Engine oil the blood of an automobile engine. The oil minimizes friction by providing a thin film between metal parts that would otherwise rub, improving the efficiency & longevity of the engine. Some combustion gas slips by the piston rings during engine operation & thereby progressively contaminates engine oil with acidic exhaust gas chemicals or air pollutants that cause acid rain, like oxides of nitrogen, CO or carbon monoxide or CO2 carbon dioxide.
New motor oil a light straw yellow or very light amber color while older spent engine oil a dark brown color or even black. New motor oil has a light faint odor while spent motor oil smells strongly of an acidic floral fume that most people dislike. Used motor oil toxic so wear nitrile gloves when changing engine oil.
Regularly check the engine oil with the dip-stick ribbon. Turn the engine off, with napkin or paper towel, remove the dip-stick & wipe off the end, then carefully reinsert the dip stick & slowly carefully pull it out & look at hash marks on the end of the metal ribbon to see the oil level between the low & full marks. Wipe this used oil onto the wipe paper towel or napkin & look at the stain produces & compare it with a similar stain made using fresh oil.
Look at the color & give it a sniff test. If the wipe stain darker & smellier, it's probably a good ideas to think about changing the engine oil sooner than later. An oil change is cheap insurance to improve engine longevity or to improve reliability. I always use high quality fully synthetic motor oil with more of the olefin polymer additives that have better wear protection. If you use conventional, change the oil more often.
Fully synthetic better but also more expensive. Its wise to change the engine oil filter during an oil change, unless its very low mileage between oil changes, as would be the case on many infrequently used motor scooters or motorcycles that are ridden during the summer & sit idle for the rest or marjorie of the year.
Watch a YouTube video to learn how to change the engine oil in your specific year make & model vehicle. Find out what kind of oil you need, 0W-20 or 5W-30 or 10W-40 // each vehicle has a specific oil capacity that you need to know as well.
Wearing protective gloves & protective glasses, using a torque wrench remove the engine oil drain bolt with a oil catch pan or similar container to capture the spent motor oil for recycling at the local auto-parts, mechanic or car dealership service department. Once all the warm spent motor oil drained, put a new crush washer on the drain bolt then using your torque wrench set to the right spec you looked up online for the drain bolt, torque it down till the wrench clicks, crushing the sealing crush washer this way to make a good tight seal so no oil leaks.
Do not over-tighten the steel bolt since it can strip the threads of the oil drain hole, requiring a new tap & larger oil bolt fix by a mechanic to correct or advance DIY repair. Now that the drain bolt tightened down correctly, go to the top of the engine & remove the oil filler cap, using a funnel install fresh motor oil of the correct weight & volume, that you looked up before buying new oil, and then before you install all the oil, check the oil dip-stick hash marks near the end of the metal ribbon.
You want the oil level to be between the low & high hash marks on the dip-stick. I usually aim a tad low, then drive the vehicle for 20 min, then park & check it again to see where the final oil level rests, keeping a small bottle of oil in the car to add the last 150-300 ml of oil to get to the middle of the dip stick hash mark. It's important not to add too much oil and to make sure you have enough oil. Too low & the oil will not lubricate. Too high & it will increase crank case blow-by products into the intake and foul the spark plug & valve seats faster.
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