5 more bad driving habits that can damage your car
We’re all guilty of these from time to time, but apart from just being bad driving habits, did you know that they may actually be damaging your car?
1. Overfilling your engine oil
When you overfill oil in your car, you risk the chance that the oil loses its viscosity and turns into a sludge. If this happens then it won’t circulate properly through the engine and may result in serious engine damage over time!
2. Not allowing your car’s turbo-charger enough time to cool down
Turbo-chargers are a very good way to get the most power out of modern engines. However, drivers need to be careful and allow the turbo-charger enough time to cool down when coming to a stop. Oil is used to cool them down and the engine needs to remain on to keep the oil circulating. So when you come to a stop, idle for about a minute and that should be sufficient. Provided you’ve been putting the engine through its paces.
Also read: These bad driving habits are damaging your car
3. Tyre pressure incorrect
While this may not seem like its all that important, using the incorrect tyre pressure is one of the most common bad driving habits. It doesn’t only affect the tyres – the wheel bearings and joints connecting the wheel will be negatively affected by having the incorrect tyre pressure. This will lead to wear and tear will occur at a faster rate.
4. Incorrect wheel alignment or wheel balancing
Another one of these bad driving habits, is not ensuring that your vehicle’s wheels are aligned properly. If your car’s wheel alignment is off, it creates friction between your car and the road. This extra friction will contribute unnecessarily to the wear and tear of your vehicle!
5. Running your petrol tank down to empty
You may be short on cash or don’t feel like filling up, so you decide to just run the tank down into reserve. However, this is another one of these bad driving habits that may have a significant impact on your car’s engine life.
When the fuel pump sucks up the last bits of the fuel tank, there is a good chance that there will be dirt mixed in there at the bottom. If this dirt gets sucked into the combustion chamber, it may even result in a blown engine. Most likely it will just block up your fuel injectors or carburetor. It’s advisable to keep at least a quarter tank at all times.