Four Signs There Might Be Something Up With Your Car
No matter how much you may love your car, you need to face facts: no vehicle is perfect, which means that at some point you will experience a problem with your car that will need to be repaired. Here are six signs that indicate that there may be a problem with your vehicle.
Overheating
As a general rule, your car should take a few minutes to go from cold to its usual running temperature, and if you notice it heating up a lot faster than that then there may be a problem. First of all, your cooling system may have an issue like a leak, or maybe a lack of coolant, so flush and refill the system. If the car isn’t leaking coolant there may be a broken water pump, which you might need to replace, or a broken radiator. If you aren’t sure what to do yourself, check out what a Subaru head gasket repair is – a lot of the time, it’s better to get the professionals in to fix big problems like that.
Smoke From The Engine
No matter what colour smoke is coming from your engine, one thing is for certain: something is very wrong. If you notice black smoke, it may mean that the air filter is clogged up, although luckily that can be easily replaced. If you notice that there’s still an issue, it might be because of a bad fuel pressure regulator or a leaky fuel injector, or maybe a problem in your emission system. White smoke may mean that you have a blown head gasket or cracked cylinder head, or alternatively that condensation or antifreeze has got into the car’s fuel supply. Finally, blue smoke means that oil is leaking from the engine and burning with fuel because of worn valves or piston rings, so you need to make sure that you get those seals fixed as soon as possible.
Oily Puddles
To determine whether oil is leaking from your car, unfortunately you need to look carefully at what substance is on the road after you move the car. Oil tends to be dark brown and leave a dark residue behind – and unfortunately if that’s leaking from your car, it’s a big problem and one you need to get fixed immediately by an experienced mechanic. First of all, make sure you have a fire extinguisher in your car, because oil leaks can be fire hazards, and then make sure that you’ve tightened anything on the bottom of your car that might be loose, before taking it into the shop.
A Loud Engine
If your engine is being particularly noisy, you probably have an issue with the exhaust system, which is actually distinct from the engine itself and which can degrade over time thanks to a number of seals and gaskets which can break and rupture. If the cost of the repair seems astronomical, you can always find used parts that can replace the damaged ones in your own vehicle.
Although car problems can be worrying, there is usually a pretty easy fix out there.