Deanna Sclar

If your vehicle has been overheating or doesn’t warm up properly, you may need to replace your thermostat. If the thermostat sticks in the open position, it doesn’t keep the liquid in the engine long enough, so you have trouble getting your car warmed up. If the thermostat sticks in the closed position, the liquid isn’t allowed to get to the radiator, and overheating results.

Following some basic auto repair safety rules and a monthly maintenance schedule will keep you safe and prevent auto problems later. Disassembling auto parts and putting them back together is easier if you stay calm and avoid distractions.Auto repair safety rulesWhen you’re repairing your car or doing basic maintenance, practice these safety methods to avoid injury to yourself and damage to your automobile and to be prepared in case of a mishap: Don’t smoke while you’re working on your vehicle.

Essentially, when you check your master cylinder, you’re making sure that you have enough brake fluid, which is stored in the master cylinder. When you step on the brake pedal, fluid goes from the master cylinder into the brake lines; when you release the pedal, the fluid flows back into the master cylinder. To check the brake fluid in your master cylinder, follow these steps:Open the brake fluid reservoir on top of your master cylinder.

Before attempting to replace or adjust your headlights, you need to know whether you have halogen or xenon headlamps or the old-style sealed-beam units. You can tell which type of headlights you have by looking at them when they’re on at night. Headlights with sealed-beam units are quickly going out of style. The light they give off is just plain white.

Changing oil is usually easy. Unless it’s impossible to reach your oil filter and/or oil drain plug, it’s cheaper to change the oil yourself. All you have to do is unscrew a plug and a filter, let the oil drain out, replace the filter and plug, and pour in some new oil. Before you begin work, be sure your gearshift is in Park or Neutral with the parking brake on, and set out all your tools and equipment.

The gap between the center and side electrodes of a spark plug must be an exact distance; otherwise, your plugs don’t fire efficiently. Adjusting the distance between the two electrodes is called gapping your spark plugs. You need a feeler gauge to gap your spark plugs properly. Gap new as well as old spark plugs, even if the package says that the new plugs are “pre-gapped.

When you're changing your vehicle's spark plugs, work on one spark plug at a time: Remove it, inspect it, clean it, and — if it’s salvageable — gap the spark plugs. Then replace it before you move on to the next spark plug in cylinder sequence order. To maintain the proper firing order, each spark-plug wire must go from the spark source to the proper spark plug.

If your vehicle has squishy-feeling brakes, the way to get the air out of the lines is to bleed the brakes. To do the job, you need either a brake bleeder wrench or a combination wrench that fits the bleeder nozzle on your vehicle, a can of the proper brake fluid, a clean glass jar, and a friend. If you have ABS, EBD, BA, or another sophisticated brake system, you should really have a professional bleed the brakes for you to avoid getting air into the actuator.