3 Basic Things To Teach Your Teen Driver About Servicing A Car
When your child gets old enough to get their license and invest in their own vehicle, it can bring about all kinds of new concerns. You will likely be worried about how well they can drive and spend a lot of time teaching them the rules of the road. However, there is also one aspect of being a daily driver that is important to teach a new teenage driver: the basic concepts of servicing an automobile. Once your young driver is ready to set off in their own vehicle, make sure you set aside some time to teach them some of these basic auto maintenance concepts.
Teach them how to use battery cables to jump a dead battery.
Dead batteries are probably one of the most common reasons a car will not function or start, and there very well come a time when your teenage driver needs to use jumper cables to get a jump from another driver. Therefore, make sure they have their own set of jumper cables in the trunk and teach them how to properly use them. Likewise, if they run across one of their friends who needs help with a dead battery, they will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to help them out.
Teach them how to check the oil level in the engine.
It seems like such a basic act of car maintenance, but the fact of the matter is, knowing how to check the engine oil levels is perhaps one of the most important things a driver can learn. Running a car engine with too little oil can cause a lot of damage. Therefore, show your teenage driver how to locate the dipstick in the engine and how to check the oil levels. It is also a good idea to show them in the vehicle's owner's manual where they can find information like what kind of oil to use to top off low levels and how many quarts the engine should hold.
Teach them how to recognize signs that the engine is overheating and what they should do.
When the engine of a car overheats, it can create extensive damage that can be costly to repair. Your teenage driver should know the signs f an overheating engine, such as the temperature gauge on the instrument panel being in the red zone or steam spilling out from under the hood. Make sure they know to pull over and shut the engine off if the engine is overheating and show them how to add coolant or water to the radiator.
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