One of the easiest and least expensive ways to keep your car running smoothly and, on the road longer, is to change the engine oil regularly. Oil changes done at Milex Complete Auto Care / Mr. Transmission of Cary are one of the most important things you can do for your car’s engine. It is also one of the simplest steps you can take to save yourself money in the long run.
Why should you change the oil?
The oil does a vital job. It lubricates the parts of the engine while keeping it clean. The oil grabs all the dirt, dust, carbon, fuel and even water that is in your engine. All those things would otherwise cause damage to parts through wear and corrosion. The oil filter helps to filter out these solid contaminants to allow the oil to last longer. But the filter and the oil have limits on how much contamination they can hold. The filter once full of contamination will go into bypass and will stop filtering. The oil, once it is saturated with these contaminants becomes thick and abrasive. When the oil gets to this point, it allows the dirt, dust and other contaminants to cause wear to your engine. Driving a car with dirty oil for too long would cause the engine to wear out and eventually fail. Oils have additives like detergents, conditioners and rust fighters that, over time get used up. When these additives are used up, you risk clogging critical oil passages that protect the most important parts of your engine. Once you have gone too long without changing your oil, you may start to hear knocking or vibrations coming from your engine. Your car could become sluggish and have less power. Or you may see smoke coming out of your exhaust pipe. If you ignore those warning signs, your entire engine could eventually seize up.
How often is an oil change necessary?
Your owner’s manual will outline what is recommended for oil type, amount and frequency of oil changes. Depending on the age and make of your vehicle the recommendation is to change the oil every 3,000 – 5,000 miles for conventional or semi-synthetic lubricants. If your vehicle requires full synthetic lubricant, then you have 7,000 – 10,000 miles between changes. But you should talk to us at Milex Complete Auto Care / Mr. Transmission of Cary about your car and your driving conditions to understand which end of these ranges you should be focusing on. There are some important factors that could require you to change the oil more frequently. Things to consider:
- Age of your car
- The kind of weather conditions in which you drive
- The amount of time spent in stop-and-go traffic
- Whether you drive on dusty roads, dirt roads or off-road
- Whether you’re driving includes hills or mountains
All of these are things will contribute to needing the oil changed closer to low end of the mileage range.
Between oil changes
This might be uncomfortable for some people, but every few hundred miles, some people do it when they are pumping gas, you should be sure to check your oil level. If you’re not sure how or where to check the engine oil, let us know and we can show you how.
If the oil is low, you can add more. Needing to put oil in isn’t necessarily a sign of a problem. But if your car regularly runs low on oil come by Milex Complete Auto Care / Mr. Transmission of Cary so we can check to see if anything else may be going on.
The most important part of preventative maintenance is also the easiest. Keeping up with your regular engine oil changes is as easy as visiting Milex Complete Auto Care / Mr. Transmission of Cary . Care every few months will keep your car running and on the road for years to come.