Do You Know Your Car?

[Freedom]

You can also go online to a forum for your make and model, and learn a LOT. I had never done this until I bought Carmine (my Prius). Being a hybrid and so different, I felt I needed to know more about it, and in searching I discovered that there are car forums!

For the Prius, many of the folks have done step by step videos on how to do various things, so save you money. Like changing the cabin filter, which should be done annually, takes about 5 minutes, and costs $30 at the Toyota dealership. Thanks to links on the forum, I buy the new filter online, a Toyota one not a generic (just to be sure I wasn't messing with my warranty the first few years), at an stunning $5 WITH shipping!

I also learned plenty about after market add ons, and I even bought a few myself.

Loved the story about the teal Saturns! I have gone to a few red Prii in the past and wondered why I couldn't get in, lol.

[lolli94]

I have a dad and brother who are both 'car guys' (my brother is actually in college to be an auto tech). So I know how to fill the washer fluid and check the oil, but that's about it. They do the rest for me. That may not be such a good thing...

[Taz_Zoee]

Get out the manual in the glove box and look at it. Learn where to check oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, and coolant level.

Get a tire pressure gauge and check them every once in a while. They should be within 1-2 PSI of each other.

There's a ton of basic maintenance information in the owner's manual for every car that over the long term can save you a short ton of money. Fluids are cheap. Engines and transmissions are pricey.

This is exactly what I do if I have a problem with my car.....check the manual! I know the basics and I know how to get help.

You can also go online to a forum for your make and model, and learn a LOT. I had never done this until I bought Carmine (my Prius). Being a hybrid and so different, I felt I needed to know more about it, and in searching I discovered that there are car forums!

For the Prius, many of the folks have done step by step videos on how to do various things, so save you money. Like changing the cabin filter, which should be done annually, takes about 5 minutes, and costs $30 at the Toyota dealership. Thanks to links on the forum, I buy the new filter online, a Toyota one not a generic (just to be sure I wasn't messing with my warranty the first few years), at an stunning $5 WITH shipping!

I also learned plenty about after market add ons, and I even bought a few myself.

Loved the story about the teal Saturns! I have gone to a few red Prii in the past and wondered why I couldn't get in, lol.

My boyfriend has changed his brake pads by watching a video online. He does TONS of things by watching videos online. So if I have problems, he can usually help me figure it out. And he's not what I would call a "car guy" either.

[Cataholic]

I am 48 years old, have never changed a flat, my oil, replace my blades, jumped a battery, filled a tire with air, etc. I wouldn't change a flat tire for lots of reasons, the safety of my child and I are at the top of the list. I have AAA insurance, a cell phone, and no less than 25 people I could call upon to help out in the event of an emergency (which simply hasn't happened to me in my life). I live in a city, not some rural area, where the chances of getting stranded are no greater than slim and none. I must be extraordinarily lucky in never finding myself in that situation where I would die unless I could switch out a flat, put wiper fluid in my car, or jump a battery. I will stick to the things I know how to do, and leave the rest up to the para-professionals. Kinda like I do with my taxes.

[Lady's Human]

About the forums:

There are (surprisingly) forums for darned near every make and model car you could think of, and most of them are very useful. There are also several ASE master techs who have youtube channels. Occasionally the forums will spot trends and come up with fixes for issues before the manufacturer does. The web is a great tool, you just have to filter out the carp.

As to the above.....

Humans are generalists. Ants and bees are specialists.

[Bonny]

There are two manuals in the glove box full of fine print. The battery is under the rear right seat, you would have to take the seat out to get to the battery with jumper gables. Not very handy . Have to take half the trunk apart to get the spare tire out along with the jack. My old Chevy II Nova was less complex. I do live out in rural America so the cell phone is my best bet for an SOS.

[Lady's Human]

There are two manuals in the glove box full of fine print. The battery is under the rear right seat, you would have to take the seat out to get to the battery with jumper gables. Not very handy . Have to take half the trunk apart to get the spare tire out along with the jack. My old Chevy II Nova was less complex. I do live out in rural America so the cell phone is my best bet for an SOS.

If the battery is buried there are probably jumper terminals in the engine compartment. (frankly it's better that way, with modern electronics, jumping a car the way you used to for years can very easily fry the ECU)

[Bonny]

I carry jumper cables in my trunk. Where I work, there have been times when our guests could not get their vehicles to start so have used them to give them a jump.

I had a battery die one time while shopping at a local nursery. They guy there had cables & jumped the battery. I drove the car to a local dealer & the needle kept moving around it is like don't die we can make it. I drove into the dealership & parked the car. The battery was deader then dead. Lady Luck was with me that day, thanks to the guy at the nursery, & my car angel.

[Miss Z]

I'm with Alyssa and Bri. I know what everything under my bonnet is, but other than the washer fluid, I don't touch any of them. If there's a problem, I'd far rather wait and have someone with more experience take a look. I am a little obsessive with topping up my tyre pressure, mostly because my cheap tyres go down a lot with day-to-day use, particularly where I'm living now, which is like the capital city of speed-bumps. I do check my lights are working each month too. I've never learned how to change a tyre, although the garage down the road from me runs short courses in general car maintenance. This thread has reminded me that I must book that some time!

Any of you car gurus know much about gearboxes? My car has had an intermittent gear box fault (it's a manual) for about 6 months now. I've had it looked at twice, although as the damn thing always behaves perfectly as soon as a mechanic is in the vicinity I've haven't been able to get it fixed. Occasionally it will refuse to go into first/second gear. It tends to do this when I've been stuck at lights for a while or have been in crawling traffic. At first I had to restart the car and usually that would do the trick, although now I've grown impatient with it I usually just force the gearstick. Sometimes it'll go weeks without playing up at all, other times it'll do it near on constantly. Mechanic thought it might be sticky gear-pins, but although he had a play around with the gearbox he couldn't find anything particularly wrong. I've searched online for explanations, but as I haven't yet managed to get a mechanic to see it misbehaving, it's difficult to tell exactly what's up with it.

[Karen]

Make/Model, Miss Z?