A car consists of several thousand parts, and one of them may accidentally fail. This may happen on the road far from a service station. Only the owner himself, his experience and skill can help the car in such a situation.
Agree, a person who actively uses a car in our conditions, i.e. in conditions of vast expanses, cannot count only on the help of specialists. Many people purely theoretically determine in themselves the absence of the slightest ability to service or repair a car. Such denial in most cases is based on ignorance of what and how to do. Experience shows that in hopeless situations the driver not only eliminates the malfunction, but even the rationalizer awakens in him. There is no need to completely deny in yourself the ability to solve simple auto repair problems. I would like to hope that in every car enthusiast the talent of a car mechanic is dormant. Only "unfavorable" conditions are required for this talent to awaken.
VAZ cars are quite simple and convenient for maintenance and repair. This is another big advantage. Of course, there are individual hard-to-reach units and parts, but they are usually repaired at service stations. VAZ cars have a high level of unification. The designs of most units and parts on cars of different models are the same, which greatly simplifies repair and study of their features. In general, malfunctions do not occur suddenly. A malfunction is the result of a destructive process that has begun and has been going on for some time. The exception is breakdowns caused by road accidents. The ideal case is if you manage to detect a malfunction at the moment of its origin or maturation, but unfortunately, this does not always happen and not to everyone. Almost every malfunction gives itself away in some way, and you need to have high professional skill and intuition to figure it out. It is advisable, for example, to learn to determine the cause of extraneous knocks and noises. After just a few days of driving a new car, everyone will be able to distinguish an extraneous sound. Any new sound that occurs when starting off, moving or stopping is a warning. An experienced driver loses his peace until he establishes the cause of the unfamiliar sound.
If for some reason the wheel mounting bolts have become loose, then when starting off you can hear a knocking and creaking sound. When touching a curbstone, wheels with increased hub bearing play will make a dull knock (impact). A monotonous hum when driving and a crunching sound when turning is made by a failed front wheel hub bearing. A dull knock is made by the steering gear and steering rod joints when turning the car sharply with increased play. Sometimes the engine mounts become loose, and in this case the "dangling" engine will knock when braking or sharply increasing the "gas". Shock absorbers and worn out front suspension joints characteristically knock. Although they say that the shock absorbers knock, but, as a rule, the knock is more often made by the shock absorber mounting parts due to wear of the rubber bushings. Knocks of this kind are best heard when driving on uneven roads. "Rolling" sounds in the location of the rear axle bearings indicate that there is something wrong with the rear axle. Characteristic noises are produced by failed bearings: clutch release bearing, generator, water pump, gearbox drive shaft.
"False" knocks, noises and ringings are also not uncommon, i.e. extraneous sounds caused by either poorly secured wheel caps, or the knocking of a seat belt buckle, or the ringing of parts located in ashtrays, glove compartments or luggage compartments. If you learn to "decode" these sounds correctly, many defects can be detected in advance and promptly eliminated.
In order to learn how to diagnose the condition of vehicle components and assemblies, detect their malfunction and properly eliminate it, it is necessary to have at least a superficial familiarity with the design of the main mechanisms and systems and their interrelationships.
It is easy to discharge the battery. For example, by leaving the headlights or other lighting devices on overnight. To make sure that your assumptions are correct, you should check whether the terminals are securely fastened. Turn on the interior light, and everything will become clear. If the battery is discharged, the light will only try to shine when starting the engine. A discharged battery is far from the only reason for the starter to be "powerless", but in this case, the glowing light will not change its glow when starting the engine. It happens that both the battery and the starter are in good condition, but the engine cannot be started. There can be many reasons, and it is best to detect them by the method of elimination, for example: is there gasoline in the tank?; is the fuel pump working (disconnect the hose from the carburetor and check the flow of gasoline using a manual pump); is the ignition timing set correctly?; are the contacts of the induction coil, insulators and spark plug tips, and under the distributor cover dry?; whether the gaps between the spark plug electrodes and the breaker contacts are normal. After conducting this small study, you will definitely find out what was preventing the engine from starting.
In this chapter we will try to familiarize novice car enthusiasts with the technological processes of troubleshooting the most common faults. The methods of troubleshooting are mostly recommended by the manufacturer, but in some cases they are drawn from the experience of car enthusiasts and often the methods suggested by them surpass traditional ones in ingenuity and wit.
Not all the malfunctions encountered can be eliminated even by an experienced car enthusiast, as special equipment is required. Therefore, having encountered such malfunctions, we will refer to service stations.
(The original is available on the website VAZbook.ru)