Video:How to Know if Something is Wrong With Your Car

Transcript:How to Know if Something is Wrong With Your Car

Hi, I'm Matt Ediger from DownForce Motoring for About.com and this is how to tell if something is wrong with your car.

Tips for Knowing if Something Is Wrong With Your Car

Your car is a highly technical machine, with hundreds of moving parts, over 1000 feet of electrical wire, and no less than 5 separate and distinct fluids. When something goes wrong, or doesn't feel right it can be hard to know where to begin. In this video we'll show you what to take notice of if you car begins to run differently than it used to. Your cars tires are very important as we all know. If you feel a wobble or vibration at speed, this should be the first area to check. Due to the construction of modern tires they are fairly reliable. Though, on occasion the belts can shift resulting in a bulge which can be felt as a vibration if you feel this you may want to take your car into one of the many tire stores for a professional inspection.

Other Issues to Consider to Know if Something Is Wrong With Your Car

Another aspect to consider is the wheels of your car, hitting potholes or curbs at excessive speed can bend the wheel causing a wobble or vibration, also if you happen to loose one of the counter-balancing weights this can cause a wobble at speed. If you find your car drifting when you let go of the wheel this could be a problem with you suspension, specifically with your cars alignment. Bumping into curbs, and getting new tires and or wheels installed can throw off your cars alignment causing your cars steering wheel to be off center and the car to require adjustment while driving to maintain a straight line. Alignments should only be performed by professional mechanics, they use special "racks" to reset your cars alignment. If your car pulls to one side during braking then you probably have an issue with one of the brakes you can check this yourself with some tools a jack and jack-stand, but that's another video.

Know if Something Is Wrong With Your Car

If your car cranks and cranks but wont start or takes a while to start this is a sure sign something is up under your hood. The holy trinity of the internal combustion engine is: Air, fuel, spark. If you don't have one of these three, or if the ratios are out of sync you'll have a poorly running engine. Your cars electrical system is not as complicated as it may seem, your car is powered initially by the battery, after the engine is running the alternator takes over. If you're car won't start it may be an issue with the battery if it starts but dies it may be due to the alternator not providing enough voltage to run the car. If certain things like your radio or heater you may need to check your cars fuse box. If you find it requires extra effort to shift out of park or your transmission shifts hard into gear or the revs of your engine climb with little resulting speed increase you may have an issue with your transmission.

Thanks for watching, if you'd like more detailed information regarding car repair, please find us on the web at About.com