Do You Know How To Read Your Car Gauges

By Sam Bradley

To learn how to drive, you will need to do a lot of studying. In order to drive, you must understand what road signals mean, you must learn how to physically drive your car and you should be able to read and understand the gauges in your car. The gauges are important to keeping your car in good working order so that you can drive it for a long time.

Some cars have more lights than gauges, but all cars will have some type of an alert system in place to warn you about things on your car that are not operating as they should be. All forms of warning can be found in the dashboard of any vehicle. For those cars with gauges rather than lights, you will be able to tell what is going on with your car long before there is any problem. Learn what they are and where they should be so that you will know if you need to take any action.

The fuel gauge is one that almost everyone knows about by instinct. However, some drivers have a hard time learning to pay attention to this gauge. If you do not want to run out of gas in the middle of the road and a long ways away from a gas station, then you will need to pay attention to the gauge and make it to a gas station before you run out. If you are going on a long trip, then you can plan ahead where you will stop for fuel to make sure that you do not run out on the trip between towns.

Another gauge that is self explanatory is the speedometer gauge. On every road that you travel there will be a speed limit. You need to be sure to look for the speed limit sign and then travel no more than the speed limit. If you pay attention to the signs and your speedometer you can avoid a costly speeding ticket and make the roads safer for all of us to drive.

Fourth of the car gauges is the tachometer. This will give you the measurement of your engine's turning speed in revolutions per minute or RPM. There is no difference in reading the tachometer for automatic or manual cars. Keep in mind that you should only run the speed of your engine outside the red area of the tachometer.

The temperature of the coolant in your engine also has a gauge. The temperature gauge tells you how hot the coolant is. The hotter the coolant, the more likely you are to have problems inside the engine. Again, the gauge should have a red zone and you need to watch to make sure that the gauge does not get into the red zone. If the gauge is moving in that direction and does not come back down quickly as you get to speed, then you should pull over. You will need to let the engine cool down substantially before continuing on. You should check the coolant level the next morning before driving because it is likely too low and needs to be topped off to prevent the engine from getting too hot.

The last gauge is for oil pressure. It is important for your engine to run with the appropriate oil level. The indicator is on the middle part of the measuring device. If you noticed that the oil pressure is rising up or dropping down, you have to pull over and look at the oil level. Make sure to turn off the car's engine first before checking.

Gauges are important in the proper function and use of a car. These instructions are general in nature and you should consult your driver's manual of the car that you are driving for specific instructions concerning the gauges of that car. Paying attention to the gauges and taking actions when needed can give your car years of life and use. - 21396

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In your dashboard you can find car gauges. It is important that you watchthem, especially the speedometer gauge. If you do not, you may be paying in the way of speeding tickets.