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When you take your theory and practical driving tests, part of those tests will be to determine your knowledge of cars. As a future motorist, you are ultimately responsible for the car or vehicle that you drive on Britain’s roads.
Whilst no-one is expecting you know about engine compression ratios or the bore size of your car engine’s cylinders, you are expected to have a basic grasp of how a car works. You will also be able to identify some basic items on a car, which are usually described in the owner’s manual for any car.
If you are not sure how good (or bad) your knowledge of cars is, this blog post will tell you all you need to know in order to have the information needed to identify certain aspects of your car and how they work together.
Braking systems
All modern cars have braking systems; without them, we would not be able to stop our cars! The types of braking systems cars have varies depending on the model and year of manufacture.
The most common braking system is the disc brake system. Brake discs are metallic circular discs (sometimes called “rotors”), and work together with small “pads” that contain friction material.
Brake pads are fitted to hydraulically-operated housings called brake calipers, and operate much in the same way as brakes do on bicycles and motorbikes. When you put your foot on the brake pedal inside of the car, the calipers push the pads onto the brake disc surface and slow your car down.
Once you are ready to set off or increase speed, you take your foot off the brake pedal which, in turn, releases the pads from the discs.
Engine
A car’s engine is its heart, and without it, you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere! The most-common engines in use are petrol and diesel engines. Petrol engines are also known as “internal combustion” engines.
In order to prevent engines from seizing, they need to have a constant supply of fluids:
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Oil lubricates all moving parts inside of engines, and prevents any metallic surfaces from causing friction (especially at high speeds), which could eventually lead to the two surfaces fusing together and effectively seizing the engine;
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Coolant circulates inside of a car’s engine and goes through a heat transfer device called a radiator, which cools the fluid down before it enters the engine again. Radiators have fans attached to them which can speed up the cooling process.
In order to check the level of oil inside of your engine, you have to pull a metal gauge from your engine block called a dipstick.
If the oil on the dipstick is not within certain parameters, you will need to top up the engine with more oil by removing the oil cap from the top of the engine.
Coolant can also be topped up by removing the cap on the expansion tank.
Exhaust systems
In order to remove any excess gases or “smoke” from the engine, all cars with petrol or diesel engines need to have exhaust systems fitted to them. These systems also contain catalytic converters, which help to reduce the amount of carbon emissions entering the atmosphere.
