To improve your vehicle’s performance and engine durability, you must maintain it properly. This includes regular oil changes. Your car can’t run without oil since it needs lubrication for the friction generated by the many moving parts but as oil gets older and older, it will eventually work less effectively and do more harm than good. Here’s why you have to change your car’s oil.
After How Long Should You Change Your Car’s Oil?
It is considered best to take your car for an oil change at least once every three months or after every 3,000 miles, whichever comes first. However, modern lubricants could extend the distance that your car’s engine can go for without requiring an oil change to 5,000 or up to 7,500 miles. If the engine requires full synthetic motor oil, it could go for up to 15,000 miles.
Luckily, each car manufacturer shows such specifications and the standard requirements for each of their models. Your local mechanic has such information and they could also advise on how factors such as weather, elevation, mileage, and other factors could affect oil change intervals.
Benefits of Changing Your Oil Regularly
Here are the top benefits of regular oil change in your vehicle.
Improving Engine Efficiency
As oil goes through your engine, it cleans it and collects many types of debris. The dirt and other particles soon clog your engine as they get stuck in some parts and can cause serious malfunctions. If you fail to have the oil changed regularly, you might soon notice that the sludge collecting inside has reduced the engine’s efficiency. Cleaning out your engine’s oil regularly helps ensure your engine remains efficient and stays at its optimal performance.
Environmental Sustainability
As oil stays in your engine, heat degrades it causing it to slowly emit several types of gases. The process also adds to the buildup of sludge within the engine. As a result, there will be toxic hydrocarbons emitted from your vehicle that poison the environment. Clean oil absorbs such harmful compounds and does not release them into the environment. This means that changing your engine oil at a proper frequency helps to make the environment healthier and allows you to have a smaller carbon footprint.
Prolonging the Life of Your Car’s Engine
Dirty oil becomes sludge, a thick black grime. This is stickier and causes more friction within the engine, and so your engine’s inner parts wear out more quickly. However, when you change the oil regularly, the engine remains clean and performing at its optimal level with minimized damage to the inner parts. This results in an engine that lasts a very long time and saving on replacement costs.
Ensuring Better Mileage
A well-performing engine returns the best car mileage on the road. This is because you can decrease your mileage if you have a clogged engine. Dirty oil with debris and other particles prevents smooth engine performance and leaves the car consuming more fuel to generate the power needed. When you change your oil regularly, the engine’s performance should remain at proper levels. This allows you to save more on fuel and have more control over your personal finances.
Cool the Car Engine’s Parts
The various engine parts under your car’s hood generate a lot of heat as they move at high speeds to generate the acceleration you need on the road. When using old oil, the engine parts generate more friction, since the oil is thicker and dirty. This puts your engine in greater danger of overheating and experiencing serious malfunctions in hot weather or other situations. A car’s engine gets properly lubricated via the oil, so better oil changing habits mean better lubrication and lower risk of heat-related issues.
Ensuring Maximum Engine Output
Oil is the lifeblood of your vehicle’s engine, as all the assorted internal parts need it to perform at their best. The connecting rods, crankshaft, pistons, and camshaft, and other many parts all require proper lubrication for minimal accumulation of sludge, less friction, and reduced wear and tear. Changing the oil at proper intervals helps ensure your car keeps the same graceful performance from the first day you bought it.
Compliance with Emission Regulations
Emissions tests check for a wide range of hazardous materials that your vehicle can emit. This is to ensure that vehicles emit the lowest levels of poisonous material for environmental sustainability. You can ensure that your vehicle emits as little as possible by changing engine oil frequently, which prevents the generation of a wide range of hazardous hydrocarbon gases. This will ensure that you pass the vehicle emissions tests and avoid several types of penalties.
Complying With Your Car Manufacturer’s Warranty
Most car manufacturers and sellers nowadays offer extended warranties with certain conditions. One of such conditions is for you, as the car owner, to take your vehicle for regular maintenance to avoid voiding the warranty. During routine maintenance, an oil change is one thing that mechanics do to leave the car in optimal condition. Even if the car manufacturer does not offer an extended warranty but offers to cover routine oil changes, you should not ignore them. It is a valuable service that might have been calculated in the cost of your new vehicle.
Most Frequent Car Checkup Opportunity
While performing an oil change, a skilled mechanic will keep an eye out for other issues that should be addressed or that you may want to be addressed. The mechanic may also get a hint of other issues in your car engine after noting some sort of issue with the oil system. Metal shards within the oil, for instance, show that the motor may come apart and/or some of its components are loose and detaching. The mechanic can then fix these critical issues and prevent them from causing you many more problems later on the road. Changing your vehicle’s oil regularly will help it last as long as the manufacturer’s full mileage estimates before major service checks are ever needed. If you want it to last even longer, you must ensure proper maintenance and care to your entire vehicle and all its systems. See the Herb Easley Chevrolet service department if you need work done soon, or think you might, and feel free to contact us!
Connect with us
