Some breakdowns of your car are due to misuse
All in all, it is important to know which faults are the most frequent in our cars as well as the possible solutions that exist, since this will save us a good amount of the expense made in the workshops. This is for no other reason than because sometimes they make an insignificant fault that we could fix ourselves, a critical problem that forces us to pay a high repair price.
However, it is also true that beyond continuous use or breakage due to prolonged use, the truth is that some breakage and damage they come because we ourselves have caused them, but sometimes we don’t realize it or, directly, we don’t know it.
It’s more; these situations could have been avoided in many of these cases if prior to the technical inspections, those of the ITV, a full review In a mechanical workshop. That is when we verify that there are some circumstances that appear due to our faults.
Which are
However, drivers are full of vices and customs. Many of them can cause major breakdowns that, by following a series of tips and good practices, can be avoided. It is so that these, in most of the times, can cost a lot of money and time, sometimes for avoidable damage.
Because yes, even the most reliable model can fail more than any other if it is not used properly. Whether it’s a conventional combustion car, a hybrid, plug-in hybrid, 100% electric… if we’re not careful it can go wrong.
Overspeeding with a cold car
These are not things that you do on purpose, many of them will be due to carelessness or simple ignorance, but they will not stop affecting numerous components of your vehicle. One of those car breakdowns can be caused by accelerating too much with the cold vehicle.
And it is that the car is a machine and needs to ‘warm up’ to work well, especially with regard to the oil, which must take the optimum temperature and, in addition, a few seconds to fill in all the gaps where it must act. If you do not give it that margin, you will cause unnecessary wear on the propeller, which can shorten its useful life by up to 50% and cause breakage in its components.
You drive the car too much
An engine is said to be flooded when there is excess fuel in the combustion chamber. Let us remember that combustion is a violent oxidation of a fuel (carburant) in the presence of oxygen (oxidant).
There, the stoichiometric mixture is the ideal ratio of oxygen and gasoline recommended for your engine. When there is too much fuel in this mixture, combustion is difficult. It is then when it is so counterproductive to take the car very high in revolutions as to err in falling short, something that can affect both the catalytic converter and the valve EGR and particulate filters due to carbon build-up. The way to avoid it is to always try to circulate in the middle zone of the tachometer.
Increased clutch wear
This, for sure, is one of the breakdowns that most often occurs in your car, and for which it is more frequent that they arrive at the workshop. And it is that, if in a traffic light keep the clutch pedal pressedyou cause greater wear on the clutch system.
This is because, even if you have the pedal fully pressed, a certain friction in its internal parts, affecting both the disc and, above all, the pieces that act on it. The solution is to leave the car in neutral and without stepping on the clutch in these circumstances. You will avoid this wear and tear and your left leg will be more rested.
Be mindful of the brake pedal on downhills
For its part, press hard on the brake pedal It can have three consequences: increase the wear of the discs and pads, cause possible deformations in the discs -something that would generate strong vibrations in the steering wheel when braking- and deteriorate the brake fluid -it will offer less resistance to fatigue.
In those, the solution is to use short gears -for example, go down in third gear instead of in fourth- when you face a long descent. In addition to making the brakes work less, you will have a greater control over the vehicle when cornering.
Ignore check engine lights
It is also not advisable to ignore or postpone any warning light that lights up on the panel, since it will be indicating the malfunction of some element, either the element itself or the sensor in question that is damaged.
So ignore these warnings will cause the problem to worsen, and with it the invoice for its repair, not to mention the risk of suffering an accident depending on the element affected. There can be many faults depending on the light on; It can be from an obstruction of the FAP, EGR valve… to a loss of oil pressure as a result of a low level or a sensor that is offering an erroneous reading