10 ways you are unknowingly damaging your car

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Yeah hand on the gear knob transfers pressure to the shift forks. Handbrake? Lol.
And I use engine braking. It places no extra strain on anything and prevents possibility of brakes overheating when you need them most.
Idle before start? Only if it's so fecking cold that the windscreen is iced over and I need to warm it up. Otherwise never.

That's what I thought, was taught to touch the gearstick and clutch as little as possible when shifting gears.....
And engine braking is extremely important to prevent brake fade and failure.

 

[FNfal]

Didn't understand the handbrake one...
Is it don't rest your hand on the handbrake when its down?
Or is it the gearstick, that was supposed to be substituted there?

Hmmm my hand brake is a button . not so good for hand brake turns .

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Hmmm my hand brake is a button . not so good for hand brake turns .

Always did wonder how those work when you need to do a hill start,
I take it it's a automatic as well?

 

[dualmeister]

Electronic handbrake, automatic and cruise control. What are these problems of which you speak

 

[FNfal]

Always did wonder how those work when you need to do a hill start,
I take it it's a automatic as well?

Jaa according to the manual you are supposed to have your foot on the brake and it also has hill start .
I still some times look for the hand brake lever but it is now a light on the dash , and if you stop and open your door it automatically puts the hand brake on .If you are in gear and you press the accelerator it take the hand brake off , so if you are stopped and put the hand brake on and just take off it releases the hand brake and away you go .
Takes some getting used to .

 

[SauRoNZA]

Huge difference between an automatic and manual transmission. Two completely different technologies.

We're talking about manual transmissions.

Not if he's talking about a DSG.

Which all do engine breaking and rev matching on downshift.

The rev matching being most relevant to this discussion as most people don't do that in manual (cars) which makes all the difference to this "damage" equation.

Paper values either way.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Also there's a massive difference between American warming up your car and South Africa.

They leave it running for 15-30minutes in the driveway.

That's bad.

Running it for a minute before setting off is ultimately going to be better than a cold start and setting of immediately.

 

[Beachless]

Just to add to the whole engine breaking thing. It saves fuel and polar bears as well amongst the other things that have been said.

 

[catharsis]

I disagree,



I would say over-revving has terrible consequences.

Technically it does as speeding automatically increases revs, unless you enjoy sitting in your stationary car playing with the accelerator in neutral.

 

[Dan C]

Electronic handbrake, automatic and cruise control. What are these problems of which you speak

Exactly, who is this day and age drives a manual car ?

 

[genetic]

Exactly, who is this day and age drives a manual car ?

There's a lot of fun to be had with a decent manual car. But you need to know what you are doing and when to change gears. For the rest, there's an automatic.

 

[BlindMelonChitlin]

Exactly, who is this day and age drives a manual car ?

The other 99%

 

[Dan C]

There's a lot of fun to be had with a decent manual car. But you need to know what you are doing and when to change gears. For the rest, there's an automatic.

Yeah.. been there done that, driven manual for about 20 years. But switching to an auto all I can say I will never go back.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Technically it does as speeding automatically increases revs, unless you enjoy sitting in your stationary car playing with the accelerator in neutral.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev_limiter

A rev limiter is a device fitted to an internal combustion engine to restrict its maximum rotational speed. Rev limiters are pre-programmed into the car's Engine Control Unit, except aftermarket units, which are packaged as a separate micro-controller. Cars need a limiter because it prevents the engine from operating above a pre-determined RPM level known as the redline. If an engine goes over the redline, commonly called "Over-Revving", damage to the engine and valve train may occur because it can cause the valve to stay open longer than usual. Valve float can possibly result in loss of compression, misfire, or a valve and piston contacting each other.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redline

Redline refers to the maximum engine speed at which an internal combustion engine or traction motor and its components are designed to operate without causing damage to the components themselves or other parts of the engine.[1] The redline of an engine depends on various factors such as stroke, mass of the components, displacement, composition of components, and balance of components.

I can do speeding without over-revving. There are cars on the market with which you can hit the governor without being close to the redline. I'm not talking about point 9,

9. Unnecessarily revving your engine

There’s absolutely no point to revving your engine unless you want attention. It wastes fuel, wears your engine more rapidly and, if you’re doing it first thing in the morning, wear and tear on your engine is fast-tracked because the oil isn’t circulating fully.

 

[genetic]

Yeah.. been there done that, driven manual for about 20 years. But switching to an auto all I can say I will never go back.

You just haven't driven the right manual.

I drive a 2013 C180 Merc as a company vehicle - lovely car with all the bells and whistles, but doesn't beat the fun my personal manual car gives.

 

[genetic]

I can do speeding without over-revving. There are cars on the market with which you can hit the governor without being close to the redline. I'm not talking about point 9,

Over-revving does not mean read-lining. I'm sure he meant revving past the ideal power torque band which just wastes fuel and causes increased wear.

 

[Dan C]

You just haven't driven the right manual.

I drive a 2013 C180 Merc as a company vehicle - lovely car with all the bells and whistles, but doesn't beat the fun my personal manual car gives.

But but.. what if Mariah Carey was in the car and you have to bother with changing gears....

 

[Fulcrum29]

Over-revving does not mean read-lining. I'm sure he meant revving past the ideal power torque band which just wastes fuel and causes increased wear.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev_limiter

If an engine goes over the redline, commonly called "Over-Revving", damage to the engine and valve train may occur because it can cause the valve to stay open longer than usual.

 

[Dan C]

So what revs are so called 'red line' ?

 

[genetic]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev_limiter

Really?

We're not talking about rev-limiting!! :wtf: