Sometimes, your little change in automobile using habits could save vehicles from unwanted breakdowns, and you, obviously needn’t throw cash on unnecessary markups.
Many car owners remain unaware that their faults significantly contribute to vehicles’ frequent visits to maintenance workshops. Therefore, in this article, Naijauto team would show you 10 most common mistakesmade by car owners so that you can avoid to protect your cars.
1. Not reading the instruction manual
Obviously, user manuals play a significant role when you have an automobile as they show all buttons, gauge as well as their functions operations. It still comes with importance even when you have owned a car before but change to another because cars don’t share the same features. Therefore, never forget to spend quality time on reading such owner’s manual to thoroughly understand your new vehicle.
Always read the owner’s manual to understand your car completely
2. Immediately driving right after starting up the car
People tend to start up the engine and drive away immediately just after they get into the vehicle. That seems to be a common habit, but in fact, it does harm to your engine. Normally, it takes about 10-15s for RMPs to drop down and for the car engines to transfer oil to essential components. The time could take longer, up to 20-30s if it’s an old automobile, or in the cold weather as the oil tends to get thicker.
Therefore, to stop driving wrongly, you should follow these steps:
Start up the car engine
Hold this status for 10-15 seconds
Wear the seatbelt then drive.
Engine car would be damaged if drivers start the car up and drive away immediately
3. Speed up before the engine reach operating temperature
Obviously, accelerating your car when its engine doesn’t reach the necessary heat could be harmful so it’s better that you drive slowly for a while before pushing your vehicle hard.
As you drive on a daily basis, your car should remain in perfect conditions. Spend several minutes in parking slot to take such following steps and you could save much time and money for maintenance, or even save your life:
Check all the tires.
Turn on/off all lights and flashes.
Check headlights, taillights, and blinkers.
Frequent car check before departures would ensure your safety
5. Rarely checking car tires
Laziness sometimes leads to fatal accidents so we strongly advise you to check your tires carefully. Your car tires may look good but perhaps, they lose their acceptable tread depth and need to be replaced. In this case, a penny may help. If the tread reaches 2/32nds-inch, it’s time for you to substitute the tires with new ones.
Until the tire gets overinflated do many drivers check the tire pressure, which definitely jeopardizes your cars and even your life. Therefore, this should be kept in mind. You can read the manufacturer’s guidelines shown on the door jamb by the side of the driver’s seat.
For instance, Ford Motor always warns its customers to have their tire checked as there is a change of about 10 degrees in temperature.
7. Forget to check the spare tire
People just think about the spare tire in an emergency case, so they often let it flat and useless after a long period of time. Hence, have it checked and refilled with the air frequently would benefit you later.
Changing car oil after every 3,000 miles now is out-of-date
9. Filling cars with unnecessary premium
It’s definitely a waste of money when you fill your car with premium gas instead of regular one as it offers no performance advantages or no superior fuel economy. In fact, all octanes are to measure the difficulties for gasoline’s explosion. Therefore, read and follow guidelines on the premium of automakers carefully.
Many people clean their cars with paper towels and no liquid since don’t want to destroy the paint; however, it almost comes with futility on giving up dirt and stain. Instead, you should use lubricant or other liquids as well as microfiber cloth to carry out such cleaning duty.