Engine Oil Change: The Importance of Regular Maintenance for Your Car

Car maintenance is a crucial part of owning and managing a vehicle and frequent changing of the engine oil keeps your vehicle in good shape. It is essential that the right engine oil is used for the same. Dirty or contaminated engine oil can result in more wear and tear, which can harm the car. Maintaining proper oil levels helps in preventing further damage to the car and protects you against unnecessary expenses resulting from the same.

Engine Oil is essential for your car for the following reasons:
• Corrosion and rust inhibitors in the engine oil protect the engine against wear and tear as they reduce the oil’s oxidation. Moreover, it also acts as a lubricant and a coolant, offering further protection of critical engine parts from wear and tear.
• Engine oil has certain additive detergent-like ingredients, which remove any deposits from engine parts, thus acting as a purifier and keeping the moving parts of the engine clean.
• Engine oil seals the space between cylinder and piston of the car engine, thus enhancing its fuel efficiency and performance of the car as a whole.
• It leads to lesser emissions as the fuel is better utilized, thus protecting environment and saving on fuel costs.

There are three types of engine oil:
• Mineral Oil
(Lower in cost, ideal for older car models, require frequent change)
• Synthetic Oil
(Contain several synthetic components and is refined and distilled to remove impurities, offer better performance and ensure lesser fuel consumption and wear of engine parts)
• Semi-Synthetic Oil
(Blend of mineral oil with synthetic oil – gives better performance than mineral oil and comes cheaper than fully-synthetic oil)

Make sure to periodically check your car’s engine oil levels once in a month or when you get oil indicator in your cluster.
Until recently, it was advised to change the engine oil every 5000 km or 3 months. However, with modern lubricants, engines can run up to 8000-10000 km. An engine which requires fully synthetic engine oil can run up to 15000 km without requiring oil change.

One can switch engine oil brands, except you need to match the required grade (determined by engine oil type, heating point, viscosity, etc.) for your car mentioned in your owner’s manual. Different brands and different grades of engine oil have different costs, and therefore, it can vary from Rs.500 – Rs.2000 per litre. Given that most cars may require 3.5 litres -8.5 litres of engine oil. The approximate cost of a one-time engine oil change could range from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 20000.

If you don’t change the engine oil regularly, you will experience:
• Frequent over-heating of engine due to thermal breakdown of oil which compromises its cooling properties
• There will be dirt build-up within the engine which can lead to plugging of oil channels
• Greater wear of moving parts of the engine such as pistons and valves leading to reduced engine life
• Greater fuel consumption and more emissions
• Possibility of car warranty being voided due to sub-optimal maintenance

Engine oil is amber in colour, and over time, it could turn from golden to grey and black (worst case) due to reasons like Engine heat, Continuous combustion process and/or presence of contaminants or metal particles (this could be an indicator of internal damage) If the oil has turned milky-white, it could be due to mixing of coolant and engine oil which could indicate a leak in gasket.

There are many brands in the market with different offers and multiple properties in their engine oils.
Castrol, Servo, Motul, Valvoline, Shell Gulf, Veedol, Honda, GS Caltex, Tata Genuine are some of the top brands in India. With the invention of e-commerce, you can also buy Car Engine oil Online at our website www.kwikfixauto.in and have an easier and hassle-free experience. We provide right guidance on which oil should you put in your car and also provide free pick up and drop for engine oil change in your car.
Please feel free to call us on +91 9950 345 345.