Check your battery often, lots of people never do this until their car won’t start. No! Check to make sure the water level is kept up.  There is  a plastic cover over some small holes in the top of your battery. These little holes hold water. Remove the cap, just pull up, it should pop right off. There are little lines insides the holes on the battery to tell you where the  water level should be, make sure it’s there, if not, fill it, and replace the little cover. Next, make sure the post connections, are clean, tight and free of corrosion(build up of battery acid). This will stop your car from starting, as it can not make connection from the battery, to your car. If it has a build up of green/white powder looking stuff, it needs to come off.  You can get a little metal brush, and disconnet the battery to clean the inside of the cable,(which is the best, and preferred way), or you can get a can of room temperature cocoa colla, and pour it over the battery post, and watch the battery acid disappear. If there is a big build-up of battery acid on the post of the battery, it will not make contact with your car, and therefore it won’t start. So this is a must. Remember. the battery is only used to start your car, once the battery has done it’s job, it turns the car over to the alternator, which keeps it running.  Should you have to jump start your battery, make sure the cables are connected correctly. The positive (+) on the battery is where the red end of the cable goes.  The negative (-) , is where the black end goes.  DO NOT let the two touch each other  for this will cause a spark.  Once the cables are connceted, try starting the car, having the car with the good battery started already.  The car should start right up.

       Another thing to check if your car has problems starting, is your alternator.  To do this, start your car, remove the ground (black) end of your battery cable from the post of the battery,if the engine of your car dies, this usually means you have a bad alternator.  Remember the battery is only used to start the car, and the alternator keeps it running.

      Next, if you have a flat tire on the road, don’t consider yourself stranded, and don’t panic.  Get as far off the road to the right shoulder, as possible.  Put your hazzard lights on, and your emergency brake.Set up a flare if you have one. Look in the trunk of your car, under the linning, and there is your spare tire, jack, crank for the jack , and lug wrench  (Sometimes the lug wrench and crank for the jack is the same tool.)  These are ususally screwed down to keep  them from shifting, and making noises. Unscrew the top, and remove the jack, placing it under the support arm of the flat tire.  Remove the center piece of your rim, if you cannot see the lug nut, this can be done with the flat end of the lug wrench, or a screwdriver.  Take the lug wrench and loosen all lugs, jack the car up, and take off the lug nuts, careful not to misplace them.  Remove the falt tire, and mount your spare. You may have to jack the car up a little more, because the car was higher with a inflated tire.  Start putting the lug nuts back on with the lug wrench.  When they are as tight as you can get them. Jack the car back down, and retighten with the lug wrench. They are usually tight enough when you hear a rubbing sound.  make sure to tighten all lugs nuts. Replace the jack, flat tire, and lug wrench back in your trunk.

      If your check engine light comes on, it could be somethig as simple, as bad gas, gas cap not on securely, or the dip stick for the oil could be pushed in too tight. These and other things can often make your engine run funny, and trugger the check engine light to come on. 

      If your car’s heat, dome light, turnsignal, headl lights door locks, hazzard light, or any of your accessiores don’t work, the first thing you should do is check all fuses. Consult your owners manual to find out where  your fuse box is located, and there is a diagram in the book to show you what each fuse controls.

      You must keep clean oil running through your engineat all times, this makes sure your engine last a long time.  To check your oil, try to make sure your engine is cold, and your car is on flat surface.  Locate the dip stick for oil, it is usually marked (oil) pull it out, and wipe it with a towel, replace it back in the little hole, and remove it again. This time hold the tip in your hand and read it.   If it’s full, that’s what it will say, if you need to add oil, it will have little markings on the stick to tell you how much you should add,  The oli should be almost clear in color.  You should keep a record of your oil changes, the oil shoud be changed every 3000 miles, or as reccommended by the manufacture of your car. If you have to add oil, remove the cap on top of the engine, also marked (oil), get a funnel so as not to spill oil on your engine, Add the oil, and replace he oil cap. 

     These are some of the things you can do yourself, without having take your car in and being charged a service fee, pluse eveyime youdo something to your car, you get to know it just a little better.

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