Why It Is So Important That You Never Miss an Oil Change

We all know how important an oil change is, but many people don’t really know why. Scheduled routine preventative maintenance enhances the lifespan of your vehicle. Regular service appointments help to maintain the integrity and health of your vehicle’s engine while protecting its overall functionality and reliability. Routinely changing the oil and filter is an important part of your maintenance schedule.

The Importance of Preventative Maintenance

Here at Auto Clinic of Franklin, our team of skilled auto mechanics and technicians wants to ensure that our valued clients understand the importance of preventative maintenance. Typical preventative maintenance includes an oil change along with a change of filter. These routine service appointments play a significant role in avoiding costly auto repairs and even breakdowns. With this thought in mind, we want to remind our clients how important it is not to skip your routine maintenance.

What Happens If You Skip Routine Maintenance?

Let’s take a moment to look at the issues that can arise if you choose to skip your routine oil change.

• Clogged filter – Dirt, debris and all types of other contaminants can easily make their way into every remote corner of your vehicle, including its engine. These materials can, over time, contaminate and harm your engine oil as well as cause your filter to clog. When this occurs, your oil is unable to be cleaned properly before running through your vehicle’s engine. As a result of this negligence, you will need to replace your filter and change out the oil to ensure your vehicle runs properly.
• The oil thickens and damages your engine parts – When the oil in your vehicle gets old it begins to thicken. Once oil thickens it is unable to properly protect your vehicle parts and fails to effectively control the temperatures of your vehicle. Dirty, grimy old engine oil when coupled with running temperatures that are higher than normal, can lead to the corrosion of engine parts. When parts begin to corrode damage occurs resulting in costly automotive repairs.
• Additives in the engine oil wear out – Once oil is contaminated it cannot work or protect your engine properly. When your engine is not adequately lubricated, it will tend to run hot and can even fail altogether. The additives in the engine oil help not only to protect the engine but also enhance the health and safety of your vehicle as well. For these reasons, it is imperative that you have clean, fresh and healthy oil in order to ensure that your engine is always running at peak levels.
• Overall engine failure – If you choose to skip your oil change and wait too long thereafter, it can result in damages that will ultimately cause you engine failure. The oil in your engine has a number of vital responsibilities which require it to be fresh and clean. Clean oil contributes to a variety of vehicle functions, including:
• • The prevention of abrasion and corrosion of parts
  • Lubrication
  • Keeping components clean and protected
  • Contributes to improved durability and reliability
  • Ensures controlled running temperatures
  • Contributes to proper power as well as gas efficiency

In Summary

The team here at Auto Clinic of Franklin hopes you have found this information helpful and easy to understand. Now that you are aware of the importance of routine oil changes we want to help you stay on an effective maintenance schedule. For more information about preventative maintenance and a routine schedule or to schedule a service appointment, give a shout out to one of our highly skilled and experienced auto mechanics. Summer is nearly upon us which means you’ll probably be doing a whole lot more driving, so be sure to schedule your maintenance appointment today.