It’s very important to change your car oil regularly. It can provide you the best performance of your vehicle. However, people usually overlook this task.
Why Your Engine Needs It
For a power-producing machine, your car has many moving parts inside the engine. The purpose of engine oil is to lubricate these moving parts in order to reduce friction and ultimately keep the components at quality working order. Modern engines are designed with exacting tolerances, meaning they require higher quality oil to provide added protection.
As well as lubricating your car’s engine, it contains cooling properties that will keep the engine’s temperature down. It also neutralizes the acid which is formed by burnt gas, which means it prevents your car from rusting.
Choosing the Right Oil For the Job
To make sure you have the right oil for your engine there are three main types that are available: synthetic, semi- synthetic and mineral.
Synthetic oil is developed with no natural impurities found in mineral oil and semi-synthetic oil has a balance of part mineral oil and part synthetic. Mineral oils are the traditional engine oil, which is derived from natural crude. Depending on what type of engine you have will help you decide what one best suits your engine.
Viscosity is another important element for choosing the right product. All containers have a numbered code on the front, for example 25W-50, 10W-60 and 5W-30. These numbers represents how the oil will flow inside the engine (this is viscosity).
The majority of products in the market have two numerical values like the above examples. The first set of numbers relates to how the oil will flow when it is cold (the W represents winter). And the second set of numbers represents its ability to flow when the oil is hot. The thinner the oil generally means the lower viscosity, for example 5W-30 will flow more easily, thicker oils like 25W-50 will have a higher value and will have a stronger resistance to flow.
Engines will need oil that is thin during cold start-ups (when it is at its thickest), but the oil needs to be thick enough when the engine is hot (when it is at its thinnest).
When to Change Your Oil
There are two crucial elements for deciding when to change your engine’s oil: how long it has been inside the engine, and how many miles/kilometres it has done since the last change. Abrasive dirt particles will start to mix into the oil not long after changing it, and the more kilometers the engine does, the more dirty it becomes. It comes down to your personal choice, as the cleaner the oil is, the better performance you will find from your car. If you want to be precise, look at changing the oil every six months or around every 3,000 to 6000 miles (5,000 to 10,000 kilmetres), whatever comes first.
Leaving old and used oil in your engine is not good as it will begin to stop doing the job it was created to do. The by-product of used oil is a black sludge that will only leave a negative impact in your engine, thus shortening the car’s life span. If you happen to be buying a new car it is important you look at the oil quality to analyze how neglected the engine might have been. remove the oil cap and see what it looks like, any thick, baked on or sludge-like oil is a dead give away.