Stop Doing These Things to Your Car

Here are five common driving mistakes that can cost you a lot of money for repairs and replacement of worn-out parts:

1. Shifting into “park” before completely stopping the car

When you engage the gear in the parking mode, a locking pin is usually inserted into a gear attached to the transmission output shaft.

The wheels of the vehicle are also attached to the same shaft. Therefore, when you switch into the parking mode while the wheels are still rolling, there’s a risk of breaking the locking pin.

2. Launching your vehicle

Avoid revving your car’s engine in the neutral mode before switching into drive. This might enable you to zoom off at high speed but guess what, it will also wear out the automatic transmission band which can break the bank to repair.

A better way to launch your vehicle would be to press the brake pedal with your left foot and rev up the engine by using the accelerator pedal with your other foot before releasing the brakes. This will enable you to zoom off with minimal wear and tear.

3. Coasting downhill in neutral gear

The reason why most people do this is to save on fuel consumption. However, modern automatic transmissions cut fuel supply to the engine while driving down a slope. This means you are only using the wheels to power the engine as the fuel injectors are automatically shut off.

Shifting to neutral while coasting downhill takes some control away from you since you won’t be able to accelerate the car during emergency situations. It could also cause significant damage to the transmission.

4. Switching direction without completely stopping the car

Make sure you come to a complete stop before going from drive to reverse or vice versa. This is because when you shift gears in motion, the vehicle uses the transmission to stop the car instead of letting the brakes do the job, which will wear out the automatic transmission band.

5. Not changing the transmission oil fluid regularly

Just like engine oil, transmission oil can become contaminated over time and when that happens, it can no longer lubricate the transmission components effectively.

Always follow the manufacturer’s specifications and change the fluid at the recommended interval to ensure that your vehicle transmission is properly lubricated.