Why Does Oil Matter?
Your car needs oil, but why? Have you ever rubbed your hands together really quick? Or tried starting a fire with sticks? Then you have felt the heat that’s created from this process. Now imagine it’s a thousand times faster and metal. What do you think will happen? Well let’s do a little science here. The metal will undoubtedly heat up, till it’s glowing red hot. But what else happens when to materials when they heat up? Expansion. Since your engine components are very tightly fit together (this ensures a lot of things, but primarily efficiency) that you can’t even fit a piece of paper between. If expansion happens, your engine has nowhere to expand. Imagine a jar in a freezer filled to the brim with a lid on it, it will explode. Well, your engine will do the same!
When your engine heats up as a result of the friction in the engine, and there’s no oil or the oil is very old and it’s no longer protecting the engine from friction, therefore allowing it to get extremely hot, expand and blow. You do not want this to happen. It’d be worse than getting a massage with no oil. So hopefully now you know a little bit about why it’s important to keep your car happy and running with fresh oil. It’s also a good idea to peek under the hood every couple weeks and check that dipstick. Pulling this stick out when the engine is warm (but not running) will allow you to see what level the oil is at, and it’s colour. It should be up to the “full” line and not black in colour, but closer to a dark golden colour. The first time you pull the stick out, wipe it, reinsert it and carefully pull it out - this will give you the most accurate reading. Bottom line, if it’s been 6 months, or 5000km, it’s best that you come in and get an oil change with Top Gear. We offer basic oil changes like everyone else does, but we prefer to use some higher quality products by Eneos or Lubro moly Liqui moly for our customers. These oils are made to much higher standards and offer superior protection over the oils found over the counter at retail stores, even better than Mobil 1 some would argue. Using a high quality oil is especially a good idea if you plan on keeping the car, and increasing its engine life. It can also extend your oil change intervals. All good reasons if you ask us our opinion. A lot of people question whether they should use a synthetic oil in their car. The answer is always going to be YES if you are planning on keeping the car. Synthetic oils are scientifically engineered, or you could say “created” rather than derived from a natural source. So contrary to typical trends of going all natural, when it comes to motor oil, synthetic is best.