Engine Oil 101
Most of us are still driving vehicles with an internal combustion engine (ICE) as the main source of power for propelling our vehicle down the road. In order for the ICE to run smoothly – in fact, to run at all – the engine needs oil to travel all around the engine’s working parts to lubricate them so that they can move freely within their confines without overheating from too much friction and to prevent the engine from imploding on itself, or exploding, whichever way you like to think of it.
As well as lubricating the motor, oil helps to keep the ICE cool and retards any corrosion. Most modern oils also contain a bit of detergent. The detergent helps to flush any gunk that comes from wear and tear on the engine components and any older oil compounds that have formed through to the oil filter where these unwanted bits will be captured and removed altogether when the old oil filter is changed with a new one come next time the ICE oil gets changed as part of the vehicle’s regular servicing regime.
I Locked My Keys Inside The Car!
According to the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia Inc (RAA), there are plenty of reasons why motorists reach out for roadside help or assistance. The obvious reasons might be having a flat battery, the car not starting, or just plain running out of fuel (or battery charge). But there is one other quite common reason for requiring roadside assistance from an experienced technician and that is you’ve locked the keys in the car! For me – and I can vouch from experience – this is the reason that tops the list of the most embarrassing reasons for a call-out.
If you make a habit of leaving the keys in the car as a fairly common occurrence, one thing that might make life a little less stressful is to hide an extra key somewhere on the outside of the vehicle’s body. You can buy a little magnetic box that’s big enough to accommodate a spare car key for the car, though not so huge you’ll be drawing a load of attention to it. For obvious reasons, it’s probably best not to have the box painted pink or some other bright colour either. The great thing about these boxes is that they can stick themselves magnetically to any metal surface which is part of the vehicle’s bodywork. One excellent area would be the vehicle’s underbody framework.
How To Change A Flat Tyre
Sometimes, it pays to go back to basics. After all, everybody has to learn the basics some time! There is a common breakdown that you should be able to manage yourself: a puncture in the tyre. With a little bit of prior knowledge, this scenario (which is more common than you might think) can be tackled confidently. If you have the original manual that came with your car when it was first bought from a dealer, then this booklet will have a set of instructions to follow so that you can familiarise yourself with the process of putting a spare tyre on. However, here is the general procedure for changing a wheel.
First of all, let’s figure out how to jack up the vehicle safely. Knowing how to properly jack up the car safely is useful for changing a flat tyre and also for doing simple inspections to wheel bearings and brakes. Jacks are used to get a vehicle off the ground. Now, a word of warning here would be that if you are going to get underneath the car and have a look while the car has been jacked up off the ground, then you must place jack stands in place to hold the weight of the vehicle. This is because if the jack fails or the car is knocked off balance, then the stands will hold the vehicle up, and you won’t get squished. I get claustrophobic enough going under a car even with the jack stands in place so the thought of doing it without is – bleught!
Are Electric Vehicles At Risk of Being Hacked?
As electric vehicles uptake increases across the world, and technology breaks new ground, concerns about cybersecurity have emerged. EVs, by their nature, are highly reliant on software and connectivity, making them potential targets for hacking.
The question of whether electric vehicles are at risk of hacking is not just theoretical because it has practical implications for the safety of drivers, the security of personal data, and the integrity of transportation infrastructure.
Level 2, 9 Help Street