CHECK YOUR TYRE PRESSURES
Check your tyre pressures regularly - once a week is ideal. Bad tyre pressures can affect fuel economy, handling and comfort. It's easy to do and there is no excuse not to

CLEAN BRAKE DUST OFF REGULARLY
Brake dust contains all sorts of nasty stuff. If you leave it too long, the combination of road grime, moisture and heat from your brakes will bake it on to your wheels. Brake dust normally clings to wheels with static electricity so a damp sponge and clean cold water is the best way to get it off.

CHECK YOUR TREAD DEPTH
Bald, slick tyres might be good for motor racing but they're no good on the road. Most tyres come with tread wear bars built into them now - find one, examine it and if your tread is too low, replace your tyres. Four new tyres might seem expensive but they're cheaper than a fine or an accident. arrow Tread wear bars.

CHECKING YOUR COOLANT LEVEL
Again, something everyone can do. The coolant is the other thing your engine cannot go without. Every engine is different but if you check your handbook you should find where the coolant reservoir is. It will normally be bolted to one side of the engine bay or the other, and be a white semi-transparent bottle. Wait until your engine is cool and take a look at it - the outside should have 'low' and 'high' markings on it and the level of coolant inside should be between the two.

WILL HIGHER OCTANE OR PREMIUM FUEL GIVE ME BETTER GAS MILEAGE AND/OR MORE POWER?
No. Sportier cars have higher compression engines which generate more power and require higher octane fuel to prevent detonation. That's where the myth of "premium = more power" came from. If your handbook says "regular", use regular. See octane and power for more information.

KEEPING YOUR PAINT FINISH IN GOOD CONDITION
Only choose superior car detailing supplies to keep your car's interior and exterior like new. There are plenty of decent quality waxes and polishes on the market today and if the last time you waxed or polished your car was over a decade ago, things have changed considerably since then. The wax and polish compounds are far more sophisticated both in terms of protection from fading, the look of the finish, and the ease of application. For example Turtle Wax Ice gets rid of that old problem of white wax residue. Is a clean car a vanity thing? Partly, yes, but if you park under a tree where birds help repaint your car with recycled blueberries, that guck will come off a lot easier if it falls on a waxed paint job.

ONE INDICATOR OR BLINKER IS FLASHING FASTER THAN THE OTHER

When you indicate one way and the blinker flashes quicker than when you indicate the other way, it means one of the bulbs has blown.

An auto parts store will be able to tell you what sort of bulb you need to replace it with and your manual should show you how to get at the indicator bulbs - they're different on every car.

ON'T TOUCH THE GLASS WHEN CHANGING HEADLIGHT BULBS
Most headlight bulbs now are filled with halogen and have special coatings on the outside of the glass. If you pick the bulb up by the glass with your fingers, you will leave trace amounts of oil and grease on the glass. When the bulb is used, that area of the glass will get hotter than the rest and it will eventually cause the bulb to crack. When changing headlight bulbs, only hold the metal bulb holder at the base, or make sure you're wearing rubber surgical / mechanic's gloves (clean ones) if you're touching the glass.

THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT.
Every new car now comes with OBD-II - On Board Diagnostics 2. This is a fault-registering system connected to sensors all over the car, engine, fuel and emissions system. When the check engine light comes on, it can mean many things. There are something like 4,000 unique OBD2 codes that can be stored. Handheld OBD2 diagnostic tools can be plugged in to the OBD2 port which is normally under the dash on the driver's side. These tools can read out the fault code and/or reset the system to contain no codes. Codes are split into two categories - historical/inactive, and active. The historical codes are lists of things that have been detected in the past but are no longer an issue, whilst the active codes are things that are a problem right now. Codes are subdivided into B-codes (body), C-codes (chassis) and the biggest list of all - P-codes (powertrain).

THE SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT / MAINT REQD LIGHT.
This might indicate "Service", "Service Engine" or "Maint Reqd". It's an indicator that you're getting close to a scheduled maintenance interval. On some cars it's as simple as counting miles before it comes on, whilst on others it maps engine temperatures, oil temperatures, air temperatures and other indicators of probable stress to tell you when it might be time for new oil or a service. In most cars this can be overridden or reset by you, the owner. Your handbook will tell you if this is the case. If you take your car for a service, the garage should reset it for you.

BRAKE WARNING LIGHT 1
Most cars nowadays have a brake warning light on the dash. Its purpose is to alert you that something is wrong in the braking system somewhere. If it comes on, check your owner's manual to find out its meaning. The brake warning light doesn't have a standard meaning; it could be used for multiple purposes. For example, the same light may be used to show that the hand brake (parking brake for the Americans amongst you) is on.

If that's the case and you're driving, you ought to have noticed the smell of burning brake dust by now. The light can also indicate that the fluid in the master cylinder is low. Each manufacturer has a different use and standard for this light. Which is nice. Because it would be such a drag if the same indicator meant the same thing in every vehicle.

BRAKE WARNING LIGHT 2
If you've got an ABS-equipped car, you also have a second light - the ABS light. If it comes on, get it seen to as soon as possible. It means the ABS computer has diagnosed that something is amiss in the system. It could be something as simple as dirt in one of the sensors, or something as costly as an entire ABS unit replacement.

Either way, if that light is on, then you, my friend, have got 1970's brakes. It's important to note that this light normally comes on when you start the car and then switches off a few seconds later. If it blinks, throbs, flashes or in any other way draws your attention to itself, then take note. It's not doing that just to please itself.

Performing a pre-winter check is simple and needn’t be a costly job.

Here are 7 simple checks that the AA advise you should make in order to be sure that your car doesn’t feel the chill this winter.

1. Check your antifreeze

This is vital going into the coldest time of the year. Make sure you check your car’s coolant level regularly and, if required, top-up with a mixture of the correct type of antifreeze. Your local garage can also check concentration to ensure adequate cold temperature protection.

2. Take a look at your battery

A battery more than five years old may struggle in the cold – so make sure you get it checked and replaced if necessary. Battery failure is the most common cause of winter breakdowns, so make sure yours is up to the job.

3. See to your lights

On dark winter nights it’s vital that you can see clearly and be seen. Make sure all your headlights and indicators are working properly and ensure you keep spare bulbs in the car in case of emergencies.

4. Examine your tyres

You should have at least 3mm of tread on your tyres for winter motoring. Consider specially designed winter tyres for improved safety if you live in an area that is prone to bad weather. It’s also vital that you check the pressure of your tyres at least every fortnight.

5. Check your windscreen

Making sure your windscreen is clean will prevent dazzling glare at a time of year that the sun is particularly low. This could also be a good time to check your wiper blades are in a good condition as they are bound to get plenty of use. Also, make sure you check for any chips and cracks, as during cold weather these can get worse and ultimately lead to a shattered windscreen.

SUCK, SQUEEZE, BANG, BLOW

Not a sexual maneuver, but rather the common description for how an internal combustion engine works. The basic way all internal combustion engines work is to take a mixture of fuel and air, compress it, ignite it either with a spark plug or by self-igntion (in the case of a diesel engine), allow the explosion of combusting gasses to force the piston back down and then expel the exhaust gas. The vertical movement of the piston is converted into rotary motion in the crank via connecting rods. The crank then goes out to the gearbox via a flywheel and clutch, and the gearbox sends the rotary motion to the wheels, driving the vehicle forwards.
The diagram to the left is for reference for the technical jargon that will pop out on the rest of this page. It shows an inline-4 engine with dual overhead cams.

NIKOLAUS OTTO
If you want to be pedantic, the suck-squeeze-bang-blow cycle of a 4 stroke engine should be called the Otto Cycle, after its inventor Nikolaus Otto.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 4 STROKE AND 2 STROKE ENGINES

First, some basic concepts. Well one basic concept really - the most common types of internal combustion engine and how they work. It's worth reading this bit first otherwise the whole section on octane later in the page will seem a bit odd. Almost every car sold today has a 4 stroke engine. So do a lot of motorbikes, lawnmowers, snowblowers and other mechanical equipment. But there are still a lot of 2 stroke engines about in smaller motorbikes, smaller lawnmowers, leaf-blowers, snowblowers and such.

The difference between the two engine types is the number of times the piston moves up and down in the cylinder for a single combustion cycle. A combustion cycle is the entire process of sucking fuel and air into the piston, igniting it and expelling the exhaust.

HOW 2 STROKE ENGINES WORK
A 2 stroke engine is different from a 4 stroke engine in two basic ways. First, the combustion cycle is completed within a single piston stroke as oppose to two piston strokes, and second, the lubricating oil for the engine is mixed in with the petrol or fuel. In some cases, such as lawnmowers, you are expected to pre-mix the oil and petrol yourself in a container, then pour it into the fuel tank. In other cases, such as small motorbikes, the bike has a secondary oil tank that you fill with 2 stroke oil and then the engine has a small pump which mixes the oil and petrol together for you.

HOW 4 STROKE ENGINES WORK
4 stroke engines are typically much larger capacity than 2 stroke ones, and have a lot more complexity to them. Rather than relying on the simple mechanical concept of reed valves, 4 stroke engines typically have valves at the top of the combustion chamber.

More complex engines have two of one and one of the other, or two of each. So when you see "16v" on the badge on the back of a car, it means it's a 4-cylinder engine with 4 valves per cylinder - two intake and two exhaust - thus 16 valves, or "16v". The valves are opened and closed by a rotating camshaft at the top of the engine. The camshaft is driven by either gears directly from the crank, or more commonly by a timing belt.

STROKE DIESEL ENGINES
Mechanically, 4 stroke diesel engines work identically to four-stroke petrol engines in terms of piston movement and crank rotation. (To be historically accurate, petrol engines are mechanically similar to diesel engines - diesel engines came first) It's in the combustion cycle where the differences come through. First, during the intake cycle, the engine only sucks air into the combustion chamber through the intake valve - not a fuel/air mix. Second, there is no spark plug. Diesel engines work on self-ignition, or detonation - the one thing you don't want in a petrol engine (see the section on Octane later). At the top of the compression stroke, the air is highly compressed (over 500psi), and very hot (around 700 °C - 1292°F). The fuel is injected directly into that environment and because of the heat and pressure, it spontaneously combusts (this system is known as direct-injection). This gives the characteristic knocking sound that diesel engines make, and is also why pre-igniting petrol engines are sometimes refered to as 'dieseling'.

Petrol engines typically run compression rations around 10:1, with lower end engines down as low as 8:1 and sportier engines up near 12:1. Diesel engines on the other hand typically run around 14:1 compression ratio and can go up as high as 25:1. Combined with the higher energy content of diesel fuel (around 147,000 BTU per gallon versus 125,000 BTU for a gallon of petrol), this means that the typical diesel engine is also a lot more efficient than your common or garden petrol engine, hence the much higher gas-mileage ratings.