6 Driving Habits You Should Know That Is Damaging Your Car 

One of the regular driving practices that can harm your car is speeding through potholes. Because of the severity of Nigerian roads, it can affect our cars badly. Do you realise that some driving behaviours can seriously harm your car? Furthermore, you might be doing one or more of these unknowingly. Identifying what you have been doing incorrectly and how to rectify it makes your automobile last longer, saves you money, and may even save a life. Bad driving habits are a common phenomenon, and people sometimes don’t know that their driving techniques actually affect their cars. We understand this issue and have tried to remedy it with this list.

1. Failure To Use The Parking Brake When Ascending Or Descending A Hill

The parking pawl, a tiny metal pin inside the automatic transmission, should be supported by the parking brake when you are going up a hill or slope. The parking brake accomplishes this by bearing some of the weight of the car’s enormous mass. As a result, if you choose not to use it, the parking lot will be obliged to perform all of the work. The pawl will deteriorate gradually until you can no longer communicate with it when you switch to P-1.

On an incline, the pawl must function with your parking brakes. This problem has a somewhat sophisticated solution. Basically, you just need to shift some of the weight of the car from the transmission to the parking brake. Therefore, shift to move the transmission to neutral while you’re still applying the brake. Set the parking brake after that, but before you let up on the brake. Remember to progressively remove your right foot from the brake. Finally, put the transmission in “park” (or “P”). Apply this the next time you are driving up a hill to safeguard your transmission, one of your car’s most vital and delicate components.

2. Changing From Reverse To Drive Without First Halting

Your car’s transmission needs to come to a complete stop before switching from reverse to forward drive. While the automobile is still travelling backwards, when you manually shift, you put a tremendous amount of stress on the transmission. If you have been doing this, your gearbox may need to be tested to ensure it is in good condition.

3. Riding the Clutch

You may have seen situations where two drivers engage the clutch and crank the engine while they wait for the “go!” signal in those car racing movies. In real life, you can be the person who avoids wasting time by waiting at red lights. While you might gain a tiny bit of time, you risk seriously damaging certain crucial components of your car, including the pressure plate, release arm, and bearing. “Riding the clutch” is a terrible habit that causes the clutch’s components to grind against one another. An empty fuel tank is a complete nightmare, especially for vehicles with fuel injectors.

The silt from the fuel builds up at the bottom of the tank, which is the cause. The sediment layer will gradually thicken. The fuel pump will suction up the fuel and all the sediments at the bottom of the tank when the fuel level reaches that level. After some period of usage, the fuel filter will become clogged as a result of the fuel stream’s passing sediments through it. The situation worsens when sediments enter the engine, which is extremely expensive to remove. When the liquid level in the gasoline tank has gone down a little, it’s a good idea to top it off.

4. You are unconcerned about the Check Engine Light

The fact that your car self-monitors are fantastic for you. Usually, there are good reasons why your check engine light is on. Don’t complain when multiple issues arise simultaneously when you purposefully ignore a check engine light. You need to stop this dangerous habit right away.

5. Consistent Navigation Through Speed Bumps and Potholes

Every Nigerian driver occasionally engages in this. Drivers may have grown accustomed to potholes since there are so many of them. Your shocks, tyres, undercarriage, alignment, and suspension suffer when you drive erratically over potholes or speed bumps. They gradually perish every time you do this. And perhaps the next time, you might bump your head, which can lead to a concussion.

6. Accelerating A Cold Engine

In particular, when you have a bad battery, you are aware that you have done this previously. To prevent it from dying, you “fire” the engine up rapidly after a cold start. However, doing so prevents the oil from thawing and circulating. You run a considerable risk of breaking some of the engine’s working parts.

Frequently Asked Question

Conclusion

Bad driving habits are quite common and, as such, need to be curbed if you want to protect your car from damage. Even the most durable car will not survive if it is being driven negligently. That is why you should ensure that your driving techniques and methods don’t damage your car. Potholes are becoming a constraint on Nigerian roads, but you should try as much as possible to manoeuvre over them.