do it yourself
Resources such as the Internet and your car manual can educate you about your car's components. David Tenpenny, automotive technology teacher at Lawrence High School, says college students are not educated enough about their vehicles.
Understanding basic car maintenance can prevent larger problems down the road. BY MAGGIE KOERTH under the hood
When I was 16, I owned this great old car that had a bunch of warning lights on the dashboard. Every now and then, one of those squat, orange lights would blink on and I would have to infer what was wrong from the cryptic picture printed on it. One light showed a rod stuck into some sort of liquid. I affectionately called it "the dipstick light" and assumed it alerted me if my oil got too low. It came on one day, right before I was about to
make a three-hour journey from Salina to Topeka. So I put in a quart of oil. It wasn't until I was stuck on the edge of I-70 with a cop laughing at me and a hole in my radiator that I realized what I thought was a dipstick was actually a thermometer.
I'm not alone in my vehicle ignorance. "College students aren't educated enough about their vehicles," says David Tenpenny. "Most people think that if a
red light comes on they can drive a few more miles down the road, and that does a lot of damage." Tenpenny teaches automotive technology at Lawrence High School. He says that drivers need to be more familiar with their cars - beyond the passing acquaintance most of us have with the gas tank.
Unfortunately, forming a close, personal bond with your Civic or Corolla isn't as easy as it was 30 years ago. Back then,