Similar to the hot season, harsh winter weather is also the cause of a series of unexpected incidents for cars, and the following bad habits also contribute to increased damage to your car:
1. Start continuously to warm up the machine
This is one of the common mistakes when car users see the outside temperature is low. Many people believe that continuously starting the car will activate the operating system and heat up the engine. However, this action is the cause of spark plug failure quickly, reducing engine life.
New car models today are equipped with intelligently designed engines. Manufacturers have also considered adapting to all weather conditions and have integrated the necessary technologies and features so that the vehicle’s engine can operate well in harsh climates. Therefore, users should not continuously boot to warm up the device like before. If the outdoor temperature is low and prolonged, you should prepare an additional battery to detonate the engine.
2. Skip idling
When the outdoor temperature drops, as long as the car stops working overnight, the engine oil and other lubricants will settle or solidify more than usual. Therefore, you should start and idle the car for a while so that these fluids have time to return to their normal state and pump evenly onto the engine parts.
However, many people still have the habit of letting the car move right after starting it. This action causes great harm to the engine because at this time some parts inside the engine have not had time to lubricate. Vehicle movement increases engine rpm, increases load capacity, increases friction, and wears parts faster.
According to people with experience using cars, drivers should start and let the car idle for 30 seconds or can maintain it for about 60 seconds if the weather is cold, then let the car move.
3. Open the windows when driving
When the temperature drops, using air conditioning is not necessary. That’s the thinking of quite a few drivers. Instead of turning on the air conditioner, they will open the windows to get air from outside to save fuel. However, this is more harmful because fine dust will penetrate the air and dirty the interior compartment.
At the same time, opening the window slightly will cause the vehicle’s resistance to increase significantly, especially when the vehicle is rolling at high speed. Opening the door ajar also makes noise and consumes more fuel than closing the door.
4. Tire inflation is too high
Oral “folk” experience says that in the summer you should inflate the tire low and in the winter you have to keep the tire inflated like that to follow the principle of “hot expands, cold contracts”. They forget that tires are the parts that have the most contact with the road surface. Even in winter, if traveling at high speed, friction with the road surface is still regularly generated and can create “high temperatures” that cause damage. The impact on tire quality is no less than when the vehicle is operated in the summer.
Besides, low winter temperatures combined with dry air will cause the rubber layer of tires to be damaged and cracked. Therefore, over-inflating tires in winter can have serious consequences. The simple but very useful thing you can do for your car right now is to regularly check the tires and maintain adequate tire pressure, according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Do not arbitrarily reduce tire pressure according to weather conditions.
5. Not checking and taking care of the car periodically
Regular inspection will help you detect potential errors early. In addition, during the inspection process, you can add more lubricating oil and cool water if necessary. Coolant and lubricating oil are all substances that play an important role in the vehicle’s operation and you should not ignore this when checking and maintaining your vehicle in the winter. Many times, the lubricating oil is thick, the coolant is frozen… which is the main reason why the car engine is difficult to operate and operates unstable.
The interior also needs to be checked and cleaned to prevent the growth of bacteria that cause mold, and unpleasant odors, and affect the durability and longevity of the car’s interior parts.