15 Oct How to Change Oil & What to Pay attention to During a Service

Changing your oil doesn’t just mean pulling the plug and spinning off the filter and then installing a new filter and filling the crankcase. It’s important to examine the oil and find out if the engine may be experiencing problems. Perform oil analysis regularly, so you may detect problems early.

A few things to look at during a service are whether there is coolant, fuel, or foreign elements in the oil.

Coolant in the oil of course is pretty serious, a few ounces of coolant can cause sludge to form, during a oil analysis-if metallic compounds like sodium or potassium show up it’s likely you have a coolant leak.

Fuel in the oil can come from excessive idling or a problem in the fuel system such as an injector, it only takes .5% of fuel dilution to thin your oil, and then the oil loses it’s ability to lubricate.

Plugged filter can be caused from soot in the crankcase, todays engines create high levels of soot, soot thickens the oil and keeps it from lubricating properly, use a high quality oil to keep soot dispersed.

Air filter- make sure to inspect this, if the engine starts to take on excessive amounts of dirt, the oil becomes abrasive and begins to wear components.

Oil analysis will help detect problems that are often not known otherwise….such as coolant or fuel leak, which could cause serious engine damage.

There are a few things you can do while your oil is draining such as smelling and touching the oil. Often you will be able to smell fuel in the oil, if so you may have a problem of excessive idling or an internal fuel leak. Touch the oil, rub it between your fingers to feel for metal or other particles. Look at the oil, if it’s milky you may have a coolant problem.

Usually by the time you detect these things with touch or visual the problem is serious, use oil analysis to detect problems early. Save yourself downtime and money!