I remember the day that I said to myself that I had to learn the basics of car repair. It was at the tender age of 17, and my best friend and I were heading back to Memphis after a wild weekend in New Orleans. John’s 1966 Pontiac GTO began overheating on Interstate 55N. We pulled off the road at the next exit in an effort to find a gas station that could fix the problem. As we pulled off the road, we realized that there was nothing at the exit. Meanwhile, the car was so overheated that it looked like we were on fire. As the car limped deeper into the countryside, we realized that we had to stop. We saw a trailer on a hill about a mile away, and figured that we could get some water there. We walked up and knocked on the trailer door, and it slowly opened. We were in total shock. A toothless unshaven guy in dirty overalls (no –shirt) opened the door with a shotgun. He could have been in the movie “Deliverance”. As it turned out, he was a nice guy. He looked at our car and determined that it was only a burst radiator hose. I wouldn’t want my daughter to be in that situation, much less my son.
As crazy as parents have become about keeping their kids active with school, sports, and cultural activities like ballet, etc. – we somehow have not had the common sense to teach them the basics of car repair and car maintenance. While I don’t particularly want my child to grow up to change oil at the local gas station, I also don’t want him/her stuck on the side of a lonely stretch of highway at night in the middle of winter – because they ran out of gas. Basic car repair /maintenance isn’t brain surgery. There are some things that can be done easily, some things that are more difficult, and some things that can only be done at a qualified service station. I want to focus on the things that EVERYONE can do.
For starters, one must understand that a car is like a living human being. We need food, exercise, water, clean air, and good shoes. The most basic of car requirements that we have control over are fuel, oil, water, tires, battery, various hoses and various belts. If any of these seven items are not working or not present – then you will end up sitting by the side of the road. If you don’t know how to fix them, then you are stuck.
Make sure that the tires are in good shape, make sure that you have a good spare, make sure that you have a complete tire jack – and that you know how to change a tire. Know how to check you fluids – the water level in the radiator, and the engine oil and transmission oil. Check your hoses and belts for wear, and keep spares in your trunk – along with the necessary tools – just in case you need to do a repair on the side of the road. Keep a couple of gallons of water and a flashlight in the trunk too. If a radiator hose breaks and you fix it, you will have to replace the water BEFORE you can continue on your journey. The flashlight is because this kind of thing does happen at night.
Lastly, keep your AAA card up-to-date and hope your cell phone can pick up a signal. There are some car problems that you just can’t fix on the side of the road.
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