Your car’s oil filter will get clogged eventually if it isn’t changed regularly. RI Automotive can change the oil filter every 3,000 miles along with the motor oil. This is when you should have the service done. Failure to do so will create problems with the oil filter and, as such, the motor oil itself. Here are signs that you are driving with a clogged oil filter in the engine that is damaging your engine.
Rotten Engine Performance
The motor oil’s job is to lubricate the engine, draw heat away from it, and draw dirt away from the moving parts. If the motor oil cannot run through a clean filter to purify it, it will deposit dirt onto the moving parts instead. Dirty motor oil can gunk up your engine. When this happens, your engine performance suffers. Your engine will sputter and struggle to produce power.
Reduction in Fuel Economy
As if the engine performance problems weren’t enough, they will also cause a reduction in your fuel economy. You cannot get good gas mileage out of your car, truck, or utility vehicle when the engine is running inefficiently. Clean motor oil helps to keep the engine’s efficiency up, as does the other services listed in your owner’s manual. Until then, your gas mileage will suffer.
Reduction in the Oil’s Pressure
Another thing that suffers when the oil filter is clogged is your oil pressure. Unfortunately, it will be reduced and you will end up with an oil light illuminated on the dashboard. The engine control module detects a problem because you don’t have the oil circulating through the engine with enough force. Consequently, it will turn on the oil light until you get the oil filter changed.
Clanking or Grinding Noises
If you hear grinding, clanking, or other metallic noises coming from your engine, pull over and stop driving your automobile. This is a sign that the motor oil can no longer make its way through the clogged filter and you don’t have any oil in the engine. The metallic noises that you hear are the parts grinding against each other. This can damage your engine very quickly.
Filthy Engine Exhaust Smoke
Finally, dirty motor oil is going to increase the hydrocarbons in your vehicle’s exhaust. Unfortunately, these excess hydrocarbons can cause other problems such as catalytic converter failure.
RI Automotive in Tampa, FL, is here to help, so call us today to schedule an appointment for an oil change for your automobile.
