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There are car guys, who know how to tear their cars down to the frame and put it back together again, and then there are guys with cars. If you fall into the latter category, don’t worry — you don’t need to be a mechanic or have a degree in mechanical engineering to keep your car running smoothly. Here’s a list of 10 car repairs all guys should be able to do.
10. Check Your Fluids
This isn’t technically a repair, but it is one thing you should be able to do regardless — keeping up with your fluid levels can help prevent costly repairs in the future. Learn which fluids you should check when the engine is cold — coolant, brake fluid, power steering fluid, etc. — which ones you should check when the engine is warm, but off — oil — and which to check with the engine idling — transmission. Read your owner’s manual for your car’s specifics.
9. Change a Tire
Getting stuck with a flat tire sucks — there’s no getting around it — but you don’t have to wait for AAA to come to the rescue if you know how to change your own tire. It’s also a good opportunity to learn how to jack up your car properly.
8. Change Your Lights
Your car is full of lightbulbs — headlights, taillights, turn signals, floodlights and all your interior lights each have a bulb that will eventually burn out. Take time to learn how to replace these bulbs to save yourself from a costly trip to the shop. Make sure you use gloves to handle the bulbs, too — the oils from your hand can cause the bulbs to superheat and burn out much faster if you touch the glass with bare skin.
7. Change Your Oil
Regular oil changes are an important part of keeping your car running smoothly, but they don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg — especially if you’re using synthetic oil, rather than conventional. Check your owner’s manual for things like the proper oil weight and whether your make and model requires synthetic oil.
6. Jump-Start Your Car
Whether you left your headlights on overnight or you’ve got an old battery that needs replacing, a dead battery is a pain in the butt. Learn how to jump-start your car and you’ll never need to worry about waiting for AAA to come to the rescue. On the “donor” car, clip both clamps to the battery — red to red for positive, and black to black for negative. On the dead car, clip the red positive clamp to the battery and ground the negative clamp to the frame.
5. Change a Radiator Hose
A blown radiator hose is a hot and smelly mess, but it’s not the end of the world, and it’s something you can easily change at home. All you need is a replacement hose and a screwdriver to loosen the hose clamps. Make sure you get the right one — many hoses are molded with 90-degree angles to make them fit in a cluttered engine compartment, so a straight length of hose won’t work without kinking.
4. Replace Your Filters
Your car has a whole bunch of filters you need to change regularly — air filters that keep contaminants out of the air intake, cabin air filters that keep the same contaminants from blowing in your face when the air conditioner is on, fuel filters to filter out any debris in your fuel lines and, of course, the infamous oil filter. If you drive an automatic, you may even have a transmission filter that needs replacement. Learn where all your filters are and how to replace them.
3. Replace a Battery
We’ve already talked about how much a dead battery sucks, but thankfully replacing them is simple. For most cars, you’ll only need an 8 or 10mm wrench or socket to remove the battery terminals — top post is usually 10mm, side post is usually 8mm — and a 12 mm socket to remove the battery hold down. Then, remove the battery and install the new one in reverse order. Make sure you take the plastic cap off the negative terminal of your new battery, though!
2. Change a Fuse
If something electrical in your car stops working, the first thing you should check is the fuses. Your owner’s manual will list the locations of your car’s fuse and relay boxes — you’ll usually have one under the dash and one under the hood — and each box will be printed with a fuse map that tells you what fuse does what. For a couple of bucks, you can pick up a fuse tester that will tell you whether a fuse is bad, if the burned-out fuse isn’t obviously burned.
- Patch and Refill a Tire
Changing a tire is a handy skill, but what do you do if your spare is flat and you’ve got a nail in your treads? Keep a tire patch kit in your car and use it to plug the hole once you’ve removed the nail or other offending object. It can take some practice, but once you’ve patched the tire, you can drive on it until you can get to the shop to get it replaced. Don’t try to patch a hole on the sidewall, though — you could be setting yourself up for a blowout if you do.
It doesn’t take much to learn how to work on a car — and these 10 things should be on the top of your “to-learn” list, whether you want to learn how to rebuild cars or just keep your car running well. These 10 skills can help keep you on the road and keep your hard-earned money in your wallet.
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