Common maintenance mistakes & misjudgments may be costing you money. YouTuber Scotty Kilmer tells you what to avoid.
There are a lot of simple things that you used to be able to do with a car that can actually destroy a modern vehicle. Popular YouTube mechanic Scotty Kilmer has seen dozens of things that can destroy a car’s electronic components, and some of these will surprise you.
What is Kilmer’s advice for how to avoid destroying your car?
- Battery issues: Check alternator & jump-starting
- Topping off the gas tank
- Running out of gas
- Mixing lubricating oil with gas
- Overinflating tires
- Using the wrong type of coolant or motor oil
Kilmer will walk you through some of these issues in the video, and we’ve jotted them down here for your convenience as well. If you’ve been a layman working on cars for years, you’re probably in for a few surprises in this article. There are actually things that you might be doing out of longstanding habit that can wreck a modern car!
How to Avoid Destroying Your Car
The Wrong Way to Test Your Alternator
You used to be able to test the alternator on a car by disconnecting the negative battery cable while the motor is running. Doing this on a modern car, however, will cause a power surge that can destroy many of the electronic components in your vehicle!
If you need to test your alternator, take the car to a mechanic. Otherwise, buy a tester and do it yourself. Never disconnect a battery cable while your modern car is running.
Properly Jump-Start a Battery
We won’t cover how to jump-start a dead car battery here. What we will tell you, however, is something you should avoid. When charging a dead battery from a running car, shut the working car off before testing the dead battery.
With modern vehicles, only one should be running at a time when jump-starting a battery. If you have two alternators running from two vehicles at the same time, you’re likely to fry some of your car’s electronics.
Don’t ‘Top Off’ Your Gas Tank
Here’s a bad habit that many of us have: When you fill up your car with gas and the pump shuts off, you keep squeezing a few more cents’ worth of gas into the tank. This can destroy part of the fuel system on a modern car!
Your car’s EVAP system uses a carbon filter. This is meant to filter fuel vapors, so the car’s emissions are less dirty. Your gas tank needs a little bit of space for vapors to be present at the top for this filter to work.
Sloshing straight gasoline into that carbon filter can cause it to fail. This in turn leads to a costly repair that involves dropping the gas tank out of the vehicle.
Avoid Running Out of Gas
Can you still drive your car for a few more miles when the gas gauge is on “E” for “Empty?” Yes, you can. Should you do this in a modern car? Absolutely not. Electronic fuel pumps on modern cars are situated inside the gas tank. The lubricant for the fuel pump… is gasoline. If you force your electronic fuel pump to suck air by driving around on “E,” you’re going to burn out your fuel pump.
Don’t Mix Lubricating Oil with Gasoline
You used to be able to mix a bit of lubricating oil in your fuel tank to lubricate all of the components of an engine. Modern cars don’t work this way. Kilmer says you shouldn’t put oil in your gas tank.
Don’t Overinflate Your Tires
You won’t improve your gas mileage by overinflating your modern radial tires. The best way to ensure that you’re getting optimal gas mileage these days is simply to have your tires inflated to the proper PSI. Overinflating your tires used to improve mileage back in the days when tires were round. With radial tires, that just doesn’t work. They should look a little “squished” even when properly inflated. Overinflating can lead to tire damage or a blowout.
Don’t Use the Incorrect Fluids
Isn’t coolant just… coolant? Not anymore. In modern cars, a wide variety of different coolant types are available for different engine types. The brand and type of coolant you put in your vehicle need to be the correct match. Check your owner’s manual for your car to ensure you’re using the correct coolant.
The same rule applies to motor oil. The oil cap on your engine states the grade of oil that you should use. Putting a different viscosity of engine oil in your car can damage the engine’s components badly over time.
