Thinking about putting off changing your oil? Read this first.

Your car is one of the largest investments you will make!  There are quite a few things that you can do to your car to make it perform great and increase the life of your engine.

The easiest and one of the simplest recommendations for regular engine service for your car is an oil change. Although affordable, many drivers choose to not perform this standard maintenance, often waiting until the very last minute.

Oil is an essential lubricant in your engine. It allows metal to metal contact without damage. For example, it lubricates the pistons as they move up and down in the cylinders. Without oil, the metal-on-metal friction creates so much heat that eventually the surfaces weld themselves together and the engine seizes.

So what happens when your engine has plenty of oil, but you avoid changing it? Two things will definitely happen:

• Dirt will accumulate in the oil. The filter will remove the dirt for a while, but eventually the filter will clog and the dirty oil will automatically bypass the filter through a relief valve. Dirty oil is thick and abrasive, so it causes more wear.
• Additives in the oil like detergents,  rust-fighters and friction reducers will break down, so the oil won’t lubricate as well as it should.

Eventually, as the oil gets dirtier and dirtier, it will stop lubricating and the engine will quickly wear and fail. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to happen if you forget to change your oil one month and it goes over the recommended change interval by 500 miles. You would have to run the same oil through the engine for a long time — many thousands of miles — before it caused catastrophic failure.

You don’t need to be an expert in motor mechanics to look after your car. To help you save money and keep your vehicle running smoothly feel free to stop by Beard’s Garage in Jupiter for oil servicing and your essential car maintenance.