Drivers Education: The 6 Things Every Driver Should Know How to Do

The owners manual of any car will tell youin the most excruciatingly simplistic step-by-step manner possiblehow to operate everything from the seatbelts to the trunk lock and how to finely tune the rear headrests with ferocious, compulsive precision. And on virtually every page there will be a yellow box screaming at you not to do something stupid like lick the brake discs or serve the radiator water as an after-dinner digestif. After all, based on the advice of their attorneys, manufacturers have to assume that anyone who buys their cars must be a total moron.

Although the average owners manual overdoes it, that doesnt mean we cant all use an occasional refresher course in automotive common sense. And, dont take this wrong, but we know there are plenty of you out there who wont admit to the simple things you flat never learned.

o here is our unabashed !but slightly bashed" guide to the most elementary challenges of automotive operation. This is the stuff you didnt necessarily learn in drivers education and your father #ust assumed you learned through transgenerational osmosis.

How to Change a Tire

$t used to be that blowouts were a regular motoring eventright up there with thumping the occasional headlight-mesmeri%ed raccoon and being forced to use a gnarly gas-station restroom. Thankfully, modern tires rarely shed a tread or spontaneously deteriorate. &ut guaranteed there will come a time when youll be forced to change a tire.

$f a tire blows, dont try to save it or its wheel by stopping immediately in a lousy situation' the shoulder of a busy freeway counts as a lousy situation. $f possible, find a level, solid, well-lit surface and park, even if that means driving a mile at low speed with your ha%ard lights on. And for (ods sake, dont stop in traffic. )ver. Then make sure the car cant roll. The parking brake should be on, and the transmission in park !in an automatic" or in gear !in a manual".

(rab the spare, lug wrench, and #ack. *ost newer cars use scissors-type #acks that raise the car up at a predefined point on the cars structure. All the info on where the tools and #acking points are is in the owners manual.

+ow, lift the car using the #acking point nearest the disabled wheel so that the weight of the car is on the #ack but the tire is still in contact with the road. $f theres a hubcap, that will need to be removed so the lug nuts can be accessed.

,ith the tire still in contact with the road, the lug nuts should be cracked loose !counterclockwise" but not removed. The car can then be #acked up farther and the lugs removed. ,ith the nuts off, the tire and wheel assembly can be removed.

-ut the spare on, and hand-tighten the lug nuts !clockwise". The car can now be lowered so the tire is touching the ground, although the cars weight should remain on the #ack. The lug nuts should then be tightened further using a star pattern !around the wheel, skipping every other lug" to ensure that they snug down evenly on the wheel.

.ower the car all the way onto the ground. Tighten the lug nuts down as snugly as possible. /it the road.

Alternatively: 0all the auto club.

How to Jump-Start a Car

1irst, make sure its the battery thats really the problem. $f the cars lights come on brightly and the starter motor churns with its usual ferocity, the battery is likely heaving out plenty of amps. econd, make sure you have a good set of #umper cablesrobust, rubber-coated cables that can handle the amperage. 2irtually all #umper cables should be color-coded with the red clamp intended for the positive pole on the battery and the black clamp for the negative.

$deally, the car with the bum battery and the #ump car should be parked on a clean, dry surface. And they should be parked so that the cars batteries are accessible and close enough to each other that the cables can comfortably span the space between them without being taut.

,ith both cars off, attach one of the red clamps to the positive !3" terminal on the battery thats presumed bad. &e careful of the other red clampits now live. Then connect that other red clamp to the positive terminal on the #ump cars battery. After that, one black clamp goes to the negative !-" terminal on the good battery while the other black clamp should go to an unpainted steel surface on the stalled car, to be grounded.

tart the car with the good battery. 4outing the cables this way uses the battery on the live car to start the disabled car, so there is no need to wait for the dead battery to charge. tart the dead car. 4emove the cables in reverse order, close the respective hoods, and operate the two cars as usual.

$f the electrical system in the car with the drained battery is otherwise okay, the battery should be recharged after about 56 minutes of driving and the whole thing should be okey-dokey.

Alternatively: $f the car with the dead battery has a manual transmission, theres always bumpstarting the car, too. ,ith the key turned on, the car in first gear, and the clutch pushed in, get the car rolling forward !by pushing it or by rolling down a conveniently located hill", and once up to #ogging speed, 7uickly release the clutch. The car should #erk, then start.

How to Check Your Tire Pressure

)verything any car does depends on the four rubber donuts on which it sits. *aking sure those tires are properly inflated is the best way to guarantee your car performs at its best from a handling and fuel-efficiency standpoint.

There are fancy tire gauges and straightforward tire gauges, but they all work pretty much the same way. imply take the gauge to each tire, remove the valve-stem cap !and put it in your pocket so you dont lose it on the ground", press the gauge flat against the valve stem, and the gauge will read the pressure. $f you hear air hissing out of the valve alongside the gauge, you dont have a complete seal and will get an inaccurate reading. ,hat that reading should be is usually listed on a sticker in one of the front door#ambs. 8r its in the owners manual. The proper pressure is not the maximum listed on the tire itself' thats often far too high.

After that, its a matter of adding air and rechecking the pressure until the tires are at their correct inflation. &ut be careful not to overinflate, because that leaves the car riding on smaller, less stable contact patches.

4emember, its best to measure your tire pressure when the tires are coldafter the car has been parked for the night is ideal. Tires that are warm after running all day will have a higher pressure from the additional heat. Tire pressures should be checked at least once a month.

Alternatively: ,hen tires shred, steel wheels make beautiful sparks against the pavement.

How to Check Your Oil

The oil in your cars engine is there to lubricate, not burn. o checking your oil is a way to determine if theres enough of the stuff aboard and if the engine has developed an appetite for it.

1irst, look in the owners manual and determine where the oil dipstick is. $n most cars its alongside the engine block and marked with a brightly colored handle and an oil-can icon.

Take your car for a spin to warm the oil to normal operating temperature. Then park the car on a level surface and let it sit with the engine off for at least five or ten minutes. 8pen the hood, find the dipstick, and pull it out by the handle. The long shaft of metal that makes up the ma#ority of the stick should be covered in engine oil. ,ipe that off with a clean rag.

4einsert the dipstick, and then pull it out again. At the bottom of the stick will be markings showing where the normal oil level should be. $f theres oil on those markings, youre good. $f its below them, add a half a 7uart of oil at a time until you reach the appropriate level. $f theres no oil on the stick at all, you have a problem.

9ont run your engine on a measly oil supply. Add the appropriate type of motor oil !thats in the owners manual, too" as soon as possible to an engine thats low. )ven if its only been a few hundred miles since the oil sump was filled, you could have serious problems.

Alternatively: Throwing a bearing is destructive and dramatic.

How to

et !nstuck

:ou #ust drove into muck, and the car is stuck. ,hat to do;

1rom snow< $ts critical to keep a light foot on the gas, because too much throttle merely spins the tires, heating them up and melting the snow around them, which will refree%e into ice.

1irst, get out and see how bad you are stuck. $f it is #ust your drive wheels that are blocked, the process will be much simpler. &ut if you tried to plow through a drift and the whole car is angled on a mound of snow, youre going to have to do some digging first to get the car back on solid ground.

$f you can move at all, =rock> the vehicle back and forth by shifting between drive and reverse and going as far as you can in either direction. &e careful not to step on the gas before the gear

engages, or you could do serious damage to the transmission. ometimes it helps to clear a little space around your front tires by cranking the steering wheel back and forth. :ou can get a little extra traction by putting cardboard under the drive wheels, too. $f theres no cardboard around and the situation is desperate, the cars floor mats might also work. $f that fails, keep shoveling.

1rom mud or sand< ,hatever you do, dont spin the tires. That will #ust dig a deeper hole. $nstead, put something in the intended path of the drive wheelspalm fronds, branches, beach towels, wood blocks, your kid brother, anythingand proceed slowly.

$deally, if youre wandering off-road, you should bring a mud ladder or sand ladder with you. *ud and sand ladders are basically small bridges made of steel, rope, or wood that can be placed before the drive wheels and driven across. 8f course, anyone so well prepared as to have a sand or mud ladder along is also more likely to have a buddy with a winch nearby.

Alternatively: Abandon the vehicle in place and buy a new one.

How to Spot Cops

)veryone violates the speed limit sometimes, but there are ways to minimi%e the chances of getting caught.

1irst, know what the cops drive. *ost still use the 1ord 0rown 2ictoria, although the 9odge 0harger is coming online with many highway patrols and state police agencies, and a few have adopted the 0hevy $mpala. .earn to identify what a 0rown 2ic, 0harger, or $mpala looks like in your rearview mirror, and react accordingly. +ote particularly the shape and position of the parking lights relative to the headlights' this can be a telltale sign at night.

econd, keep a running mental inventory of traffic around you. $f cars are suddenly slowing for no apparent reason, it might be because theres a reason apparent to them.

Third, be aware of on-ramps and areas where police can hide easily. 0ops often patrol the same stretch of pavement for days on end. They know all the easy fishing spots, so be aware of large bushes, overpasses, big signs, and anywhere else it would be easy for a police vehicle to hide.

And all this is before considering radar. 1or that, you might want to buy a radar detector.

Alternatively: :ou can always strictly obey the speed limit. ?ust kidding.