6 common car maintenance myths

A car shouldn’t just be owned, it should be cared for with proper love and attention. At the same time, try not to go overboard with care, for it could prove to be more harmful to your vehicle. Here are few myths about car maintenance that you should stop believing in if you really want to save some money:

• Get an oil change in every 3000 miles: Follow the advice in the owner’s manual and please ignore the self-serving pleas from oil companies and quick lube shops. Most vehicles can travel 7,500 miles or more between oil change under normal driving conditions. Changing oil certainly won’t do any damage to your engine but you will only be wasting your money unnecessarily.

• Warmup your car before drive: This myth is still followed among many people. This might be right for two wheelers when it comes to modern engines, driving is the fastest way to warm up your car. The sooner the engine warms up the sooner it delivers its best millage.

• Changing brake fluid: The brakes actually don’t work on brake fluids. So, there is no point in changing brake fluid quite often. Brake fluids just act like a lube for the brake to move freely and to reduce noise when its stricken. It needs to be changed once in a year or two or as per the owner’s manual.

• Tune up: A tune up ensures your car and engine to provide optimum performance in long run, but tune up engine inspection is done to understand the engine performance only. A full tune up for car should be done once in every 30,000 miles.

• Filter fancy: There are filters for oil, air fuel, transmission. However, they all do not need frequent replacement or at every oil change. Consult your owner’s manual for the recommended replacement intervals, or better yet, speak to your mechanic.

• Cool-offs: It used to be conventional for owners to drain their radiators twice a year- spring and fall. Not anymore. Most cars now have closed systems that don’t lose coolant over time, and modern coolant fluids can last up to two years or more before losing effectiveness.

• Air-conditioning: the common myth is that using the air conditioner wastes more gas than opening the windows. While switching the air conditioner on does indeed cut into your fuel supply, you won’t save gas by keeping the windows open instead. That, instead, generates wind resistance, making the vehicle less aerodynamic. These two factors combined cause the car to work harder to speed up, thus ending up using more fuel than the car would have if the windows were shut.