Here's How Wrong Oil Type Can Destroy Your Car's Engine

Taking care of our cars is not an easy task and is not cheap by any means. But, taking good care of it means that it will be good to you in the long run. One important factor that you need to keep in mind apart from regular servicing is choosing the right oil during an oil change.

The engine needs oil as we need blood. Our body is capable of producing fresh blood on its own but the engine needs fresh oil from time to time. Not taking care of this will prove very costly for you in the long run as your engine starts to fail prematurely.

Engine oil has a number of features. It acts as a lubricant and reduces friction. It also channels heat away from the combustion cycle by acting as a heat exchanger. In addition to minimizing oxidation to reduce the engine corrosion time, it also acts as a magnet for combustion byproducts.

It is pretty obvious that the engine oil is an integral part of keeping the engine in good shape. But, what happens when you choose the wrong oil during an oil change? Discussed below are some of the most common symptoms that arise by choosing the wrong type of oil.

Oil Leaks:

Different oils have different flow characteristics and different viscosities. During an oil change, if your car is designed for regular oil and you shift to synthetic oil, you will find oil leaks even if the two oils have the same viscosity ratios. The flow characteristics are different, and synthetic oil can leak out of smaller places than regular oil. You can watch the video to learn the difference between the two.

Mileage Reduction:

The thing that matters the most to most of us is the mileage. We all want our car to travel a greater distance in a smaller quantity of fuel. Using the wrong oil can affect the mileage. If the oil is too thick, it will make the moving parts like the pistons move less freely. This increases the load on the engine and decreases the fuel efficiency.

Noisy Engine:

You might have noticed that older car engines become much louder when they switch between different oils. The reason is the same as mentioned before. The oils have different flow characteristics that result in leakages and cause the engines to make more noise.

Cold Weather Problems:

Choosing the wrong engine oil with a lower cold or winter viscosity than recommended might leave you in a situation where your car does not start in the cold weather. You should choose the oil with the lowest cold rating possible if you live in such a place and the narrowest span of viscosity for expected temperatures.

Engine Damage:

Using the wrong type of engine oil can cause substantial damage to the engine. Using too high viscosity oil can result in the oil losing its cohesive strength and not being as lubricating as it should be. This will also result in burning of mobil oil and cause long-term damage to the components.

This is why it is very important to make sure that you do not use the wrong type of engine oil during an oil change.