How To Tell If Your Car Needs An Oil Change

Oil is a vital component of the engine. It actually serves a wide variety of purposes and is very necessary for the engine to run properly and smoothly for a long time. That is why oil changes are really important. Here are five tips to tell if an oil change is due for your car.

Check The Oil Level Of Your Car

If you open your hood of the car and look for the dipstick in your engine bay, which you can find in the owner’s manual of the car. When you find your dipstick and remove it there will be a minimum line and a maximum line. Your oil should fall right in between those two lines because you don’t want to little oil or to much oil.

Check The Oil Colour 

So when you’re actually checking the oil level of the car with the dipstick you should also look at the colour of the oil. Fresh oil should have a transparent brown look to it but when the oil is old and dirty it will look like a very dark brown.

If it looks fresh it is a good sign you don’t need one yet.

Check The Oil Indicator

On many modern cars today there’s actually an oil life indicator on your dashboard. On the dashboard somewhere there will be a percentage of oil that is remaining, you should change it close to five to ten percent. This helps you change it earlier than expected then to later than expected.

Check The Oil Grittiness 

Before you touch the oil make sure the car has cooled down and the oil is not. When you know the oil is cool you wanna get the dipstick to take some of the oil onto your fingers and rub it between one another. When the oil gets old it will be very gritty, when its fresh you will feel it very smooth to the touch.

Listen For Increased Engine Noise

Good oil actually insulates the sound of the engine. As oil gets old and you get closer to needing an oil change your gonna lose that insulation the oil is giving the engine.