Oil Changes in Redwood City, and How Often You Actually Need One

Engine oil lubricates, cools, cleans and neutralizes acid, and lubrication is the only one of those anyone talks about.

It carries heat away from parts your coolant never touches. It holds combustion soot in suspension so it doesn't cake up inside the engine. And it carries an additive package that neutralizes the acids combustion produces.

Here's the part that matters: the base oil lasts a long time. The additives don't.

When we say oil is worn out, we mean the additive package is spent. That's what a change is really replacing.

It is the additives that wear out, not the oil. The base oil lasts a long time. The additive package that holds contaminants in suspension and neutralises acids is what gets used up, and that is really what an oil change is replacing.

Synthetic and conventional aren't grades of the same thing. They're different products.

Conventional oil is refined from crude, so the molecules come in a range of sizes. Synthetic is engineered, so they're uniform.

That uniformity is why synthetic holds up better under heat and flows sooner on a cold start, which is when most engine wear happens.

Start with your owner's manual, or the oil life monitor if your car has one.

Those monitors aren't counting miles. They're modelling how hard the oil has worked based on engine temperature, load, trip length and revs, which is a far better guide than an odometer.

Then adjust for how you actually drive.

Low oil is the failure that ends engines fastest.

Want it checked? Describe what the car is doing and Five Points Tire will tell you whether it needs an oil change or something else. Call 650-365-0280, or send the form and someone calls you back. Request an appointment

The number on the bottle, 5W-30 or 0W-20 or whatever your car takes, describes how the oil flows cold and hot.

The W number is the cold rating. Lower means it flows better when you start the car on a cold morning, and that's when most wear happens.

Modern engines are built around a specific viscosity. Variable valve timing in particular runs on oil pressure through very small passages, and the wrong grade can make it misbehave.

So use what the manufacturer specifies. This isn't a place to improvise.

Short local trips are the hard case. An engine that never fully warms lets fuel and water condense into the oil rather than boiling off. A car doing school runs and short trips around Redwood City is working its oil harder per mile than one doing freeway miles.

Between changes, the level is the thing worth watching. It's the single cheapest habit in car ownership.

Follow your handbook or your oil life monitor, then shorten the interval if you're doing mostly short local trips.

Use the grade your manufacturer specifies, and check the level between changes.

That's the whole thing. There's no secret to it, and there's no benefit in changing early.

An oil change is the appointment where everything else gets looked at. A fluid inspection covers the fluids the dipstick does not, and it is the natural point to check what else is due on the maintenance schedule.

Five Points Tire changes oil at 2115 El Camino Real, everything from conventional through full synthetic, and we'll tell you if it isn't actually due yet.