How To Make Your Car Engine More Efficient And Last Longer

You may be surprised to learn about all the things you do daily while driving that may actually be harming your car’s components. Besides the faulty driving habits, many of the streets that you pass by every day can also leave an impact on your cars’ integrity. Broken and unmaintained roads, deep puddles, and many other things that we don’t notice could all be harming our car engines. While there are several things that you can control, you can’t control all road conditions. The article below will guide you on how you can make your car engine more efficient and last longer.

Car Battery Maintenance

Many people keep their cars parked for way too long. While many people think that driving your car around too much can degrade it, keeping your car unused for long periods of time can actually do more harm than good. Leaving your car unused for a long time can cause the battery to deteriorate and go flat. If you are planning to travel for several months, you may want to use a trickle charger so that your battery maintains its health. If you are concerned about your battery’s charge, you can use a battery conditioner. You should avoid jump-starting your car if the battery appears to go flat; otherwise, your battery management system, along with other volatile electronics, will get damaged immediately. If you can’t get your hands on a trickle charger, make sure to either drive your car at least once a week or ask someone else to do it for you. This is especially important during the colder months.

Keep Up With Filter Changes

Your car’s air and oil filters can become clogged over time, so changing them regularly is a necessity. If you get car servicing frequently, which you should be doing, filter changes should be part of the service too. If you want to save up some money, you can miss out on a few servicing opportunities and try to change your car’s air and oil filters yourself as it is a fairly easy task. If you don’t think that your filters need changing just yet, you can extend their lifetime by washing them thoroughly. To avoid ruining them and ensure that you are cleaning them correctly, you can refer to your car’s handbook. There should be advice on how to clean or swap out your air and oil filters safely. When changing your filters, make sure that the parts that you use are genuine and authentic because using poor-quality filters can cause substantial damages to your engine.

Replenish With Fluids

Topping up your car with the needed fluids is as necessary as keeping your body hydrated; you can think of your car’s fluids as its lifeblood. Without the proper maintenance, you will have to face major consequences, although knowing the difference between gas engines and diesel engines will help you ensure that you are doing things correctly. Make sure to open your car’s bonnet and remove the dipstick to check your engine oil once every two weeks. Wipe the dipstick with a rag before dipping it in. Once you take it out, the oil level should lie somewhere between the minimum and maximum markers.

If your car has a gas engine, the color should be yellowish-brown. If it’s dark or dirty, then this means that you need to get it replaced. If you have a diesel engine, dirty-looking oil shouldn’t be much of a concern since as part of the normal combustion process, diesel engines accumulate soot. You need to check the cooler reservoir every two weeks, as well. It should be filled up using a windscreen washer bottle, half antifreeze, and half distilled water.

Drive Smoothly

As you drive, you need to practice something known as “mechanical sympathy.” This means that as you use your car’s controls, you need to understand how they work. Your fuel can go further and component wear can be reduced if you do so. You can’t imagine how simple things such as using the gearbox, pedals, and wheels more smoothly can make all the difference. You should also avoid using the brakes all too suddenly. Fully revving your engine can result in deposit build-up and foul in the valve and intake manifold, among other compartments. This will reduce your engine’s efficiency and can even cause a misfire.

Engines, along with other delicate compartments in cars, can get very damaged easily. There are many things that people do and many road conditions that they encounter every day that could potentially affect the integrity of the engines. Fortunately, there are ways in which you can sustain the damage to make them more efficient and definitely last longer.