10 Of The Most Common Car Problems (And Possible Fixes You Can Try)

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We’ve all been there. You’re running late for work, and your vehicle decides to turn on you. Maybe it’s one of those dashboard lights that doesn’t really mean anything, or maybe the car clicks but won’t start even though the radio works fine.

Even when your car decides to betray you, there are tons of easy solutions for most common car problems. As a former professional mechanic, I’ve seen people bring vehicles to the shop for services I honestly felt a little guilty about doing, like installing a spare tire or replacing a battery. 

If you’re the DIY type, or just want to fix your own car, I’ve put together a list of some of the most common car problems, along with fixes you can try based on my experience and trusted pros’ suggestions. They may not work for your specific problem every time, but they’re worth trying before you spend money on a repair.

A dead battery never comes at a convenient time, but more often than not it hits you at the worst possible moment, like when you’re trying to get the kids to school or running from a masked killer in a horror movie. While having someone test your battery and replace it if it’s bad is the best remedy, in a pinch, jump-starting the vehicle will temporarily solve the problem. My glove box houses a Noco Boost GB40 that I found on Amazon for around 100 bucks, since it’s Amazon’s best-selling jump starter and tops Read’s list of jump starter brands.

If you do need to replace that dead battery, it’s pretty straightforward in most cases, as long as you have the tools for the job. Most stores that sell batteries, including Advance Auto Parts and Walmart, will also install a battery you buy from them for free.

Speaking of alternators, they’re kind of a subheading to the dead battery issue. Oddly, if a battery light is illuminated on your dashboard, it probably means there’s an issue with your charging system rather than the battery itself. With a bad alternator, you can sometimes start the car, but it won’t run long—a tow to a shop or home, or replacing the alternator yourself if you’re comfortable, is your best bet.

The Low Tire Pressure Light, TPMS light, or the little image meant to represent a flat tire tends to come on right when you have ten other things on your mind. Tire Pressure Monitoring System sensors are almost always located inside your tires, either attached to the bottom of the valve stem or secured to the wheel with a metal band. The light illuminates when a tire is below a set pressure or when the pressure difference between tires exceeds a set range. Factors like temperature, sensor batteries, or not knowing what pressure your tires require can all cause that little light to come on; fortunately, most of these issues are easy to fix.

The most obvious fix is to check your tire pressures with a gauge and add air if needed. I keep an AstroAI Digital Tire Pressure Gauge I found on Amazon for around $7 in all my vehicles. There’s a sticker inside the front door frame with the recommended pressures, and note that front and rear tires sometimes have different setups. Once you’ve set the tires, driving normally for about 15 minutes should reset the light. Some older vehicles also use a reset button under the steering column to calibrate the TPMS to the tires’ current pressure. If that doesn’t work, or if the light is flashing, you may have a sensor issue.

Finding your car leaning to one side will always make your stomach turn a little. A tire usually goes flat for a fairly obvious reason, and while a puncture in the tread is the most common suspect, other causes include a damaged valve stem or a bent wheel from an impact that lets air leak from the tire’s bead.

The best and simplest solution to a flat is to install your spare tire, if your vehicle has one — many newer vehicles don’t include a spare due to weight and space concerns. Cars without a spare usually have a flat repair kit with a tire-repair aerosol like Fix-A-Flat, which forces a little air and a liquid sealant into the tire, making it drivable for a short distance. A tire plug or patch is another option, though it may require removing the tire from the wheel. I’d suggest letting a tire shop install a plug, since most do it for free and have techs who do it several times a day.

These temporary fixes will get you where you need to go, hopefully to a shop for a complete repair, if possible, or a replacement tire. Keep in mind that spare tires and liquid tire repairs are only for short distances at limited speeds.

Two of the most common brake noises are grinding and squealing. Squealing brakes can be jarring, and often you’ll look over at other motorists before realizing you’re the driver of the noisy vehicle. Once you notice a consistent squeal, inspect your brakes as soon as possible, as the noise may come from the wear indicator on your brake pads. The wear indicator is a small metal tab installed with brake pads that makes noise when the pad material wears down to critical levels, allowing it to scrape against the rotor.

Other possible causes for a scraping or squealing noise include improperly installed brake hardware, dusty drums, heat cracks in the pad material, or rust on the rotors. If needed, pad replacement is a pretty easy DIY project and should both eliminate the noise and let you drive with one less worry.

Grinding noises are another matter entirely, and they can cause severe damage and costly repairs. While debris rarely causes a grind, the usual reason is a pad worn down to its backing plate. This happens when you ignore a squeal for a while, and the brake pad material wears down, leaving only the metal backing plate. A grind needs immediate attention, and pads and rotors usually need replacement.

A rough idle can be a tough problem to diagnose, but when you’re comfortable with your vehicle, you can tell when something feels off. A rough idle or misfire is usually more noticeable at a stoplight, showing up as a persistent chug or rumble and often accompanied by a check engine light. The first step in diagnosing a rough idle is to use your own diagnostic tool or swing by any major auto parts retailer, where they’ll hook up a code reader for free.

A few codes go hand in hand with a misfire. P0301 through P0312 indicate a misfire in a specific cylinder — for example, P0304 represents a cylinder four misfire. If that’s the only code you see, one diagnostic step for a single-cylinder misfire is to swap wires or ignition coils. If a code reader shows the misfire moving from one cylinder to another after you swap wires, suspect a wire or coil issue rather than a plug.

If you have multiple misfires, the car will often throw a P0300 code. A good first step, and a possible fix, is to check your spark plugs and replace them if needed. A rough idle and a check engine light are two warning signs it’s time to replace your plugs, and a visual inspection can reveal more about why they’ve failed, like a leaky valve cover gasket or a worn electrode.

Your battery isn’t necessarily the only culprit when you’re diagnosing a no-start condition. If you have power (the lights and accessories come on) and hear a solid single tick when you turn the key in the ignition, a bad starter may be the problem.

The starter in your vehicle gets your engine running. In simple terms, your starter draws power from your car’s battery. That power then pushes a plunger out of the starter, engaging a pinion gear with the engine’s flywheel. That spinning pinion gear turns the flywheel, starting the combustion engine process and getting the car going.

While testing and replacement are the best solutions, there is a trick that might work for you. If you’ve got a buddy around, simply tap the starter while your sidekick turns the ignition key on and off. If the starter is easily accessible, a hammer can usually do the trick, though you might have to slide under the vehicle to reach it. For starters that don’t have an easy access point, I always used my broom handle/hood prop. To be clear, you’re not trying to bash the starter to pieces; you’re just trying to move its internal parts by tapping the solenoid or main starter cylinder — worn brushes or a stuck pinion can be jarred just enough to get your car going.

This can confuse many drivers. The check engine light and maintenance light are very different indicators, but they’re often located near each other on the dashboard, and there isn’t much nuance to tell them apart. The check engine light is the more serious of the two, letting the driver know that one of the vehicle’s many sensors or monitoring systems has detected a problem.

The maintenance light usually lives in the dashboard and displays a message like Maintenance Required, a little wrench, or MAINT REQD. It’s a mileage-based reminder that lets the driver know it’s time for scheduled maintenance. That maintenance is most often an oil change or tire rotation, but depending on your car’s mileage, it may also be due for other services. When you get an oil change, technicians reset this reminder, but sometimes they overlook it.

Resetting the maintenance light is usually pretty simple, but you need to know the procedure for your specific vehicle; for example, many Toyotas require you to hold the odometer button as you turn the key and wait for a series of dashes to disappear on the display. Other vehicles require you to navigate an info center to reset the maintenance light, while others require a diagnostic tool. YouTube is reliably the best way to find out how to reset your specific maintenance light.

When a brake light, turn signal, or headlight bulb fails, it can be frustrating and expensive. Most of us have been pulled over for a burned-out brake light, which always feels unfair because, well, how would we know it’s out unless someone told us?

A few things can cause an exterior light to fail, but the most common is a burned-out bulb. If that’s the case, most bulb replacements are pretty straightforward. Some require unclipping a harness and a quarter-turn to remove; others pull straight out of a socket. Either way, once you remove it, you’ll have both a dead bulb and a reference point for replacement, since most bulbs have a part number printed on their base. When replacing it, avoid touching the glass portion of the new bulb, especially halogen headlight bulbs, with your bare fingers, as the oil on your hands can cause premature failure. The intense heat these bulbs produce can crack or melt the glass when oil has compromised it.

If you don’t have a bulb handy, it’s sometimes worth removing and replacing the offending bulb. A loose connection or a tiny bit of debris can loosen in the process, and while it’s not a fix, I’ve had more than a few bulbs start working that way again.

You may be preparing for a trip when you realize your front tires look worse than your rears. As long as they’re not excessively worn — your tire’s wear bars will tell you when they are — you’re fine, but they’re enough to make you want a quick fix. Generally, tires wear unevenly between the front and rear of a vehicle because the front carries more weight. Think about it: the front of your car almost always has a heavy engine, plus things like a power steering rack, radiator, and battery. Those pounds add up, and pressing that weight down on your tires naturally wears them a little more than the back ones.

The simple fix for this is regular tire rotation. If your oil change shop offers free rotations, take advantage and let them swap them for you. They have a lift, can check tire pressure easily, and will use the proper rotation pattern and torque when they put your tires back on.

I’ve noticed some patterns in customer behavior at my part-time gig at a parts store. If it rains, we always get a handful of people who need wiper blades, so I put on my poncho and install them. And when the seasons change, we get a lot of complaints about foul odors coming from vehicle vents when the air conditioning or heat is turned on for the first time in a while.

While working at a shop, I encountered plenty of these stinky vents too. The vehicle fills with a musty, wet odor, or, in extreme cases, even dust. The most common culprit is a dirty cabin air filter, something many people don’t realize they need to maintain. 

This filter usually sits behind the glove box and keeps dirt, dust, and debris from entering the cabin. Like any filter, it collects that stuff and lets it through if it isn’t maintained. I’ve replaced cabin filters with everything from mouse poops to leaves and mold, and those things can really stink up a car quickly. Replacement can be as simple as removing a glove box panel or as difficult as fully disassembling the center column. A quick Google will tell you whether it’s a simple DIY job or one you should leave to the pros.

Wipers are essential for safe driving in bad weather, but they also clear errant leaves or unlucky bugs from your field of vision. Wipers usually need seasonal replacement, but by following best practices like using them only on a wet windshield, wiping the blades down with a cloth periodically, and never using them to remove ice or snow, your blades can last 2 or 3 years without issues. Wiping debris off the blades can also fix streaking or chattering.

Windshield wiper blades have evolved in design, cost, and effectiveness over the years, but the best fix for most wiper issues is usually the simplest: replace the blades. Some wiper blades let you replace only the rubber, but for most modern beam-style blades, you have to replace the whole blade. If you DIY, paper and YouTube instructions make replacement easy, and most parts stores that sell blades will even install them for you for free.

I personally use Bosch Icon wipers on my wife’s Jeep Renegade, since Car and Driver recommends them and they’re one of Read’s favorites. They run around $56 for a pair on Amazon. On my old Ford Ranger, I go with a solid but more affordable option — the Rain-X Ready Match Conventional blades, which cost $15 each at Advance Auto Parts.

We compiled this list of the most common car problems and possible fixes you can try, drawing on several sources. My primary source is my lifetime of experience: I’ve been everything from my dad’s flashlight holder to a professional automotive technician and an auto parts store employee. I’ve seen and fixed every common car problem you can name, along with some really uncommon ones.

Other sources include our pals at Jalopnik, along with other trusted websites and YouTube channels.