Bump starting a car / vehicle

Over the years as a mechanic I have come across a high number of people who are not aware how to bump start a car. I guess it's one of those things you either know or you don't. It is extremely easy to bump start a car and can be very handy knowledge to have should your battery run flat (could be a number of reasons for this and most likely you probably just left your lights on) or maybe your starter motor is on the blink.

Many people use jump leads to effectively jump start their car or a colleagues car but a much simpler way is to bump start the car, plus you don't need the leads or another car in which to do this. I once got to and from work for over a month using this method when my starter motor had packed up.

So I thought I'd run through a quick guide to bump starting your car should you ever need it:

Firstly it is much easier to bump a car into life if it has been parked on a hill, in these cases you don't even need other people to help push the car. If you are parked on a flat it is exactly the same technique you will just need a few willing passers by to volunteer to push your car. Someone will need to be inside the car and its a good idea to have the window down if possible so you can communicate with the guys pushing.

Step 1) Put the key in the ignition and turn the ignition ON.

Step 2) Depress the clutch pedal down and select second (2nd) gear (this usually works best).

Step 3) Keep your foot down on the clutch pedal and take the hand brake (parking brake) off.

Step 4) Ask the people to push the car forwards as fast as they can (if you are on a hill just let it build up enough speed to get to approximately 5-7 MPH). As soon as the car reaches a steady forward momentum ( approximately 5-7 MPH) let your foot off the clutch pedal.

Its that simple! The car will fire into life so give it some gas to make sure it doesn't stall and away you go. Be aware that while your car is being pushed forward, even with the ignition on, you will have no power steering so expect heavy steering. As soon as you lift the clutch up and the engine fires into life all systems will be up and running.

If you have never done this before just give it a try. Even if your car starts properly its a good idea to know how to do this should you ever rely on it. I've got myself out of so many sticky situations (Usually starter motor problems or helping a friend out who cannot start the car using jump leads).

Hope this has been useful, happy bumping :)

Yellow creamy liquid in oil diagnosis. (condensation or head gasket failure)

Ok this is a fairly common problem on most vehicles so I thought I would share a little knowledge on the subject. Having previous mechanics knowledge has its advantages....

Sometimes when you remove your oil filler cap on a car there is a gunky yellow/creamy coloured residue.

This is a sure sign of water getting into the oil system. Oil and water do not mix, in fact oil floats on top of water due to being less dense. In a car engine the heat and pressure caused by running the engine can force these two to mix and the yellow residue that you see is the result of this.

If there is just a little of this residue this could be caused by lots of short journeys in which the car engine gets hot while running and when switched off it will cool down and condensation can occur (usually at the top of the rocker cover). If this type of journey is common for you (just a few miles before switching off the engine) it is highly likely that this residue is just the result of condensation in the engine being forced to mix with the oil. It will usually only show on the inner lid of the oil filler cap. An easy diagnosis is to drive the car a good distance say 40-50 miles down the motorway and back in 5th gear at 70 miles an hour or if fuel isn't a concern in 4th gear is even better so as to keep the revs up. This will get the engine hot enough to burn off any minimal water deposits and hey presto your oil filler cap should now not show any sign of this residue.

If however the residue remains, or in fact gets worse, there is a more severe problem. Unfortunately a common issue is a blown head gasket. There is a small usually rubber but on older models cork gasket that seals the two main block parts of your engine. This gasket has holes in it for the cylinders but also smaller holes which allow oil through to lubricate the engine and water through to cool the engine. If this gasket is cracked in any place this can allow water to enter the oil system or visa versa. This can also be very costly and unless you have good knowledge of mechanics should visit a car garage to have this replaced before any further damage to the engine is caused.

If a head gasket is blown there are often signs of oil in the water system too such as the shiny bright coloured effect you get when water runs over a small amount of oil on the roads. This can be located in the header tank floating on top of the water so easily identified. If there is the yellow residue when you remove the oil dip stick from the car this usually means there is enough water in the oil for it not just to be condensation.
Another common symptom is white smoke from the exhaust when driving but make sure not to confuse this with the usual smoke/steam you will notice when first running a car on a cold morning. Basically, if you have white smoke still coming from the exhaust after driving till the engine is fully warmed up there is usually a problem.

It is a good idea to change your oil every 6000 miles or every 6 months as a standard rule or whichever of the two comes first. With any oil change it is also worth changing the oil filter as these get clogged up very quickly especially on older engines. I will upload simple details of how to change your oil and filter in another post soon so keep a look out. In lucky cases just changing this may also cure your yellow residue problem.

If you have any questions or extra information I may have left out feel free to comment.

Thanks and hope this has been of some use.

Winter vehicle checks and maintenance checks do's and don'ts

It's that time of year again, freezing temperatures, awful driving conditions and all this can take its toll on you and also your car! We still need to get to work and carry out day to day duties so here are a few tips to ensure your usual routine runs as smoothly as it can!

A few simple checks can make all the difference, just once a week (perhaps at the weekends) check the following on your car:

1) Make sure your windscreen washer bottle is topped up and with an appropriate additive. With melting salt and grit on the wet roads driving in winter is the most likely time you'll rely on being able to clean your windscreen! It takes less than 5 minutes to top up your windcreen washer bottle, pop the bonnet open and look for a white (usually square or retangular bottle, sometimes only the bottle neck is visible from the engine bay but these will all have either a blue or yellow plastic cap on them. The cap will have a small picture of a windcreen and usually a few dash's dipicting water being squirted onto the windscreen). Simply open this cap and top up to the maximum, it is a good idea to use 30% additive and 70% water. This will help stop freezing in cold temperatures and also clean the windscreen more efficiently. Do not be tempted to use washing up liquid as this can cause smearing and in some cases they contain chemicals that wont do your paintwork any favours. Most supermarkets sell these additives and places such as halfords sell ready mixed solutions at a very cheap price (couple of pound for large bottle approximately) Put the lid back on and job done!

2) Make sure your window wipers are in good condition, you can lift these up and clean any dirt off these with a wet sponge and you'd be surprised how much better they work! If any bits if rubber are split they will need replacing. On cold frosty morning or when snow has fallen do not be tempted to put you wipers on to clear the snow of frost. More often than not the rubber will be frozen to the windscreen and turning them on can split the fragile rubbers and in some cases ruin the wiper motor which can then be costly to replace. Use the car heaters set onto the inner windscreen and a scrapper to fully clear the windscreen before turning on your wipers! This may take a little longer but will prolong the life of your windscreen wipers. I've known people to fit brand new wiper blades and ruin them within a week by not following these intructions.

3) Check your tires regularly, the inside and outside edge are the most common areas to wear down and become smooth (Especially on cars with power steering which nowadays is almost all cars). This will give you very little grip and in wet or icy conditions be utterly useless! In some circumstances a little air can be let out of your tires to give extra grip (basically the more rubber in contact with the road surface the more grip). This is only a good idea in very servere snow or ice and you must remember to top the tire pressures back up when out of these conditions to improve tire wear and also give you better grip on roads that are not icy! Usually most standard car tires psi (pressure) is around about 30 psi, I would recommend in ivy conditions letting 5-10 psi out of each tire depending if you have a front or rear wheel drive car. You must be aware though that this is only to get you moving on icy roads, as soon as you are out on the ice and snow and on usual road conditions you'll need to set the tire pressures correctly as soon as possible!

4) Check your car has enough anti freeze in its coolant system (most cars use water cooling systems that keep their engine from overheating in summer by running water around the engine block, cooled by the fan in summer but in winter this water can freeze). When water freezes it expands and in small often rubber hoses these can split easily which will result in your coolant leaking out of the car and innevitably overheating and in some case very severe damage to your engine. Most cars should have 40-50% mix of anti freeze and water in the coolant system. Anti freeze is usually bright green or pink so more often than not you can tell if there is anti freeze in your cooling system by checking the header tank. Anti freeze is extremely poisonous if swallowed so I am not suggesting you do this but as a mechanic you can often check if anti freeze is in a cars cooling system by dipping your finger in the header tank and then licking it. If it tastes very sweet then there is anti freeze in it.

5) It is a good idea to make sure you have a few items in the boot as these can b invaluable if the weather gets below zero. Items such as: a shovel or a spade incase you need to dig yourself out of snow, some warm clothing incase you become stranded and do not habe enough guel to keep the heaters running, a reflective triangle to warn oncoming traffic that there is  something stationary in the road up ahead, a high visability vest (this is also law in countries such as France if you plan to drive over there), some carpet or planks of wood can be handy to put under the driving wheels if you cannot get any traction in ice or snowy conditions. To be honest the list is endless but it is always a good idea to have something in your boot that can help you if you get stuck, I have even used clothing under the wheels before and it does make a difference trust me.