“Mbele iko sawa?” This is the Kenyan filling station lingo used by attendants when enquiring from motorists whether the fluids under the bonnet need checking. If the motorist gives a green light, the attendant goes ahead and fills whatever they feel “needs” to be filled according to their quick assessment.
“Mbele” literally means front based on the fact that the hood for most vehicles is located at the front part. So next time you hear a Petrol Station attendant asking, “Tuangalie mbele,” he/she asking to check the front with mbele signifying the hood.
Most African countries have filling station attendants, a service that is a rare sight in Europe. In the comfort of the driver’s seat, the motorist gets their car fueled, windshield cleaned, fluids checked, and tire pressure adjusted, all without extra payments unless they wish to tip the attendant.
This is very ideal, unlike Europe where most stations are “express” meaning we fuel by ourselves, check tire pressure, check liquids, sometimes in freezing weather, and come back to the driver’s seat smelling diesel or gasoline. Even in service stations with shops and “deli”, the above services don’t exist. An African motorist enjoys “luxury” that most Europeans can only read in history books, or get narration from their aged grandparents.
However, this luxury has turned into misery for a good number of motorists who put their trust in filling station attendants. Don’t get me wrong, petrol station attendants are great! They do a lot to make your experience memorable and look forward to serving you in near future. Nevertheless, there are some limits to what they should do on your car. Remember, most of them if not all, don’t have any motor vehicle mechanical background.
They are recruited to sell fuel not diagnose your car issues. Any other service on top of filling your tank is a valuable addition to spice your experience with that particular station. With this in mind, as a motorist, you should know the basics of your car, not just any car.
From the type of oil it uses, the type of coolant, transmission fluid (gear oil), and their respective capacity, as well as change intervals. Technological advancement has seen new fluids like AD-Blue introduced into cars. Whereas it’s supposed to be filled in its separate tank, some motorists have encountered attendants that filled it together with diesel thus contaminating the fuel system and ruining expensive components like nozzles and fuel pumps. This knowledge will not only keep your car safe from filling station attendants but you’ll always be able to budget for your garage days.
Armed with the above information, all you will need from the filling station is fuel and a windscreen wash. When the attendant asks “mbele iko sawa?”, you will have the confidence to say ” iko sawa”. You can grab lubricants and other liquids(to go) from the shop, especially with renowned brands that have stood the test of time. Fluid checks (brake fluid, coolant, and oil) should be basic knowledge, an exercise you should execute at home before leaving for the journey. Delegating these simple duties to fill station attendants has seen many cry ‘premium’ tears.
Wrong fluids have been added to the wrong engines, engine oil has been overfilled and wrong fuel has been added to the wrong tank. As much as you enjoy the luxury of being attended to, it’s your duty as a motorist to ensure the correct fuel is filled in your tank. Getting diesel instead of petrol and vice versa will have adverse effects on your engine and fuel system, that is if you don’t lose the whole engine. It will be a difficult task to prove that a certain petrol station ruined your engine, leave alone get compensation.
The information we are talking about, is available in your car’s user manual, in the glove box. Whilst it’s understandable that you might have your imported car’s user manual in Japanese, that doesn’t excuse you since we are living in the age of available knowledge on the internet. Search your car’s Make, Model, engine size, and year of manufacture to get some details contained in the user manual in a language that you’ll understand. You can also purchase user manuals. Alternatively, tune into Twitter spaces #SpaceYaMagari every Monday at 7:30 pm (Kenyan time) as we engage all matters vehicles.
The question still remains, “Mbele iko sawa?”
Author: Johnson Ngunju, a technician with Skoda Auto
