Checking your car’s engine oil can be a mundane task that can involve getting your hands dirty. As such, checking the engine oil is a car maintenance task that many of us neglect to carry out anywhere as frequently as it should be done.
Perhaps to gain an understanding of the importance of frequent engine oil checks, let’s answer the question ‘what does engine oil do?’ Engine oil performs a seemingly simple, but highly important task. Your car’s engine comprises of many metal components and when the car is running, all these metal components rub against each other.
To prevent direct metal-on metal contact which will result in friction generating excessively high temperatures and the corrosion of components, engine oil is used.
There is a little more to engine oil, but in short, it prevents your engine from seizing up that without oil, will happen in almost no time, rendering your engine nothing more useful than scrap metal. Not checking your engine oil regularly increases the risk of breakdown and if your engine seizes, the likelihood of a repair bill of THOUSANDS. So if checking the engine oil is so important, how often should you check engine oil levels?
Ideally you should check your engine oil levels once each week, this is especially important the higher the mileage you cover. However, if your car is relatively new and is regularly serviced, checking your engine oil levels once each month should be sufficient.
