Our number one tip? Preventive Maintenance!
To protect the investment in the vehicle you have purchased to
transport you and you family safely wherever it goes.
See some
commonly asked car care and repair questions
What is preventive maintenance?
- Preventive maintenance is performing service before you break
down and so that you lower the risk of breaking down at the worst
possible moment.
- Changing your oil and filter every 3,000 miles
- Rotating your tires every other oil change
- Checking and changing your air filter every 15,000 miles
- Performing your 30,000 mile service every 30,000 miles
- Changing your timing belt at the manufactures recommended
service interval
Batteries, Starters, and Alternators - What about them?
- They are three components affected by cold weather.
- They are components your car will not run without.
- The good news is that all three can be tested to make sure
they are in good working condition.
- Preventative maintenance is the key to keeping you and your
car running smoothly in the cold months.
Timing Belts do or don't do - Does your car have a timing belt?
- If it does you should check your owners manual for the
recommended mileage replacement.
- Most timing belts need to be changed at approximately 60,000
miles.
- When a timing belt breaks, your car will stop running right
where it's at.
- On some cars it will cause serious engine damage resulting in
a major expense.
- This can all be avoided by doing the timing belt at the proper
mileage interval.
See some
commonly asked car care and repair questions
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 Plymouth
Auto & tire Center is a AAA Approved Auto Repair facility. The
AAA Approved Auto Repair program approves only facilities that
meet the highest standards in vehicle repair, competency,
reliability, cleanliness, overall experience and fair pricing.
Repair facilities, such as Plymouth Auto & Tire Center must
also employ only trained, certified technicians, and offer
timely repairs, convenient hours and courteous service. AAA
makes sure that your automobile repairs are conducted only by
professionals, and Plymouth Auto & Tire backs the work with a
Lifetime Warranty. |
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How Often Should You Change
Your Oil?
Most vehicle manufacturers recommend
changing the oil once a year or every 7,500 miles in passenger car
and light truck gasoline engines. For diesel engines and
turbocharged gasoline engines, the usual recommendation is every
3,000 miles or six months.
If you read the fine print, however,
you'll discover that the once a year, 7,500 mile oil change is for
vehicles that are driven under ideal circumstances. What most of
the
Northern Philadelphia Pennsylvania drivers of Plymouth
Meeting, Conshohocken, or Lafayette Hill
think of as "normal" driving is actually "severe service" driving.
This includes frequent short trips (less than 10 miles, especially
during cold weather), stop-and-go city traffic driving, driving in
dusty conditions (gravel roads, etc.), and driving at sustained
highway speeds during hot weather. For this type of driving, which
is actually "severe service: driving, the recommendation is to
change the oil every 3,000 miles or six months.
For maximum protection, most oil
companies say to change the oil every 3,000 miles or three to six
months regardless of what type of driving you do.
A new engine with little or no wear
can probably get by on 7,500 mile oil changes. But as an engine
accumulates miles, blowby increases. This dumps more unburned fuel
into the crankcase which dilutes the oil. This causes the oil to
break down. So if the oil isn't changed often enough, you can end
up with accelerated wear and all the engine problems that come
with it (loss of performance and fuel economy, and increased
emissions and oil consumption).
Oil Analysis
Truck fleets often monitor the
condition of the oil in their vehicles by having samples analyzed
periodically. Oil samples are sent to a laboratory that then
analyzes the oil's viscosity and acid content. Oil is then burned
in a device called a spectrometer that reveals various impurities
in the oil. From all of this, a detailed report is generated that
reveals the true condition of the oil.
Oil analysis is a great idea for
fleets and trucks that hold a lot of oil. But most Plymouth
Meeting or Conshohocken consumers would have a hard time
justifying the cost. Having an oil sample analyzed typically costs
$12 to $20 for the lab work and report. Most quick lube shops
charge $16.95 to $19.95 for an oil change. So why spend your money
on a report that will probably tell you your oil needs changing?
Just change the oil every 3,000 miles and don't worry about it.
Regular oil changes for preventative
maintenance are cheap insurance against engine wear, and will
always save you money in the long run if you keep a car for more
than three or four years. It's very uncommon to see an engine that
has been well maintained with regular oil changes develop major
bearing, ring, cam or valve problems under 100,000 miles.
What About The Oil Filter?
To reduce the costs of vehicle
ownership and maintenance, many car makers say the oil filter only
needs to be replaced at every other oil change. Most mechanics
will tell you this is false economy.
The oil filters on most engines
today have been downsized to save weight, cost and space. The
"standard" quart-sized filter that was once common on most engines
has been replaced by a pint-sized (or smaller) filter. You don't
have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that a smaller filter
has less total filtering capacity. Even so, the little filters
should be adequate for a 3,000 mile oil change intervals -- but
may run out of capacity long before a second oil change at 6,000
or 15,000 miles.
Replacing the oil filter every time
the oil is changed, therefore, is highly recommended.
An engine's main line of defense
against abrasion and the premature wear it causes is the oil
filter. The filter's job is to remove solid contaminants such as
dirt, carbon and metal particles from the oil before they can
damage bearing, journal and cylinder wall surfaces in the engine.
The more dirt and other contaminants the filter can trap and hold,
the better.
In today's engines, all the oil
that's picked up by the oil pump is routed through the filter
before it goes to the crankshaft bearings, cam bearings and
valvetrain. This is called "full-flow" filtration. It's an
efficient way of removing contaminants, and it assures only
filtered oil is supplied to the engine. In time, though,
accumulated dirt and debris trapped by the filter begin to
obstruct the flow of oil. The filter should be changed before it
reaches this point, which is why the filter needs to be replaced
when the oil is changed.
If you wait too long to change the
filter, there's a danger that it might become plugged. To prevent
this from causing a catastrophic engine failure due to loss of
lubrication, oil filters have a built-in safety device called a
"bypass valve." When the pressure drop across the filter exceeds a
predetermined value (which varies depending on the engine
application), the bypass valve opens so oil can continue to flow
to the engine. But this allows unfiltered oil to enter the engine.
Any contaminants that find their way into the crankcase will be
pumped through the engine and accelerate wear.
Filter Replacement
If you do your own oil changes, make
sure you get the correct filter for your engine. Follow the filter
manufacturer's listings in its catalog. Many filters that look the
same on the outside have different internal valving. Many overhead
cam engines, for example, require an "anti-drainback" valve in the
filter to prevent oil from draining out of the filter when the
engine is shut off. This allows oil pressure to reach critical
engine parts more quickly when the engine is restarted. Filters
that are mounted sideways on the engine typically require an anti-drainback
valve.
CAUTION: The threads on a spin-on
filter must also be the correct diameter and thread pitch (SAE or
metric) for your engine. If you install a filter with SAE threads
on an engine that requires metric threads (or vice versa), you can
damage the threads that hold the oil filter in place. Mismatched
threads can also allow the filter to work loose, which causes a
sudden loss of oil pressure that may ruin your engine!
Some people say it's best to change
the oil when the oil is hot (like right after driving), while
others say it makes no difference. CAUTION: Hot oil is thinner and
runs out faster but can also burn you if you're not careful. In
any event, avoid unnecessary skin contact with oil because oil is
a suspected carcinogen (causes cancer).
Changing the oil when it is cold may
take a bit longer because the oil will drain more slowly from the
engine, but there's no danger of being burned. Also, most of the
oil will have drained down into the oil pan when the engine has
sat for a period of time, which means you'll actually get a little
more of the old oil out of the engine than if you attempt to drain
it while it is still hot.
Used motor oil should be disposed of
properly. The Environmental Protection Agency does not consider
used motor oil to be a hazardous chemical, but it can foul ground
water and does contain traces of lead. The best way to dispose of
used motor oil is to take it to a service station, quick lube
shop, parts store or other facility for recycling. Your old oil
will either be rerefined into other lubricants or petroleum
products, or burned as fuel.
Do not dump used motor oil on the
ground, down a drain, into a storm sewer or place it in the trash.
Many landfills will not accept used motor oil even if it is in a
sealed container because it will eventually leak out into the
ground. If you can't find an environmentally-acceptable way to
dispose of the stuff, maybe you shouldn't be changing your own
oil. Service facilities that do oil changes all have storage tanks
and recycling programs to dispose of used oil.
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