Before carrying out maintenance and repair of the car, it is necessary to perform several preparatory operations. Preparatory operations are complex, but they affect your safety, the time spent on maintenance and repairs, and the quality of work.
1. Car wash. If possible, it is advisable to wash the outside of the car before work. Moreover, if work is to be done in the rotor compartment, then you should wash it, and in the case of suspension repair, wash the car from below.
Warning! When washing the engine compartment, avoid getting water on the pads, sensors and actuators of the fuel injection system. Also, avoid getting water into the generator and starter.
In any case, washing the engine compartment must be carried out with the obligatory disconnection of the wire from the negative terminal of the battery.
After washing, the above parts and assemblies must be thoroughly dried by blowing with a jet of compressed air.
This operation is best performed on a non-automatic car wash. Here, the car will be washed by hand, having previously treated the outer surface of the body and the engine compartment with special detergents, remove dirt from the wheel arches and from the bottom of the body with a high-pressure water jet, followed by drying.
2. Car installation:
A) car installation on a flat horizontal platform. It can be a garage with a concrete floor or other solid and even surface, a horizontal hard surface indoor or outdoor area (asphalt, concrete, wood flooring). A hard and even surface allows, if necessary, to raise any part of the car on a jack and securely install it on a stand (see point 3 below).
To perform work without hanging the wheels, it is enough:
- turn off the ignition;
- to fix the car with a parking brake from spontaneous movement. In the event of a malfunction of the parking brake, as well as before repairing the brake system, use wheel chocks to fix the vehicle.
Warning!
- Leave the gear engaged only if you do not have to start the engine or turn the engine crankshaft during operation. In any case, before starting the engine, by pressing the clutch pedal to the stop, be sure that the gear lever is in the neutral position.
- Do not leave the ignition key in the passenger compartment, as it is possible that the security system installed on the car (signaling) will spontaneously switch to armed mode and block the door locks. If there is a need to leave the key in the ignition during operation, then first lower the glass of one of the doors.
b) installation of a car on a viewing ditch or overpass. If some repair operations have to be performed from below the vehicle, then in many cases the ideal place to work (available to a private car owner) there will be a garage with a viewing ditch and a concrete floor. Before driving into such a garage, the ditch should be covered with wooden or steel shields that can support the car. The rest of the recommendations are the same as when installing the car on a flat horizontal platform (see above).
Some garage cooperatives have a repair overpass welded from metal structures on their territory. As a rule, it is impossible to install a jack or stands under a car on such a flyover without a special flooring made of boards. It is better to enter the overpass under the control of an assistant.
V) parking the vehicle on a slope or on uneven ground. The need for this may arise when a car malfunction has to be fixed on the way and there is no way to find a more suitable place for repair (see paragraphs 2a and 26). Do not repair the car on grass, loose gravel, sandy soil and stones (for example, it is very difficult to find a nut that has fallen into thick grass). It is better to try to tow or roll the car to another place. Loose soil should also be avoided, especially if you have to use a jack and stands. If the forced stop occurred on a slope, then it is better to try to roll the car down the slope, otherwise it is necessary to put wheel chocks under the wheels, and from the side of the slope it is advisable to put several of them under different wheels. Otherwise, you should follow the same recommendations as when installing the car on a flat area (see above).
3. Hanging the car on a jack and stands. Such an operation must be performed on a flat horizontal platform with a hard surface. When working on soft or uneven ground, a solid flooring of at least 30x30 cm should be placed under the jack and all stands. A thick board is suitable for making floorings.
Warning!
- The rolling jack can only be used on a solid base, while the jack rollers must remain movable.
- Jacking up a car on a slope is allowed only to replace a faulty wheel, provided that the car is securely fixed from spontaneous movement.
- Disembark passengers before jacking up the vehicle. Do not get into a vehicle that is on a jack and do not load or unload.
- Before repairing a vehicle with a suspended wheel (or wheels) under the power elements of the body, be sure to install reliable stands.
- It should be borne in mind that in hot weather, the asphalt heated in the sun becomes soft, it is pressed through by the supports of the supports and the base of the jack, as a result, the car installed on them may fall.
To hang the rear wheel of a car:
- follow all the recommendations of paragraph 2 (see above);
- install wheel chocks under the wheel located diagonally on the opposite side of the car from the wheel being hung out.
- install a standard jack under the threshold. The upper platform of the jack must be installed under a special bracket welded to the threshold of the body.
- by rotating the handle of the jack, raise the car (for many jobs, it is enough that the wheel just comes off the surface of the base).
- install a stand under the power elements of the body (threshold, side member or body cross member). Rotate the handle of the jack, lower the car onto the stand.
Similarly, you can hang the rest of the wheels of the car.
4. Cleaning of threaded connections. During long-term operation of the vehicle, threaded connections due to corrosion, as a rule, «take a liking» and covered with rust. This is especially true for suspension parts, transmission, external elements of the brake system and steering. Therefore, before repair, all disassembled threaded and fastening connections should be cleaned with a metal brush and treated with a penetrating lubricant in an aerosol can or, in extreme cases, moistened with kerosene. It is better if such work is done in advance (several hours to days), to allow the grease to penetrate into the joint.
5. Disconnecting the battery from the car's electrical network.
The need for such an operation may arise:
- when repairing electrical equipment, which is constantly energized both when the ignition is on and when the ignition is off (alternator, starter, ignition lock, engine management system, etc.);
- when performing any repair, if there is a high probability of a short circuit in the electrical circuit;
- when parking the car for a long period (e.g. in winter);
- when the battery is quickly discharged while the car is parked due to a large current leakage through the electrical circuits (before troubleshooting);
- when servicing the battery and in some other cases.
Warnings!
- Disconnect the battery only when necessary, as this will delete fault codes and all settings generated by the engine management system from the computer memory (which will make it difficult to check this system using diagnostic equipment at the service station).
- When removing the battery, always disconnect the negative lead first, and when connecting the battery, connect the positive lead first.
- Never disconnect the battery while the engine is running. The voltage spikes that result from this will damage the electronic equipment.
- If the car is equipped with a security system and central locking, never leave the ignition key in the car when disconnecting the battery. In some security systems, spontaneous locking of car door locks is possible when the battery is connected.
To disconnect the battery from the car's electrical network, it is enough:
- turn off the ignition;
- use a 10 mm spanner to loosen the nut securing the wire terminal on the negative terminal of the battery;
- unplug the negative battery terminal and set it aside (so that it does not touch the conclusion).
Comment. If you cannot remove the terminal from the output (interferes with the closely located partition of the engine compartment), loosen the two bolts of the block that secure the wire lugs, and press the side wires to the middle wire. Don't forget to tighten the bolts afterwards.
We connect the terminal of the wires to the battery terminal in reverse order.
Warning! Before connecting the battery, make sure the ignition is off.