Traditional Practices of Automobile Maintenance in Ghana: An Analysis in The Removal of Automobile Engine Thermostat

Abstract

The removal of thermostats from automobile engines in Ghana is a wide spread practice, and its effects cannot be over emphasized. It is claimed by some vehicle operators and mechanics that the engine thermostat in automobiles is the primary cause of overheating of engines in our part of the world. This work seeks to confirm or debunk the practice using a survey to establish how wide spread the practice is and to ascertain the motivating factor behind the practice. The overall methodology employed was a survey. A survey approach is particularly suited to research that seeks to investigate the prevalence of a phenomenon, in this case the removal of thermostats from automobile engine. A total of 476 questionnaires were administered to four automobile stakeholders namely vehicle operators (202), auto mechanics (198), used vehicle dealers (45) and garages (30) in four cities specifically, Takoradi, Tamale, Kumasi and Accra in Ghana. The respondents were purposively sampled from the general populations in the four cities. The study revealed that auto-mechanics practice removal of engine thermostat in an attempt to solve engine overheating problems and also used vehicle importers practice engine thermostat removal to satisfy their customers’ wish. Results of this work suggest that the practice of engine thermostat removal affect engine performance, fuel consumption, and cause excessive smoke emission.