When you’re driving a car with a lot of miles and known mechanical issues, you learn to be extremely careful and cautious with maintenance.
If you’re driving down the interstate and you feel the engine doing something erratic, you learn to pull over and ensure there are no issues before further damage ensues.
I had a car for the longest time with an extremely leaky radiator. I would typically refill the radiator reservoir daily with water and would monitor the temperature gauge on my car to determine when the engine needed more water. If I had used antifreeze instead, it would have been like burning piles of money in the backyard. The fluid was on the ground the same day it was put in the radiator reservoir, so using expensive antifreeze was out of the question at the time. These were hectic memories, but it taught me to be cautious with all mechanical equipment. When my heating and cooling condenser started making a lot of noise recently, I called my HVAC supplier so they could send out a technician to investigate. At first I was worried that a broken condenser would mean that I needed a new air conditioner altogether, but that wasn’t the case. The HVAC specialist was careful during his inspection and said that it was the compressor that needed to be replaced. Since the repairs were covered by my HVAC manufacturer’s warranty, I didn’t have to pay a single penny to get the problem fixed with my air conditioner. The whole situation ended up being much easier than I was anticipating.