Why Is an Oil Change So Important?
Oil protects your engine in many ways, beginning with lubricating moving parts, but it also creates a seal between the pistons, rings, and cylinder walls. It keeps your engine cooler by reducing the friction between the moving parts in your engine. As those parts move together, even with proper lubrication, tiny particles come off the parts and dust, dirt, pollen and more get into the engine just from everyday use, creating additional friction. With fresh oil, those particles are moved to the oil filter where they are trapped, thus keeping your engine cleaner.
How Often Should I Get an Oil Change?
When it comes to maintaining your vehicle, it depends. Driving patterns, the climate you live in, your driving habits, the make, model, and year of your vehicle all impact the frequencies of oil changes. Consult your manual for manufacturer recommendations for oil changes and other maintenance needs. In your manual, the vehicle manufacturer provides guidelines for maintenance and the frequency that you should get the maintenance performed. Vehicles that use conventional motor oil need to have oil changes more regularly than vehicles that use synthetic oil products.
Conventional Motor Oil
This product is refined from crude oil and additional additives are mixed in that help protect your engine and reduce wear to your engine’s moving parts. Generally, it is recommended that conventional oil gets changed every 3,000 miles. Conventional oil is usually used on older vehicles, because newer vehicles use synthetic oil.
Synthetic Motor Oil
Synthetic oil, as the name implies, is derived from manmade chemicals. This type of oil protects your engine better than conventional oil because of the purity of the compounds and the uniform molecular structure. Vehicles that use synthetic oil products can get by with oil changes every 5,000 to 7,500 miles. There are even some cost-saving synthetic blends available that use conventional and synthetic formulas together.
High Mileage Oil
If you drive a vehicle that has over 75,000 miles on the odometer, this is the oil you need. High mileage oil has a different variety of additives that are formulated to extend the life of vehicles with higher mileage. High-mileage oils come in conventional and synthetic oil formulas to serve your vehicle’s engine better.
