How to Diagnose Your Car's Sounds

This article will tell you how to figure out what is causing the sounds your car makes.

If you hear a grinding noise when driving your car, up in the engine area or under the hood, these are the things you should look at: Check your fan clutch to see if it is loose or worn too badly. Now look at the water pump to make sure there is no leak around the main shaft seal. This is the easiest that most people don't think about: look at the speedometer cable, because if it is broken or creaking, it will cause a grinding noise as well. You can also look at the oil pump to see if the drive gear is worn down or bad, and also look at your differential fluid. If it is too low, you will hear a loud grinding noise the entire time your engine is running at normal temperature. Lastly, look at the flywheel on your transmission if you have an automatic and not a stick. This will tell you if it is loose, and if so, you will have to take it to be retorqued.

If you only hear grinding from the back of your car, look at the differential fluid again. Is the right type of fluid in there? If not, this is a serious problem that has to be fixed now. Also check the universal joint, because if it is damaged or worn badly, this will cause a constant grinding as well.

If your valves make quite a bit of noise when running your engine, you should look at the valve guide in the owners manual. This will tell you how to look for worn valves, and this could be a huge problem and very costly to fix. Also, check your oil. This is a simple task that many overlook. If your oil is too dark or has clumps, in other words it is contaminated, then you need an oil change. Also, is this the right weight of fluid for your car? You can run a 20/50 weight in the summer and a 10/40 in the winter. The reasoning for this is as follows: If you run a thicker weight in the summer when your car gets the hottest, you are protecting your valves from breakdown by giving more of a cushion. In the winter when you need to keep your engine cooler, the lighter weight oil will cause less friction. You can easily do this yourself at home and save a good 20 bucks in the end.

These tips will help you to diagnose your car's problems instead of taking it to a shop. With our hard economic times, it helps to know someone who knows what they're doing.