Mechanic shares reason you should 'never' fill up car with less than £20 of fuel

A mechanic has warned motorists to never do these five things to their modern car or risk having to spend big on necessary repairs.

Car care has changed significantly over the years with features such as assisted parking, rear-view cameras and lane departure alerts now becoming common in modern vehicles. While there are many different things being introduced in modern cars, there are still some traditional rules that you should stick to.

One mechanic has named these rules in a new YouTube video titled 'Five things you should NEVER do to your modern car in 2024'.

The car expert, posting under The Car Care Nut channel that boasts 1.05 million subscribers, has said that these rules are things he sees "people do all the time that you should actually not be doing or at least try to avoid".

From avoiding keychains to crawling to the petrol station, the mechanic has listed five main things you should never do to your new and modern car in 2024.

Read on below to find out more.

1. Never drive your car on a low tank of fuel

The first thing that the expert said you should never do is drive your car a low tank of fuel all the time. He said: "Look folks, I understand that some are on a budget and you don't really have the money to fill up that tank all the time and you're always putting 20 bucks, 10 bucks as the finances allow.

"But here's what you are actually doing - you're going to end up having issues. Gasoline [petrol] cars have a fuel pump that sits in the fuel tank."

This fuel pump is cooled down when you fill your car up with petrol so the more "submerged" it is in fuel, the better it is for the pump and the longer it is going to last.

The mechanic noted that one of the most common reasons that "kills fuel pumps" is when you continuously run the gauge down to empty then put a measly £10 in the tank and repeat this cycle.

The mechanic added: "Fuel pumps are very expensive in modern cars and I'm glad that they are as they are very reliable but when they do go because you're always running it on low fuel, they can be very expensive."

2. Know what engine your car has

Next, the mechanic said that everyone should know what kind of engine their car runs as it can impact how you are going to "operate it or take care of it".

Th expert explained: "We're not anticipating everybody to know everything about cars but these basic things that you know about your car can actually impact the way you're going to take care of it."

As an example, the mechanic noted that you should know if your car has a direct injection engine as this can impact the maintenance and upkeep of the vehicle.

He said: "Direct injected cars only - it's unfortunately the byproduct of carbon build-up. You can never prevent it but you can actually change your driving habits and and kind of maintenance habits to prevent it from being an issue."

3. Don't hang things in your car where they aren't supposed to be

This is one rule that the expert said he sees people break all the time in various different parts of their car, from the rear view mirror to the gear shift.

The mechanic said: "I see this all the time this is one of the most common one and I admire folks for it - don't hang a garbage bag from your shifter." The expert warns people to not hang a rubbish bag from their gear stick as it can cause issues for the gears if you are hanging something heavy from it.

While the mechanic appreciates that people are trying to keep their cars clean, it could be costly to repair an entire gear box and leave you more out of pocket than you were in the first place.

He also warns people not to "hang things around the steering column or indicator. The expert said: "I understand folks want to accessorise their cars and make it personal and that's perfectly fine. But, around the steering column area, that's a moving area and behind the steering column of modern cars, there's something called a spiral cable.

"This is what connects your airbag, all your steering wheel controls and your horn. That cable is actually a very big wound wire and as you turn the wheel, it continuously supplies that electrical connection.

"So when you put stuff around the steering wheel initially it's okay, nothing will happen. But then eventually one of them will slip and get pushed into the steering wheel and get inside of that and it destroys the cable."

The mechanic also warned people not to hang things from their rear view mirror as most of these mirrors don't hang from the roof of the car anymore. The expert noted that they are now stuck on with a "little tab of glue that is glued onto the windshield".

If you put all this extra weight onto the mirror then you could end up pulling it off and damaging the windscreen along with it.

4. Don't use glass cleaner on your infotainment screen

While you can use glass cleaner on many areas of your car such as the windscreen, side mirrors and rear view mirrors inside, there's one area you should never use it - the infotainment screen.

This screen is typically a touchscreen display that people have inside their cars to use the radio, their media player and even a modern navigational system such as a GPS.

The mechanic said: "This is not a glass screen, this is very important. Windex [glass cleaner] actually have products within that cause significant damage to touch screens."

Instead, you should opt for a dry cloth to get rid of any dust or finger smudges on this screen.

5. Don't put lots of keychains on your car key

While we are moving away from physical keys to start cars and are heading into a modern world where the cars start with a button, many modern vehicles still require a car key.

The mechanic said: "All you're doing there is just putting excessive wear on that key. Eventually, one of these days when it's single digits outside and you're in a hurry and it's super cold, you're going to go and try to start your car and the key won't turn because you've worn it off on one side."

If this does happen to you then the expert suggests to take the keychains off and flip the key around as you may have just worn down the key cylinder on one side and the other side is a lot stronger.

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