by Garrett McKinnon
VehicleMD Staff Writer
Originally published in Fall 2009 Issue
For starters, you’re doing the right thing. If you’re reading this post, it’s clear you care about your car and its maintenance. You want it to last until it’s paid off—and longer. You want it to get you from point A to point B without leaving you stranded on the side of the road. You want it to keep your family safe. And that’s why you’re here, getting your car serviced.
If the team of technicians working on your car is worth its salt—and they are or you wouldn’t be here—they’ll inspect your car from top to bottom while they change your oil. They’ll check your fluids, air up your tires and look for any leaks or damage under the car. But like most of us, they’re busy. After all, they’re trying to get you in and out in a few short minutes.
Which is why it can be helpful to ask your technician to check on certain things they might not ordinarily take the time to inspect, the seldom-noticed parts of your car that can be expensive to repair if warning signs aren’t caught early enough.
Take care of these and all your cars needs, visit our service department at
Miracle Motor Mart East 5100 E.Main St. Columbus, Ohio 43213 (614) 861-0250
http://www.miraclemotormarteast.com/Specials-Service.aspx
1. Noises
All cars make noises, but if your car has been making strange ones lately, it might be worth asking a technician to try and pinpoint the source of the sound. Squeals, grinding and screeching could indicate a problem with your brakes, while squeaks, knocking and ticking could be coming from your engine or one of its accessories.
2. Warning Lights
Car manufacturers don’t make warning lights amber or red for nothing. They’re meant to attract your attention and alert you to a problem. Let your technician know if you have a warning light on. You never know, sometimes whatever caused the light to illuminate can be an easy fix.
3. Tire Pressure
Ask your technician what your tires’ air pressures were when you first brought the vehicle in. A tire that was considerably low on pressure could indicate a slow leak, something that can be patched before it grows larger and leaves you on the side of the road with a flat tire.
4. Tire Wear
Technicians can often spot a problem with your car’s alignment or steering just by looking at your tires. Tires that are wearing unevenly or that are “cupped” or “scalloped” could mean your car needs further attention.
5. Brake Pads
This is a great thing to ask if you’re getting a tire rotation. Once your car’s tires are off, it’s a simple matter to peek at the brakes and see how much lining is left. Doing so can alert you to the fact that you may need a brake job in the near future.
6. CV Boots
These little plastic or rubber boots wrap around the flexible CV joint that pairs your car’s axles with its tires (especially on front-wheel-drive cars). If they crack or wear out, they can let dirt and debris into the CV joint, causing premature failure and an expensive repair job. Replacing broken CV boots is a much more pleasant alternative.
7. Exhaust System
One of the places we rarely see is the underside of our vehicles. That’s why a technician who is under the car anyway can easily spot damage to your car’s exhaust system. Damage could be in the form of a bent or crimped exhaust pipe or an exhaust leak or hole in your muffler. Either way, it’s important to have a damaged exhaust system repaired in order to keep exhaust fumes as far away from the car’s cabin as possible.
8. Battery Power
Many auto service facilities have battery testers that can quickly and easily tell you the health of your battery. With the cold winter months on the horizon, now is the perfect time to ask your technician to test your battery and see if it needs to be replaced.
9. Upcoming Services
How many of us really read our car’s owners manual well enough to know that we’ll need to service some component or fluid at X number of miles? Fortunately, your technician has access to a computerized database of the services your car requires and will require in the future. Ask what services your car will need in coming months so you won’t be taken by surprise on your next visit to the quick lube.
As in any relationship, communicating with your car’s technician is critical. You wouldn’t visit a doctor and not explain where it hurts, so talk to your technician about your car’s health whenever possible. After all, if he can diagnose a minor problem before it becomes major, it could save you a lot of money in the long run.
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