Oil Changes Every 3,000 Miles Prevent a Clogged Oil Filter

Oil Changes Every 3,000 Miles Prevent a Clogged Oil Filter

Oil Changes Every 3,000 Miles Prevent a Clogged Oil Filter

Regular oil change service every 3,000 miles increases your engine’s performance, boosts its fuel economy, and extends its life. Auto engines needs clean motor oil circulating through them when they’re running. Failure to change the oil will result in a clogged oil filter and cause the following problems.

Problems With Engine Performance

Oil filters clean the motor oil after it has circulated through the engine. Motor oil picks up dirt and grime while flowing over moving engine parts. Filters remove this grime. The more grime your oil filter absorbs, the more clogged it gets. So, dirty motor oil flows through your engine, leading to engine performance problems. 

Problems With the Fuel Economy

Dirty motor oil cuts down your fuel economy over time. Making more trips to the gas station and dealing with a less efficient vehicle makes you pay more, and benefit less. 

Why? 

Dirty motor oil can cause a sputtering engine. It can also cause your acceleration to lag. The engine will overcompensate for the loss of power by burning more fuel, reducing your vehicle’s fuel economy. 

Problems With the Oil Pressure

The engine will also suffer in its performance because the oil pressure is reduced by the clogged oil filter. Consequently, the working parts may be operating with little-to-no oil. The engine control unit, the main computer chip, will know there’s problem with the oil pressure in the engine. It will turn on the oil light to let you know that there’s a problem.

Engine Noises That Are Metallic

As the oil pressure continues to lag and the filter gets even more clogged, there will come a point when you will start to hear metallic noises coming from the engine. It is crucial that you stop driving your automobile immediately once you hear these noises. These noises point to the fact that you do not have motor oil circulating through the engine at all.

Problems With Vehicle Emissions

Finally, your vehicle is going to have difficulties passing an emissions test if the oil filter is clogged. This is because the dirty motor oil increases the number of hydrocarbons that are found in your vehicle’s exhaust. Consequently, the hydrocarbons will be above the mandated limit.

Call Advantage Auto Service in Marietta, GA, today to set up an oil change service if it has been too long since your last one.

The Importance Of Oil Changes

The Importance Of Oil Changes

The Importance of Oil Changes

We cannot overstate the importance of oil changes. If you use conventional oil, you need to have it changed every 3,000 miles. If you use synthetic oil, it should be changed every 5,000 miles. The motor oil isn’t the only thing that is changed during an oil change service. We also replace the oil filter to ensure it does not get clogged. Let’s talk more about the importance of oil changes below.

What the Motor Oil Does

The motor oil circulates through the engine while the engine is running in order to lubricate the moving parts so they do not grind against each other and create friction. The motor oil also removes dirt from the engine parts to help keep your engine clean. Finally, the oil helps remove heat from the engine parts to keep your engine’s temperature below 220 degrees Fahrenheit. The motor oil plays the most important role in protecting your engine while it is running.

What The Filter Does

The oil filter removes the dirt that the oil picks up once it has circulated through the engine. This cleans the oil so it is ready to remove more dirt from the engine. The oil filter can get clogged with the dirt that the oil picks up from the engine. When this happens, you will start to have engine performance problems. In fact, your engine may overheat. In severe cases, the clog in the filter may prevent the oil from circulating and damage your engine beyond repair.

How Both Get Dirty

Naturally, the oil gets dirty by picking up the dirt in the engine. The oil filter gets dirty by removing the dirt from the oil. A when t the mileage milestone based on the oil type that you use both the oil and oil filter are now too dirty. In addition, the motor oil is losing its viscosity, which means that the oil can no longer protect the engine. Old motor oil also starts to oxidize, which means that it fills with air bubbles.

The Related Consequences

We discussed some of the related consequences above. A clogged oil filter can damage your engine beyond repair but so can dirty motor oil. In order to keep your engine properly lubricated, clean, and running at a normal temperature, you need clean motor oil circulating through it as well as circulating through a clean oil filter. Anything else will damage the engine.

Call us today if you are overdue for an oil change.

What Causes Coolant to Dilute Motor Oil?

What Causes Coolant to Dilute Motor Oil?

What Causes Coolant to Dilute Motor Oil?

A cracked head gasket will create the perfect conditions for coolant to mix with motor oil. Unfortunately, this mixture can damage your engine if you keep driving your automobile. The engine already has enough damage with the cracked head gasket; it will take partially rebuilding the engine to fix it. This being said, if you fear that you have cracked the head gasket over the cylinder block in your engine, play it safe and have your automobile towed to our shop rather than driving it. Aside from a mixture of motor oil and coolant, here are other signs you’ve blown the head gasket.

Coolant Loss

Aside from mixing with the motor oil, the coolant will also leak into each cylinder. This will reduce the level of coolant that you have circulating through the engine. You might think that you can solve the problem by adding coolant to the cooling system, but the added coolant will also leak into the cylinders until you have the head gasket replaced. Unfortunately, this means driving your automobile will open it up to additional engine damage due to excess heat. In fact, you could crack the cylinder block.

Overheating Engine

So, it’s safe to say that because the coolant is leaking into the cylinders, your engine will overheat. It will run too hot every time that you drive your SUV, truck, or car. In fact, the engine may get so hot that the coolant will boil in the radiator and cause the cap to blow clean off.

The low coolant level isn’t the only reason why the engine is getting so hot. The engine is also being exposed to the heat inside the combustion chamber. Normally, the head gasket would seal off that heat, but the crack in the gasket allows the excessive heat to escape.

This is another reason why you should not drive your automobile until the head gasket is replaced. As we mentioned above, the overheating engine could crack the cylinder block. It can also crack the exhaust manifold and the manifold’s gasket.

Excess Exhaust

In addition to the above problems, the motor oil and coolant will create excess exhaust as they are burned in the combustion chamber (cylinders). The burning motor oil creates blue exhaust, while the burning coolant creates white exhaust.

There you have it. A cracked head gasket causes coolant to dilute motor oil and so much more. Again, call for a tow to our shop to avoid additional engine damage if you’ve blown the head gasket.