Your car could be suffering in silence, and you might have no clue. Certain habits, maintenance, or driving practices you overlook may have severe consequences. With that said, here are 15 ways you might unintentionally harm your ride.
Delaying Oil Change
As you drive, the engine oil changes its viscosity, oxidizes, and eventually begs for a replacement. Now, if you keep driving like this, you can kill your engine due to overheating, increased friction, and damaging internal components, including pistons, rod bearings, cylinder walls, etc. So, stop being lazy and always treat your engine with quality oil as soon as you cover the recommended miles.
Putting Excessive Load
If it’s an occasional thing, then fair enough, but if you enjoy putting more burden on your car than it’s made to handle, you are bringing it close to its end. More load means more effort for your engine and drivetrain, increasing wear and tear. So be merciful to your car or buy a model meant for handling additional loads.
Using Poor Quality Fuel
If you love your hard-earned vehicle, avoid getting gas from sketchy stations and cheap brands. Contaminated fuel diluted with lower-quality additives can clog the fuel filters and injectors, causing your engine to struggle while accelerating, which may lead to poor mileage. It’s crucial to feed your car with premium fuel. Otherwise, you may have to say goodbye to the engine and fuel system.
Neglecting Tire Care
Ensure your car has a good set of boots on it. Spending just a few minutes daily on check-ups, such as monitoring tire pressure, tread depth, and alignment, will prolong their lifespan, with a promise of safety and performance. On the other hand, ignoring the fact that your tires are degraded will result in compromised grip and may put a full stop to your car’s life in case of an accident.
Forgetting Fluid Replacements
Pouring in new engine oil is not enough, as your car needs more than that. Transmission, radiator, brakes—they all require fluids to work properly. If you keep driving without paying attention to fluid levels and forgetting to replace them when you are supposed to, your vehicle will get close to irreparable damage.
Aggressive Driving
Calm down, Michael Schumacher; there is no need to hurry. Your Prius is not built for fierce accelerations and hard braking; in doing so, you decrease the life of the drivetrain, brakes, tires, and, eventually, your car. Also, being a devil behind the wheel by tailgating, overspeeding, and running red lights could mean decreasing your car’s life sooner than expected.
Driving On Low Fuel
The fuel pump in the tank likes to be submerged in fuel and relies on it for cooling and lubrication. Squeezing every single drop of gas from your fuel tank just to make it to a destination is alright once in a while, but doing it constantly compromises the pump’s health by causing it to overheat. So, spending extra bucks to keep a quarter of a tank full is better than paying for expensive replacements.
Not Letting Your Engine Warm-up
It’s a cold Monday morning, and you are getting late for work. Please spare just three minutes for your car and let it warm up. As your vehicle sits free for an extended period, the engine oil settles down to the oil pan (especially on chilly days). When you fire it up, the oil needs a few seconds to rise again to lubricate its components. However, being impatient and taking off right away can lead to premature wear, potentially leading to costly repairs.
Poor Choice for Parking Area
A damp and dusty place shows no mercy to your car’s body. Corrosion and rusting cause permanent damage and decrease the vehicle’s resale value. Even after expensive repair jobs, it can never be as good as the original. So, park inside a garage that is safe from environmental factors and use a car cover to keep your car brand new.
Ignoring Warning Lights
The colorful lights you see on the dashboard are not there for aesthetics. If you see any of these light up, visiting your mechanic is a must. Ignoring these warning lights can result in mechanical issues, increased wear and tear, overheating in crucial car components such as the engine, transmission, etc., and compromised vehicle safety.
Using Too Much Air Conditioning
With these heat waves rising, an air conditioner is indeed a blessing, but make sure you don’t use it all the time. Excessive usage increases the load on the engine, affects its fuel consumption, and causes it to degrade over time. If you want to make your car last longer, put the windows down and have some fresh air when the weather allows.
Driving in Water
If you have a habit of taking shortcuts that have deep potholes and puddles, reconsider it. When suspension components such as struts, shocks, and control arms take regular baths in deep water, they corrode, crack, and break over time, and if somehow water makes its way into the engine, then it’s over for your car.
Skipping Belt Replacements
A faulty belt can malfunction the engine. Similarly, a broken serpentine belt, which helps the water pump, alternator, and other components operate, may cause overheating and battery issues. So, perform regular inspections for wear and replace these belts according to the manufacturer’s recommendation.
Buying Poor Quality Parts
You can save some bucks on car parts today and pay double or maybe triple for repairs later. The market is flooded with “seemingly affordable” tires, suspension, drivetrain, and engine components. However, don’t get fooled by the price tags, and always opt for OEM parts to make your car last longer.
Not Driving Your Car For Long
An idle vehicle can have various issues, such as fluid degradation, flat tire spots, and rust, and it can potentially host pests and rats. So, if your car has been resting in your garage for a long time, take it out for short drives.
Look After Your Car!
Be mindful of forgetting about the points above, if only for the sake of your car. Sure, we all want to make sure our wheels last us as long as possible, but not all of us are willing to put the work in. These simple checks and habit changes can make all the difference to increasing the life of your vehicle, and they really don’t take too much effort. The question is, why wouldn’t you?
More From Driver’s Drift
15 Cars With a Reputation for Insanely High Repair Costs
16 Costly Mistakes You Make When Talking to Car Salespeople
16 Things You Should Keep in Your Car Trunk (You Never Know When They’ll Come in Handy)
13 Warning Signs Your Transmission Is About to Fail
Zainab Noor is a motoring journalist. Childhood rides in Nissan Almera fueled her love for cars. After graduating from AIOU in 2021, she steered her passion into freelance writing. You can find Zainab on LinkedIn.
