Taking care of your car can be complicated. Proper maintenance can help your vehicle last longer and save you money by not having to spend a lot of money on repairs or a whole new car. Not everyone understands the inner workings of a car, though, and some of us can’t tell a piston from a pizza.
Audra Fordin, a fourth-generation mechanic and owner of Great Bear Auto Repair in Queens, New York, created the nonprofit organization Women Auto Know to empower women when it comes to taking care of their cars. If you’re looking for ways to help your ride last longer, Fordin has a few, ahemmotor ways and take care of your car.
So before you take your vehicle to the mechanic to check the red light on the dashboard, make sure you Heed the five things Fordin says you shouldn’t do to your car.
1. Don’t kick the tires
The rubber on car tires back then was generally weak, so giving them a kick helped drivers see the quality of the wheel. Not anymore.
“Tires are like the shoes on your feet,” Fordin told TODAY. “They are your car’s first line of defense on the road, so I would never neglect a tire rotation because it is so easy to do and will maximize the life of the tyre.”
Fordin also recommends keeping an eye on the tire’s tread, as it sticks to the ground as well as the sidewall. If the sidewall has bulges, tears, or cracks, you should address them before they cause a blowout.
2. Don’t drive with bad wipers
If you can’t see, you can’t drive. Good windshield wipers can provide a smooth driving experience.
“Wiper blades are easy to replace. They’re cheap and an important safety factor that I would never skip,” Fordin said.
3. Don’t put liquids in the wrong place
Not sure exactly where to put antifreeze or oil? There is an easy way to find out.
“Check out the dashboard lights,” Fordin said. “There are fluid icons on the dash. Make sure you never make this mistake. Use your owner’s manual as a reference and you will see that on the dashboard this icon has a matching tank under the hood.”
Fordin also suggests checking the liquid you’ll need before pouring.
4. Don’t ignore the red or yellow lights on the dashboard
The lights are not these colors just for decoration, they mean something.
“That red brake light lets you know that there’s a potential breakdown or mechanical failure that’s going to happen with your car, so I would never ignore those red lights,” Fordin said.
Yellow lights are generally for maintenance and aren’t such an imminent problem, he said, but they need to be fixed. Fordin also noted that the lights don’t always mean something mechanical is wrong, noting, for example, that a seat belt light could be red to let the driver know that “something dangerous could happen.”
5. Do not take parts to the mechanic
Fordin says there are a few reasons not to take parts to a mechanic.
“You actually lose the warranty on the parts you’re putting on that car, so you’re taking on the liability,” Fordin said.
He also said it’s dangerous for people to buy their own parts based on what they think the problem is.
“Often people self-diagnose their car, go to the shop, buy the parts for themselves only to find out that it was misdiagnosed in the first place, by yourself, and then you wasted your time, wasted your money,” he said. .
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
