Diagnose a car problem online can definitely help you to save time and money. Car engine won’t start is a common issue for professional, but for a car dummy it isn’t an easy way to find out. A-Z list is provided here to diagnose most of the common car problem. It helps people who know nothing about cars to save time and cost. Save time in terms of direct identify the main car problem, save money in terms of replace the destroyed parts directly and not the part that doesn’t affect to the problem. Some of the auto parts are not cheap especially like high performance parts for audi a4, therefore make sure no extra buy was made then regret. There are a huge and wide range of diagnose a car problem, it can be CD won’t eject in car stereo, engine won’t start, wiring problem…etc.

A-Z list to diagnose a car problem

Air Conditioning Problem.

Mainly break down to 3 major problems:

1. Blowing hot air or not blowing cold air.

Air Conditioning gas is one of the major reason cause the air is not cold. There is several type of air conditioning gas and this will have to refer to your car owner’s manual. Different car is requiring different type of gas.

2. Not blowing air at all

This has mostly the air condition blower has spoilt. Another possible is the wiring problem on the air condition blower. Please consult a professional before changing any parts to avoid wrong spending.

3. Other possible parts are such as: Compressor, refrigerant, condenser, expansion valve, evaporator, receiver/dryer…etc.

Alternator recharge problem.

When you feel like your car hardly start, having low electric power, weak horn sound or weak lights, slow wiper in the morning, then your car alternator may having problem. Alternator work as a charger to recharge your car battery when the car run, if something happened to it, the recharge function will fail. In MML (MalaysiaMiniLover), we currently only have Ford alternator wiring diagram for your further checking on this.

Brake Problem

Some weird sound when pressing brake or feel hardly stop the car. Most common problem is the brake pad has run out. You can simply check on the wheel, the brake pad is look like 2 thin metal (usually 8mm – 12mm depends on the quality and brand) slip inside the brake caliper. If it is very thin, it is time to change. Slippery on brake pedal? This is very simple, just buy a new set of pedal and change it.

Car CD player eject problems

Thick CD label on CDR, sticker issues, incorrect side of CD…etc. Click on the link above to see the top 5 solutions for it.

Car engine won’t start

Click on the link above to read the top 10 ways to find out why your car engine won’t start. Diagnosing car engine problems could be tedious but sometimes is a fun for car lover.

Clutch problem (for manual transmission car)

Feeling too low for the clutch? Or feeling too hard to press the clutch? The clutch system for a common car break down to few parts, from the clutch pedal to the clutch master pump, then to the clutch plate which taped to the engine.

Drive shaft shaking or vibrating problem.

This problem seldom happens to new cars. Beware if you are looking for any impounded cars for sale. These car could be locked or parked in inappropriate place for a long time and causing the drive shaft jam or when a fork lift is use to jack these cars to container for export purpose and etc..

Engine problem.

Engine brake down to several parts. Battery, ignition, fuel system, exhaust system…etc Therefore if something happen to engine we should check according to the sequence. 1 Battery, 2 ignition, 3 fuel system…etc. Other than these easy things, you will have to leave it to professional to check it.

Exhaust smoke badly problem.

Black smoke, white smoke, or blue smoke? A little bit of black smoke is normal, too much of black smoke is abnormal. White smoke is even more unusual, it might due to piston ring problems. Blue smoke could be the burning oil problem where the gasket of the engine could be damaged, or the engine’s valve, or piston seals. Our advices is, leave this to mechanic. Do not ignore the symptom if you are not planning to keep the car for long.

Fuel system problem.

It is frequent happen that the car problem is just without gasoline in the gas tank. Gasoline price history shows the gasoline price has gone up most of the time, possible some driver just under estimate the mileage can go with the fuel in the tank when they judge according to the amount they pay, not the number of litter gasoline that they put.

Gear problem.

Regardless of manual gear, auto gear, or tip-tronics gears. Gear box isn’t an easy car part to sort out what happen to it. Again, this is hardly to diagnose a car problem online, leave it to a mechanic.

High fuel-consumption problem.

This could be due to the petrol leakage for petrol hose, do check each of the petrol host carefully. Another reason could due to engine tuning. Incorrect tuning will cause high fuel-consumption to the car.

Ignition problems.

The security lock that always make user think it is a big problem. Do checks out Car engine won’t start point no 3 to find out the steering lock solution.

Injection problem.

Most of the cars on the road nowadays is running on fuel injection instead of carburetors. The fuel injector point has to be clean up once awhile during the car maintenance or car service. If it has been left out for long, you will experience imperfect fuel mixture or unsmooth fuel to the car while driving it. Dirty injectors will cause lean misfire, hesitation, poor performance, and an increase in hydrocarbon (HC) emissions. Fuel injection cars were introduced in 1980s and most of the car such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Honda…etc has been completely replaced carburetors. Do take note of cars under 500 dollars, most of these cars are old car and it possible still running on carburetors system, thus no injection problem for carburetors car.

Lighting problem.

Standard lighting for a stock car is head lamp, rear lamp, signal lamp. Some cars does come with extra fog lamp and sport lights. Lighting problem usually just the bulb or fuse has burned, replace a new one will solve the problem. A more serious problem could be due to the wiring problem.

Manual car driving problem.

Here you go for the course written by Angelina from MalaysiaMiniLover. Learning to drive a manual transmission car.

Mounting problem.

Engine mounting should not be a problem for all new cars, if it is, it could be due to factory mistake. For old cars, if the mounting worn, you will feel like the car is shaking or trembling while driving the car.

My Car too sexy problem – sorry we do not have solution for this.

Noisy problem.

Annoying sound, friction sound, rubbing sound, sounds like “zi-zi”, “si-si”, “ji-ji”…etc All may due to the lubricant or grease has run out. Lubricant or grease play an important role in almost all cars especially at knuckle joint, ball joint as well as most of the joint part in our car.

Overheating problem

Malfunction of water pump, blockade of all water hosts, dirty cooling water, wrong coolant water, failure of water cap could cause this happen. Check one by one. Some of the owner’s manual may have all these checking list. Some owner’s manual that available in MalaysiaMiniLover is Ford alternator wiring diagram, BMW z3 owner’s manual, 2005 BMW m3 convertible owners manual, Mercedes-benz slk owners manual, Mini Cooper Owner’s Manual, Free Ford Mondeo owners manual…etc or you can direct go to the free user manuals.

Steering wheel problem.

If you feel like the turning is very hard or the wheel is not turning while you have turn the steering, this could due to your steering rod has gone. Check your steering bush (the screw that tighten your steering wheel to the steering rod) if it is loosen.

Suspension problems.

Generally if you hear some weird sound from the suspensions when go through a bump or unflat road, this could be time to change the suspension.

Teach me how to drive a manual car – Just click on the link will do.

Water leaking problem.

Have to squad down and see where the water leak out from. It could be water pump, radiator, radiator host (some cars or engine is having a lot of host, such as a Nisan 180sx that running a CA18DET engine). Thus, check it properly.

Windscreen cracked.

If the windscreen cracked not serious, you can always go to the windscreen shop and “refill” it. If budget is not a problem, the best way is always to change it to a new original windscreen.

Wipers is not working.

Wiper motors and the metal part is the major things to check, usually it looks like a coca-cola can drink in black color.

Wiring problem.

This is an anal checking. Tools is needed such as a bulb light, connect negative (- sign or usually in red color) to earth and use positive (+ sign or usually in black color) cable to check according to the right wiring diagram for your car. (Free ford wiring diagrams)

The A-list shared here is most of the common car problem, but there is more problems to be consult online as car problem is a wide range and any weird things could be happen. If you would like to contribute your experience to this article, please feel free to write us article at MalaysiaMiniLover [at] gmail [dot] com to contribute to diagnose a car problem online.