If you are a driver with great experience, you are familiar with this phrase - "car repair". Different cars bother their owners for various reasons, but each time faced with the need to bring their vehicle to the proper technical condition, motorists are faced with a difficult dilemma - to hand over the car to an authorized dealer, contact the nearest car service or try to repair it on their own.
Useful tips for drivers
Here are some tips to save you unnecessary repair costs and make every trip as safe as possible:
If the car is under warranty, do not try to fix anything yourself - for any question, go to an authorized dealer, otherwise you risk losing warranty service.
Get a tow truck number, issue an OSAGO policy, follow the traffic rules. Do not operate the vehicle even at minimum speed with low oil pressure, antifreeze leaks, or with faulty brakes.
Life-threatening repairs
Self-repair of a car is justified in several cases - if you are a professional auto mechanic and know exactly what to do, or if the problem does not affect the driving characteristics of the car and does not concern its safety, for example, when replacing wipers, side mirrors, fog lights.
In all other cases, it is strongly recommended that you seek help from a qualified technician. Here are just a few car breakdowns that you shouldn't fix yourself.
Malfunctions of the vehicle electrical system. In general, an electrician is not something that an ordinary person can climb into, even if he once screwed in a light bulb or installed an outlet at home. Imagining yourself as an electrician, you can burn a car in a matter of minutes or, at best, get an expensive repair if an expensive device, for example, a control unit, becomes unusable.
Brakes. It would seem that a seemingly primitive brake mechanism can be repaired by yourself. But do not forget that in modern cars, the braking system is controlled by at least five electronic devices, and damage to any of them can cause an emergency. And the banal loose bolts, residual air in the hose or oil that has got on the brake disc will make your brakes ineffective, and the braking distance is infinitely long.
Fuel system. Lack of fuel supply to the injectors is a problem that can be caused by several malfunctions at once, from the injectors themselves to the failure of the fuel pump or a clogged fuel filter.
One of the most dangerous problems is the depressurization of the fuel line. It is impossible to experiment in this case, because the problem threatens to develop into something more - for example, into a fire.
In the event of a leak, it is recommended to discharge static electricity from the vehicle body and driver. To do this, it is enough to approach the place opposite to the leak and touch the metal part of the body with a metal object. After that, immediately call a tow truck and go to a car service to fix the malfunction, having previously disconnected the terminals from the battery.
Chassis. The main danger of self-repairing the chassis is the insufficient tightening of the mounting bolts. And this, in turn, threatens to lose control, and it is good if at this moment you do not have time to gain high speed. The repair of the "hodovka" can indeed be carried out on your own, provided that you know how to do it correctly and have already carried out similar actions under the guidance of an experienced craftsman.
So, without any problems, you can replace levers, ball joints, stabilizer struts. Everything else is best left to the master.
When DIY repairs are costly
Engine and gearbox. Since these units are closely related to each other, we note that it is definitely not worth climbing into this isolated automotive unit, especially in modern vehicles. If you are not an expert in this matter, entrust such repairs to professionals.
Windshield. A crack on a windshield is an unpleasant and dangerous thing, and replacing it is a time-consuming and expensive procedure that requires compliance with complex technological standards, such as temperature, humidity and air quality, and the presence of professional equipment. It is not worth changing the windshield on your own for two reasons - incorrect installation can cause the glass to peel off and fly out at full speed, which is unsafe.
Among other things, you risk getting a leaky car at the exit, which threatens a whole bunch of problems in the future. As a result, you still have to go to the master and pay double the amount for repairs.
Also, you should not independently engage in the firmware of automobile "brains", change the oil in an automatic transmission and on variators. Oil for complex mechanisms is another story. Underfilling or overflowing only a few tens of milliliters leads to premature wear of the rubbing parts and, as a result, to quick and expensive repairs.
If you do not want to lose a significant part of the family budget, never resort to self-repairing paintwork. Usually, small chips and scratches in a good car service are eliminated at a minimal cost, but as soon as you spoil the coating, the amount of repair will increase significantly! The same goes for body repair.
Trust the professionals and install your alarm. In the best case, its incorrect installation will lead to incorrect operation of the device and subsequent reinstallation in a licensed service. At worst, it can lead to theft of your car.
The car can be damaged not only due to unqualified self-repair, but also due to careless attitude to the car at the car wash.