If you are a new car owner or just do not know much about the ins and outs of the car’s inner workings, you might feel intimidated by the prospect of rolling up your sleeves and resolving its issues yourself once they occur. Luckily, regardless of your level of experience, most car issues can be easily solved if you have the right set of tools.
Now, when it comes to the right tools, there are several approaches you can take, the first one is running to the nearest store and outright buying them. While there a case to be made about owning them, unless you are a mechanic or a car geek who likes to tinker around with the engine, you will not need anything else beyond your basic toolkit. The wiser approach, both from a practical and financial perspective, is to rent them. Fortunately, Autozone offers one of the best-renting services on the market, with a large catalog of tools that you will you repair any possible issues. If you are interested to see a full list of the store’s tools and further details about their renting policies, you can always check EquipmentRental.org, a reputable online source who published this comprehensive guide to renting tools from AutoZone. Without further ado, here is a brief list of car issues that you can fix with Autozone tool rental.
Safety Precautions and How To Diagnose a Car Problem
Before attempting any car repairs, there are several safety precautions that you have to take to avoid any possible injuries:
- Make sure the engine is cool enough that you can touch it. This means waiting for at least an hours after you last turned it off. Working on the car while it is running is also a big no-no.
- Do not smoke while working on the vehicle, especially if you are bending over the engine.
- Make sure the parking brake is on, the engine is shut off entirely (except cases in which the repairing process requires it), and the gear shift is in neutral or park.
- Do not wear any accessories or jewelry items such as ties, rings, necklaces, bracelets. If you have long hair, tie it.
- Work in a highly ventilated area, like outdoors on in a parking lot.
- Keep an up-to-date extinguisher at hand’s reach.
As for diagnosing any car issues, the methods that you could use are as varied as the issues themselves. Generally speaking, you can diagnose most problems as follows:
- Check for any screeches: While screeches are pretty hard to miss, it is essential to listen to them carefully in order to determine their cause. If the car screeches when you accelerate, the car might need a new fan belt. If the vehicle is screeching while you are slowing down, there might be an issue with the brake pads. Finally, if the screeches are most evident when you are making turns, you might have to make some adjustments to the power steering belt.
- Check for smoke: Diagnosing cat problems by smoke is a little trickier, with the cause of the issues depending on where the smoke is coming home. For example, the tailpipe emanating black smoke is a telltale sign of fuel calibration issues, while blue smoke means that the car is burning an excessive amount of oil.
- Another sign to check out is whether or not the car has any leaks: Like smoke, leaks can signify the existence of a wide variety of issues. Generally, it depends on the color of the fluid; if it is clear and slippery, the source might be the breaks. Yellow, brown or green liquid might come from the coolant. Finally, if the liquid has a dark, red color, the problem might come from either power steering fluid or the transmission.
- Check brake feedback: When you push the brake, it should feel solid and full of momentum. If the brake feels loose or springy, then air might have gotten into the brake lines, and you need to repair them. While this could be easily done at home, if you are not experienced enough, you should probably let a specialist handle this issue.
Now that we have covered a few basic safety measures and how to diagnose common car problems, it is time to present a few issues that you can safely solve by renting tools from Autozone.
1 Touching Up Chipped Auto Paint
This is one of the most annoying issues every car owner faces. Chipping paint will not only affect your car visually but once it rusts up, it can cause further damages to the vehicle’s exterior fuselage. Luckily, this task does not require much experience, only patience, attention to detail and a few basic tools that you can easily rent from any Autozone store. To accomplish this job, you will need auto body touch-up paint, denatured alcohol (in the most extreme cases) polishing compound and wax and grease removers.
First off, clean the chipped parts with water and soap, and dry them with a soft cotton cloth. Afterward, all you have to do is rub the respective spots with the automotive polishing compound.
2 Torn Car Seats
Torn car seats is another common car annoyance that is capable of driving any car lover insane. Luckily, this issue can be easily solved by renting a leather and vinyl repair kit from Autozone for less than $20. In other words, by renting the necessary instruments and doing it yourself, you will save up to $200, which is what a new leather or vinyl upholstery job usually costs.
3 Dead Battery
Every car owner had to deal with a dead battery at some point during their lives. Luckily, jump-starting a car battery is easy enough to do on your own, so you do not have to rush to a mechanic every time it happens. All you need to facilitate this process is to rent a top quality set of jumper cables. Ranging from three to six meters, this inexpensive tool is just the thing your battery needs to come back to life.
4 Replacing Spark Plugs
You can save a lot of money by changing broken spark plugs yourself both on the short term, by not hiring a mechanic, and on the long term, because these components ensure peak performance and high gas mileage for your car. Typically, this job will take up to an hour out of your time, and requires standard tune-up tools – spark plug socket, gap gauge, and a ratchet – that can be easily rented from Autozone at a meager price.
Conclusion
With a bit of care and patience, most car problems can be easily solved without calling a mechanic if you have the right tools at your disposal. Assuming you own a relatively recent model, these particular issues will not occur very often, so there is no sense in owning any tools beyond the ones offered by a standard car repair kit. Luckily, Autozone offers one of the best tool rental services in the industry, so if you encounter any problems grave enough to require the intervention of a professional, the hardware store can serve all of your needs.
