I try to catch myself when I make sweeping statements that contain "always" or begin with "everybody," but EVERYBODY seems to know how how their car works. Always. Not me. It's my fault, too. When I first started driving my parents' station wagon in high school I would simply say "Dad! The car made a funny noise!" and leave the car in his skilled hands. I've watched somebody change my tire, but have never done it myself. Sure, there are some things I do myself, like fill the gas, check the tire pressure, get regular oil changes every 5,000 miles or so, and fill the windshield wiper fluid. I added oil once. But I think it stops there.
Within the last few years, I have had many problems with my car, so I have learned about transmissions, breaks, fuel systems, alternators and engines. And possible reasons for the car not starting. With each new problem I experienced a very painful learning curve that looked something like coming up against a brick wall with the lacking knowledge on the other side of the wall and me not wanting to have to jump the wall to get to the information. I go into baby mode for a minute when the car acts up, but now I have AAA, and all is fine.
CarCare is a great web site for explaining the inner workings of my 2800-lb-headache. It is apparently common knowledge that you don't have to follow the service providers recommendations of changing oil every 3,000 miles, but that isn't an interesting debate to me. There's arguments supporting both sides, but Consumer Reports provides a good blurb on car myths. Nordic Group actually gives me this 3,000 mile fact to consider with my Saturn, though. Oh, great. Basically, it makes most sense to me to consult the owners manual whenever possible.
While I am doing more to understand my car during low-stress periods, I will always be a 'do it for me' type (as opposed to a 'do it yourself' type) when it comes to the car.
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