You probably have.

Did you know that sometimes the cause of the problem can make certain sounds and that you can deduce what is wrong with your car solely on the type of sound that you are hearing? For example, the car starts producing weird hissing noises. 

Before you know it, you wasted two and a half hours on trying to figure out what's wrong, only to realise that you are still clueless and you need to go to the mechanic, or to the nearest auto repair shop.

I will share my experience with you and, hopefully, it will help you to save some time while attempting to figure out what's wrong with your car.

You suddenly hear a flapping sound while driving? Check if you have turned the ventilation or air conditioning on. If you have, the sound is probably coming from the fan.

There could be a number of issues that have caused this – from an obstacle in the ventilation tube to bad wiring.

If the air conditioning and ventilation are turned off and you still hear this sound, you might have a more dangerous problem – belt could be breaking up.

When it comes to fans, this is a very common issue, especially among people that have older cars.If you want to save some money, you could attempt to fix it. You just need to be careful not to damage other systems while doing this. If the cause of the flapping sound is the belt, you need to get to the car mechanic straight away.

You have probably heard this one at some point in your life. You sit in the car, turn it on and, suddenly, you hear a sound of a muffled explosion from the back. That is fairly normal and happens to all cars at some point. As the car becomes more older it will happen more. That is called backfire and it is caused when the fuel isn't refined enough.

Backfiring is no cause for alarm if it happens once or twice every now and then. If your car starts to backfire a lot and in a short period of time, I would go to the mechanic. There could be a problem with the engine.

You turned your car on and you hear a ticking sound. Ticking sound means that your car could use an oil change.  The sooner the better. If the noise persists after an oil change, you could be in trouble. The tank could be ruptured, there could be an issue with the cooling, all sorts of things oil related could have gone wrong. Best to let the mechanic figure that one out.

Look:  If you haven't heard this sound before in your car, excellent.  You should be happy that you didn't. When you hear hissing in your car there is only one cause: ruptured tubes and leak. Rupture could indicate damage in the cooling system or in air conditioning and ventilation. If left untreated, the damage can spread and your car could become unoperable.

This sound indicates that there is a problem with the car battery. No need for the mechanic, all you need to do is charge the battery up and you are good to go. If the problem still persists or comes back after a relatively short period of time you should remove this battery and buy a new one.

If you hear a knocking sound it could indicate a problem with the suspension. Usually the described sound indicates a problem with the ball joint. The causes of problems with ball joints could be old tires that have uneven surfaces, ball joint maybe isn't lubricated enough and, a very common problem with older cars, ball joint could be rotten. If you hear a sound like this one, a trip to the mechanic is in order.

The cause of this sound can come from only one source – struts. If the struts are worn out they may not fit properly to the car and may cause problems with absorption of force from bumps on the road while driving.  If you notice that your car rides have suddenly become very bumpy and you hear scratching sounds from under the car you should replace your struts.

This sound is caused by radiator overheating and usually requires installation of better cooling systems, water replacement or fixing the intake manifold. This may cost you a lot of money. It all depends on the severity of your problem.

If you hear high pitched squealing while breaking, your brakes are probably worn out.

The sound may originate from two sources. It can originate from the worn out foot pad or from the worn out brakes. Both causes of this problem should be treated as soon as possible because leaving this untreated could endanger you and other people in traffic.

If you hear this sound while driving, pull over to the side of the road as soon as possible. This sound is usually heard when the wheel well dust cover is breaking off. If it hasn't broken down completely, some duct tape can buy you some time to return to your home and then pay a visit to the car mechanic.

If it broke down completely, you should call the mechanic and have him come to you. It could be dangerous to drive in a car with a broken wheel well because it could impair your ability to turn and even puncture your tire.

These sounds are the sounds of the car parts that break down more commonly. You can repair some of these things on your own. If you are unsure if you can do it by yourself, better go the mechanic than to break some additional car parts.

Hopefully, this article will help you in your moment of need and enable you to save some time and be safer in the case that some part of your car breaks down all of a sudden,