No Oil, No Engine

Jenny Cao

Professor Guy

INWR 0315

17 July 2017

No Oil, No Engine

        The article, “Modern Drivers are Clueless about their Cars” explains that 58 percent of drivers are hollow brained when it comes to adding oil if they can even find the (Motavalli). To drive a dependable vehicle, it’s essential to obtain effort in basic maintenance. Motor oil minimizes friction and enables all moving parts to move smoothly within the engine. As a motorist drives daily, contaminants mix with the engine’s oil and prevent full performance of engine’s life. The purpose of this informative essay helps prevent long wait time at the dealership and gives one of the duties of owning a driver license. One must learn how to change oil, prevent costly repairs, and become more mechanically inclined.

It’s crucial to start with all the necessary tools. Head to any local auto parts store (i.e. AutoZone, Napa, Pep Boys) and an employee will assist in finding the correct items. Here’s a checklist that’s highly recommended before starting: owner’s manual vehicle oil viscosity (i.e. 0w20, 5w30, 5w20), type of oil (i.e. full synthetic, high mileage, conventional), oil filter (i.e. differences in performance filtering contaminants), appropriate oil pan (i.e. big or small depending holding quarts), jack/ jack stands (i.e. lift/hold the vehicle), funnel (i.e. prevent unnecessary spilling), drain plug wrench (i.e. 14mm, 15mm, 16mm, 17mm, etc.) (i.e. too big or too small will strip out drain plug), wrench filter (i.e. 2-13/16" To 3-1/8" Diameter or universal), and shop towels (i.e. completely optional but soaks all small spills). Fortunately, changing oil is a simple task with the right tools in hand.

Once the ball gets rolling, approximately 20 minutes till the oil change is complete. First and foremost, drive the vehicle into any place with a leveled surface. If the ground isn’t leveled than the car will be unbalanced and increase chances of a hospital visit. If it’s an automatic vehicle, set in park. If it’s a manual, set in reverse. Raise the lever to set parking brake; it’ll hold the wheels in place, so that the vehicle doesn’t roll into a different country. Locate the floor jack contact points and carefully raise or lower for adjustments to be made. Slide jack stands underneath and lower the jack to have all supported weight on the stands. Give the car a hip bump to ensure safety.

Second, slide the oil drain pan in the same direction of where the oil will shoot out. Improper judgement of distance will end in an oily massacre. Pop the hood open and remove oil filler cap. Validate the location of oil drain pan, not transmission pan. Grab the exact perfect fit wrench and turn the wrench counter clockwise (lefty loosely, righty tightly). Draining the oil will approximately take about 3-5 minutes. After draining, start screwing the drain plug by hand. If it’s tight going in and not smooth, a new drain plug is recommended. If the plug goes in smoothly, take the wrench and tighten roughly 28-35 foot pounds. The process is almost complete.