Page 7 - 2015 Car Care

El Dorado NEWS-TIMES – Friday, April 17, 2015 – 7C A little knowledge can make a big difference: listen, smell and look
Prepare for repair
(NAPS)—When it comes to pinpoint- vehicle’s symptoms before visiting a
ing potentially serious issues with your vehicle, your nose may know more than you realize. For example, the smell of burnt toast might be a sign of an electrical short. The smell of rotten eggs may signal trouble with the emissions system, which includes the catalytic converter.
These and other tips are included in “Knowledge Is Power,” a booklet that’s part of a car-care and maintenance clin- ic developed by ACDelco. It gives vehi- cle owners easy-to-understand informa- tion about their vehicles so they can be informed and make the right choices when they visit an independent auto service center.
Here are some things you may not know about your vehicle:
• Reddish stains on the driveway can be a sign of a transmission oil leak.
• If your technician asks if your vehicle’s brakes are “grabbing,” he wants to know if the brakes engage suddenly when you apply steady pressure to the brake pedal.
• You should pull over immediately if your temperature light reads in the hot zone. That probably means your vehicle’s coolant is too hot to cool your engine.
• Many brake pads have wear indicators. If your vehicle has them, they will emit loud squeals when they detect wear.
• It’s a good idea to write down your
repair shop, including noises—and wheth- er these occur when the engine is hot or cold.
• Air bags work with your safety belts, not as a replacement for them.
• Children under 13 should ride properly secured in the rear seat.
• Always keep at least a half tank of gas in your vehicle to avoid potential damage to your fuel filter or fuel line.
• Check your tire pressure frequently for safety and fuel economy. Hot and cold outside temperatures affect the pressure in your tires.
• Avoid oil and fuel additives unless rec- ommended by your ser-vice consultant.
• Don’t use dish detergent to wash your car; it can hurt clearcoat finishes.
The “Knowledge Is Power” booklet is part of a presentation kit available to shops at no charge. Consumers can down- load the free booklet at www. acdelco. com/pdf/Car-Maintenance-Car-Care- Knowledge-Is-Power-ACDelco.pdf.
For more than 100 years, ACDelco has been supplying parts, technical training and business expertise to independent auto ser-vice centers. To find out if a service center in your neighborhood is sponsoring a Knowledge Is Power clinic, visit ACDelco.com and click on “Find a Service Center.”
Contributed photo
Prepared: It’s a good idea to write down your vehicle’s symptoms before visiting a re- pair shop, including noises—and whether these occur when the engine is hot or cold.
Strategies suggested for fighting odometer fraud
Preowned car buyers looking to buy from private sellers rather than dealerships typically under- stand that such an approach can be risky. When buying from a private seller, such purchases are typically as-is, and rarely are buyers protected with extended warranties that may be offered by dealers who specialize in pre- owned vehicles.
Buying from private sellers may also leave buyers more suscep- tible to fraud. Odometer fraud is one type of fraud that buyers must be especially wary of when buying a preowned vehicle from a private seller, and the following are a handful of ways buyers can determine if a car's odometer has been tampered with.
• Examine the vehicle's ser- vice history. Before buying a preowned vehicle, buyers should always request to see documen- tation of the vehicle's service
history. This can shed light on how well (or how poorly) the vehicle was taken care of, and it also can serve as a clue as to the
authenticity of the number on the vehicle's odometer. Vehicle mileage is often included on repair orders or receipts provid- ed by auto repair shops, so such reports should give you a picture of how many miles the car was driven at given times throughout its history. If the numbers on the reports don't match up with the figure on the odometer, then the odometer has likely been tam- pered with.
• Inspect the dashboard. A damaged dashboard is not always indicative of odometer fraud, but it should be enough to arouse your suspicions. Loose or missing screws on a dashboard or scrapes or scarring along the dashboard often occur when sellers attempt to reset their vehicles' odome- ters. Again, such damage is not necessarily indicative of odome- ter fraud, but if you were already suspicious of the seller, then
these additional signs should be enough to compel you to walk away and continue your vehicle search elsewhere.
• Ask to take the car to your own mechanic for an inspec- tion. When buying a preowned car, prospective buyers should insist that they be allowed to take the car to their own mechanic to determine if it is worth buying. This protects sellers from buy- ing a lemon and can help them determine if odometer fraud has occurred. An experienced mechanic can examine a car and determine how much wear and tear it has. If that wear and tear is more than the odometer suggests it should have, then the odometer has likely been tampered with.
• Insist on a vehicle history report. Whether buying from a dealership or private seller, buyers of preowned vehicles should always insist on seeing a
vehicle history report. Mileage is always documented whenever a vehicle is registered with the state and whenever it undergoes state-mandated safety or emis- sions inspections. A vehicle his- tory report from an agency like CarFax can provide buyers with a record of these registrations and inspections, and buyers can use that information to determine if the odometer on a given vehicle has been tampered with. If a sell- er refuses to provide a vehicle history report, walk away and continue your search until you find a buyer willing to provide the report.
Odometer fraud is employed by sellers who want to make their cars seem more attractive to prospective buyers. But buyers of preowned vehicles can employ several strategies to detect if a given vehicle's odometer has been tampered with
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