No doubt most Nigerian women love pulling up in big luxurious cars, however not all of them bother to learn the basic skills of maintaining a car. Unlike most men who understand the basics of cars , women prefer calling a car mechanic for any slight issue their car develops. They don’t know that owning a car comes with maintenance responsibility. All they do is open their car door, stick the key to the keyhole and start driving. They tagged the engine and other maintenance care as a man’s job.
In Nigeria, you can often see women behind luxurious wheels, but it’s rare to see them opening their car bonnet or trying to change their car tires by themselves, this is not a good thing. Let’s take for example, you are traveling all alone, and your car suddenly stops? You are stranded, no mechanic and nobody to come to your rescue. Will you abandon the car and start trekking? No it shouldn’t be done that way, and that’s why it’s advisable for you to have some basic car maintenance skills. With you not picking the phone every moment your car doesn’t start, you will be able to save your time and money. However you should know that not all car problems can be fixed without the intervention of professionals, so be sure to contact a professional when the situation gets out of hand.
Basic Car Maintenance Skills A Woman Should Learn In Nigeria
If you are a woman that loves driving, it’s essential for you to know how to maintain your car. Since cars don’t talk, you don’t know when they might break down, you can be stranded at any time where you won’t have the means to call a mechanic, or a male friend or family. So you need to be prepared for moments like this. As a man, you don’t just buy a car for your woman and put her behind the wheels immediately after teaching her how to drive. You need to teach her some maintenance skills like changing car tires, changing engine oil, fixing car battery heads and other basic maintenance skills. It’s also required to have tools like a jack, lug wrench, screwdrivers (flathead and Phillips), jumper cables, flashlight, and a socket wrench and fire extinguisher in your car in case of emergencies.
As a woman driving a car in Nigeria, you need to know the following basic car maintenance drills
Changing Car Tires
Whether a man or woman, both genders need to know how to fix tires as you never know when your car tires might get faulty. Among the road safety rules is that every car must have an extra tire, a jack and a spanner. As a car driver, you need to have these tools in your car and also be able to make use of them when your tire gets faulty.
Tools required for changing your car tires
- Spanner
- Jack
- Wheel cock
To change a tire is quite easy all you have to do is:
- Apply the car hand brakes and make sure nobody is in the car
- Position Your wheel cocks to keep the car from moving
- Loosen the wheel nuts while the car is still on the ground (don’t lose it completely)
- Jack the car up (you need to do this carefully and make sure you position the jack well)
- Remove the Flat Tire (After loosening the wheel nut completely, position your hand at the back of the tire and draw)
- Mount the spare tire
- Lower the car and start tightening the nuts
- Fully lower the car and make sure the nuts were properly tied.
Note that these steps won’t even take you up to an hour, all you have to do is position your body well and follow the guide appropriately. You also need to take note of the car handbrakes (make sure it’s applied), check on the wheel cocks (make sure it’s well positioned), make sure the jack is well positioned and finally make sure the nuts are properly tied.
Check Engine Oil
This needs to be done every day, especially when you just come from a long journey. Engine oil is crucial to a car engine, and without the right oil the car engine might knock and will require a new replacement. That’s why it’s advisable to use only the oil suggested by the manufacturer and not oil sold on the roadside. Also stick to one oil and be absent from using different varieties of oil.
To Check your car engine oil is quite easy all you have to do is:
- Open your car bonnet
- Locate the oil Dipstick
- Pull The Dipstick
- Check The Oil level (if it’s between the two lines, you have enough oil but if it’s below the lines, it’s time to change your oil).
Check Fluids:
Apart from your engine oil, you need to check other fluids like wiper fluid, brake oil, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, and coolant, regularly. Your car running out of this fluid is dangerous to you and also dangerous to your car. Make sure you refill before they get empty and also don’t overfill.
Changing A Fuse
Check your fuse regularly and make sure they are in good conditions. If your fuse is burnt out, changing them isn’t that hard. All you have to do is:
- Open Your Car Bonnet
- Locate the Fuse Panel
- Remove The Fuse panel Cover
- Unplug The spoilt Fuse
- Insert The New Fuse
Tips For Car Maintenance
- Always have an emergency kits in your car(kits like, jumping cables, flashlight, fire extinguisher, gloves, duct tape and a first aid box are very essential)
- Learn How to Fix Your Car Tire
- Learn How To jumpstart Your Car
- Learn How to check your Car’s Fluids
Benefits of Learning Basic Car Maintenance
- Promotes your safety
- Saves you money
- Improved car performance
- Peace of mind
- Saves your time
Conclusion
Most Nigerian women need to understand that you don’t just open your car door and start driving, you need to do some basic maintenance to ensure the car performs to its full potential. And they should be aware that they won’t always be in a position where help is close. So learning how to maintain a car should be one of their top priorities after purchasing a car.
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