Dave talks about your car’s electrics

Your engine needs a “spark” to run – the spark ignites the petrol which operates the pistons and basically makes the engine work.

There are a variety of electrics in your engine.

Let’s start with the battery – and since we are really talking about problems – let’s go to each part of the “starting’. Your battery is the main stay of the electrics – dead battery – nothing else works. So if you see that the car is starting to give you a problem turning over – “slow crank” means the battery is on the way out. Time to get a new one. Important point – if you leave on holiday for more than two weeks – disconnect one of the battery cables from the battery or you stand a chance of having a “flat” battery when you return.

The battery is charged by the alternator – if the alternator is not charging at least 14 volts the battery will go dead. Most cars have a “battery” light or a battery gauge on the dashboard and if this comes on it usually means the alternator is not charging. This should be checked right away.

Also in this portion of the electrics is the starter motor – this is operated by the battery and turns the crank which starts the motor. If you turn your key and hear a “click click” normally this is a dead battery, but could also be a malfunctioning starter motor.

Jump starting your car from another vehicle – important – make sure you connect postive to postive and negative to negative (or ground on the car). If you don’t you stand a chance of doing MAJOR damage. You could short out the car’s computer. After connecting – make sure the “good” car is running and let the charge build up a bit before attempting to start your car. Note – some battery cables (thin) are worthless – they don’t give a good charge. It is best to have heavy duty battery cables.

If your car cranks but won’t start – this could be caused by a variety of issues.

Staying with electrics – you have to get a spark to the plugs for the car to start. This is accomplished by the ignition coil, the distributor and the spark plugs. The coil gets electricity from the battery – it in turn send electric current to the distributor which “distributes” this to each individual spark plug to ignite the petrol. Any of these could be faulty.

The above is just the electrics in the car needed to get the car started – later we will discuss other electrics in your car – and there are many.

I can be reached on 01001456439 and/or horsetorg@yahoo.com if you need any assistance.

Dave The Mechanic

To know more about Dave – click here….

 

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