Your car can’t talk to you but that doesn’t mean it can’t communicate how it’s feeling. If something’s going wrong, there are a few subtle and not-so-subtle indicators that can warn of impending issues. Catch them early and you could save yourself from big repair bills. Here’s what to look out for.

Lights

Perhaps the most obvious sign of a problem is a dashboard warning light. All your car’s warning lights illuminate when you turn on the ignition and then quickly extinguish (except the handbrake, if you have that engaged), so if any linger or stay on, then it is worth further investigation. If a light comes on while driving, it could be more serious, so check the handbook for more information and get it checked out.

Smoke

Visible tailpipe emissions aren’t necessarily anything to worry about. Petrol cars usually emit white smoke on start-up on cold days and older diesels, made before diesel particulate filters were made essential, can produce black smoke but, generally speaking, this is normal.

However, if you have smoke where there was none previously, there’s more of it than before or the colour changes – blue smoke in particular indicates burning oil – then this indicates a potentially significant problem.

Noise

Even the quietest of cars make some noise and if you’ve owned your car for some time you should be familiar with how it sounds in normal driving. A change in volume, pitch or a new noise altogether therefore could mean something is wrong.

Knocking or tapping from the engine could be a serious mechanical fault, clunking from the suspension could mean a safety-critical fault and a whining or grinding sound could be a wheel bearing or brake fault. Try to mentally track when it happens and take that information to a mechanic.

Fuel

If you use your car regularly, you probably have a good idea of how much fuel it uses depending on your kind of journey, so a sudden increase in fuel consumption could indicate an engine fault – or even a fuel leak.

Wobbles

The key control that links you to the car is the steering wheel, and how it feels in your hands can be a warning of trouble. If the wheel vibrates or wobbles in your hands as speed increases, there could be a suspension fault or the wheel alignment could need attention. Or you may simply just have a wheel out of balance – a quick and cheap problem to fix.

If the steering feels unusually heavy, it could mean the tyre pressures need checking or potentially the power steering is developing a fault. These faults could be safety-critical, so look at them as soon as possible.