If you drive a car then sometimes you must have noticed fatigue and you might have not given it attention thinking of just temporarily weakness. Problem can be with your car too! After some usage the driving may not remain the same as it is with a brand new car but you can do some bits to keep it running like “out of showroom” and most importantly save yourself from unnecessary fatigue.

When we drive the car, we have so many things to do drive car safely on road that not for a single minute we are relaxed. This lead to brain not giving you feedback of how hard your clutch pedal has become and how much pressure you are putting on brakes and accelerator. Even gear change may not be as smooth as before but since it’s a small change that we don’t notice it but it doesn’t mean its not affecting our body.

Next time when you start driving your car, take your car on a quite and lonely road where you can concentrate on the feedback your car is giving and not risk others on road while noticing all this. Drive the car with calm mind and see if you need to put more pressure on clutch pedal than you needed before or just anything that is causing discomfort. Stop and make a list of it. Next time you go to service, get those all fixed with your full satisfaction. Before you go for any major repair, it will be better to check a new model of your car. Suppose you feel that clutch is tight and your service center suggest clutch overhaul then first check a new car in showroom which will give you feel of exactly “how much” tight is your car’s clutch. If there is only slight difference then tell them to change clutch cable only and see if that brings the clutch smoothness and lightness back to normal.

Other cause of fatigue is longer drive on congested roads. Traffic means you will have to change gear frequently, use clutch also again and again, basically you will be involved in doing many task for longer time that will strain your body and mind. Avoid routes that are prone to traffic jams. Also carry some slow and soothing songs with nice tune that you should listen on low volume, it will keep you relaxed and you won’t get irritated easily.

Use AC if it’s hot outside and even if you feel you can do without it, switch it ON. We don’t feel much heat because when door glass are rolled down, we get lots of air circulation but under the seat there is no air circulation and without our knowledge its getting too much heated there.

Footwear also play important role. If you wear shoes with thicker soles, it gives less control on all the pedals operated by foot. Wear shoes with thinner soles but not too thin either. Just see which of your shoes gives best control and ease of operation as it can vary from person to person. I like wearing thin sole sandals as they give me best control and comfort while most people like proper shoes.

Now you can save you thousands of bucks that you might spend on buying car or bike or just any lead acid battery even when its not needed. Lead Acid battery plates develop sulphur with aging and this blocks current leading to low voltage and a time comes when battery is no more able to maintain 12v and car does not start.

I have tried this trick on my car battery which went dead few days back, just 10v was left in it and was going down to 4v on using self. First I tried charging it using battery charger for one whole day and night but I found as soon as I remove it from charging, it would go to 10v at once. So battery was dead, there was no reaction (bubbles) in one of the cell. I was about to change my battery then found this tip and it worked for me

The real thing:
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When you are not able to recharge the battery and it won’t maintain 13v then do this.

1. Open all the caps (from where you fill water) of cell and drain the acid. (You can use this acid to remove algae). Please do this cautiously, wear surgical gloves and goggles to protect your eyes and hand from acid.

2. Take an empty 600ml plastic cold drink bottle, fill it with distill water and add 2 teaspoon of magnesium sulfate in it. Shake shake shake! shake it well untill all the salt gets dissolved in distill water. You can get magnesium sulfate from people who supply chemicals in school labs.

3. Fill each cell with this magnesium sulfate solution you just prepared, don’t overfill, just about 0.5 inch above plates is good. Tap the battery from each side so that air bubbles trapped in plates escape.

4. Don’t put the caps back, leave battery open and put it on charging. I used 5 Amp charger for my 35 Amp car battery. Charge it for atleast 24 hours. Use atleast 10% current for charging, for example your battery is of 12v and 65 Amp then use atleast 6.5 Amp current and 13.8V for charging. I would recommend slightly higher of about 8 or 9 Amp.

5. Remove battery from charging and check voltage. Wear your goggles and peep in cell using a torch to see tiny bubbles coming up from each cell plates. This indicate that your cells are working! If you don’t see this then your battery needs more charging. If you do see bubbles and battery voltage remains constant between 12.6 – 14v then you just saved your battery and it can be used in your car now!

The magnesium sulphate solution will turn into acid when battery is charged so you don’t need to add acid later. If you feel electrolyte level has gone down after this long charging, you can add distill water. But remember don’t overfill the cells as overfilled cells with experience slow charging.

Disclaimer: Use this tip at your own risk, in no case I will be held responsible for any accidents or loss caused by trying tip described above.

When someone buys a car, there are some strong reasons behind it. No one just decides for a car in few minutes and get whatever brand and model he finds first. If have decided that you only need a brand new car because of some special reasons (there can be many) then no need to read further, for people who can think of used car as option, read on the benefits. First of all the main reason you buy a car is to move around, go to places. The first benefit of a used car is the price. You get it for much less than new one and price depreciation is almost nil. For example if one buys a new car for say 4000$ then after 4 years no one will buy it for $4000 again from you no matter how good is the condition of car and how much you have spent on this car in 4 years for accessories. But if I buy a used car for $2000, after using it for 4 years I can still sell it for $2000 if I maintain it well and find a good customer. Of course it doesn’t mean you had a free ride all these 4 years because used car may sometime need more attention (money) on its maintenance and may also consume more fuel than newer models.

Second biggest benefit I personally feel is freedom. Freedom in sense that I don’t feel uncomfortable taking my car to those narrow streets where it is prone to scratches. Also I can park it anywhere and as I am sure its not shiny new to attract people do vandalism. Bad roads are also not a big problem for used car owners because they know if any damage will be cheaper to repair than new models. So the basic purpose of car that is moving people around is best fulfilled by a used car. For people who have lots of money, it may not make sense but it’s for those for whom buying a new car means a lot of money.

Old technology used in your used car may not give you best fuel efficiency and refinement but it has other great benefits. Maintenance cost is much less; easy to repair and less parts even means more reliability. Today car have so much electronics in them that failure in even one part can leave you stranded on road. I am not against new car technology but this can be counted as a drawback you get with new cars. One big example is of timing belt. If a newer generation car engine have timing belt failure (it’s a rubber belt so it can break) it means your car will have to spend lots of time in garage for repairs and you need to shell out lots of money, for older cars, it does not take even an hour to change the belt and you only need to change the belt, nothing else and you are good to go. These were the few reasons that go in favor of used car, I might write more reasons as I experience with my own used car that I am happily driving since 4 years.

Fuel prices keep increasing and as your car gets older, its love for fuel increases. You notice that you are visiting fuel pump often than before and fuel expenses has increased noticeably. If your car is too old (say more than 10 years old) then it will be wise to sell it off and get a more fuel efficient car. But let’s stick to the topic of fuel saving on your current car.

To start with, fill your car only in morning or at midnight. Now it’s not necessary that you make a visit to petrol pump at these odd times only to fill your car, you can do it whenever you find a reputed pump while returning late night or while going to office in morning. Reason is when fuel is colder, it’s denser and you are sure of getting right quantity of fuel in your car.

Now when you have right amount of fuel, next thing you should do at fuel pump is get your tire pressure checked which is free at most petrol pumps. Correct tire pressure will help in achieving a good fuel efficiency.

Now drive off the pump but keep your right foot in control, do not floor the accelerator pedal or press quickly. Train your right foot to press accelerator pedal as gently and slowly as possible and pressing it all the way down.

Use brakes only when absolutely needed, in city traffic you can always use engine brake to slow down. Engine braking comes when you are in lower gear and you are not using clutch and accelerator at all. If you have to apply brakes to slowdown a bit (for example to keep good distance from car in front of you) try not to use clutch at all, if engine tends to stall then ofcourse you have to use clutch.

Check your car from inside and look for unnecessary things stuffed in your car which are adding weight to your car. Engine is using more fuel to carry these unnecessary loads. Now don’t throw that spare wheel and curse me when you have a flat tire LOL

Roll down the windows and see if you can do without AC. Using AC means adding load to engine and engine will obviously going to gulp down more fuel.

One last tip is for overall benefit of your car is that get it serviced regularly at authorized workshops and don’t just rely on what they are doing to your car. Check yourself like they have changed oil filter, engine oil, air filter etc or not and things like wheel balancing are alignment are carried out or not if it was needed.

It has been a while (not so long either) when Fiat India launched its much awaited model Linea. This sedan car was much needed to improve Fiat image in India and this car is doing that quite well. The first look of car will generate an urge in you to own one. From design it looks like a much more expensive car than it is actually. Price range from 6 to 7 lakhs for petrol model and 7 to 8 lakhs for Diesel. These prices are rough figures and price may slightly vary in your city. Petrol version has a 1368 CC Fire engine which generates 90 ps and diesel variant has 1248 CC advanced multijet engine which generates 86 ps but only at 4000 rpm while petrol reaches its full output at 6000 rpm.

Performance of both the engines are good but people who already drive a bigger engine vehicles like Honda Civic or even people who will upgrade from Baleno will find this car little underpowered! Linea is available in 5 colors which are red, grey, champagne, black and white. In these colors red has been very popular till now and not because this color is most advertised but on road this color does look good on Linea. Almost everyone who bought this car has one complain, the built quality is not up to the mark. Every new car has some issues like poor quality fittings and people are finding the plastics used in this car very fragile.

Overall this car delivers what people expect from it and it’s a nice car to own. If you buy it, you will not regret on your decision. This car has forced its nearest competitor Ford Fiesta to reduce its price to 5.5 lakhs so that people can think about it. I would prefer Linea over fiesta because its new, it’s got fresh design and it’s cheaper to maintain car than Ford Fiesta and few more rival company’s sedan. Fiat claims that Linea is even cheaper to maintain than Maruti SX4!

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