Chapter 11

Use Your Senses for Diagnosis

Take a minute to look, listen, and smell before going to the repair shop and you may save some time, money, and aggravation. Here are some things to look, listen, and sniff for.

Look under your vehicle where it was parked. If you see:

• Black fluid, then you may have an oil leak;

• Green or pink fluid, then you may have a coolant leak;

• Clear liquid/no smell, this is likely dripping water condensed on your air conditioning system;

• Clear liquid with a smell, then you may have a brake fluid leak; or

• Red fluid, then you may have a power steering or transmission leak.

Look at your vehicle's exhaust and if at start-up you see smoke that's color is:

• Blue or blue/black, then this is likely the result of oil burning along with the fuel;

• White that lasts a short time, this may be nothing more than moisture build-up in the engine or exhaust system, which is being boiled off;

• White smoke that continues for a long time, you may have an internal coolant leak; or

• Black, then your air-fuel mixture is probably too rich to burn off the fuel completely.

Listen to the sounds you hear from around the vehicle. If you hear:

• A Squeak in your brakes, then you may have dirt in the pads or low pads;

• Grind in the brakes, then you probably need new pads or shoes;

• A metal on metal sound when braking, then you need new pads;

• A screeching sound from your wipers, then you need new wiper blades;

• A whining from your tires on cornering, then you probably need to have your wheel bearings looked at; or

• Squealing from your tires on cornering, then your tires may need air or they may be worn out.

Listen to the sounds you hear under your vehicle's hood. If you hear:

• A Squeaking noise when shifting, then your manual transmission may need to be lubricated;

• Grinding while shifting, then you may need to have your clutch adjusted or replaced;

• A scraping noise from your automatic transmission, then you probably need new automatic transmission fluid;

• A squealing or screeching sound from under the hood may be an indication of a loose or worn belt;

• Popping in the engine, then you may have a dirty air filter or bad spark plug wires; or

• Clicking engine at idle, then you probably need to add engine oil.