Top 10 Everyday Things People Do To Ruin Their Cars

Mine is not paying enough close attention to the curbs, and scraping my tire and rims. UGH!

Mine is forgetting driving without releasing the parking brake. On my car it sometimes "catches" before fully releasing. I always do the motion to disengage it but sometimes it's partially engaged and I don't notice till I'm on a freeway.

Mine is forgetting to check the condition of my tires during my regular inspect-the-car routines. I blew a tire out a few months ago while parking the car. I was pretty lucky--just the day before I had come back from a road trip. I shudder to think what would have happened to me if I'd blown the tire out on the highway.

That was actually pretty helpful. There were a couple of things I have been guilty of.

I live up on a hillside and every day I have people in front of me who don't
put their foot off the breaks. Instead of shifting down (which you can do on
an automatic transmission as well) they just hit the break pedal all the way
down. It's most annoying as I need to break frequently too, otherwise I'd
hit them.

My car is pushing towards "Oldtimer age" and with all that experience it has I must say it behaves very well. The motor purrs like a content cat, it keeps the inside clean, it likes to take a shower now and then, but without wax as that is no good for a cabriolet. It likes to park at the far end of a parkinglot so noone can smash a door into its sides. It also tells me it is good for my fitness to walk across a large parkinglot.

The most major item I know of: do not run petroleum-based oil in modern engines. This was not a problem in engines of the 50s - 70s which were not expected to live more than 100,000 miles; it's a big problem in modern engines which are expected to last 300,000.

WalMart has several brands of full synthetic oil for around $20 for a 5-quart container. Using anything else is dumb.

gunga, I'm not so sure. Many run their cars on petro-based oil, and those reliable cars like Hondas' and Toyotas' will last 200,000 miles.

what is the difference in the oils?

The advantage using syntheci oil is that you change it only any 30,000 km (18,700 miles)[or more, depending on car] while with petrol-based it is 20,000 km (12,400 miles)[or more, depending on car]. (That's only if you don't want to loose the guarantee - you certainly can change modern oils later.)

that is great.
I have never been one to believe that you needed to change your oil every 3000 miles. The very idea that oil, put into a car engine would break down so easily was just.. beyond me..
Changing my oil myself has given me visual clues that supported my unpopular idea.

# 11 ) if you live in a cold climate (eastern ontario is a good example) use a block heater during the coldest part of the season .
the engine oil will stay more fluid , your car will warm up more quickly .

# 12 ) don't warm up your engine by letting the car idle for more than about 20-30 seconds . start your car and once the idle speed is correct , drive off SLOWLY - but even better is to follow rule # 11 .

# 13 ) if you are living in a cold climate , PLEASE keep a spare jug of winter windshield-washer antifreeze in your trunk .
and PLEASE brush off the snow from the windows BEFORE you drive off - you might notice that there are other cars on the road .
hbg

Follow what's in the manual, not what Jiffy Lube says.

My sin is to let the car run a lot of the time with an almost empty tank.
I did need to change the pump.

Sorry, but that right there is funny. Do you run over children and small pets too?

Even 15 years ago we didn't need to change it more than any 10,000 to 15,000 km (6,200 to 9,300 miles).

Distracted driving will get you every time.

The petro-based oils break down chemically past a certain point and that point depends heavily on how the vehicle is being used. I've seen engines ruined by Jiffuylube/Pennzoil maintenance at 3000 mile intervals inside of 100,000 miles.

The synthetic oils do not break down. I basically change oil when it starts looking dirty enough that it bothers me which is around 5000 - 6000 miles with my little Honda Accord.

Particularly anything with a turbocharger HAS to have synthetic oil, as does anything living in Texas or driving around in hot climates, or driving in tight traffic on a regular basis.