Follow Your Nose: Burning Odors

Did you burn the toast? Probably not, especially if you smell it in your car. It could be an electrical short circuit or the wire insulation.

Burning odors can indicate a variety of problems: Your car may be overheating, or there is an oil leak, or a temperature gauge may be broken.

The smell of oil burning may mean you have a leak in the engine block or exhaust manifold.

Follow Your Nose to Safe Driving

You can see some problems. Others you can feel. You also can SMELL them! If you want to take good care of your car and ensure its safety, follow your nose. Your car can alert you to problems through the odors it emits.

That sweet smell, like maple syrup, probably means that you have a leak from the radiator or heater hose. If the odor is more noticeable from the outside of the car, it could be a leaky radiator or the cap. If you smell it from inside the car, it could be the heater core.

Does Your Car Take Care of You in Brrrr-Cold Weather

Brrrr. It’s cold outside. You wear gloves, a winter coat, boots. What about your car? Have you done all you can to keep it running safely during the coldest of days?

• Have you considered how to keep your car from freezing? Have you drained out the old antifreeze this year? Imagine all the sludge and dirt that can clog up the cooling system.

Wait! It’s Not Too Late for These Resolutions

I know what you’re saying, “The New Year has already started and it’s too late to make those New Year’s Resolutions.”

Really? Resolutions can start any time. Don’t make excuses. The important thing is to make a serious commitment to them. So let’s begin…

What are some good resolutions that you can make for your car’s performance and your family’s safety?

If I Were Santa...

If I were Santa, here are some things I’d leave under the Christmas trees of some people I know.

A bumper sticker for Johnny-in-a-hurry: You keep tailgating, I keep slowing down.

Bumper sticker for a grandson: Weren’t we supposed to have hover cars by now?

Bumper sticker for a friend who procrastinates on his car maintenance: Honk if anything falls off.

A Car Checkup for Winter

If you’re like many of us, you don’t think about preparing for winter until the first major snowstorm. Let’s do it differently this year. Let’s plan ahead.

Priority one: Get a warm coat, boots, gloves, hat.

Priority two: Winterize your car! Let’s review some key steps:

Where Children Go

The school year is well underway. Children are going to bus stops. They are getting on buses, getting off buses, running home, crossing streets … sometimes carefully with mom or dad nearby … sometimes thoughtlessly. What’s a driver to do?

Let’s review a few safe driving tips to help ensure that our children are safe on the road to school or the playground:

1. Be patient. Give yourself plenty of time to get to work, especially in areas where you know there is a school bus route, because, where there are school buses, there are children.