Car Problems
When you travel to new destinations during your summer fun, there can be some times that you get stuck with a problem; especially when traveling by car. Your car can malfunction or break down at any moment in time. So, it is important to know the basics of how to fix certain problems that occur in your car, such as jump starting the car, fixing a flat tire, and replacing wiper blades. At first you may think you have no idea of what to do to fix these problems, but not to worry I’m here to help to explain how to solve these issues. We will go through steps for each issue, so you know exactly what to do in these situations.
You may think that you won’t need to know this information because it will never happen. But that is what I thought as well until I was on a road trip with my family and kept having multiple issues happen to our car during our trip. So it is always important to be prepared for any circumstance that can occur to you, even if you think it will never happen.
Jump starting your car: The first thing you will want to do is call a friend or family member that is nearby the area you broke down in so they can bring their car to hook up to. Once they get to your location, you will want to bring both of the engines close together and turn both the vehicles off. Next, you want to find your jumper cables or have your friend or family member bring a pair if you do not have one with you. With this cable you will want to connect the positive clamps together, which are often red, and begin connecting from the dead car first for your safety. Now connect the negatives together. After connecting those, start up the working vehicle and apply some gas and leave it running for a few minutes. Once it is past a few minutes start your car up while it is still connected, if it does not start right away, wait a few more minutes and try again. Once you get your car running again, carefully disconnect the negative from your car then the other car, then disconnect the positive from your car then the other car. After all this, you are back with a running car for your trip, but should keep in mind to take it to a mechanic soon for a new battery.
Replacing a flat tire: Replacing a flat tire is a common problem you will go through at least once in your lifetime, so it is good to know how to solve this problem. When you realize you have a flat tire, pull over to the side of the road to a safe area where other drivers can see you clearly. Once you pull over, put your hazards on so you are more visible to the other drivers that will be passing you. Your car should always have a jack, wrench, and a spare tire in it at all times in case of a flat tire occurring. If you have the vehicle owner’s manual as well in the car, go ahead and pull that out to make this process a little simpler. When you have all of your supplies out, you will have to loosen the lug nuts. But if you can’t see those you may have a hubcap on your wheels and will need to remove that first before loosening the lug nuts. When loosening, use your wrench to securely get the lug nut and turn it counterclockwise to loosen. Repeat this process to each lug nut. Now place your jack under the metal portion of your vehicle's frame and raise it to get the tire you are changing off the ground. When you have raised the car fully, remove the lug nuts from the wheel and put them in a safe spot so you have them for the spare tire. Next you will remove the flat tire fully from your vehicle. Once you remove the flat tire, line up the holes with the lug nut posts and place the spare tire on. Place the lug nuts onto the spare tire, but don’t tighten them all the way. Lower your vehicle back down to the ground and finish tightening up the lug nuts but doing every other one, not in the order of the circle. Now you have completed replacing a flat tire! Make sure you head to the mechanic after your trip to get yourself a new tire.
Replacing wiper blades: This problem may not be as common to complete during your trip, but it does happen and I as well have had to deal with this situation before. Your wiper blades can go through tough weather situations with rain, hail, and wind. Wiper blades can become old and not be as good as they were when they were new, leading you to change them, or they can fly off if not properly placed on or you are traveling through extreme weather conditions making them fly off. To start off this process of replacing them, you will need to find your owner’s manual book to check what the right sizes are for each blade. If you can’t find your owner’s manual, you can easily look up the sizes for your model car and they will pop up right away on the internet. When replacing them, you will want to lift your wiper blades off of the windshield, then you will press down on the wiper tab and pull the blades straight down to remove it. To place in the new blades, slide in your new ones onto the hook until it clicks in place. There you go! You now have perfectly new wiper blades!
Now would you look at that, you have so much knowledge for solving common problems that can happen to your car on your fun road trips. I hope all of this information has helped and you are ready for any of these problems if they come your way because I know you will take them on like a champ!
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