While the topic of oil changes seems very basic, a professional oil change is so much more. An oil change is just one of the many things that’s gets performed when getting your routine service done at an automotive service shop.

Experienced technicians road test and inspect your car, this so critical when trying to make your investment last and perform reliably.

Oil and filter gets changed, correct fluid and filter selection is a lot more important than ever, and the way oil companies bottle and label their product can be very misleading. Research is required! That’s why you hire a professional.

Resetting the vehicles maintenance reminder system and documenting all the inspected items and areas of concern that were identified when the inspection was performed is next. Replacing a wearing part or servicing a component before it fails can save you thousands of dollars, as well as the inconvenience of an unexpected breakdown.

Synthetic Oils

Synthetic oils have been around for over 40 years, but are still misunderstood. The term synthetic usually means a superior product, but superior to what? Modern oils are much better than the synthetics of 20 years ago, so term synthetic alone should not be your guidance when choosing an oil. All modern vehicles have oil requirement specifications and they NEED to be adhered to above all, do NOT assume synthetic will be better, if the manufactures specs are not on the bottle, it probably is the wrong oil.

Oil Filters

The internet is full of pictures and stories of people who have cut open oil filters to demonstrate that one brand of filter is better than the other, but does more pleats or metal parts instead of plastic mean they are better? Is a lot of paper filter media better than a less synthetic filter media? The truth is most people are not qualified to determine what is better, and looks can be deceiving, my advice is to have your filter supplied by a person and brand you trust, preferably installed by a professional who will choose based on lots of real world experience working on our type of car. If you let your service shop do their job, they should stand behind the engine and you in the event of failure. Modern cars are often using replaceable cartridge filters that cannot be seen once installed, how do you now if they fit properly? Many cheap alternative filters are known to not fit properly and can allow the oil to flow around the media cartridge so that its not even being filtered and is actually flowing dirty oil right back to the engine.