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ENGINE MAINTENANCE; OIL & FILTER

Motor oil is way more important than most people think it is, apart from lubricating the engine it cleans, cools and protects your vehicle's engine. And just like everyone else, the oil needs some help to do it's job properly which is why additives are added to help improve it's ability to resist heating, friction, contamination and oxidation

One of the reasons you have to change your vehicle's oil every now and then is because you are most likely going to use your car on lots of short trip driving and this is bad for your vehicle because the engine never warms up enough to boil off the moisture that accumulates inside the crankcase. The moisture arises as a result of combustion gases that blowby the piston rings (the older the engine, the greater the amount of blowby). A high percentage of these these gases are removed by the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) system but in a cold engine much of the moisture will condense and end up in the oil. Water contained in the moisture then reacts with motor oil to form sludge and acids, and this leads to an increase in engine wear

To get rid of this accumulated sludge, acids and moisture you must change both your oil and filter. The job of the filter is to remove dirt, metal particles and other suspended solids. The oil filter is the engine's main line of defense against abrasion and premature wear. If you have a filter with a good capacity you can replace the oil filter at every other oil change

The recommended intervals for oil and filter change varies depending on the manufacturer, model and engine of your vehicle. For normal service( mostly high way driving) the interval ranges between 5000 to 8000 mile. In some vehicles, a maintenance reminder light is available, when oil change is due the light turns on

Though often times than not our vehicles are not used for normal service, most vehicles are used for "severe service" i.e short trip driving-- which means you should change your oil and filter within 3,000 miles or six months

Diesel engines suffer more blowby than other kinds of engines because of their higher compression ratio and as a result they require more frequent oil and filter changes. For most passenger car and light truck diesels, 3,000 miles is a good recommendation for all types of service

For turbocharged engines, frequent oil changes is also required due to high temperatures encountered in the bearings of the turbocharger resulting in an accelerated oxidation of the oil. The recommended oil change interval for most turbocharged engines is 3000 miles or six months. The oil must be "turbo-approved" for such applications, or a high quality synthetic motor oil


NOTE; 
i. A lot engines require a specific viscosity of motor oil to function properly, always use the viscosity of motor oil recommended by your vehicle's manufacturer. When a oil of heavier viscosity is used it may affect the VVT(Variable Valve Timing) operation and result in setting a fault code and then turn on the Check Engine Light

ii. Synthetic motor oil usually outperform conventional motor oils as a result of higher quality base oils in the product. They provide superior hot and cold temperature performance compared to petroleum based conventional motor oils

iii. For older vehicles with more than 75,000 miles on the odometer, high mileage motor oils is recommended. These oils contain more detergents and seal conditioners to help keep older engines clean and leak-free
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