Replacing the Oil Filter During Your Oil Change

Every vehicle needs an oil change occasionally and most vehicle manufacturers recommend changing the oil once to twice a year or every 5,000 miles in the average car. How often you have it done depends on how you drive your car, the road conditions, the temperatures that the vehicle is usually driven in, and at what speed you drive it. If your vehicle is new, you can probably get by with changing the oil less often, but as the car ages, your oil will need to be changed more often, to prevent the wear and tear on your engine.

Sometimes owners of vehicle fleets will have an oil analysis done on the vehicles in the fleet to monitor the oil's condition including the amount of acid and viscosity in the oil. They do this by taking a sample of the oil and putting it in a spectrometer so that these can be shown. However, for a private person to have this done would be quite expensive at anywhere from $12.00 to $20.00 each time, so having your oil changed will be less expensive in the long run as it will keep your engine running at its prime longer.

All cars come with an oil filter and some manufacturers recommend that the oil filter be changed every other time that you perform an oil change, however, many mechanics will tell you that is false and recommend that you have it changed every time. Because it is so important in keeping your oil and engine clean, it is important that your filter stays clean and the smaller filters being used in the smaller cars don't hold as much and the more dirt it can hold, the better for your engine.

In cars today, the oil is routed from the oil pump through the filter before it lubricates the moving parts in the engine. Because the filter is the main defense against the grime from every day driving, it is important that it always stays clean and needs to be replaced more often. If it is not changed often enough, there is a possibility of it becoming clogged which could result in the failure of your vehicle's engine.

Before you change your own oil filter during your oil change, you need to make sure that you have the right size filter for your vehicle. You can find this in the catalog at your local auto part's store. Using the wrong oil filter can severely damage your engine.

Once you have performed your oil change, make sure that you dispose of the oil properly. You can usually ask your local gas station or auto parts store where it can be disposed so that it can either be recycled or refined into another petroleum based product.