpointed the location of the leak try sourcing some quick repair DIY coolant leakage tape. This might be available in your local DIY shop if not you can check out the mainstream DIY stores and you will definitely find something appropriate which can temporarily solve the issue.
Failing above, you can order a specialised product from the internet which are specially designed to work on the coolant system to repair the leakage and other issues. These products constitute a different types of types, glue and addresses of different types and grades which are designed to seal and work at the extreme temperatures of engine and coolant systems.
Do not use any duct tape or similar products to repair the leaks in current systems. These will be displaced and melt in extreme heat produced by the engine –
Once you have bought your desired product from the internet or from a local DIY store follow the instructions and repair the coolant system leak, if possible. Check again for any leaks, if you do not observe any leaks that mean the car is permanently fixed. Unfortunately, in the other case, you will have to take it to her auto shop for repair.
If not at home, If the severity of leakage is low you might be able to top up the coolant liquid and drive to the next available garage for repairs. If the leak is about then unfortunately you don’t really have a chance you will have to call the recovery service.
If if the leak is in the radiator then it is difficult to fix. There are only very specialised for that you can buy from internet help you repair the leak in the radiator.
Bear in mind that the above-described tips are discussed to help you quickly repair any leaks in the coolant system at home. Be extra vigilant in finding out if the repair has worked if any doubt takes your car to the garage of choice for proper repairs.
Car Oil leaks – What you can do at home?
If your car has a suspected oil leak there is a relatively easy way to confirm it. Park the car on a driveway or somewhere safe and put a clean cardboard sheet underneath the engine. Press the accelerator to push oil in the engine, in case of a leak you will see a drop or two on the cardboard that will confirm the issue.
Once you have confirmed the oil rig unfortunately that is not what you can do apart from making sure that there is enough oil in the system.
– Make sure the oil Leak is not severe before starting driving it for repairs.
= make sure that if you decide to drive the car to the repair shop perfect rice that engine oil level has been topped up beforehand.
– If the oil leak is severe and you are losing oil too quickly then do not drive it. Call recovery service to help you recover the car repair shop
Car Diagnostics – Battery Fail – what you can do at Home ?
We have discussed this battery daignostics in another blog, however we will mention few points here.
- Buy yourself a nice Multi-meter to check battery voltages
- This meter can serve you other purposes as well
- Get a decent battery jump starter system.
- At least keep good quality jump cables in car so battery can be jump-started from other cars if available
Epilogue
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Update:
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External Information:
https://www.lifewire.com/diagnostic-tools-for-car-534864
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vehicle-Diagnostic-Tools/s?k=Vehicle+Diagnostic+Tools
https://obdeleven.com/fr/latest-news/post/22_how-diy-vehicle-diagnostics-saves-your-time-money.html?page_type=post