Let Your Senses Guide Your Safety: Definite Reasons To Pull Your Vehicle Over

There is little else in this world that allows a person to survive than their dependency upon their 5 senses. They allow you to see danger coming, hear it approaching, taste its poisonous elements, smell its noxious odors, and feel its cold grasp. Without our senses, we would be nothing, with no way to learn about the world that surrounds us.

It is precisely these five senses that help to keep us out of danger under any and all circumstances. Whether we are hiking, sitting at home, entertaining or partaking in being entertained, our senses keep us safe. The problem with our senses however is they could be telling us something, and a lack of knowledge on our part may not alert us of some particular danger.

This is most easily understood when you think of vehicles. Who hasn’t driven even though the check engine light was on? Or continued driving while that annoying rattling sound persisted, or that odor emitted, or even knowing full well you should change the oil. We all have, but it is obviously because our lack of vehicular knowledge doesn’t make it seem all that important to us. Well, perhaps we should change that.

What’s to follow here are the alarms being raised by your senses to let you know you need to pull your vehicle over immediately, and to cease driving. It would behoove any driver to heed your senses when they warn you in this manner.

Sight: When you visually see something is amiss, there is no reason to continue driving. You are literally going against common sense, and ignoring better judgment.

Engine Check Lights: There is little left that can destroy your vehicle faster than excessive overheating and dramatic loss of oil pressure. Car manufacturers know this, which is why they put the lights on your dashboard. When those illuminate, for whatever reason, that is your cars way of asking for help. You simply need to pay attention, and use your eyes to catch the sign.

Steam/Smoke: If there is steam or smoke emitting from your engine, this is a major indicator that you need to stop your vehicle immediately. Steam generally means that your coolant is leaking. Before checking your coolant levels, be sure to let your vehicle cool down, as the coolant is under pressure and extremely heated. If you remove the cap too soon, the coolant spraying will burn you as its pressure is released. Smoke on the other hand is a much bigger problem, as smoke is always the prelude to fire, and you don’t want your engine catching on fire. Smoke can be caused by a lack of oil, which can ruin your engine, or any other number of problems.

Hearing: How often do noises startle you? A loud crash or screech should raise alarm, and the same holds true with your vehicle. Strange noises should always be inspected, as they are generally the result of something inside the car breaking or not working optimally.

Sudden Loud Noise: A common loud noise heard is the bang of a tailpipe, which is obviously due to something not working in the exhaust system. A blown spark plug also makes a loud banging sound. Cars are meant to drive and be quite, when this is no longer happening, something is broken.

Unusual Sounds: Rattling, squealing, scraping, essentially any noise that is not normal or common should be checked out. Taking preventative measures towards something going wrong is much easier, both on the mind and pocket, than trying to fix something once it’s broken. A loose bolt may be just that, until something comes undone, and then it no longer a loose bolt, but a broken part.

Taste: Admittedly, there is very little that can be tasted, safely albeit, in a vehicle that will alarm you to some trouble. But there is one part that should be mentioned.

Bad Taste Left In Mouth: There is the common saying that when something bad happened, it left a bad taste in your mouth. Well, there are times when your taste buds alarm you. Your mouth will either salivate or begin to have an electrified taste or feeling when danger is present. It may be difficult to notice at times, but if you do recognize it, do not deny it. Rather, heed its warning.

Smell: Ideally, your vehicle will emit as little or no smell whatsoever. If there is any odd smell coming from your vehicles engine, this needs to be taken care of immediately.

Rotten Egg/Sulfur: If it smells like a rotten egg as you drive, chances are you may have a problem with the catalytic converter not being able to process the by-products of the combustion process effectively.

Oily/Sickly Sweet: Your engine’s coolant has a very distinct sweet and oily scent. If you smell this, you need to check your hoses for leaks, and heater core to ensure that it is not broken and leaking as well.

Musty/Moldy: If you have a musty and moldy smell, this indicates that there is trapped water either in your car or within your radiator system. This can become a problem if left unresolved, severe health problems can come about by breathing in mold spores over time.

Gasoline: All vehicles have a vapor recovery system to avoid gasoline from being emitted into the air. If you smell gasoline, this means the recovery system isn’t working properly. Another issue could be a regular gas leak from faulty hoses. Either issue needs to be addressed immediately.

Burning Oil: If you can smell burning oil, chances are you have a seal or gasket that has failed or is malfunctioning. The slight smell of burning oil needs to be addressed once noticed, because if it is left unattended it can very well turn into a serious problem later on.

Acrid/Burning Hair: If the smell of burning hair is prevalent, or an acrid scent, than you may ride your brakes and clutch too hard. If you continue to do this, you will wear them out until they are no longer functioning. Which is an issue all in itself.

Touch: One of the easiest ways to tell that something is wrong with your vehicle is when it no longer handles, as it should be. This should be noticeable relatively quickly to the astute driver. How the vehicle is handling will let you know immediately whether you should continue forward.

Shaking/Rattling/Vibrating: Any of these symptoms are a clear sign that you need to check your vehicle. Allowing this to persist does nothing more than make the possibility of something else rattling loose or breaking in the future more likely. It could be something as easy as unaligned tires, but it could be bolts missing, or any number of things worth looking into.

Straining: If it seems that your vehicle is straining in any fashion, whether moving forward, idling, or stopping, you need to look into that. There is no reason for a vehicle to have a problem with any of those three parts, as that’s really all the vehicle is meant to do.

This author of this article is Damien S. Wilhelmi, an SEO tactician and SEM strategist. If you enjoyed this article, you can follow me on twitter @metalpedal. I am writing on behalf of AAMCO Colorado, where you can receive a qualified and professional transmission repair.

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