Why Oil Changes Are So Important

Jan 28, 2016

Just as water is essential to life on earth, oil is essential to the life of your car. Ignoring the oil light and trying to squeeze an extra few thousand miles in between oil changes may seem like a good idea, but it can seriously impact performance and even lead to catastrophic engine failure.

Car experts recommend an oil change every 3,000 miles for conventional oil and every 5,000 miles for synthetic. But what exactly does the oil in your car do, and why is it important to regularly change it? Let’s take a closer look.

What Does the Oil In Your Car Do?

The oil in your car acts as a lubricant for your engine that allows metal parts to press against one another without actually coming in contact with each other. It also helps carry heat from the engine’s combustion chamber and prevents impurities from accumulating. At high pressure, the pump directs oil to all the mechanical parts like the pistons and main bearings. Without the oil, the metal-on-metal friction caused by these moving parts would cause your engine to seize. In others words, you wouldn’t be going anywhere except to the service center via tow truck.

Why Do You Need To Change It?

If you don’t properly change your oil, you face very similar circumstances. Engine oil has a tough job. It gets extremely hot inside your engine and, after a while, the oil begins to breakdown. When this happens, its effectiveness as a lubricant becomes significantly diminished. What’s more, your oil filter, which prevents impurities from damaging your engine, becomes too clogged to effectively filter the oil.

Can’t You Just Top It Off When the Oil Light Comes On?

If your car burns a lot of oil, you could just keep topping it off. Sure, you’ll always have a satisfactory amount of oil in your engine. However, over time the oil will become too dirty — remember the oil filter from above — and be unable to do its job. An oil change will both flush the old oil and dirt away and change the filter, restoring your engine’s ability to filter out dirt.

What Happens If You Don’t Change Your Oil?

The consequences for foregoing an oil change depend on just how long you wait. And extra five hundred or one thousand miles is probably not going to cause any serious issues, but beyond that, you are asking for trouble. Deposits may build up in the cooler part of the engine, engine components like piston rings may warp or wear out, the pistons may seize, or your camshafts may become seriously damaged.

In addition, not getting a regular oil change may void your vehicle’s factory or extended warranty in the event of a serious mechanical problem. This could leave you with a repair bill that would make the cost of a few oil changes seem insignificant, so do yourself and your car a favor; get your oil changed no less than every 5,000 miles.

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