Car checks to carry out this festive season
When you use poor quality or inadequate engine oil, you subject your engine to an engine knock. An engine knock is when your engine stops running. Net Photo
Jimmy Ssebadduka, a mechanic at Shell Jinja Road, strongly recommends replacing your car tyres given the fact that the festive season is characterised with lots of rainfall. This means that most, if not all murrum and tarmacked roads, tend to be slippery when it rains.
“When you drive on tyres with treads, you will maintain a stable driving traction. If you persist and drive on old tyres, chances of your car skidding off the road become high. Treadles tyres slide the car off the road, especially murrum roads,” Ssebadduka advises.
Traction is the force with which your tyre treads gain strong momentum with the road surface to pull the car over the same surface.
Engine oil
Musa Kimera, a mechanic at CKK Garage at Wandegeya describes an engine as the heart of every car. As such, when you run it on poor quality or low engine oil levels, it will wear out sooner than it should.
“When you use poor quality or inadequate engine oil, you subject your engine to an engine knock. If you have used the same oil since the year started, it is safer to have the old one extracted and replaced with newer oil to have a smooth journey,” Kimera advises.
An engine knock is when your engine stops running. Engine parts such as the piston and main bearings and crankshaft will cease because the engine would not be rotating. An engine knock means you will have to carry out an engine overhaul and this involves replacing all engine parts. In worse cases, you will have to buy a new engine.
Braking system
Regardless of whether you are driving at a low or high speed, what brings your car to a stop is the braking system. This system is made up of parts such as the brake pads, brake disc or rotor and the brake drum.
“If any of these parts is old or damaged in anyway, it will affect your braking efficiency. This will compromise your safety but you might also ram into other motorists and pedestrians if you experience brake failure,” Kimera explains.
On average, a set of four brand new brake pads costs Shs100,000, but this depends on their quality and where you buy them from. If your brake disc is rough or warped in anyway, you have it resurfaced to its flat surface so that it does not lead to fast brake pad wear.
Wipers
The primary purpose of wipers, is to clear water off your windscreen especially when it’s raining so that you are able to view where you are steering to. However, to achieve this, your wipers need to be in the best condition.
One of the signs that your wipers especially the blades are old and need replacement, is when they start scratching and leaving a curved line on your windscreen.
Brake and headlights
Peter Kasoma, also a mechanic observes that sometimes one might drive a car without knowing that one or both of the brake lights are dysfunctional.
The same is also true for the headlights. Because these lights are what will ensure that you are visible to other motorists if you intend to drive at night or when it is raining heavily, Kasoma strongly recommends visiting a garage to check and confirm if all your lights are functional.
“You may as well check your brake and headlights functionality by letting someone stand at the front and back of your car as you step on the brake pedal and let them find out if the brake lights are in the right condition before driving upcountry. Brake lights caution the motorists following you that you have intentions of stopping or reducing speed,” Kasoma explains.
Spare tyre
While you may concentrate so much on the car, do not forget about the spare tyre. Ensure that it has the right tyre pressure. You should also carry along the right car spanner size and car jack to help you change the car tyre in case you unfortunately experience a puncture along the way.
Gearbox
Unlike automatic cars whose gears shift automatically, the functionality of a manual car partly depends on the status of the gearbox.
This is because manual car gears are shifted manually. This means that apart from all the other parts, have your car inspected to make sure it has the required levels of transmission fluids.
In every car, transmission fluid plays an important role of making sure that your gearbox does not experience friction among its parts by keeping it well-lubricated.
Transmission fluid also prevents heat generation and clutch slip when you step on the clutch pedal. Some of the symptoms of a failing gearbox is when you hear a grinding sound as you change gears, a burning smell and when gears engage later than desired. A brownish layer of fluid that forms under your car when it has been parked also means that your gearbox has a leakage that need to be rectified.
