The Nose Knows - Trust you senses when it comes to car trouble

The secret behind a smooth life for your car is preventive maintenance. The wiser car owner knows this well. The psychology of car problems is such that the longer a problem is ignored, the higher the risks for your car, and the higher the costs of fixing it. It is a good thing, then, that car problems do show symptoms that will enable you to discover a potential problem before it even becomes an actual problem.

Cars are manmade machines, and the best way to detect the first few signs of trouble is to use the human senses. Cars can be quite complicated, especially for drivers and owners without much background. The symptoms, however, are quite easy to diagnose.

Using your sense of sight, the best indication of car trouble are puddles and leaks. You can evaluate what the potential problem is based on the size of the puddle or amount of leakage, and the color of the fluid that is discharged. An entire puddle may be an indication of some serious trouble. The bigger the puddle, the more urgent the need is to take your vehicle to a repair shop for a check-up. However, small stains and occasional leakages may also indicate milder problems. Using the color of the fluid to evaluate, if the fluid is black and oily, oil is leaking from your engine. On the other hand, if the fluid is actually just clear water, there is no need to worry. If the puddle is somewhere between yellow, blue, or orange, you may have to check if your engine is overheated, is your radiator is leaking, or if you are experiencing an anti-freeze leak. If the fluid is red, this may indicate a leak of your power-steering fluid.

Aside from that, you can also use your sense of smell. This is probably the earliest sign of a potential problem you can get, but the diagnosis can be tricky. Just make sure you identify the smell correctly. If you smell something like rotten eggs, which is actually the smell of burning sulphur, check your catalytic converter and other emission control devices. If the smell is sweet, you probably have an engine coolant leak. Even if the temperature gauge does not indicate this, it is still better to have it checked. If you also smell a hot scent that smells like metal, you may have an overheated engine. A heavy, pungent smell may indicate an oil leak, and the smell of gas vapors after a failed start may be a sign that you’ve flooded your engine. If you smell something like burnt toast, it is a likely sign of an electrical short and a burning insulation. If the smell is like burning resin or something that smells like a chemical, your brakes or clutch may be overheated.

Moving on to the sense of hearing, there are a lot of different sounds that can be detected from a car. What you should look out for are the squeaks, rattles, and rumbles. If you hear a shrill squeak from your car, you may have a big problem related to your engine, or a relatively smaller problem related to your air conditioning belt or power steering. If you hear a rumble, check your exhaust pipes, converter, muffler, or universal joint. If the sound you hear is like a heavy knocking, your transmission torque converter may be loose. If you hear a metallic tapping, it can either be a low fuel octane rating or an engine ignition timing problem.

Regardless of which sign you see, smell or hear, the best response is to pull over and check the vehicle. You can also choose to go to the nearest service station you see if you don’t trust your judgment on cars that much. Just remember that the longer the problem is ignored, the higher the expense will be.