There are really only 2 things that you need to know to use the best oil for your vehicle.
- What is the manufacture specified type, grade, and weight of the oil that your vehicle is designed to use.
- The best oil for your vehicle is CLEAN oil, keeping it changed often enough to stay clean.
Vehicle manufacturers’ have increased mileage change intervals, and there is a lot of information on the internet about how this can save you money. Granted since the introduction of synthetic oils and the further refinement of oils, the suggested oil change intervals have increased to anywhere from every 5,000 miles up to every 15,000 miles.
As a repair shop we see the damage that can be cause by extending the frequency of oil changes. We recommend to keep it closer to the regular standard of every 3 months or 3,000 miles as regular maintenance. If your vehicle requires a synthetic oil to change, it should be performed about every 5 months or 5,000 miles.
Repair facilities do not want to change the oil in your car more often to make more money. The total cost of a basic oil change for a shop to perform it with labor, parts and overhead is about $40.00. When a shop sells oil changes from $19.00 to $50.00 you can see that there is no real profit on the oil change service itself. This service is really a very important courtesy service for customers and their vehicles. It is also the best return on investment that you can do for your vehicle.
Let’s go over the actual service and its importance. The main objective of having your oil changed regularly is to keep the oil that you are running in your engine clean. Engine oil is the life blood of your engine, the oil function is to clean, cool and lubricate, so obviously if the oil is dirty, the performance of the oil is compromised. The best oil you can use in your vehicle is fresh clean oil and we recommend using the grade and weight of oil that your vehicle was designed for.
Allowing the engine oil to get excessively dirty, allows the suspended particulate to become abrasive and cause accelerated wear to the crankshaft, bearings and the valve train. Some of the newer engine designs are equipped with variable valve timing, this produces increased mileage and performance. These variable timing components include solenoids and actuators that are oil fed and do not tolerate dirty oil, nor do turbo charged engines. Dirty oil can cause internal coking, clogging and sludge issues in those components. Engines that have too much sludge build up can also develop oil starvation/pressure issues which leads to further wear and degradation of the internal engine components. We have literally seen vehicles with less than 30,000 miles on them with severe engine damage due to not changing the oil regularly on their vehicle.
Keep that engine oil changed regularly so it is always clean and use the type of oil that your vehicle manufacturer recommends for your car. Happy Motoring!
Karen Johnston
All About Automotive, Inc.
