Proper maintenance of an automobile is a crucial element for any car owner seeking to keep his or her vehicle running smoothly for a long time while keeping the cost of repairs to a minimum. The time tested method for ensuring good car maintenance is sticking to a regular schedule, with the underlying philosophy being that 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure'. Most car manufacturers will suggest schedules for consumers to follow that entail getting certain kinds of checkups or performing certain maintenance at specified intervals, typically measured either in terms of time, eg "every three months", or in terms of distance travelled by the car, such as "every 3000 miles".
Perhaps the most common vital area of car engine maintenance tasks involves routinely inspecting the levels of various fluids necessary to keep a car running without difficulty. The cars engine has reservoirs of several different kinds of fluids, and each must be kept filled to a certain level.
Oil is probably the most crucial fluid that needs to be checked for keeping all parts of the engine running smoothly. To perform an oil check correctly, the car should be situated on level ground, and the engine should be cooled down. The person performing the check needs to remove an instrument known as the dipstick, located somewhere in the engine under the hood of the car. The dipstick is removed once, then wiped clean, then reinserted into its shaft, and removed again. This must be done because the first time it removed, the dipstick will probably be too covered in oil from the jostling of the car while it was in transit, to permit an accurate reading of the oil level. There will be marks on the dipstick such as the letters H and L, for "high" and "low", showing where the acceptable and minimum levels of oil would be.
If the oil at the bottom is between these two marks, no oil needs to be added. However, if it does not extend to the 'low' marking, it will be necessary to increase the oil level until it does reach the minimum recommended oil level. Doing this often is of supreme importance, since failure to keep enough oil in the motor will cause the parts to crank against each other quickly, resulting in an undrivable car. Before adding the oil, it is advisable to ensure that it is the correct type of viscosity (thickness) and meets any other recommendations for the engine in question. Oils are sold according to viscosity; a label like 10W30 refers to this measurement, with the first number referring to the oil's thickness at normal temperature, and the second to the greatest thickness of the oil at high temperature.
In addition to refilling oil from time to time, it will be necessary to change the car's oil periodically by having the old, dirty oil flushed out and replaced with fresh, clean oil. This task can be performed by garage mechanics with the right equipment, including some well known chains that specilize in oil changes, like Jiffy Lube and Grease Monkey.
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