The way I see it, oil changes are the most undervalued and misunderstood service we do to today's modern automobiles. But why are oil changes so important?
Our beloved cars are changing and becoming more advanced every year. With these changes (and added expense!), the manufacturers are touting greater longevity with less maintenance. Oil companies are also marketing their products as higher mileage and longer lasting. Add on top of that the busy lives that we all lead, and we are more and more apt to do less and less regular maintenance, including oil changes, to our cars.
The fact is, however, there has never been a time when oil changes have been more important to our four-tired-friends. Modern engines are far more efficient and environmentally friendly than their predecessors. With that comes higher revving muscle and cutting edge technologies with names like bi-turbo, Eco-Drive and gas direct injection.
What does this mean for oil changes?
Eco-Drive is one such technology that causes significant trouble for the maintenance-procrastinating motorist. You see, most of these engines accomplish their significant fuel savings without power loss through advancing or retarding the engines timing given the drivers demands on the throttle. This basically allows the engine’s spark plugs to fire at different intervals in a given timing event based on whether the engine is idling, cruising or gunning it like Tom Cruise on his crotch rocket in the movie Top Gun.
This action is usually accomplished by hydraulically forcing oil through tiny passages and into solenoids that move sprockets on the engines camshaft forward or back. As you might imagine, these tiny passages, along with small screens in the solenoids can become clogged with debris from overused and dirty engine oil. When we change the oil regularly, everything is hunky dory and works to seamless perfection and when we don't, we get to stare at that annoying check engine light or worse yet have to stomach the cost of expensive repairs.
What else should I know about oil changes?
Another benefit of regularly changing your oil at a place like H&H Mobil or any other reputable auto repair facility with trained and certified technicians is the peace of mind of potentially catching problems before they turn into mini-catastrophes. Many times while doing a routine service, our staff is able to alert a driver about a problem before it is even noticed or worse yet leaves them stranded on the side of the road in a snow storm on the way to the airport!
I guess to sum it up, I would say that the more things change, the more they stay the same. We live in a fast paced world where we depend on our cars to get us where we want to go more comfortably and efficiently for longer than ever before. And with a little bit of prevention and regular oil changes, they will!