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Ruben Fidalgo
February 02, 2023
At the price of the cars, we better stretch the one we have as much as possible and, although the ideal would have been to follow these tips from day one, you still have time to extend the life of your car by following these tips.
Let’s not fool ourselves, as they say: “the oven is not for buns” and with the prices of everything crazy, the salaries more frozen than on February mornings and the cars more expensive than ever, we better extend everything that is may the life of ours. I know that you have to stretch your salary and make ends meet, but, contrary to what many believe, caring for the car is not necessarily expensive and can save us a lot of money or sell it better when the time comes.
When it comes to taking care of the car, you don’t have to go crazy either, it’s not a person, not even a living being, but there are many things that are easy to take into account and that will make it last longer and with fewer breakdowns.
No accelerations
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As I have had to repair them, whenever I see (or hear) a “flipao” accelerating his car (or motorcycle, especially) when stationary, I cross my fingers so that the cylinder head does not pop off and a piston hits him in the teeth. When the engine is not loaded and we give it acceleration to “show off” how it sounds in front of the gang, we are drastically shortening his life. Apart from the fact that putting the engine to cut is gathering ballots so that the distribution is passed and hitting a valve with a hammer, those throttle blows undermine the lubrication of the engine. The typical tap on the accelerator to make it run-run is flooding the cylinders with fuel that does not burn well and which, in addition to carbon, washes the cylinders and mixes with the oil, impoverishing its lubricating qualities.
It may interest you: What is the best oil for the car?
This type of exhibitions the only thing that shows those who really know is that you are ignorant, so it is better to save them
Another accelerator-related tip is in a bad habit that some motorcycle drivers have. give a stroke of gas before turning off the engine. This was done in the old days when you were going to start the engine shortly after turning it off. What was achieved was to leave some unburned fuel in the cylinder and the next start was better. Doing this now only causes us to spend more gasoline and end up seizing the turbo, by leaving it spinning with inertia for a long time without oil pressure.
do not climb curbs
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if we want extend the life of the car, we must be careful when driving and avoid potholes as much as possible or, if they are unavoidable, go slowly. Speeding past raised crosswalks or downed guards only serves to break a skirt or crankcase or end up with misaligned steering and scrap shocks early.
Another very bad habit is that of climb curbs or park leaving the tire pinched against the pavement. Every time we climb a curb or turn the steering with the wheels glued to the curb, we are subjecting the steering and suspension components to brutal stress (ball joints, rack, trapezoids, shock absorbers, silentblocks…), in addition to collecting ballots to cut a tire and having to change it.
Don’t save on oil
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I am going to be exaggerating, I am going to tell you that you can save 100 euros between the oil that corresponds to your car and the cheapest, something that is highly unlikely. Well, saving 100 or 200 euros by buying the cheapest oil instead of an excellent quality one is the worst business of your life. Modern engines, in their desire to reduce friction and friction that increase consumption, are increasingly sensitive to the quality of the oil. A bad lubricant shortens the life of the engine a lot. and repairs that arise from bad lubrication cost 20 times more than what you can save by using bad oil. In short, with what you spend on repairing the first breakdown for having been a rat with the oil, you could throw him out of the most expensive for 20 years.
Use the gear shift well
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This is going to hurt sensibilities, but it is true: most drivers who have bought a manual car have been wrong. Almost every time I hear someone say “the automatic is boring” or “I like changing gears” I have to bite my tongue not to tell them that the first thing they should do is learn to use the gear correctly.
Efficient driving can lead to breakdowns
Every time we hit the road and instead of downshifting a gear or two, we insist on going full throttle to maintain speed on a grade, we’re putting an enormous amount of stress on the mechanics. If we had the slightest knowledge of what is happening inside the engine in those conditions we would cry, but we do it because nobody has taught us and we believe it is the right thing to do.
As soon as we notice that the car has trouble maintaining speed in a gear, It’s better to lower one than take it at full throttle. As a general rule, if we have to step on the accelerator beyond 2/3 of its travel, it is that the correct thing would be to go in a lower gear. Not only will the mechanics suffer less, we will also save on fuel.
How to avoid clutch failures
Other errors with the change are driving with your hand on the lever (wears out the gear selector mechanism), being stopped at traffic lights with a gear engaged and the clutch depressed instead of in neutral and with the pedal released, etc.
Repair before it becomes more serious
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A bad habit is to notice that something is wrong with the car but continue to use it as if nothing had happened as long as it doesn’t stop. This is behaving like a child who covers his eyes believing that this is how he hides.
How to save money in the workshop
A minor fault will never repair itself (the autonomous car refers to something else, not to never breaking down or repairing its own faults) and the only thing it can do is turn into something more serious… And expensive.
As soon as we notice that something is wrong with the car, we must take it to the workshop to have it checked and, although it always hurts to scratch your pocket, it is better to repair it than to do the Swedes.
