Desperately seeking car competence...

[annwfyn]

I am looking for someone who:

a) knows about cars. Knows enough to be able to tell me whether the little blinking temperature warning light on my dashboard means that my car just needs some more water in the engine or something, or whether it's a garage job.

b) is likely to be in the vicinity of my house in the very near future.

c) is bribable with milkshakes, or Chinese food.

If you fit these criteria, I will love you forever.

Anyone?

*big hopeful eyes*

Comments

[pmp.livejournal.com]

What model car do you have? I might be able to run it past the guys who make the diagnostic equipment we sell.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

You'll need to check your coolant level. It should be accessible by popping your bonnet, and the relevant bit will probably have a helpful 'coolant' icon on it :)

However, I'd normally expect your coolant to be changed at your annual service, so unless your last service was monthsandmonths ago I wouldn't really expect it to need topping up now.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

(Note: this information comes courtesy of vague recollections topped up by Google. It should be immediately superceded by any real advice you get :) )

[chrisvenus]

Well, the obvious thing to do is check your oil and water and if after that you still have a light take it to a professional. If you have the manual for your car it should have a helpful section for this kind of maintenance that you should be able to follow easily enough.

And though I am very easily bribable with milkshakes I likely won't be in the vicinity of your house in the near future. And if I was I probably wouldn't realise since I have no idea where your house is at the moment.

[richardiii.livejournal.com]

I fit everything but the knowing about cars thing, sorry :(

[portilis.livejournal.com]

The coolant is also a closed system, so if the level is dropping significantly, it would indicate a leak somewhere in the system.

It could also be the radiator itself having issues, which is actually a much more frequent issue from what I understand.

[anonymous-james.livejournal.com]

Oil temperature in cars is important. If your car fails to properly keep itself cool then you'll have potentially expensive problems later on down the line.

I once had a car that had a radiator leak, I was dumb and didn't realise this and fix it, so instead what happens is that my head gasket blew. This is... well you can read what it does here: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/head-gasket-replacement-cost.html all I know is that after that my car didn't work so good, and it was expensive to repair.

My advice - go to a garage, and get them to check it out. If the result is expensive and you're unsure, go get a second opinion.

If you're concerned before that, try searching for the fault online, most likely other people will have had it and can expound on what the causes might be.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

If your car fails to properly keep itself cool then you'll have potentially expensive problems later on down the line.

Echoing this absolutely. Until you know what's causing the problem, and preferably have fixed it, you're best not driving the car.