Here are the most common 16 car mistakes that will ruin your car:
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1. Driving a cold or hot engine
2. Not paying attention to dashboard warnings
3. Driving with a near-empty fuel tank
4. Not paying attention to weird noises
5. Not paying attention to weird smells
6. Choosing the wrong oil
7. Using the wrong fuel
8. Ignoring low tire pressure
9. Using the brakes too hard
10. Skipping oil change
11. Ignoring fluid checks
12. Delaying scheduled maintenance
13. Overloading your vehicle
14. Riding the clutch
15. Ignoring filter changing
16. DIY repairs
According to experts, most Americans drive about 13,000 miles every year. With that, we can say that our vehicles are a critical component in our daily life, and without vehicles, doing our daily earns can be extremely challenging. Most of us take good care of our vehicles, considering their importance, by performing all scheduled maintenance to help our vehicle's service as long as possible.
Unfortunately, however, there aren't many drivers who run through some mistakes that can ruin the vehicle in no time. This article walks through a list of 16 car mistakes that will ruin your car. Once you are familiar with these mistakes, you will immediately change your habits by eliminating this practice so your car can serve you more than what it typically does.
16 car mistakes that will ruin your car
Performing all scheduled minutes is not enough for your vehicle to serve you as long as possible. There are simple mistakes that you might be making unintentionally resulting in shortening the lifetime of your vehicle:
1. Driving a cold or hot engine
Your engine needs to drive within a certain temperature range in any vehicle equipped with a combustion system. If you drive the car at cold engines, especially in cold temperatures, you result in engine troubles that could cost you a lot of money to get the problem resolved.
What's more critical is driving your vehicle when the engine is overheating. Engine overheating is a critical problem that immediately results in significant engine damages. For example, some experts indicate that driving an overheated engine due to a problem with a head gasket might cost you somewhere between $1170 and $1496. Clearly, engine overheating problems are extremely expensive, and many drivers end up giving up on their vehicles because of this problem.
Therefore, you recommended allowing your engine to warm up slightly when you're driving on freezing days to eliminate this mistake. Also, when you notice any signs of engine overheating, you must pull over and stop the vehicle to consult your mechanic to resolve the issue.
2. Not paying attention to dashboard warnings
Your vehicle relies on the dashboard warning lights to bring your attention to internal problems. Some of these problems might be linked to simple issues and can be resolved with the cheapest repairs. However, many warning lights are associated with significant internal problems that might cost you thousands of dollars if Not your life!
For example, the brake's ABS warning light shows up whenever you have an issue with the braking system. Imagine continuing to drive the vehicle with bad brakes?! Similarly, the first and most obvious symptom of engine overheating appears on the vehicle’s dashboard; therefore, ignoring the dashboard is a huge mistake!
3. Driving with a nearly empty fuel tank
Most automotive experts recommend that you don't let your fuel tank go below at least one-third. This is because a near-empty fuel tank results in damaging critical components in your vehicle like the engine, the fuel pump, and others. Did you know that replacing a bad fuel pump costs you between $758 and $1062?!
4. Not paying attention to weird noises
As a rule of thumb, older experts always indicate that whenever you hear any weird noise coming from your vehicle, it is important that you take it seriously because it can be linked to an important problem. So what these noises are loud or not, it's still worth paying attention to it.
Some of the weird noises might include knocking, humming, grinding, etc. All these noises could be related to a bad engine, transmission, catalytic converter, etc. With any symptoms that you can detect early, you save yourself a lot of money down the road.
5. Not paying attention to weird smells
Like weird noises, many weird smells might be linked to extreme problems in your vehicle. However, keep in mind that some noises do not smell too bad, but it is also linked to enter an internal problem. Therefore, when monitoring any weird smells, we refer to any smell, whether good or bad.
For example, some of the very common smells that you might notice and are related to significant problems are rotten egg smells, burning smell, burning oil-like smell, sweet smell, etc. Therefore, it is important that whenever you notice any of these smells to reach out to your mechanic and have him perform a thorough inspection to determine the issue. Typically, most experienced mechanics will immediately identify the culprit linked to each smell because these smells are unique and generally refer to different things.
6. Choosing the wrong oil
Of course, your engine relies on oil to bring its temperature down and prevent overheating due to friction. First, however, you must make sure that you have sufficient oil and choose the right type of oil indicated in your vehicle's owner’s manual.
Every vehicle is designed in a certain way and requires a certain level of lubrication that might come from different viscosities. Therefore, when your vehicle's owner’s manual specifies a type of oil, you must follow what the manual says to prevent damaging the engine to save on money.
7. Using the wrong fuel
Like choosing the right oil, you must also choose the right fuel indicated in your vehicle's owner’s manual. As most of us know, different fuel grades come at different prices, and many people try to save on fuel by choosing a lower grade type. However, this might lead to significant engine problems or the entire fuel system that could cost you thousands of dollars.
Remember that you don't necessarily have to go with the most expensive fuel if your vehicle does not require it. Therefore, read through your vehicle's owner’s manual and familiarize yourself with the right type of fuel needed, and that's it!
8. Ignoring low tire pressure
You must never ignore the tire pressure and say that I will take care of it later. This is because this will not only impact how the tires wear out but also cause significant problems with the suspension system and your overall driving experience.
Tire pressure can be more critical during the winter season, especially if you're driving on slippery roads or going through snow. Therefore, to maintain your safety, make sure that you check the tire pressure regularly and prevent driving at low pressure.
9. Using the brakes too hard
Although there are some instances where we must use the brakes suddenly, you mustn't make it a habit. Unfortunately, many drivers out there hit the brakes extremely hard, causing premature damages to the braking system. Replacing only the brake pads costs you somewhere between $263 and $294. If this continues to happen, repair costs pile up and become a huge headache.
10. Skipping oil change
Although your vehicle might have the right amount of oil, changing the oil is a must and ignoring oil change is a huge mistake. Over time of use, oil might collect many debris and contaminants as it runs around the engine. As a result, the oil loses its main characteristics that help lubricate the engine and prevent engine overheating.
By ignoring the oil change and delaying it, you're sacrificing the engine, which might cost you thousands of dollars to get to work, assuming that your engine is repairable after ignoring oil change for extended times.
11. Ignoring fluid checks
Your vehicle needs a long list of important fluids that you must maintain to prevent significant damages. Ignoring checking these fluids might result in more problems that could easily cost you thousands of dollars.
Some of the very common fluids that you need to watch are the engine oil, the coolant, the brake fluids, the steering fluid, etc. By monitoring these fluids regularly, you can immediately know when to top them off and an internal leak that might not be obvious.
If you realize that the fluids are dropping significantly, it might be related to an internal or external leaking problem, which requires immediate action from your professional mechanic.
12. Delaying scheduled maintenance
Every car has a list of required scheduled maintenance that must happen and be done correctly. All these scheduled maintenances are included in detail in your vehicle's owner’s manual. By ignoring and delaying scheduled maintenance, you sacrifice introducing major problems that result in significant damages.
Many warranties might become void by delaying scheduled maintenance. However, without proof that you've completed all scheduled maintenance, you can easily lose your warranty, putting you in one of the worst situations.
13. Overloading your vehicle
Your car has a certain loading capacity, and you cannot haul or tow something beyond your vehicle's capacity. By doing so, you might cause significant problems to the suspension system, if not the engine. In addition, if your engine works hard to tow larger objects, there's a very high chance that this engine might get damaged prematurely.
14. Riding the clutch
If you're driving the vehicle with a manual transmission, it is important to only engage with the clutch when needed. Unfortunately, there is a very common big mistake that many drivers do at where they lean on the clutch when they don't need it, and that's what's referred to as “riding the clutch. Unfortunately, riding the clutch results in significant damages to your manual transmission and might require advanced mechanical skill sets to resolve the problem costing you thousands of dollars.
15. Ignoring filter changing
Your car has a lot of filters responsible for protecting core components from debris and contaminants. Unfortunately, these filters get partially or completely clogged over time of use. If you ignored changing these filters when needed, you would cause significant complications that require much money to get fixed.
For example, ignoring replacing the oil filter results in the minimum amount of oil get into the engine and, therefore, significant engine overheating that might ruin the entire engine. Similarly, you mustn't forget to change the fuel filter and the other filters equipped with the other components.
16. DIY repairs
Although DIY repairs are encouraged for minor problems, it is prohibited for significant damage, especially if you're writing an expensive vehicle. Many drivers think that they save on repair costs by doing mechanical repairs by themselves because they eliminate labor costs. However, that's not always the case because there's a very high chance that you might introduce some mistakes that could cost you thousands of dollars down the road.
Therefore, we encourage you to use different ways yourself with the type of mechanical repairs you can do by yourself and differentiates those from the other repairs requiring advanced mechanical skill sets.
16 Car Mistakes That Will Ruin Your Car: Conclusion
While performing all scheduled maintenance is a must, it's not enough to extend the lifetime of your vehicle. There are many mistakes that most of us don't pay attention to that could reduce the lifetime of your car significantly.
This article provided you with “16 car mistakes that will ruin your car” if you continue doing them. You must eliminate these mistakes as soon as possible so you can enjoy your car without any significant breakage if possible.
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