5 Of The Most Common Car Faults And How To Fix Them.

Are you always having problems with your car and can’t fix it? This could help, here are the solutions to 5 of the most common car problems.

A Flat Tyre

Fixing a flat tyre is easy if you know how. Here are the steps to do it;

Use a car jack on a stable part of your car frame to lift up the vehicle so that you can remove the damaged wheel.

Once you’ve lifted the vehicle up, remove the lug nuts using a locking wheel nut and ratchet to loosen and remove completely. Then, remove the wheel and replace with the new tyre or your spare. Replace the lug nuts using your tools, tightening securely. Then bring down the jack once finished.

Need some visual help? Watch how to change a flat tyre

Broken Headlight Bulb

Are drivers flashing you on the road? Chances are your headlights are either not on, or one has stopped working. Replace one or both using the steps below.

Firstly, before doing anything, you need to make sure you buy the right bulb. To find this out, take a look in your car's handbook, this will have all of the information you need. Yor handbook will also show you how to access and remove your headlight compartment, as each car is different.

Once you know where to look, turn your car off then go ahead and unplug the broken bulb and attach the new one in its place. It’s as simple as that, just give your new bulb a quick test and you’re good to go.

Faulty Spark Plugs

If you’re having trouble starting your car, or it sounds a bit off when you do you may need to replace your spark plugs. Source the correct replacement parts and follow the steps below.

To start with, remove any HT leads and any other things that are in the way of fitting the new plugs. Once removed, brush away any dirt near to your spark plugs and unscrew the old plugs with a spark spanner and remove them. When you’ve removed them, use a feeler blade or a gap setting tool to check the electrode gap of the new plugs. After this put some copper grease on the threads of each new plug, screw them in and then tighten them. After tightening them, reconnect anything you took out at the start.

Need some more help? Watch how to replace spark plugs

Flat Car Battery

If you’ve left your headlights on, or even the radio while not running the car it’s easy to run your battery down. You’ll only find out once your car won’t start up. This could happen to anyone so it’s a good idea to keep a pair of jump leads in your car or even have a car battery charger in your garage. If your car's battery goes completely flat you won’t be able to charge it up, you’ll have to jump start it with leads, another car or a power pack.

Before you try to get your car started again, check the battery, if the battery is leaking, corroded or damaged DO NOT jump start it. Make sure any other metals or naked flames are away from the car, and don’t smoke. Take out the key, make sure everything is off and all loose clothes are away.

If your battery is not damaged or leaking, you can go ahead and jump start your car.

If you’re doing it with another car, make sure you are parked next to each other but not touching. Open the bonnet and connect the first end of the red positive lead to the positive terminal of the battery that works. After doing this, do the same but for the other end for the flat battery, and then connect the black negative lead to the negative terminal on the working battery. Then, you need to attach the other end to a metal point, like a bracket that is away from the flat battery. Next you need to make sure the jump leads are away from all moving parts. Then you can start the engine of the working car, leave it for a minute and then try to turn on the car with the flat battery. If this doesn’t work, leave it for a few minutes and try it again. One thing to make sure is that the leads do not get hot, if they do you should turn the engine off immediately.

After the car has been jump started, leave it running for a good 30 minutes before driving away. Watch a jump start in action here.

Changing Your Oil

If your oil level gets too low, it can cause the engine to overheat and it will increase internal friction. You should check your oil levels every 2 weeks, a lot of people don’t and this is why it’s such a common fault with cars. Low oil levels are easy to replenish and here the steps how to;

Find the oil pan underneath your car to start and unscrew the drain plug and drain the old oil. Next you will have to remove your oil filter and lubricate the rubber gasket on the new oil filter. After that you can fill the new oil filter 2/3rds of the way and then screw in your new oil filter part. Once done, you will then need to fill the engine with the new oil, check the oil level and then dispose of the old oil and filter!

Watch an oil replacement here