It’s not fun to hear a warning tone from your vehicle while driving or to see an illuminated icon on your dashboard, but it’s extremely common and a way your car communicates its condition. Dashboard warning lights exist to help you ensure that all of its systems are safe and ready to hit the road, and to alert you to any problems that require service. You may see icons like an engine, an exclamation point, or an oil can light up when you start your car or while driving. Whenever you see these lights, it’s a good idea to inspect the systems alerting you or make an appointment to get your vehicle looked at. Although it may be easy to ignore these lights, failing to inspect, repair, or maintain your car’s systems and features can lead to an unsafe vehicle.
Read more about what each dashboard warning light means in our informative article. We also offer free Check Engine light testing at any O’Reilly Auto Parts store to help you better understand and diagnose your vehicle. Our Professional Part People® can supply you with specific codes and provide diagnostic assistance to help you make the necessary repairs and keep your car on the road.
There are a few simple features and maintenance tasks that can make owning your car easier and extend its lifespan. Whether it’s a blinking light on your dashboard or a tire that doesn’t look quite right, understanding the basic parts of a vehicle can help you better deal with car maintenance and keep you driving safely. We’ve put together an automotive basics guide to help you learn more about your car and be able to better troubleshoot potential issues.
What Should I Know About My Car?
Add confidence, knowledge, and safety to your drive with helpful videos, maintenance basics, and car safety tips from O’Reilly Auto Parts®. Below, we cover some of the best car safety and maintenance advice and basic routine inspections, like checking tire pressure, how to check oil, what your dashboard warning lights mean, as well as what to know when inspecting headlights, windshield wipers, and turn signal failure. Read more to gain a better understanding of your vehicle, learn how to better maintain it, and signs that components could need a simple repair.
How To Check Motor Oil and When to Perform an Oil Change
You may hear cautionary tales about checking your oil level often, but its importance is something that can’t be discounted. Motor oil lubricates the internal moving parts of the engine to help it perform better and last longer. It’s recommended that you check your motor oil at least once per month to ensure that there is enough fluid to properly and safely run your engine. If you notice frequent low oil levels or leaks under the vehicle, it may be a good idea to check the oil levels even more frequently. You can find out exactly how often you should change your oil as well as the recommended oil weight in your owner’s manual or from the manufacturer. Checking your car’s oil level and regularly changing the oil and oil filter can help prevent low gas mileage, overheating, engine damage, or at worst, catastrophic engine failure. Knowing how to check your oil, and how to refill engine oil levels properly using a funnel, the dipstick, and the right motor oil for your car can help prolong your vehicle’s life, improve performance, and provide you with peace of mind.
Dashboard Warning Lights
The Location Of Your Gas Tank
While most people know which side the fuel door and gas cap on their vehicle is by simply walking by it, many don’t realize you can also find this information without leaving the driver’s seat. Your dashboard and instrument cluster has a variety of sophisticated, high-tech features, but the fuel gauge includes one of the simplest indicators on your vehicle. Looking closer at the fuel gauge, you will see a triangle located on either the left or the right side of the gas pump symbol — and this arrow tells you which side of your vehicle the fuel filler neck is on. Having this knowledge can help make refueling easier, and can help you familiarize yourself with new cars quicker and with less hassle.How To Check Motor Oil and When to Perform an Oil Change
Your car's windshield wipers are crucial to your driving experience, and help you maintain visibility during wet or inclement weather. Though you may not think about them before something goes wrong, windshield wipers will eventually fail and limit your safety while driving. In most states, wipers are required for use in wet conditions like sleet, snow, rain, and dew. Your windshield wiper system has a variety of components that can fail over time, whether it’s from age, weather, damage, or deterioration. Items like your wiper motor, regulator, and wiper switch can fail electronically, in addition to the physical deterioration of wiper blades themselves.
It’s common to have to replace your windshield wiper blades, and the frequency with which they require replacement can depend on factors like the vehicle’s driving climate and level of weather water exposure. Repeated use, heat, exposure to the sun, and other elements can damage your wiper blades and leave you with reduced visibility. Most manufacturers recommend replacing the wiper blades on your vehicle twice a year, usually prior to spring and winter when precipitation is most likely. Though underperforming windshield wipers may start off as an annoyance, they can have safety repercussions. A cracked, streaking, or dried-out wiper blade can affect your visibility and can make road hazards, other drivers, and pedestrians harder to see in poor weather. Remember, it’s important to replace wiper blades in pairs since they'll likely experience the same amount of wear, making them susceptible to failure around the same time. Keep yourself and others safe by inspecting and replacing windshield wiper blades if they are experiencing the signs of wear below:
Signs Of Bad Wiper Blades:
- Streak marks after operation
- Cracked or splitting rubber
- Skipping or squeaking sounds
- Uneven contact with windshield
Signs Of A Bad Wiper Motor:
- Wipers move slower than normal or don’t work at all
- Wipers stopping during operation
- Wipers don’t move when engaged, but the fuses, switch, and relay are functioning
Headlights
A vehicle’s headlights are required by law at night and when the wipers on your vehicle are in use to help ensure you can see well, and that others can see your car. With their performance demands, constant heat during operation, and moisture due to leaking lighting assemblies, your vehicle’s headlight bulbs are likely to burn out several times while you own a vehicle. You should inspect or replace a malfunctioning or poorly-performing headlight as soon as possible, since a burned out or dim headlight can make it harder for other drivers and pedestrians to see your vehicle. It’s recommended that you replace headlight bulbs in pairs, since they are likely the same age and have experienced similar amounts of wear and use. Even if the bulbs haven’t burned out fully, replacing dim headlights and ensuring your headlight lenses are clean and in good repair can help you see farther down the road to ensure you can continue to drive safely.
Signs of a Bad Headlight Bulb:
- Bulb that doesn’t work or works intermittently
- Flickering or dim operation or a lack of nighttime visibility
- Only works on certain settings (high- or low-beam) work
If you’d like to learn more about automotive headlights, like the differences between HID and LED bulbs or how to replace headlight bulbs yourself, visit our How-To Hub for step-by-step videos and informative articles. You can also get the job done right by getting replacement headlight bulbs to fit your vehicle at an O’Reilly store near you. We even offer free bulb installation on most vehicles when you buy your bulbs at O’Reilly Auto Parts to make keeping your vehicle driving safely even easier.
How To Check Tire Pressure
A car’s tires are more important than you might think — they are the first, and hopefully only, part of the vehicle that is in contact with the ground. Tires are meant to absorb road shock, maintain traction, and steer your car safely, and are dependent on proper inflation to do their job correctly. Both under- and over-inflation of your tires can seriously affect the way your car performs and handles, and could cause reduced gas mileage, premature tire wear, skidding, and more. If you want to learn more about proper tire inflation, check out our article on the dangers of low tire pressure.If you’re wondering how to air up a tire, or if you have never had to add air to your tires before, the process is the same on every vehicle and relatively straightforward. The valve stems on your tires are rubber tubes that protrude from each wheel and allow you to inflate and seal air inside the tire. Checking your car’s tire pressure is a simple, routine task that can prolong your tire life and ultimately save you money, but be certain you know the appropriate air pressure for each tire and have a tire pressure gauge on hand to ensure safe and accurate inflation. It’s also a good idea to regularly check the condition of your tires, and you can learn more about how to perform a tire inspection with our article.
Tire Rotation, Balancing, and Alignment
Not only should your tires be properly inflated, especially in wet weather, but maintaining proper tire rotation and tire balance can help increase your vehicle’s safety and stability. A tire rotation is a routine maintenance task that involves moving your tires from the front to the back or from side to side to ensure even wear on all rubber for better contact with the ground and longer tire life. Tire rotation helps keep your tires wearing as evenly as possible, and can help prevent one or more tires from needing to be replaced sooner than the others. Rotating and inspecting your tires regularly also helps to limit the risk of blowouts or other tire damage. It’s advised that you rotate tires every 5,000 to 8,000 miles in order to properly maintain healthy tires. In many cases it’s easiest to remember when to rotate your tires by doing so at every other oil change.
Another important aspect of your car’s ride is the balance of the tires and wheels. Tires need to be properly balanced when they are installed and regularly serviced throughout their life to maintain an even weight distribution during rotation, which ensures comfortable, safe operation and a longer service life. Wheel balancers are used by professional tire shops to locate any areas where the wheel and tire assembly is out of balance, and wheel weights are used to counteract this force and restore proper balance.
Though failing to regularly rotate and balance your vehicle’s tires can affect your tires’ contact with pavement, and impact your overall ride comfort and stability, another area that can affect tire wear and driveability is alignment. Setting a vehicle’s alignment involves adjusting tie rods, control arms, and other parts of the suspension to ensure the tires are parallel to one another and that the suspension geometry is appropriate for maximum comfort and safety. Poor alignment can cause rapid wear to your tires, and may cause poor performance and diminished handling from your suspension system and steering. It’s recommended that your vehicle is professionally aligned once every year or two, and it’s also a good idea to have your vehicle aligned any time you get new tires to ensure the longest possible service life.
It’s important to remember that all maintenance interval recommendations – like tire balancing, rotation, and alignment – can be specified in your owners manual to help you best service your vehicle. You can also have these services performed as frequently as you choose to, as different driving conditions may make tire rotation, balancing, or alignment a more commonly-needed maintenance task. If you need professional tire or alignment service, we can recommend a professional shop near you to help you get the job done right and maintain a safe, comfortable ride.
Why Is My Turn Signal Blinking Faster Than Normal?
If you notice that one of your turn signals is clicking faster than normal, that is a sign that one or more of your turn signal bulbs is burned out or is about to burn out. A failing turn signal bulb blinks faster than usual due to an open circuit, which sends rapid signals to your vehicle, resulting in a rapid ‘clicking’ noise. This can also be caused by wiring issues or even the use of LED turn signal bulbs, which may require additional resistors to be installed. You can learn more about installing LED turn signal load resistors with our video.
A rapidly-blinking turn signal, no matter which side of your vehicle is affected, can impact your car’s safety, and other drivers may not be aware of your intentions while driving. It’s recommended that you repair a damaged turn signal bulb or failing turn signal relay as soon as possible to avoid a ticket, as well as to keep communicating safely with other drivers. You can easily find the right turn signal light bulbs for your vehicle at O’Reilly Auto Parts to keep yourself and others safer on the road.
Your car’s electronic, safety, and mechanical systems are designed to enhance your driving experience and comfort, as well to keep you aware of any issues in its internal systems. Being able to understand and respond to changes in the way your vehicle performs and handles can help you better deal with unforeseen circumstances or issues. Not knowing much about cars shouldn’t be a deterrent from seeking basic maintenance and repair knowledge, With even a small amount of understanding, you can also make a more informed decision if your car has been taken to a repair shop. Find helpful resources like a car maintenance checklist, road trip checklist, and more in the O’Reilly Auto Parts How-To Hub, where you can also find a variety of articles, instructional videos, and much more to help you understand, maintain, and repair your vehicle.
If you liked this content, we also have other introductory DIY resources to help you, including car handling, suspension, and braking basics and the basics of engines and transmissions. Our automotive basics series is designed to fully encompass the main systems in your car, how to maintain them, as well as signs there could be trouble and how to make necessary repairs.
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