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12 Things You Should Never Do With A Brand New Car
When you buy a new car most auto manufacturers will give you guidelines as to how you should drive your car for the first few hundred or thousand miles. They do this because your brand new engine will not be broken in yet when you drive the new car off of the car lot.
Vehicle manufacturers will specify an engine break-in period in which they will give you a list of things that you should and should not do to the vehicle during the engine break-in period. This includes things like not driving the car at full throttle, varying the RPMs of the engine, and not towing anything.
You want to be careful with a brand new engine because you can cause damage to the internals of the engine depending on how you drive it. The internals of your engine will rub up against each other while your engine is operating.
If you don’t give your engine a chance to seat the pistons of your engine under low RPM situations this can cause damage to the cylinder walls of your engine. This could also lead to more problems down the line like low compression and excessive piston blow-by.
1. Drive Short Distances
While driving short distances outright is not bad for a new car what you don’t want to do is not let the engine get up to temperature. When you drive short distances where you don’t let your engine get up to its normal operating temperature it can cause more wear on your new engine than normal.
Engines that are not up to normal operating temperatures are also more susceptible to carbon buildup. When you first purchase a new car you should drive your vehicle distances that will allow the engine to get up to its normal operating temperatures so that you don’t have these sorts of problems.
2. Use Cruise Control
Another thing that you shouldn’t do when you purchase a new car is to use cruise control. While using your cruise control on a new car is not necessarily a bad thing you want to consistently vary your engine RPMs during the break-in period of your car.
When you are still in your engine break-in period for your engine you want to make sure that you vary the RPMs on your engine while also being careful not to use the max RPMs of your engine. If you drive around with cruise control engaged all the time your engine will stay at a specific RPM until you disengage cruise control.
If the goal is to vary the number of RPMs to the engine during the engine break-in period cruise control use should be at a minimum. You may also want to have second thoughts about going on a really long road trip when first buying a brand new car.
If you go for a road trip that extends the engine break-in period of your engine it’s likely that your engine RPMs did not vary that much during the trip. Once you are outside the engine break-in period of your engine you are fine to resume using the cruise control in your new car.
3. Floor Your Engine
If you have a brand new car you also don’t want to use the max RPM of the engine during the break-in period. If you don’t let your pistons properly seat in the engine cylinders this can cause issues down the line. You have to give your engine a chance to warm up and operate under normal conditions before you decide to put the pedal to the metal.
Some vehicle manufacturers will specify to not use anything over half throttle during the break-in period. It really all depends on whoever is making the vehicle as to how they specify to use the car during the engine break-in period.
Putting a large load on a brand new engine is not the best idea because it has not had a chance to fully accustom all of its parts with each other. If you go wide open throttle you are putting a big strain on your engine which may be like forcing a square peg in a round hole to your engine during the break-in period.
4. Rev Out Your Engine
Until you are over your engine break-in period on your car you do not want to overrev your engine. Revving out your engine during the break-in period can cause issues to your engine down the line. If your engine’s internals is not properly seated with each other this can cause irregular wear to the internals of your engine.
If your piston rings are not able to seat on the piston and within the piston cylinder walls properly this can lead to excessive wear on the cylinder walls. Over time this wear could cause a gap between your piston and the cylinder walls which can lead to a decreased power output of the engine and excessive oil use caused by piston blow-by.
Usually, most vehicle manufacturers will recommend that you keep your engine revs under a certain RPM range during the break-in period.
5. Not Allowing Your Engine To Warm Up
It’s a good idea to warm up your engine before you are planning on accelerating quickly otherwise you can damage your engine. Until your engine gets to a certain operating temperature the oil in your engine will not flow as well and your engine internals will wear down more quickly.
If your engine oil is not able to flow as well then it won’t be able to adequately lubricate the internals of your engine. This will eventually lead to the internals wearing down quicker than they had if you warmed up your engine before taking off.
This is especially important in the winter months as it will take your engine a lot longer to get up to normal operating temperatures than it would in the summer months. That’s why it’s a good idea to start your car before you decide to take off to work or drive home for at least a few minutes. To learn more about why you should warm up your engine before driving check out my other article.
On some models of BMW like the E46 M3, they had an indicator in the tachometer gauge that would tell you when your engine was not up to temperature by lighting up orange and red lights on the dash. That way you knew that you should not rev your engine to those points until the engine had time to warm up.
When the orange and red lights would disappear from the tachometer you then would know that the engine was up to operating temperatures and you could fully rev out your engine. I thought that this would be a useful feature not for only motoring enthusiasts but for the larger population at large.
6. Tow Anything
With a new engine, you want to take it easy on it until it has had a chance to get past the engine break-in period before towing anything. Towing will put a lot of stress on your engine which is why it’s not advised that you tow anything with a brand new car.
Towing also stresses out your transmission. Like with your engine it’s a good idea to get through your break-in period to let the transmission slowly get used to propel the vehicle. Anytime you tow something with your vehicle all of the weight from whatever you are towing will have to go through your transmission ultimately.
Once you get past your break-in period you would be fine to start towing things. You just don’t want to tow anything with a new car during the engine break-in period.
7. Go A Long Time Without Changing the Oil
When your engine is brand new the internals has not had a chance to slide up against each other since the engine has not been used yet. With a new engine, your engine will shed metal flakes from the new components as they start to get used to moving against one another. This is normal.
Where you start to run into trouble is if you don’t change your oil after getting past the engine break in period. Those metal flakes will ultimately be held in your engine oil. If you do not change your engine oil these metal flakes can wear down the internals of your engine at a rapid pace.
That’s why it’s recommended to change your oil frequently on a brand new car. As your engine starts to break in the number of metal flakes in the oil should decrease with each oil change that you perform.
8. Let Your Fuel Get Low
This is something that you don’t really want to do with any car new or old. The reasoning behind this logic is that if you let your fuel get too low sediment particles could get sucked up from the bottom of your gas tank into the fuel pump and fuel filter. This can cause issues with your fuel pump and fuel filter.
If your fuel filter is not able to catch the sediment then it could get passed through your fuel lines and into your engine. Having anything that is not gasoline in your fuel lines can then cause your fuel injectors to get gummed up with debris.
On new vehicles, the debris in the fuel tank can be from anything that dropped into the gas tank from the manufacturing process. On older vehicles, sediment can start to build up in your gas tank from impurities in the gasoline that you put in your gas tank. Any impurities would fall to the bottom of your gas tank.
As long as you don’t let your gas tank get completely empty you should not have to worry about this. This sort of thing will occur if your gas tank gets too low because the debris and sediment would be sitting at the bottom of the gas tank which could get sucked up by the fuel pump if the fuel levels get too low.
9. Don’t Protect Your Paint Job
When you first buy a new vehicle you want to do your best to make sure that you protect the paint on your brand new car. The best way that you can do this is by applying a clear bra to the front of your vehicle to help protect your paint from rock chips and any debris in the road.
This won’t completely eliminate any rock chips or scratches from ever happening to your car but it will act as a barrier to help protect your paint. If you have a boulder fall off a cliffside and onto the hood of your car a clear bra won’t be able to save your car’s paint.
Clear bras should be able to prevent rock chips from any small rocks and debris that may be kicked up or falling from any rock trucks. Clear bras will also help save your paint from any surface-level scratches as you will be applying a thin layer of plastic film over the surface of your paint.
Any scratches that may have happened from you cleaning your car should be prevented in the area that you clear bra your car. Applying a clear bra to the surface of your car should also prevent any tree sap or other surface-level impurities from messing up the paint surface as it won’t be able to get through the plastic film.
Another way you can help protect your car’s paint and keep your paint looking like new is to apply a ceramic coating to your paint. Ceramic coating is a semi-permanent coating similar to wax that helps keep your car looking clean and as shiny as possible.
Because ceramic coating is semi-permanent it only needs to be applied yearly for optimal results. To learn more about ceramic coating and which brand I would recommend checking out my other article what is ceramic coating?
10. Use A Dirty Rag to Clean Your Car
When your car’s paint is brand new you are likely going to want to have it last in its current condition as long as possible. That is why you want to use touchless paint cleaning options as often as possible to reduce the chances of swirl marks getting scratched into the surface of your paint.
When you take your car to the automatic carwashes most of them are not touchless car washes. This means that when your car comes into the car wash you are actually having all of the dirt and grime from the previous vehicle drug across the surface of your paint by the car wash brushes.
When you first get a new car you want to use a power washer to get your car as clean as possible by using only water pressure. If that is not sufficient to fully clean your vehicle you can use a small microfiber and spray wax but just know that anytime you apply a microfiber towel to the surface of your paint you are risking scratching the surface of your paint.
11. Fully Charging Your Electric Car
The trend in the automotive world now seems to be going to electric cars. With that being said there is one key thing that you should not do with electric cars and that keeps them fully charged all of the time. When you fully charge a lithium-ion battery and keep it on a charger it will eventually become fully charged.
Lithium-ion batteries do not like to sit at 100 percent charge for too long and it can actually decrease the life of a lithium-ion battery just as much as fully discharging the battery.
With Tesla cars and SUVs Tesla recommends that you not fully charge your battery when you are storing the car and under normal circumstances. They recommend only fully charging your car on long road trips where you are trying to get the most out of your mileage
12. Letting Your Electric Car Battery Fully Discharge
It’s also not a good idea to let your car battery fully discharge either. Lithium-ion battery’s lifespan can be damaged by allowing them to fully discharge down to 0 battery life. That’s why it’s recommended to keep lithium-ion batteries between 50-80 percent charge to have them last as long as possible.
If you consistently run your car below a 50 percent charge or allow it to fully discharge this can damage the battery pack life and not be able to get as much mileage out of single charge. Eventually, you may damage the battery pack enough that you have to replace the entire battery pack which is not a cheap repair.
Related Questions
What Is an Engine Break-In Period? An engine break-in period on cars is the amount of time specified by vehicle manufacturers that you should take it easy on a new car. The break-in period is typically defined in miles. Car manufacturers will specify that you should not rev your engine past a certain point typically during the break-in period.
They will also specify that you don’t do any full-throttle acceleration and don’t tow anything during the engine break-in period as well. This allows your engine internals to be accustomed to working alongside each other. This allows the tolerances between parts to naturally seat themselves with each other.
Think of the break-in period like a warm-up before your workout. You don’t want to go workout giving it your all before you warm up your body first. You also don’t want to rev your engine out and expect it to give you it’s all before it’s had a chance to get through its engine break-in period.
How Long Does the Break-In Period Last? The engine break-in period will vary based on the vehicle manufacturer and the actual vehicle. If you are buying a new car you should read your owner’s manual to determine how long the break-in period is for your specific vehicle. Engine break-in periods can vary based on if your engine is gasoline-powered, diesel-powered, or turbocharged.
If you are unsure of how long the engine break-in period is on your specific car you can ask your vehicle manufacturer or look through your owner’s manual and it should detail how long they recommend.
A typical engine break-in period will last 500-1000 miles. For example, the new C7 corvettes break-in period is 500 miles. After driving 500 miles you can then drive your Corvette as you please. Just try to keep it on the road.