Take Care of Your Engine with an Oil Change at C&C Toyota

When it comes to taking care of your engine, the single most important thing you can do is ensure the oil and filter are changed on a regular basis. C&C Toyota in Marietta, OH is here to help you stay on track, extend the life of your engine, and allow you to stay on the road with your Toyota for as long as you'd like to keep it.

When Should I Have My Oil and Filter Changed?

It's not enough to know that your vehicle's oil and filter should be changed on a regular basis, you also have to know what the recommended intervals are for your specific car, truck or SUV. Each model can have slightly different needs, so follow your manual while the vehicle is new to know where you stand. Whether it's 5,000, 7,500, or even 10,000 miles, continue following that pattern even beyond the intervals stated in your manual, for the entire life of the vehicle. And to make things even easier, we'll put a little indicator inside your windshield that will let Parkersburg and Vienna WV drivers know when your next oil change should be performed.

Why is Changing My Oil So Important?

This is a question that comes up quite a lot. After all, once your engine has oil in it, why does it need to be replaced?

The simple truth is that oil breaks down over time, and despite your filter's best efforts, dirt can still get into the system.

As oil moves through your engine, heat and friction break it down on a molecular level. This breakdown means that, over time, oil becomes thinner and loses its ability to properly coat and protect your engine. When oil is fresh, it can "stick" to the metal surfaces inside your engine and create a layer of protection and lubrication that not only prevents damaging metal-on-metal contact, but also dissipates heat as it reduces friction. As it thins, it loses this ability to stick to your engine's most important surfaces leaving them susceptible to extreme wear.

In addition, as you drive you encounter dust, dirt, pollen, and other foreign contaminants that cannot be 100% captured by your air filter. These particles then can get caught up in your engine oil, and the oil filter aids in filtering them out to keep your engine running cleanly. Eventually though, your oil filter can no longer filter these particles as effectively, and they begin to be carried through your entire engine and creating sludge. This sludge builds up in critical areas and narrow passageways and can prevent engine oil from reaching all the places that it needs to. When this happens, you end up with parts of your engine being starved of oil, and those parts are then under severe stress.

As heat builds it can change the shape of the metal parts that make up your engine, while friction can microscopically wear away the metal until they no longer fit together. Taken to the extreme, this can result in the dreaded knocking that means your engine's won't last much longer, or throwing a rod, which is a fancy way of saying something inside the engine is broken. When this happens, you'll be spending thousands on a new engine, or more likely, looking for a new car altogether.

How C&C Toyota Can Help

Schedule your service online with C&C Toyota to get a head start on keeping your engine healthy. We use genuine Toyota Parts for every oil change we do, and finding our dealership from Harrisville WV or Athens OH is a breeze! Contact us today and give your car the treatment it deserves.