When it comes to keeping your car’s engine running efficiently, ensure the engine oil is replaced regularly when it degrades on quality due to impurities. Generally, engine oil will become contaminated with tiny particles that manage to get through the oil filter. This, in turn, diminishes the effectiveness of the oil, exposing the engine to mechanical failure and possible breakdown.
The impurities in oil often come from water, dust, and dirt that finds a way to the engine through the air induction systems, causing the oil to oxidize or thicken after a period of use. A degrade oil compromises the engine’s fuel consumption performance. As such, you need to consider replacing the oil before the contamination reaches a critical level that could cause engine damage.
But how do you know the oil is highly contaminated to warrant a replacement? Well, it’s not easy to determine the level of impurities within the oil which is why you are recommended to change the oil at regular intervals dictated by the car manufacturers. Depending on the make, model and the manufacturing year, specifications on when and how to replace engine oil could vary. Ensure to check the oil level regularly maybe once a week but this will mostly be determined by the model of your car and your driving habit.
Engine Oil Viscosity and It’s Impact on Engine Performance
The measure of how resistant oil flow is called viscosity. Essentially, the thicker the oil is the high viscosity it has and pours more slowly. Thin oils like light grade oils have lower viscosity and flow at low temperatures, making them ideal for lubricating and reducing friction in engines and cold-weather starting. The engine oils currently in the market are considered multigrade in that there are two types of viscosity grades for both low and high viscosity oils.
Viscosity is denoted using “XW-XX” as the classification, whereby “W” stands for winter and not weight as many had previously thought. The leading number before “W” rates the viscosity at zero degrees Fahrenheit while those after “XW” show viscosity at 100 degrees Celsius. Light grade oils have low “X”, meaning the oil thickens less in cold weather. For example, oil with 10W-30 grade thickens less than oil with a 20W-50 grade in cold weather. But when it comes to thinning, the oil with a 10W-30 grade will thin out much faster at high temperature than oils with 10W-40 grade
These grades will help you to choose the right kind of engine oil for your specific location. Cars operated in cold regions can benefit a lot from using light grade oils with low winter viscosity. During high-temperature seasons like summer, consider using oils with higher viscosity.
Finding high-performance lubricants can help improve your car engine fuel efficiency and performance in all weather. Whether you’re using high or light grade oils, the idea is to ensure constant monitoring and necessary replacement whenever they become ineffective to offer engine lubrication due to contamination.
