Breakdown Cover Articles

Can You Fix It? (Common Car Faults)

In an ideal World, we buy a new or used car, keep it for as long as we want to keep it, get it serviced regularly, and sell it when we get bored with it, and move on to the next one. And the good news is that, at least as far car ownership is concerned, the World is still not quite ideal, but it is getting closer. Cars are much more reliable than they used to, and that's a proven fact.

Yet, that doesn't mean that as car owners, we don't have our responsibilities. Cars do need to be serviced regularly, and unless you don't want to spend some of your time waiting for a patrolman to come out and doing running repairs on your car, then you should listen to the advice of your garage, when they tell you that such and such a repair is going to come up soon or a major parts will need changing before the next service is due. The question is will you do a preventative repair or wait till the next service comes around. If you opt for the latter option, you should be prepared for the inconvenience and the possible danger to yourself and your loved ones, of delaying the inevitable.

The most common parts that will wear out on a car over time are as follows:

Fuel System problems: Always problematic, and even more so in the cars of today. The secret of avoiding problems is never to allow your petrol tank to get less than one third full, and prevent blocking the carburetor jets. These are highly sensitive parts and very expensive to repair, yet if left alone and kept filled with pure fuel and not the gunk from the bottom of your tank will ever give you any problems.

The battery: Batteries can last up to five years, irrespective of the mileage that the car does doing that time. If the car is a "city car", in other words does only short journeys, eventually the terminals and clamp connections will come loose. During its routine service, your garage will check for this. However they will not be sure how your car is handled, so it is not a bad idea to ask them to check out the condition of the battery, and even to charge it if necessary. If your garage informs you that the battery is on its last legs and you choose not to change it, be prepared to be the idiot at the party walking around saying "has anyone here got jump leads".

Alternators: An alternator will wear out on a car over time; it's all a case of how soon. When it does the car won't start, when your garage tell you that the time has come to change the alternator, do yourself a favour and listen. It's not a part that can be repaired, only changed.

Fan Belts: The part that operates around the alternator, radiator and water pump. Low cost and highly important. If the fan belt breaks, and the driver is not diligent enough in recognising the signs, you can blow the engine and cost yourself a lot of money. There are temporary solutions available for building a temporary fan belt, the most romantic being a lady's nylon stocking in the pre war years. Nowadays most ladies don't wear any kind of stockings, so you maybe carry a spare fan belt in your car. On the subject of belts in general, when your garage tells you that the time is approaching to change one of them, ignore their words with caution.

Starter Motors: They will also wear out over time, but if maintained properly can last up to 250,000 miles these days.

Alarms and immobilisation systems: A modern day Trojan horse, planted on us thanks to a joint effort by the car thieves and the insurance, car alarms and immobilisation systems can cause more harm than good. Many a good evening has been ruined while a car owner tries to figure out why the system has failed him. Try and understand how to override the system in cases of emergency, as well as keeping it maintained. These are the main mechanical parts that can cause you problems, although there are a few more. Many of these potential breakdown causers can stand a running repair, or at worse a call to your breakdown service. There are many companies who provide this service, with the following companies AA, GEM Motoring Assist, Green Flag, RAC, MORE TH>N, Tesco, Insurance Choice (IC) being the leaders in the UK field. However the best cure is prevention. It is always better to anticipate these problems before you get to experience them.

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