Car Maintenance – My Husband Does That
If a car is going to get hot, it will get hot driving around in the Arizona summer. She’d been driving a VIP to different locations in her own car, but the job was finished now. She was on the way home, two weeks and several hundred miles later. Phew! But it seemed awfully hot, even with the air conditioning on full.
She felt around the seats and dash – wow, that dash was like fire! Surely it couldn’t just be from the sun. She pulled over and opened the hood to check the radiator, but it didn’t seem to be in need of water.
Finally some knights in shining armor came by and asked to help. They checked the oil and found not even enough to cover the end of the dipstick. The engine was overheating because the oil was almost gone. When asked about the last time she checked the oil, she said she doesn’t check oil – her husband takes care of the cars. But she’d been away from home for a couple of weeks and done a tremendous amount of driving.
Lack of oil can wreck the engine entirely, and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage – usually you have to replace the entire engine. So she was very lucky in that respect. But just checking the oil every second or third time you fill up the gas tank can save you a disaster.
A different lady who drove an old van across the country one summer did check her oil and to her surprise the dipstick came up dry. The engine seemed to be fine, wasn’t running hot or anything, but the dipstick said there was no oil. She poured in some oil and checked it again – after 2 quarts, the dipstick showed it was overfilled. When she checked a third time, the dipstick came up dry. Not wanting to risk driving with no oil in the engine, she put some more oil in.
When she took it to a garage, the mechanic discovered a small hole in the metal tube where the dipstick rests. Sometimes when the dipstick was placed in the tube it went into that hole, in which case it came back out dry. And sometimes it went into the crankcase, where there was plenty of oil – in fact, too much oil.
Overfilling the oil causes pressure which can also damage the engine, so it was a good thing the woman had pulled into a repair shop.
Everyone has some unusual car stories. They are interesting or even funny when you look back on them, but they aren’t funny when they happen. Both of these could have been prevented. Part of standard maintenance includes regular oil changes, and a good idea is to have that standard maintenance done at your regular auto repair shop, where you trust the mechanics to do a good job for the right price. If you don’t have a regular garage, you should find one.
We ladies greatly appreciate the men of Arizona and other parts of the nation who stop to help us with our cars in time of need. You are wonderful! Hopefully, with some usual and ordinary maintenance and inspection we will have less need in the future and save you some sweat.
Want to find out more about car repair, then visit 3A Automotive’s site on how to choose the best mechanic for your needs.