Are you listening???

Have you listened to your car lately?

You should treat your car like your body. If you listen to the signals she gives you, you can usually tell what it needs or wants, just like your body will tell you what it needs and warn you of impending danger or failure.

When you are hungry, you hear stomach sounds or feel hunger pains. You usually listen to those sounds and you eat to correct the problem.

When you are thirsty, your throat gets dry so you take a drink of water. Most will listen to their body messages. I’ve been accused many times of taking better care of my cars than my body.

As most of you know, this finally caught up with me last month and I went to the hospital emergency room and had to have some heart plumbing done. I was lucky and things are better than they have been in years, but not without major repairs. If only I had listened to my body as well as I do my Dear Old LaSalle.

Your car can talk to you in many ways—not only by sounds, but by feel and sight. For example, when you are driving on a trip and the car starts pulling hard to one side, it’s telling you, “I have a tire going flat…pull over now before you ruin the tire.”

If it’s not a tire, it could be a steering problem. If you continue to ignore the warning, you could wear out your expensive tires, at the very least. You could have some serious damage and possibly

lose control.

You have instruments on the dash that tell you some of the obvious things such as fuel, heat, battery, speed, oil pressure etc. They talk to you all the time…are you listening?

These old cars we love have their own smells. When these smells change, it’s telling you something is wrong, such as electrical problems, fluid leaks, heating problems, something loose and/or rubbing. Are you listening? Strange noises may go away after awhile, but the car is telling you something is wrong. If the car is hard to start or isn’t running “exactly right,” find out why before it’s too late.

Of course, what you feel can tell a lot. These cars are just like your favorite girl (or guy)…if she (he) don’t feel right, act right, sound right or do what you expect, you better figure out what is going wrong or you will have some real problems.

Are you listening??

See ya next month.

—Walt