Apr 10, 2013

How to Avoid Common Car Maintenance Mistakes

By Leigh Jackson


Everybody wants to save money on their car, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to take good care of it. Did you know that there are some simple maintenance mistakes that most people make that are easy to avoid and fix? By just bringing these simple things to your attention you can help your car live a healthier, longer and cheaper life.

1. Checking our oil but ignoring all your other fluids. Even though the level of your oil is super important and should never be ignored, it shouldn't be the only fluid you check. Too often it is the only thing we look for and we miss the other fluids that need attention under the hood. You don't have to check your brake fluid, coolant, transmission fluid, and washer fluid each and every day, but you should add it to your regular car check up each time you pop the hood. .

2. Driving on non-seasonal tires. A common car maintenance mistake is expecting a vehicle to drive on a single set of all-season tires. If you live in a climate with marked seasonal changes in temperature and weather, you really need winter and summer sets. Your traction and control will noticeably improve and it will be easier on your vehicle to perform as designed.

3. Filling your car with oil of the wrong viscosity. Your car has an ideal engine oil viscosity set to keep your car from exploding or overheating. Check your owner's manual to see what the ideal oil viscosity is and then heed its recommendations. If you use the wrong oil or the wrong level of oil you can cause permanent damage to your cars engine.

4. Extra weight. In the winter it is common to put on a few extra pounds, did you know the same is true for your car? Carrying around extra gear in the back of your car when you get busy is bad for it, the heavier weight means harder work for the engine and lower gas mileage. So clean out all your gear out of the trunk and give your car's engine and tires a break!

5. Driving on soft tires. There's no excuse for making this too-common car maintenance mistake, so make it less common and do your part. Check your tire pressure often, preferably when the tires are cold (less than a mile or so from start-up). Rather than following the pressure stamped on the sidewall or defaulting to the old 32psi adage, check the sticker on your driver's door - it tells you exactly what front and rear inflation should be. By avoiding under-inflation (and over-inflation for that matter), you maintain ideal control and avoid blowouts.

6. Sudden stops. When you slam on your cars brakes all the time, you do major damage to your car. The car is designed to help you stop quickly in a panic, but it is bad for your car to do it all the time. Hard brakes will negatively affect your calipers, brake pads, fluids and rotors, all of which will need to be replaced more quickly the longer you let your hard braking behavior go on.

The most common car maintenance mistake we've heard comes from mechanics and how people avoid them. We assume the dodgers do understand the whole thing about mechanics existing to maintain and repair vehicles. Apparently, they fail to grasp how skipping seeing mechanics for reasons of cost savings, denial or pride doesn't just make problems go away, it virtually guarantees any issue will only get uglier and much more expensive in time.




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