Here i will add relevant helpful advice which i feel is often areas where you can diagnose and help yourself  starting with simple checks and relevant information and page links. Here is my first recommendation check your OIL & WATER   might sound obvious but you would be surprised how many vehicle’s i see with no oil or water or both. lets start with the correct oil grade and quantity in the olden days you could pretty much get away with any grade oil , but with modern engine’s the oils do much more and require the proper grade and quantity, there are three main types mineral oils , semi synthetic & fully synthetic to see more click here OILS & USES How to check have a look at your manual if available or Google check for your car “how to check the oil and water”. if none of these are available pop the bonnet and look for a dipstick if you are lucky it will be bright coloured yellow, orange , black or metal when removed it will hopefully have a black to brown fluid on it, if its red then that may be the automatic transmission or power steering. once you have found the dipstick pull it out wipe it and wait 20 secs “as some dipsticks get airlocks & wont show oil level accurately” put it all the way down and pull back out hold it on its side and read the level as seen below  If its low or add point then top up, if its between the normal points then top up usually about a litre will fill to between the upper & lower marks, do not overfill as this can result in oil leaks and if seriously overfilled the there is risk of the engine dieselling which means it can run on the excessive oil and it wont stop until it blew’s up. Keep the oil as close to the upper mark as possible  as the secondary purpose of the oil is to remove  heat from the engine components so he more oil available the more cooling possible if your car is fitted with an oil cooler then the water will remove the heat from the oil and transfer the heat to the water cooling system. What will happen with no or low oil situation. well the engine components such as the pistons can get to temperatures of around 600 degrees Fahrenheit as the pistons race up and down. the main part of the engine in places can reach 400 degrees Fahrenheit. so if there is no oil and thus no cooling then things expand and scrape together and its usually game over for the engine, there are some older engines i have seen will survive no oil running , seize up and cool down and run again but i wouldn’t recommend this, last note for oil now is some newer cars don’t have oil dipsticks BMW recently had no dipstick and relied on electronics “stupid idea BMW”, some cars will check the oil level on start up Peugeot of do this using a gauge at start-up. The oil warning light on your dash which often looks like an oil can and stays on until the engine is running  is not an oil level indicator and when it comes on its usually to late as this measures oil pressure in the engine which is  around 50 psi 3.5 bar if it comes on while driving usually will mean oil pressure has gone like an oil filter working lose a oil pipe breaking or more often when cornering with very low oil level as oil runs away from the pump pick up usually what people tell me when they think there oil light is for “i must be low on oil” So check your oil grade and check the level keep an eye open for leaks under and around the car and top it up and monitor how much your car is using a teaspoon of oil on the ground will make quite a large mark. lets check the water on the next page