Oil changes are still essential maintenance for cars, trucks or SUVs in McHenry area

All this sheltering-in-place has one bright side – most of us are not spending as much on transportation costs. In other words, you’re probably not driving your car, truck, or SUV too often or too far from McHenry. In the process, you’re making fewer stops at the gas stations.

Less driving also means less wear and tear and your car, truck, or SUV. Ah, but don’t assume you can just wait until everything’s opened back up again before considering the maintenance requirements of your vehicle. This isn’t a blanket excuse for ignoring regular maintenance. There are still aspects of maintaining your vehicle that you’ll want to keep in mind.

Chief among the concerns for maintaining your car, truck, or SUV is regular oil changes. Changing the oil is probably the single most important thing you can do to ensure the longevity, value, and performance of your vehicle. Oil is the lifeblood of your engine and you want good blood to reduce the effects of friction and heat on the internal components of your engine.

For each car, truck, or SUV, you’ll find the recommended schedule for oil changes in the owner’s manual. Refer to this to see the requirements for your vehicle.

In days gone by, 3,000 miles or 3 months was generally the rule for oil changes. But oil producers have improved the additives in oil. They’ve also developed quality synthetic oils. In both cases, motor oil generally has the capacity to go longer between oil changes. But you’ll probably find that the owner’s manual suggests something along the line of 7,500 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first, for the duration between oil changes.

This means that, though you’re probably not putting as many miles on your car, truck, or SUV during the lockdown, time is still passing. That 6-month period may be drawing near even though you haven’t hit the road in or around McHenry much.

You could probably stretch the interval – change the oil after 7 months. But why would you want to do that? Considering that oil changes are relatively inexpensive and that the benefits of regular oil changes are significant, there’s really no good reason not to change the oil on schedule.

And if you’re worried about getting out of the house to bring the car, truck, or SUV to an auto repair shop in the McHenry area, several of the better auto repair shops provide sanitary pick-up and drop-off services. You don’t even need to leave the house though, by this point, any reason to get out is probably welcome.

Comments

Is your antifreeze safe from freezing this Richmond winter

You still have time to have it checked Well, there’s no denying it – winter tends to get chilly here in Richmond. We have to deal with snow and ice on the roads, scraping the same off our windows and windshield, and staying warm while we drive. Of course, you had your antifreeze checked before winter rolled into town. What?! You didn’t have your antifreeze checked before winter clamped down on Richmond? So, how’s your antifreeze doing? If you haven’t had it checked, there’s really no way of knowing, is there? This car has overheated in the middle of a Richmond winter. But, on the other end of the spectrum, the antifreeze can also freeze if it's not up to its job. Hopefully, you haven’t had a serious problem with your antifreeze already. If you did, you’d probably know. When antifreeze fails, it’s a potentially catastrophic condition for your vehicle’s engine. You could have hoses that have burst because of freezing antifreeze. Worse than that, your engine block may have crac...

Blocks of ice falling from cars in McHenry could cause accidents or damage

We’ve all seen those blocks of snow falling from behind the rear tires of a car when the snow rolls into McHenry . Fortunately, they’re just packed snow that will disintegrate under your vehicle’s tires as you simply drive right through them, right? Don’t count on it. Those blocks of snow are often packed so tight, condensed by the thaw-and-freeze cycle, that they’re anything but oversized snowballs . They’re often more like boulders. Hit one of those blocks and the collision between the block and one of your tires could send you careening off the road or into oncoming traffic. In some cases, they’re so solid you could pound them with a sledgehammer with little effect. They truly can represent a serious road hazard. The problem is that it’s difficult to tell how solidly they’re packed when you see them on the road, left their unwittingly by another driver. Either way, your best bet is to try to avoid them. But you want to be careful dodging blocks of ice in the road, too. You need...

Timely maintenance is even more important with your Johnsburg Electric Vehicle

Even if you have an electric vehicle in your Johnsburg driveway, maintenance is still critical. You pull out of your Johnsburg driveway and you watch the gas stations go by as you smile from behind the wheel of your EV – Electric Vehicle. Of course, at some point, you will have to stop and charge the battery but you still take some comfort that you’re not standing next to your car as the fuel pumps into your tank. One of the true comforts you take with your EV is that the mechanics of your vehicle are simplified. You don’t have to worry about the engine breaking down anymore, and we all know how costly that can be. But there’s more to your EV vehicle than you may have considered when you first parked it in your Johnsburg driveway. Many of the parts found on gasoline-driven vehicles are also present on your EV. These require the same maintenance as your gasoline-powered vehicle. For instance, you EV still has: Tires and Wheels Brakes Steering and Suspension Windshield Wipers and So...

Performance Unlimited Blog

Search This Blog