How to Keep Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Your car has got a lot going on, both literally under the hood and in every corner of it. When your car has a problem, there’s a very good chance that this problem has a precursor you could have easily figured out if you had been very attentive to it earlier on. The fact is, the more mindful you are about your car’s operation, the longer it’s going to last and the more efficient it’s going to be in the short term.

Problems don’t just appear out of nowhere, after all. For the most part, you get at least a few days of warning before a major problem is going to crop up. Other than there being a nail in the tire, you can generally count on getting some sort of warning, like the car may not drive quite right or there’s a funny sound. In any case, either look at it yourself if you feel qualified or take it to a professional.

The Chunk Chunk

The sound of chunking in your car while you’re driving is a classic sign that you’re completely out of gas. This is terrible for your fuel pump, and not particularly good for your engine. Now, you usually have tons of time to work on this by filling up because the low fuel light goes on. Before that, you have an entire gauge that’s only there to let you know when you’re getting low. But then, at the same time, if you notice the gauge hasn’t moved in a while, the gauge itself may be the problem.

Slight Wobbling

As you can easily find when you peruse Dig My Ride, your tires don’t need to be entirely flat before the car seems as if it’s balancing on a strange pivot of some kind. This can sometimes happen if your tire loses only ten psi of air pressure. At the same time, you also have to be mindful that wear patterns can happen quickly if your tires haven’t been properly rotated. Even with getting your alignment done regularly, getting your tires rotated is still an essential part of vehicular maintenance.

Rough and Squeaking Sounds

Sometimes, there are sounds that are just rough-sounding in general, or that squeak in a very uncomfortable way. These are usually signs that one of the belts in your vehicle is beginning to slip. Now, in some cases, this just means someone spilled a little bit of oil on them. In other cases, this means that the belts are slipping off of their spindles or guides. This can happen for a lot of reasons, including the belts wearing out, parts shifting in ways they aren’t supposed to, or an excess of drag, such as when an engine is burning oil. Generally speaking, unless you yourself are very good at vehicle maintenance, strange squeaks are worth taking to someone knowledgeable that can listen for specifics and pop the hood to learn more.