Why is Changing You Oil Important?
Ask anyone about the oil in the car and they'll say what? Oh, it has to be changed every 3,000 miles!
In truth, this is really an inaccurate figure. The 3,000
mile figure comes from a marketing pitch. Exact figures are more dependent on
the type of driving style you have. Regardless, it is absolutely true that you
need to change your oil every so often to get the most out of your car. Most
people don't know why though. In this article, we delve into the
reasons.
Oil is a magical substance. For all the
bashing that it gets in the environmental debates, our lives would be
drastically different without it. Oil is used in everything from plastics to
fertilizers to fuel and, of course, lubrication. When it comes to your engine,
oil is the key to making it last. Without lubrication, the metal parts would
just grind together and seize up in a matter of minutes. That would make owning
a car a perilous investment.
So, what is it that oil specifically
does for your car? The first thing it does is keep the engine cooler. It does
this as a matter of design. By that, I mean the design of the engine and the
layout of the oil system allows it to actually cool and draw heat from the
engine. It does this because the oil collects in something called the oil pan.
The oil pan is located at the bottom of the engine. As the car is moving, air
rushes by the oil pan. The cooled oil then circulates up through the engine and
siphons off some of the heat being produced. A car still needs a coolant system,
but oil definitely plays a part in the process.
A more important function of oil in
your engine is to cut down on friction. Oil is a lubricant. You only need to rub
it between your fingers to know this. The engine is essentially a mechanism of
controlled explosions. The energy produced in the explosion propels metal parts.
Oil sits between those parts and cuts down on the wear and tear caused by the
back and forth movement. It is this lubrication that keeps the engine parts from
heating up and melting into one block of metal goop.
Oil is amazing, but even oil will begin
to break down after a while. If you break down the engine of a car that has not
had its oil changed regularly, you will see what essentially looks like a
scorched earth surface. Everything will be black, and there'll be balls of burnt
oil everywhere. It's generally known as gunk. Gunk kills cars. It makes it
difficult for parts to work efficiently, but it also acts as an insulator that
causes the engine to heat up. Heat kills engines.
Modern car engine oil is particularly
helpful to cars because it contains detergent. What does detergent do? It breaks
down the gunk found in an engine. This means that you can effectively take an
old car and "revitalize" the internal engine parts by using modern oil. The oil
will effectively clean up the gunk within the engine and help the engine run
cooler. A cooler running engine is an engine that lasts longer. That means fewer
repairs and less money spent.
Oil is one area where you want to spend
money to buy the best product on the market. It is critical to the maintenance
of your engine. Quality oil will help your engine last hundreds of thousands of
miles. These days, that is money well spent since most of us aren't in a
position to buy new cars.
Schedule a Service Appointment today to get your oil changed and extend the life of your Dodge!
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