Although driving is one of the most widespread skills in the world, lots of people lack proper driving habits.
People mostly like to drive, but in a large number of cases, they simply don’t know how. This can lead to all kinds of damage to the car, among the most common ones is to the engine.
This video will show you the 5 worst driving habits that seriously damage the engine or outright destroy it.
Besides this website, you can also watch videos on our YouTube channel, where we have many car-related videos that may help with maintenance, driving, etc.
1. DRIVING ON HIGH REVVS ALL THE TIME
One of the worst driving habits you can practice is to drive under high revs all the time.
Revving up here and there is good for the engine, but if you like the pedal to the metal all the time, you’ll soon ruin even a new engine.
While under high revs, the engine is under strain, every vital component is put to maximum load, and driving like this is just begging for a problem and breakdown.
This is especially goes for higher mileage engines that, in most cases, cannot take this kind of punishment.
Also, high revving will seriously increase oil and fuel consumption.
2. DRIVING ON LOW REVS
Opposite to the previous bad driving habit is driving with low revs all the time.
Low revs are better for fuel consumption, but on the other hand, they cause all kinds of other problems.
Low revs and bogging the engine down will cause clogs and carbon buildups in various valves and filters (like the DPF, EGR, throttle body, and others).
It can also damage the engine in the long run since the inner lubrication is weaker.
3. DRIVING THE CAR ON LOW FUEL
The next on the bad driving habits list is driving on low fuel all the time.
Surprisingly, people practice this even if they have the opportunity to pour a full gas tank.
That is driving on a low fuel level. The gas tank is full 10 percent at best.
Well, on most modern cars, the fuel pump is submerged inside the gas tank. This way, the fuel pump is more efficient, but also the gas serves as a sort of coolant for the pump.
So, with a low fuel level, the pump is left dry, it can overheat and simply stop working at a moment’s notice, and the car will stop almost immediately.
4. A COLD START
One more common bad habit is a cold start.
This means that during winter, you do not wait for the engine to warm up a bit before driving. Or even worse, you rev up a cold engine immediately after getting on the road.
This puts enormous stress on the engine, especially in very low temperatures, where there is almost no inner lubrication, and you can seriously damage the engine.
5. IGNORING WARNING LIGHTS
The last on the bad driving habits list is something that has doomed good engines thousands of times.
That is ignoring the warning lights.
Two lights in particular are very important: the oil warning light and the coolant warning light.
When these two lights come up on the dashboard, it means big trouble and big engine damage.
But in most cases, people ignore this or simply do not notice.
They do not immediately stop the car; the engine overheats, and the next stop is an engine overhaul or a new engine.
CONCLUSION
If you want to keep your engine in good and long-lasting condition, take the time to learn some things about it.
Even knowing the basics will show you what to avoid and why doing some things leads to big problems.
Otherwise, as mentioned, if you continue to practice these bad habits, you’ll run even a new engine into the ground very soon.
Written by: Sibin Spasojevic
Former car technician, life-long car and DIY enthusiast, author for Despairrepair.com
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