hey everybody I'm here today to tell you
how to tell if your car needs an oil
change in this video I'll be going over
seven simple things to look for that
will allow you to know whether or not
your car needs an oil change now let's
get right to it
oil is a vital component of the engine
it actually serves a wide variety of
purposes and it's absolutely necessary
for an engine to run smoothly and for an
engine to last a long time so with that
being said well changes are definitely
important now let's get right to the
seven things that you should be looking
for the first thing that you should look
for is to check the oil level of the car
so there's actually a dipstick in your
engine bay area and you should check the
owner's manual to know where that
dipstick is and how to check the oil
level on your specific car but generally
speaking when you remove the dipstick
there's gonna be a minimum line and a
maximum line and the oil level should
fall somewhere between that minimum line
and the maximum line because you don't
want to have too little oil and you
don't want to have too much oil so use
the dipstick in the engine bay area to
check the oil level of the car okay if
there's too much obviously you're gonna
have to empty some out if there's too
little you're gonna have to pop it up or
just get an oil change okay so that's
how to tell the first way is check the
oil level using the dipstick and check
your owner's manual for more specific
instructions for your car number two is
to check the oil color so when you're
actually checking the oil level with the
dipstick you should take a look at the
color of the oil now fresh oil is sort
of like a transparent brown kind of
color for the most part and as oil gets
dirty as oil gets old it turns to a very
very dark brown and a very very dark
color so it gets much darker so with
that being said if you look at the color
of the oil if you see that the oil is a
fresh color then you probably don't need
an oil change yet depending on the other
factors okay but if you see if you see
the oil is pretty dark that it's gotten
significantly darker from its fresh
color then that's definitely a good sign
that you should get an oil change
because you need some fresh oil in there
number three is you are beyond your
mileage limit so depending on the type
of oil and the car and so forth you're
gonna have sort of like a mileage limit
in which after you've surpassed that
limit you should probably change the oil
so it once again it will depend on the
car and the type of oil synthetic oils
have different mileage limits than
conventional oils and different cars
have different limits on them so check
your owner's manual check the oil
container I've called the manufacturer
to find out but if you're beyond that
limit let's see I know that you're
beyond that limit then you should get an
oil change done ASAP okay because that
limit is basically when they are
recommending that you change that
specific type of oil in that specific
type of car okay number four is that you
are beyond your time limit for the oil
so just like there's a mileage limit
there's also a time limit meaning if
you've gone beyond a certain number of
months that they have specified then you
should change the oil because even
though you haven't actually driven the
car beyond the mileage limit the oil has
been sitting there for the number of
months for more than the number of
months that they have recommended so
once again check your owner's manual
call the manufacturer check the oil
container do some research but a check
for a time limit and if they're beyond
that time limit once again you should be
changing your oil as soon as possible
number five is check the oil indicator
now on many modern cars there's actually
an oil life indicator an oil life
indicator on the dashboard somewhere
most of the time it will show a
percentage of the oil life that is
remaining so on my old car I would
always change the oil when I was about
five to ten percent remaining and that
was the easiest way for me to make sure
that I'm doing it on time because once I
got to zero percent that theoretically
it was too late so what I would
recommend is if your car has an oil
indicator if it shows a percentage
remaining of the oil life then you
should follow that use that as a
guideline for the most
okay once you get down close to zero
percent of the oil life remaining change
the oil I would recommend doing it at
ten fifteen percent five percent this
way you know that you still have a
little bit remaining and they are
actually changing it earlier than
expected as opposed to later than
expected it's always better to be
earlier and then later it's as simple as
that number six is to actually check the
oil grittiness now I'm gonna say this
before you ever touch the oil make sure
that it's cool okay before you ever
touch the oil make sure that you're not
gonna that it's not hot that it's not
warm you know make sure that it's cool
but what you want to do is when you know
that the oil is cool okay just to be
sure when you know that the oil is cool
you want to actually you know get the
dipstick and you want to just tell you
know take some of the oil or oil or rub
it between your fingers and what happens
is as oil gets used and his oil gets old
it turns almost gritty
when it's fresh it's gonna feel super
smooth super smooth okay
but as it gets older and as it gets used
it's gonna feel very gritty so check for
a grittiness gritty grittiness feeling
because if it feels gritty between your
fingers once again make sure that it's
cool okay don't ever touch hot oil or
even warm oil make sure that it's cool
what if it feels gritty then that means
that it's time for an oil change cuz you
don't want all of that grittiness going
through the engines components
continually you want to get that oil
changed ASAP last but not least the
seventh thing that will tell you that
you need an oil change is to listen for
increased engine noise now as I said
before earlier in this video
oil serves a wide variety of purposes
two of those purposes are lubrication so
it lubricates the engines components
make sure that everything runs nice and
smoothly and it actually insulates them
sound of the engine so what happens is
as oil gets old as you get closer and
closer to needing an oil change you're
gonna lose that sound property of the
oil okay it's not gonna you're gonna
lose the lubrication property but you're
also going to lose that sound
reduction property meaning your engines
gonna get quite loud you'll notice that
your engine is much louder when you need
an oil change and it's literally that
simple
in this video I've gone over how to tell
if your car needs an oil change I've
told you seven simple indicators to keep
your eyes and ears out for things that
you can look for that will allow you to
know if you need an oil change be sure
to give this video a thumbs up let me
know what you think down below as a
comment what are some other indicators
that allow you to know that you need an
oil change let me know down below as a
comment and of course be sure to
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