Car Maintenance for Girls

Here are the basics every woman should know about car maintenance.

The Owner's Manual - This handy guide that I strongly recommend each driver to read and understand before driving their car too far. The owner's manual has information on how to put petrol in, explains what all the buttons, hooks and straps are and what your tyre pressure should be.

Opening the Hood - The hood release for almost all cars is on the lower left side of the steering wheel as you sit in the driver's seat. When pulled, you should hear the hood release itself from the locking mechanism. With the engine completely turned off, you need to find the secondary toggle hood release. Stand in the center in front of the car, reach both hands under the hood, and lift up on the release.

Windshield Washer Fluid - The container for washer fluid is a plastic jug in the engine compartment. The cap of the jug is labeled. Simply pop the top off the jug and refill with washer fluid that is sold everywhere, even the grocery store. Be sure to replace the cap before lowering the hood.
Checking the Oil - Ladies if the oil light comes on, you must take action. Immediately stop the car and lift the hood of the car and locate the engine oil dipstick. Once found, pull the stick out of the long tube, and wipe the stick clean. It has to be clean enough so you can read the lines at the end of the stick. Carefully, push the dipstick all the way to the end of the tube and slowly pull it back out. The end of the dipstick is graduated; you should be able to tell how much oil the car has. If there is ¾ or more of oil, you can make it to the nearest garage to get the oil topped up bit if there is ½ or less of oil, you must add oil immediately.

Adding Oil - The owner's manual will tell you the best type of oil to add to your car. Now locate the oil cap in your engine, and take the cap off, slowly, tip the oil container until it fits right into the opening of the oil well and begin filling with oil. Before driving away, check the level of your oil is enough and always makes sure the cap is on securely before you drive away.

Changing a Tyre - You will may need your owner's manual for this job to show you where the spare tyre is and how to release it. Before changing your tyre make sure your car is on a level surface out of traffic, engage the parking brake, and no-one is in the car.

DO NOT JACK THE CAR UP JUST YET; we will first loosen the lug nuts on the wheel. You may need to remove the hubcap cover first. Once the whole wheel is exposed, you will see the lug nuts in a circle around the tyre. Locate the wheel wrench and you will see at one end of the wrench it will be round and have a hollow cut out that will fit over the nuts. Place the wrench over one nut at a time pushing it on the nut as far as it will go. Using your muscle, rotate the wrench counter-clockwise until you feel the nut loosen. DO NOT REMOVE THE NUT. You are simply loosening the nuts to make it easier to remove once the car is jacked up.

Look at the owners manual on how to assemble the jack and where to place it on the car. In every case, the jack will be placed behind the wheel that had the flat tyre and directly under a load-bearing section of the frame itself. Position the jack in the appropriate location and start to raise the car by pumping the jack either up and down or around in a circle. Once you feel the jack makes contact on the underside of your car, check to make sure the jack is securely in place, and then continue jacking the car up. The car is high enough when the entire wheel is no longer touching the ground.

Now remove all the nuts and remove the flat tyre from its mount. It is quite heavy, and don't be afraid to let it drop the few inches to the ground. The spare can now be put on matching each of the holes on the tyre with each of the bolts. Now, replace each of the nuts tightening them by using a wheel wrench and turning them in a clockwise fashion Start at the top nut, and work in order as you move around the tire. Do not completely tighten the nuts, this will be done when you have lowered the car but be sure that they are secure.

Now lower the car by reversing the steps used in raising it up. Once the car is completely lowered, the jack can be taken out from under the car. Do not pull the jack out from under the car until it moves freely! With the car now fully on the ground, you can finish tightening the nuts on the newly-placed spare tyre.

Using Jumper Cables - Your car must be in a position where the batteries of the parked cars are at no more than 6 feet apart. Place each car in Park and turn off both engines. Every battery has a positive and a negative terminal and each is clearly marked by + or -. You may need to remove a plastic cap to expose what looks like a big bolt. The jumper cables have 2 metal clamps on each end. Each set of cables has 2 colors on each end (yellow and black or red and black, etc). Each end of the same set of cables with have a clamp of each color. You must connect to exactly the correct terminal, so be sure to read the instructions fully before beginning.

Start the engine of the vehicle with the live battery and let it run for a minute or two. Try starting the engine of the vehicle with the dead battery. If it will not start after 4 or 5 tries, there may be another issue and need service. If it does start, remove the cables in the appropriate order and let the vehicle run at least 20-30 minutes.