Tips on How to Diagnose Why Your Car Won't Start

If your car is not starting you might not have to take it to a mechanic there are many things you can do at home to fix simple problems. However, diagnosing those problems can be a big hassle, and every car is different. Even repair manuals do not give a clear what to do when something goes wrong most of the time. Here are some things you can do to figure out what is wrong with your car, so that you can fix it at home.

The first and simplest thing you should do is check to see if you actually do have fuel. Your gas gage may have failed and may be reading that your tank has gasoline when it truly does not. To check if you have gas or not, you could open up the gas cap, and smell the tank. Do not put your nose directly into the hole, because the fumes are toxic. If you do not smell gasoline you are probably out of gas. Your tank might have a leak in it, which will probably need to be fixed by a mechanic. Another way to test it is to just put more gas in your vehicle, just be careful you don't over flow the gas tank. If that works after that, don't feel to bad, because this problem is so simple it is usually overlooked.

Another common easy to diagnose problem involves the spark. To test if there is a spark, disconnect the wire from the distributor and attach a volt regulator or some other form of tester to it and the body. Then have someone attempt to start the car. If the tester does not register that there is electricity going through it then there is probably a problem with the spark, or the tester is not attached correctly. Have your friend turn off the key and reattach everything to get a better connection and try again.

Another thing that could be wrong is the fuel pump. To test this, take off the fuel line after the gas pump, remember gasoline will probably pour out of it, and pull it up so that it sits higher then the gas tank. That means it will stop flowing outward do to gravity. Now have your friend turn on the key. If gasoline does not pour out of the line while you have the key on, you probably have a problem with the fuel pump, and it might need to be replaced.