Archive for the ‘Auto Maintenance’ Category

How to push start a car or truck.

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Automobiles are not perfect. They certainly wont last forever and they are bound to encounter mechanical problems at some time or another. Of coarse keeping up with your scheduled maintenance procedures will certainly prolong the life of your vehicles. But what do you do the day that you car decides not to start?

When you turn the key does the engine turn over? Or does the ignition just click(it could click either one time or multiple times)? If your getting a clicking sound its most likely due to 1 or all of 3 things. First thing you should check is the battery, it needs to be charged. If the battery is fully charged try inspecting the starter, believe it or not sometimes a good whacking on the starter will get the car started, just use a long stick or something else. If that doesn’t do it then you may have some mechanical problems that would require a mechanic or a somewhat decent knowledge of working on cars.

If it is your starter or alternator that is in need of replacing or repair, it is still possible to get your car started. That is if your car has a manual transmission.  This is done by push starting the car. Simply put the key in the ignition in the on position, depress the clutch and put it it first gear. Keep the clutch depressed and in first gear while another person pushes the car. Allow it to get a little bit of speed, not much though, then release the clutch and give it a little gas. The car should start right up. Once you’ve mastered this you may be able to even do all of this your self.

Should I Change My Own Motor Oil?

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Performing any kind of maintenance or repair on your own vehicle can give you a kind of pride that you wouldn’t be able to get from paying someone else, which you probably don’t even know personally, to work on your car or truck. Specially if this work is done correctly and to your own standards. Not to mention the fact that you would most likely be saving your self a good amount of cash on expensive labor. But what if its just a simple oil change? Some might not consider it cost effective and even worth the time to change their own oil. Your only costs for doing if your self would be the motor oil and the oil filter, which by the way you should definitely change the oil filter at every oil change. To me though, time is money and I don’t happen to have all the luxuries that a lube shop is blessed with, such as an expensive car lift that allows you to easily access the undercarriage of any car. It usually takes only 15 to 20 minutes for any lube shop to change out all of your lubricants and have you back on the road. I will say that I prefer the shop  to do it, after buying your own oil and filters to do it your self your not really saving a bunch of money. I generally pay a little over $30 to get my oil changed, where as I almost pay the same amount when I buy 5 quarts of oil and a filter for my car.