Save Money On Auto Repair By Changing Oil Regularly
Are your auto repair costs out of control? It's easy to blame the lemon you drive or those swindlers at the garage, but actually most people's car problems are their own fault. If you don't keep your car well maintained, you'll find yourself paying left and right for auto repair problems that could have been easily avoided.
Probably the most common of these is the simple oil change. Changing your oil is one of the easiest car-related tasks,
but it's one that too many people fail to do. You can do it yourself or take it to a garage to have it done. If you choose to let the pros handle it, it's one of the fastest and cheapest auto repair jobs out there. You can almost always find coupons or special deals for oil changes which make it even cheaper.
Most people don't realize how important this is because they don't understand the purpose of motor oil in your car. If you understand what it does in there, you'll know why it's so important to get it changed.
The Purpose Of Motor Oil
The main thing motor oil does is lubricate your car's engine. When you start the motor, the moving parts that swing into action. These parts have to rub up against other parts, and this creates a high level of friction. When properly lubricated, they can work efficiently and smoothly. This makes your car run better because it allows you to drive at optimal speeds without any performance trouble at all. When you don't have lubrication, you'll see a noticeable decrease in performance.
Motor oil also works as detox for your engine. Over time, lots of acids and other nasty stuff build up in there. Motor oil holds all of these materials and prevents them from causing corrosion or other damage to the engine parts. When you get your oil changed, you remove the old oil along with all of this nasty stuff, and that's great for your engine's overall health. It also helps to prolong the life of your engine.
The oil also transfers heat away from the engine. As we mentioned, there's lots of friction going on here and that means a build-up of heat. It helps your engine stay cool and also keeps oxygen from getting into it, which can cause oxidation when it's running at extremely hot temperatures.
Is An Oil Change Hard To Do?
You can do your own oil change if you're just a little bit handy in the garage. All of the tools you need can be purchased in a hardware store if they're not already lying around somewhere in your house. It takes less than an hour for most folks. You have to remove the oil pan and drain out the old oil, change filters, reattach everything and then fill it with new oil.
If you're not used to doing any sort of auto repair on your own, you can always hire the professionals to do it for you. This is a very fast and inexpensive operation. Whether you do it yourself or not, just make sure that you get it done regularly so you're driving in the best shape possible.
