Driving Safety Tips: When To Change Your Oil
Most new drivers don’t know when to change the oil in their vehicles. However, it’s essential that we all learn to recognize the signs. At the end of the day, using your car when it doesn’t have enough juice could cause many issues. It could damage the engine and lead to costly repairs. It could also result in your car becoming a hazard on the roads. With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at a few of the signs you need to change your oil today. Pay attention! If you get this wrong, you could cost yourself a lot of money or worse.
Dark and dirty oil
You need to get in the habit of checking your oil once each week. That is of particular importance if you’re using a vehicle that’s more than ten years old. Failure to do that could mean the engine becomes too hot and could stop working. That is the last thing you want to happen in the middle of traffic. Indeed, you could cause a severe accident if you’re not careful. Experts from DolmanLaw.com/tarpon-springs-personal-injury-auto-accident-attorneys/ say that’s common. So, do yourself a favor and check the color of your oil weekly if you want your vehicle to remain in working order.
Loud engine noise and knocking
If you’re driving along on the highway and you hear loud noises coming from your engine, you should always pull over to inspect the issue. In most circumstances, that happens because you need to change the oil in your vehicle. Either it had run out because you have a leak, or it’s seen better days. Either way, you should make an effort to replace it at the earliest possible opportunity. If the problem doesn’t resolve itself, you might have to take the car to a local garage for further inspection. Most mechanics will service the vehicle for a small price if you haven’t had it done recently.
Oil change light
Modern cars have a light on the dashboard that highlights when you need to change your oil. Become familiar with it, and make sure you pay attention to it. Writers from http://www.dummies.com/personal-finance/how-to-change-your-cars-oil/ recently covered the topic. At the end of the day, the alert is there to help you keep your vehicle in good working order. However, it’s not right 100% of the time. For instance, sometimes the light will come on when you’ve been parked on a slope. That is because the oil has run to one side of the tank. There are also situations in which the light might fail to switch on even though you’re low on oil. For that reason, you still need to perform manual checks too.
There are lots of other signs that you might need to change your oil. Smoke coming from your engine is a good indication, as is an oil smell inside the cabin. So, make sure you keep some in your trunk at all times. You never know when you might have to pull over to the side of the road and add some more to your tank. Of course, you should always aim to drain the old oil first. However, that isn’t always possible when you’re on the move.
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