Loading the handbook…
Loading the handbook…
No. 10
Loading course…
No. 1015 lessons
Understand what’s happening inside your car: how the engine, oil, cooling, brakes, tyres and battery work, and how diesel, hybrid and electric drives differ. Read a warning light, check the levels under the bonnet, deal with a flat battery or a flat tyre, and plan charging for an electric car. Finish by judging a used car from the evidence it gives you. This is owner knowledge and judgement, not repair.
Recommended orderLessons build on earlier ideas. Follow the numbers as you read.
Read a warning light as a sensor crossing a line, and know which lights mean stop now.
11 steps
See how four small patches of rubber carry the whole car, and read pressure, wear and tread depth from them.
10 stepsBuilds on Dashboard Warning Lights
See why stopping distance grows so fast with speed, how a light press clamps a spinning disc, and what a soft pedal or a grinding noise is telling you.
12 stepsBuilds on Tyres, Pressure and Grip
Follow one cylinder through four strokes and two turns, and see why one misfiring cylinder shakes the whole car.
9 stepsBuilds on Dashboard Warning Lights
See how a spinning crankshaft rides on a wedge of oil, and choose, check and change oil so that the wedge holds.
11 stepsBuilds on How a Petrol Engine Works
Follow heat from the engine to the air, and know what to do when the temperature warning comes on.
10 stepsBuilds on How a Petrol Engine Works
Read oil, coolant, brake fluid and screenwash correctly, and know which falling level means don’t drive.
11 stepsBuilds on Brakes and Stopping Distance, What Engine Oil Does, The Cooling System
See why gears trade speed for turning force, why a car stalls, and how a clutch clamps, slips and wears.
12 stepsBuilds on How a Petrol Engine Works
Tell a flat battery from other no-starts, see why cold mornings finish batteries off, and know what to switch off when the battery light comes on.
11 stepsBuilds on How a Petrol Engine Works, What Engine Oil Does
Understand the jump-start circuit, know when not to try, and see where the last clip goes, and why.
11 stepsBuilds on Dashboard Warning Lights, When the Car Won’t Start
Get somewhere safe first, know what’s in your boot, and change a wheel so that it stays on.
11 stepsBuilds on Dashboard Warning Lights, Tyres, Pressure and Grip
See how a diesel lights its fuel, why its filter needs long runs, and what to do if you put in the wrong fuel.
10 stepsBuilds on How a Petrol Engine Works, Dashboard Warning Lights
See how a motor chases a moving magnetic field, why it pulls hard from a standstill, how regeneration works, and how the three kinds of hybrid differ.
12 stepsBuilds on The Clutch and the Gears, Brakes and Stopping Distance
Find where charging speed is really limited, read a charging receipt, and fit charging around your week.
13 stepsBuilds on Electric Motors and Hybrids
Use the MOT history, warning lights, a cold start, the tyres and the clutch to decide whether to buy, negotiate or walk away.
11 stepsBuilds on Dashboard Warning Lights, Tyres, Pressure and Grip, The Clutch and the Gears, How Diesels Differ