Change Oil, Save Money

[admin]

Change Oil Save Money

Whenever you think of oil changes you should think of the filter to be changed as well. Changing filter should always go with each oil change. An oil and filter change involves draining out the old motor oil and replacing it with fresh, new motor oil.

Doing it yourself

You will definitely need a lot of arrangements if you want to do the oil change procedure by yourself. Changing oil by yourself means you need ramps or a jack and jack stands, a box-end wrench. Surely besides these you will also need some container to catch and hold the oil. That goes as far as the hardware needed is concerned. Besides the special arrangements you will need there is also the million dollar question of whether you are knowledgeable enough to judge when to change oil. There is a lot of differences in opinion on the issue when to change the oil . It is therefore difficult to say whether you should venture out to do oil changes yourself.
Experts claim that the condition of oil is dependent on a host of factors including how you drive, the condition and age of the engine, the external environment you drive in, and stop-and-go versus highway driving. It is also felt that it is not an exact science. It is open to varying opinions.

Oil change – why?

At high temperatures oil undergoes thermal breakdown and it becomes less effective as a lubricant. When you have an ineffective lubricant in between engine parts rubbing against each other, more wear out of the parts occurs. In short the engine life is greatly affected.
The oil contains certain additives that are able to neutralize acids. After some time these additives get fully exhausted and the oil is unable to nuetralize the acid contents any further. The oil also serves the purpose of maintaining in suspension water, dust and combustion byproducts. With time the oil reaches its saturation limit and is able to take no more of these in suspended state. From this point onwards, the impurities that are unable to be nuetralized or kept in suspension,start to corrode the engine.
Thus oil change becomes inevitable if you want to save the engine.
The tools you will need will include some type of oil-filter wrench. There are two sizes of socket-style cap wrenches that you will use — one fitted to an oil filter and the other to a 3/8-inch-drive breaker bar handle.

Oil change – when?

Owner's manual give recommendations for oil and filter changes. These figures vary anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 miles.This is why “oil change” is termed to be an inexact science.

A prudent estimate that you can consider for oil change would be to do so every 5,000 miles. With a 5000 mile interval between changes, you can make optimum use of your engine without in any way impeding its performance or diminishing it life.However this estimate of 5000 miles is dependent on the way you drive.

You ought to seriously reconsider this bar of 5000 miles if your driving entails some of the following patterns:

• Abrupt starts, heavy acceleration and/or high-speed driving. This includes what is called rash driving
• You live or drive in extreme climates.
• You drive on dirt roads
• Your engine is old and burns oil
• You carry heavy loads or your car is always jam packed

These driving patterns would warrant that you change oil more frequently.

The economics favor change

Changing oil improves engine performance and increases life span. Your engine won't last long if you do not change oil as required. Obviosly clean oil functions better than dirty oil. Changing oil every 5,000 miles is a cheaper proposition than being burdened with major maintenance and repair costs on account of engine breakdown.

Checks & monitoring

All you have to do is to keep monitoring oil level at intervals of a few hundred miles. This can be done by parking your car on level ground,and dipping the cleaned oil dipstick . Read the level on the dipstick as the height upto which oil has wetted the stick scale. The dipstick shows the engine's oil level.

“MIN” marking means the oil is at the minimum operating level. Oil should be at the full mark.If the level is at or below the add mark, it means you're a quart low. You ought to add a quart of oil to the crankcase. Always top up to bring it up to the full mark.

It is important that oil you fill should neither be less nor more than that required. Excess oil too is dangerous. If you fill more than required oil into the crank case the engine's crankshaft will come in contact with the oil. As a result the crankshaft turning at thousands revolutions per minute, will whip your oil into a froth. The oil pump can't pump froth very well. As a result, oil will not flow well to the parts of the engine that need lubrication . Nett result is a fat check to the garage.

Timely diagnosis can save a fortune

At some point, every engine starts to burn oil. It is always good to check the oil regularly from time to time. However If you run low on oil regularly, then have your car checked because there might be a leakage or you may be actually burning oil.

Timely diagnosis can save a fortune for you.

DISCLAIMER: The contents of this article are not necessarily the official views of, nor endorsed by, the owner of HondaClub(com).

[TJ213]

at what oil life % should it be changed?

[Lunatic]

50 % it should b changed

[speeder180]

does this % also apply to newly brought ones too

[AP1fun]

A very good time to check your oil is every fill up. Make sure it is always full and a light brown color for non-synthetics and what ever color your synthetic oil is when you put it in.

Also, you can pick up an oil cetch can at Wal Mart for under 5 dollars, the one with the spout. After changing the oil, take that can and pour it back into the bottle you got the new oil from and many parts stores will despose of it free of charge.

[IansCivic99]

Great

[Sprash]

I don't consider the oil condition sensor when I determine to change the oil. I do it as close to 5000 km as possible as I have always done. I don't know how you would ever, even as a mechanic, know for sure that the oil needs changing except by looking at the color and feeling it between your fingers which gives an idea how much contamination is present. I have always felt that if you can feel the contaminants then you are way past the point of where the oil should have been changed. If you change your own oil the cost is insignificant and won't hurt even if you change it before it needs to be. I usually change my own and the cost in Canadian dollars is around 20 including the filter. If you go to one of the franchise places as I did this morning it will cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 ca depending of course on what type of oil. I didn't have the time and my wife is setting off on a trip and I wanted it changed before she left. They also did their best to convince me to have an engine flush for an additional $20 which I refused. This was put to me in a way that was meant to make me feel embarrassed to say no. I have driven some of my cars for half a million kilometers and I have had cars that burnt a small amount of oil when I first purchased them and I always stick to the 5000 km rule and I have never had an engine deteriorate because it had excessive wear. The ones that burnt a small amount of oil would stop burning it after a year or two of oil changes. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to change the oil and filter on my car and the savings of say $30 works out to about $90 an hour in my favour. The tools are few and the process is simple and with a lot of vehicles you don't have to use jack stands or ramps. I think anyone can learn quickly how to do it. The difficulty comes with other things that should be checked at the same time the oil is changed starting with the air filter, transmission fluid, differential, battery, power steering fluid, brake fluid etc. etc. You also need to look for leaks and possible problems. I do all of this as a matter of course but I don't check the rear diff on my Blazer. If it isn't showing signs of leaking then I leave it alone until the time I take it into one of the franchise places. I don't mind spending the extra on the franchise doing the job because they check it for me. I get a garage or a franchise place to do it once every 20 to 30 thousand km unless I see potential problems. I have followed this process throughout my 42 years of driving and have never had a serious break down. I bought a an old car, 94 Audi, in Australia where we spent last year and followed this process with it. When we left we had put 34000 km on it without a scrap of trouble. Now you have to have a bit of car sense and luck to pick a good vehicle to begin with so I guess this is not for everyone. My first rule of thumb is to get a good manual.
I think I have ranted enough!

[lediana]

Thanks for sharing this useful information. It's great.




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