What do you know about the lights on your dashboard?

Dashboard Traffic light Colouring

 I have been writing my blogs from an observational point of view as a woman who works on the customer side within a garage. I am not a technician but I do listen to what comes in and out of the office and have learnt a lot during my time here!

I want to try to pass on some information about cars in a non – technical but simple and informative way as I am sure that there are many people who  like me over the years,  have very little understanding about anything to do with cars and if you are anything like me, might glaze over when ‘technical’ terms are used.

So, following on from that, my latest observation relates to the warning lights that may appear on your dashboard from time to time?

Are you aware that all the lights are colour coded to a ‘traffic light’ system? I certainly wasn’t! If I am honest I would only really have taken notice if a light had come on whilst driving and I did not know that the lights could be coloured differently!

I asked many of my friends  if they knew about the lights on the dashboard as I did not want to write a blog and insult a reader’s intelligence! My responses showed me that it is more likely to be ladies who did not know but not all men knew either.

We all see lights on the dashboard on  a daily basis that we are probably aware of, but choose to ignore as they mostly disappear once the engine is turned on. It is only when a light comes on unexpectedly whilst we are driving that we may take notice.

I wonder how many drivers really register the colour of a light when it comes on or if they are aware that it may be coloured either amber or red if there is an issue, but ‘Green’ for headlights being on  and functioning normally for example.

Just to expand further:

Oil pressure warning light

This light should come on when you turn the ignition on, and usually goes out again once the engine is started.

 If the light does not go out when the engine is running and is coloured ‘Amber’ then you need to stop driving and check the oil level of the engine. Top up if required.

If the warning light stays on and is coloured ‘Red’ even after putting oil in, then you must not drive the car any further as it could cause catastrophic damage to the engine of your vehicle. Call for help and get the vehicle recovered to a garage.

Battery charge warning light

When you start the engine, the battery charge light should always come on and then go off to indicate that the battery is functioning normally.

If the light does not come on at all, or if it comes on whilst you are driving, it will be coloured ‘Red’ and means that your battery is not charging properly. Once again you should stop driving immediately as there could be a number of reasons as to why the light has come on; either the battery has failed or the drive belt has broken, which stops the Alternator working (The Alternator is what charges the battery)

If you are in any doubt as to why the light may be on then my advice would be not to try to restart the engine as potentially you could cause even more damage. In this instance call for a recovery service and get to a garage – preferably ours!

Brake system warning light

 This light will be on and coloured ‘Red’ when the handbrake is in use, but if it comes on once the handbrake is off, it could mean that your vehicle is low on brake fluid.

If this is the case, then you would need to ensure that you add the correct amount of brake fluid, filling it to the Maximum level but do call us if you are in doubt! Brake fluid levels do drop as the car is driven and there are specific intervals for each make and model where a Brake Fluid change is required.

Check your brake fluid level frequently to ensure there is no further rapid loss of fluid.

If the brake warning light stays on even if you have topped up the brake fluid, then we highly recommend that you have the car looked at as the brakes are obviously vital to our safety on the roads!

Puncture!

If the tyre light comes on ‘Red’ whilst you are driving, then it would indicate that the tyre has lost air pressure and it is likely that you would have a puncture. Once again you need to stop and either change the tyre or use a product called ‘Tyre Weld’ to help you get to a garage. If you have run flats you will be able to drive to a garage.

For any more information please call Lakeside Garage on 01784 482158

or have a look at our website  http://www.lakesidegarageservices.co.uk/

I hope this is helpful to some people and apologies to others who already know!

More Diagnostics explained!

I felt it necessary to write this blog to try to shed a bit more light on Diagnostics and the electrics in our vehicles. From some of the questions we get from our customers about their vehicles, it is apparent that there does seem to be some confusion over how in depth the technology of modern cars has become.

In many circumstances, we can no longer rely on a simple  ‘mechanical fix’ to put the car right, but instead we have to have a good understanding of  the electrical components which are processed by many different electronic  control units (ECU) (basically speaking -  computer systems) that are used to power our modern cars.

There are occasions where the public react to having to pay the price for Diagnostics on their vehicle. It is very possible that this reaction is due to a lack of understanding and of course it is true that garages differ wildly both with  the diagnostic equipment and the experience they offer.

It is really important if you do have an engine management light come on or any kind of electrical fault, that you do a bit of research as to where you take your vehicle. You need to find a garage that does have the equipment to be able to accurately diagnose what is wrong with your car as some garages may only be able to read the codes of the fault and may not then have the ability or knowledge to carry out the appropriate testing to ascertain the exact cause of the fault; The fault code is simply what the System Brain (ECU) thinks is the problem given the information it receives.

It is imperative that technicians are adequately trained to be able to understand and fix the faults. Investing in dealer level equipment is costly as is sending technicians on the appropriate courses to enable them to keep up to date with the ever growing technology found in our modern vehicles nowadays. For this reason, there needs to be a reflection in the price that is charged.

As consumers, we need to consider the value to us in knowing that a garage has the capacity to provide an accurate answer and to be able to rectify the fault (which might cost more initially),  versus the cost. Trying to save money and blindly fit parts in the short term hoping that the fault will be fixed, is always going to be more costly in the long term.

A recent training course run by James Dillon -   Technical Topics revealed some very interesting facts which help to shed a bit more light;

40% of a modern car is now electrical

•         A Dreamliner aircraft has 18 million lines of software coding in its on-board systems – a modern VW Passat has 10 million.

•         We expect and pay for the expertise of qualified people to be available to work on the aircraft we travel in. Nowadays modern cars carry a scary amount of software, yet we are happy to put our own safety and that of those dear to us in the hands of garages where there are unqualified people working on our vehicle - Food for thought!

Large companies allocate a vast amount of money to Research and Development; VW last year spent 11.4 billion dollars on research and development which was more than any other company in any other sector. 4 of the top 10 spenders in Research and Development were vehicle manufacturers. This surely tells us that technology within the motor industry is developing faster than any of us can imagine and with this in mind we need to accept that caring for our vehicle is no longer about a simple mechanical test or even a simple fix as I have alluded to at the beginning of the blog.

Another way of trying to understand the workings of cars these days is to consider that in the past, a Mechanical fault would have relatively small diagnosis time with a much larger fix time.

Nowadays, it is often the opposite with Electrical and Software faults meaning that potentially the hours of diagnosis and testing on various types of equipment need to be accounted for.

It is highly possible that the end fix may in itself be quite quick.

 I have tried to show this visually in the images I have uploaded below although the diagrams are not at all to scale and are just an example.

Hopefully this goes some way to helping those who are interested, gain a  better understanding albeit in simplified manner!

For more information please look at our website: http://www.lakesidegarageservices.co.uk/diagnostic-fault-finding or you can give us a call on 01784 482158 and we will be happy to answer any queries you may have.