One of the best ways to save money, is to keep what you’ve got working. A car is one of the most common expenses that a person has, and it often needs to be replaced after a few years. However, with some basic maintenance, you can often double the life expectancy of your car and instead of it lasting three to four years, you can get six or even ten plus years.
I’ve kept several cars running for over 100,000 miles, and two over 200,000 miles. The number one thing I did was to check the oil, especially as the car gets older.
The oil in your car needs to both good/clean, and enough, to keep your engine lubricated and working well. Without oil in your engine, the engine will seize up and be worthless.
Cars are made up of a lot of parts that will wear out, and the seals around an engine are no different. Unfortunately that means that as your car gets older, you might need to add oil between oil changes.
As I write this, we’re in the middle of COVID-19, and several oil change places are not open around town. So while I’m not driving nearly as much, I still need to keep things working.
Generally, when you go in for an oil change, they’ll give you a sticker telling you to come back in 3 months or 3,000 miles, which ever is first. Well, for most cars you can go longer if you know what to expect. Which is good, since with the oil change places shut down, (and I don’t have a good place to do it myself) I’m going on six months between oil changes.
So let’s see how you check your oil.
Steps to checking your oil
First, make sure your car is on a flat area. If you are on a hill, or other incline, the oil will collect in a portion of the engine and give you a false reading.
Second, make sure your engine is off, and has been for a little while. Never work on your car while the engine is running, there are too many moving parts to get a body part, or piece of clothing caught in and you could get seriously injured. Also, an engine is hot, and you don’t want to risk getting burned, so let the car sit while off for 15-30 minutes to stay safe.
Third, pop open your hood. Almost all modern cars have a front hood release accessible to the drive. This will vary from vehicle to vehicle, so check your owner’s manual if you don’t know where it it. You may have a second release to operate to fully unlatch your hood. If your hood has a stand to keep it open, put that into place so you can keep from having the hood fall on you.
Fourth, find your dipstick. Now, I’m not talking about your stupid friend… the oil dipstick is often found on the side of the engine, and has a round top with a finger pull so you can easily grab it. They are usually colored yellow, to make them easier to find.
Fifth, pull it out. At the end of the stick, you should see two things, a series of markings and some oil. The oil should be between the two markings.
Look at the oil. Is is a golden or light brown and semi-translucent… i.e. you can see a little through it, or is dark, black and sludgy looking? If you touch it, does it move smoothly, or do you feel grit and it not want to move on it’s own.
Dirty oil needs to be changed. Clean oil, where you can see through it and it moves easily is good, and doesn’t need to be changed. Of course, there is a lot of variations between, so you need to make an educated guess on how close you actually are to needing an oil change.
If the oil only comes to near the bottom marking, you may want to add a little oil. I typically add between a half of quart and a quart depending upon when my next oil change is going to be and how close to the bottom it is. I’ll go over how to add oil in another article.
Next, once you’ve checked your oil, you need to put your dip stick back in. Insert the end back in the tube that you pulled it out of, and push it back in until the top is pushed tight against the tube.
Finally, close your car’s hood.
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