Hoot Guides - What's that strange noise?
Between us, the staff here at Hoot Car Insurance Services have many years combined experience, both in the car insurance business and of motoring in general. We created the Hoot Guides out of a desire to make that experience more accessible to you. As webpages, the guides and the information they contain are available 24 hours a day, and they're in easy reach of anybody with an internet connection. So whatever your problem, wherever you are and regardless of what time it is, the Hoot Guides will be on hand to help you out. After enquiries about car insurance, many of the most common motoring questions we're asked concern the thorny issue of car maintenance, so we've devoted a special section in the guides to that very subject. Here we'll cover all the essential maintenance topics like tyre wear, flat batteries and tips for preventing breakdowns - everything, in short, to keep you and your car on the road and running smoothly. This particular maintenance guide will help you to diagnose faults in your car's engine and other systems just by listening. You'll be amazed at what you can discover with a keen ear, and once you've pinpointed the specific problem we'll help you out with what to do next - whether it's making a trip to Halfords for spare parts or arranging a tow to the scrap yard. Problems you can fix yourself
Fingers crossed - if you can hear one of these noises there's a good chance you can sort it for free.
The first and least serious unusual sound you might hear whilst driving is clicking coming from the wheels: this usually indicates you've got a small stone stuck in one of the tyre treads or that one of your hubcaps has come loose. To fix the former, simply pick the offending stone out with your fingers. If it's a hubcap either clip it back into place, perhaps securing it with a cable tie or two, or replace it with a fresh one. Secondly, if your engine is making a 'clattering' noise it could well be due to insufficient oil. Top up the reserve and you should find the problem disappears. However if it persists, you might have valve problems - see the next section of this guide for what to do in that case. Thirdly, don't fret if your engine makes either a moaning or a screeching noise whilst cornering sharply, as there's an easy solution for the indicated fault in the majority of cases. If you can hear the moaning sound, it's most likely because your power steering isn't working hard enough. Most power steering systems come with an adjustment dial or level - just turn it up a bit and the moaning should go away. If it's the screeching sound, that likely indicates the power belt in your engine is slipping. Pop the hood, identify the belt and adjust or replace it as necessary. You'll probably get your hands a bit oily, but this is still a DIY job for all but the weediest drivers. If you hear a similar screeching from the engine when accelerating, that's most probably due to slippage on the auxiliary drive belt. As with the power belt, a relatively painless adjustment or replacement should be all you need to do. Faults for your mechanic
Okay, so maybe that weird noise you've been hearing didn't crop up in the DIY section - that's no reason to panic just yet. If it appears in the following list of garage-grade faults, you can still get away with a cheap repair job if you get over there quickly enough.
If you hear a loud roar or rasping sound while accelerating, it's probably because part of your exhaust has blown. Fortunately, replacement sections are usually fairly cheap to get hold of and fit, so your repair bill shouldn't be too frightening. Backfiring is a common symptom of either leaking valves or a faulty ignition. Fortunately neither fault requires a massive amount of work to put right, particularly if caught early. Things are starting to get more serious, however, if you can hear a knocking from your engine that gets worse as you accelerate. This is the sound of a worn camshaft or cam followers, indicating that your engine is in pretty bad shape. Take it to a garage as soon as possible. The same applies if your engine starts hissing, which is usually caused by a leak from your vacuum hoses or your coolant. Left untreated, either fault can cause serious damage to other parts of the engine - so get it looked at immediately if you hear these noises. The worst sound of all is a whining or chattering in your engine, which points to an incorrectly tensioned camshaft drive belt. This could mean curtains for the whole engine if ignored, so you'd better take your car straight to the garage before bits start falling off. The last word on diagnosing car faults
We wrote this guide to help you identify common problems with your car, but it's important to stress that reading it does not make you an experienced mechanic. Don't attempt any repairs yourself if you aren't 100 percent confident of what you're doing.
Lastly, if you only take one thing away from this Hoot Guide, it should be this: if your car is making a funny noise, do something about it - even if it means paying a mechanic to pick stones out of your tyres. Ignore any car problem, no matter how minor, and it is certain to become a safety hazard before long. Try online car insurance from Hoot
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