Things go wrong with peoples cars all the time, and sometimes these things can occur completely out of the blue. In these cases, there would have been little to nothing that you could have done to prevent it. However, more often than not, owners ignore warning signs or important maintenance tasks that could have saved them time and money in the long run. If you don’t want to be one of these types of owners, then here are five common car maintenance mistakes that you don’t want to make.
Forgetting Oil Changes
It is commonly believed that you should change your oil every 3,000 miles, and even though this figure is often wrong for your car that doesn’t mean that you can forget about your oil altogether. If your oil isn’t changed regularly, then it will start to break down, resulting in sludge deposits that can cause engine damage. Make sure you check recommendations from your car’s manufacturer to find out how often oil should be changed and ensure that it’s done on time.
Not Checking The Brakes
Despite how essential brakes are, they are often overlooked by car owners, even if they’re showing signs of damage, such as grinding or squealing noises. If you’ve noticed that your car is making any such noises, you should get your brakes inspected as soon as you can. Your life could depend on it.
Ignoring The Check Engine Light
The check engine light always seems to come on at the most inconvenient moment. Because of this, it can be tempting just to ignore it, especially when there are no other obvious signs that something may be wrong. Rather than do this, use an OBD-2 scanner to find out the problem. If you don’t have one, look at many OBD-2 scan tools compared to find the right on for you. With this tool, you’ll be able to see if the problem is something that you can fix yourself, or if it requires a mechanic.
Avoiding Tire Pressure Checks
It’s not always obvious just from looking whether your tires are overinflated, underinflated, or just right. If your tires aren’t just right, you’re decreasing fuel economy and putting yourself in danger. To avoid wasting any money or risking injury, you should make sure that you check your tire pressure regularly, as the smallest thing can cause a change in pressure.
Driving With An Overheating Engine
Cars, understandably, get incredibly hot while they’re running, which is why they require a cooling system to stop them from overheating. However, like with every other part of a car, the cooling system can sometimes break and fail, and so the car doesn’t keep cool. If this happens to your car, you should stop driving immediately and turn off the ignition. If you kept driving, you could cause expensive damage and even risk your life, so it’s really not worth it. Just call a tow.
Everyone’s lives are busy, and, because of this, car maintenance is usually pushed to the bottom of priority lists. However, if you want to stay safe, and save money, you don’t want to make any of the mistakes above.