Oil Changes – the myths, why we take them for granted, and why we should do them regularly

I used to work with someone who once spent 20 minutes at the coffee pot trying to convince me that oil changes were a ploy set out by auto manufacturers to get the consumers to spend more money. She insisted that they were not necessary and she never did them on her cars. Well, unfortunately about 6 months after we had this conversation, the engine seized in her car. 

Oil changes are not a ploy by any means and are as necessary as brushing your teeth every day. With the lifespan of engine oil increasing significantly, it is that much more imperative that oil changes are done regularly. Engine oils’ are designed with additives and detergents to help keep carbon buildup from getting trapped in your engine and help cool the metals that work so hard to get you where you need to go as well as lubricating all your engines moving parts. 

Let’s talk carbon build-up. Gasoline and air are introduced to spark and compressed to cause little explosions that make big power that make your engine “turn”. A direct bi-product of these explosions are small carbon deposits that are transferred to your oil. As the oil flows through its many passages it brings those deposits and any other debris it picks up to your oil filter. Most oil filters are made of a paper filter element designed to pull all those small fragments of debris out of the oil and trap them in the filter. As the filter fills with carbon and debris it becomes less effective and can become clogged with all the particulate it traps and therefore needs to be changed. Over time being heated and cooled over and over again, the oil itself begins to degrade and lose its viscosity. This means it doesn’t flow and lubricate optimally which lessens its ability to cool and lubricate. This increases the risk of overheating the metals inside your engine, increasing the risk of abrasive metal on metal contact and the inability to reduce containments flowing through your engine. Over time, the oil will begin to break down and burn in the engine causing excessive smoking while driving and cause additional build up in the engine. This will decrease the volume of oil in the engine and combined with the already listed negative side effects, can result in severe damage to the internals and possibly causing the engine to fail. 

That being said, it’s worth spending the $30 to $60 or so dollars on an oil change at the regularly specified intervals since it will save you anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 on a engine replacement, as my co-worker unfortunately found out the hard way.

As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of research and development that went into the engineering of your car’s engine to provide you with a long lasting efficient product. As the consumer, it is your job to show those engineers that you appreciate the time and effort they put forth by performing the basic maintenance required to allow that engine to live up to its fullest potential. 

My previous car had 254,000 miles on it when I sold it, the person I sold it to, sold it two years later with 280,000 miles on it. The car I currently own has 242,000 miles on it and is still going strong. In today’s economic climate, we are all watching every penny we spend and try to save where we can. As you can see, spending the money on regular oil changes and quality oil can potentially save you thousands in the future. 

Bill Marino Auto Repair