Michael McAleer answers your queries
From Cillian Daly, Rathmines:
This evening, yet again, I witnessed an example of an ongoing disgrace on our roads, namely the misuse of front fog lights. On a 10-minute journey I passed two Irish School of Motoring cars, both with teacher and student, with front fog lights on as well as parking lights.
Well, I've checked the Nissan website and its spec sheet for the Micra (it's always a Micra) - the front fog lights are for use in fog. They're not "go faster lights", nor "don't I look cool lights", but fog lights.
Surely the qualified drivers in the employment of the ISM should direct their young, impressionable, inexperienced driving students to put on the correct lights for the time of day - main lights or dipped lights (not parking lights) after sunset and at night; no lights during the day, unless it's raining cats and dogs - of course, if it's a very dull day use the night scenario. And fog lights? They're for foggy conditions. It's all very simple.
By switching between the different light settings, it's clear that parking lights don't throw any light onto the road in front. And fog lights are just big flood lights which blind oncoming drivers on clear nights!
So why is an organisation such as the Irish School of Motoring allowing such driving?
Fog lights are a menace to motorists. Rear lights in particular irritate and distract other drivers and can lead to accidents.
According to Karl Walsh of the Irish School of Motoring, it's quite clearly wrong to have fog lights on during normal daylight. "It's not something we would advocate in any way," he says. "It's not something we would teach and if it does happen it's accidental.
"We've had this problem before with Nissan Micras. In the Micra the fog light switch is on the indicator stalk - this makes it very easy to accidentally knock on the fog lights when indicating.
"Obviously the sidelights have to be on already for the fog lights to come on, but there are times when we would recommend using sidelights, particularly in poor visibility."
From Eoin O'Kelly:
I have a 01 Daewoo Lanos 1.4-litre which has been lying unused in a garden since March 2002. This was due to a poor trade - when I was getting a new car a family member said they would buy it from me but I'm still waiting.
I'm now in a position to put the car back on the road. I used jump leads to start it and left the car running for two hours.
However when I turned the engine off, it wouldn't start again without jump leads. I took the battery to a garage to recharge it. They checked it overnight and said I needed a new one.
Apart from the battery what else do I need to check or change? I assume oil and brakes would be priorities? Do I have to pay the back tax on the car?
The handbrake has probably seized, and the rear brakes are sticking so you need to move the car and free these up. You could take the wheels off and release the brakes by hand - avoiding any excess wear - but you may just want to put it in gear and get the car moving.
You also need to change the brake fluid because condensation will have built up in the resevoir. Any car left up for about 10 to 12 months needs to get its brake fluid replaced.
It's a bit late for you, but the advice when starting an engine for the first time in several months is to take out the spark plugs, pour some oil into the cylinders and leave it for a few hours. Then turn the engine over without the plugs to get the oil around the block. This will reduce extreme wear on engine parts, which at this stage would have little or no oil coating.
Thankfully, we don't have any martens here, but on the Continent these small rodents feast on the electrics of cars parked up for any length of time. Your electrics are probably in fine working order.
About road tax - you won't have to pay for the period in question if you get the relevant declaration form signed at your local Garda station.
From "O1 D 31852":
I laughed when I read Áine Flynn's article about the outrageous prices people are prepared to pay to have registration plates on their cars reflect their names or initials. I succeeded in getting my whole title on my plate at a fraction of the cost simply by changing my name by deed poll.
Send your queries to Motors Help Desk, The Irish Times, Fleet Street, Dublin 2 - or e-mail them to motorshelp@irish-times.ie