How an Oil Filter Helps Your Car Engine

What Oil Filters Do

One of the most important services a vehicle can get is an oil change. However, it isn’t as simple as that. Oil gets used many times and runs through an oil filter as designed to keep the oil in your engine clean. Without the oil filter, you’d need an oil change every time you run your car. Knowing what your oil filter does can be important as it can be just as valuable as your oil. You should make sure that you get your oil filter replaced about every time you get an oil change, and here is why.

What An Oil Filter Does

Even though you do not put dirty oil into your car, there are many processes in the engine of reusing the oil that can introduce debris and dirt into the oil. Your engine does not perform well or may be damaged if debris or metals get into it. The oil filter is a mesh that catches large particles so your oil stays smooth and clean. Keeping the engine lubricated is the job of the oil, but keeping the oil clean is the job of the filter. You may have clean oil at first, but after a while that can change if your oil filter does not get replaced.

The Parts of An Oil Filter

The relief valve can divert the flow of oil in the case that the oil struggles to make it through the filter in the event of it expanding due to cold weather. This can help your engine start up at first before it gets warm. There are also anti-drain valves and end discs which prevent already filtered oil from going back through the filter or unfiltered oil from getting into the engine. When getting an oil change, you won’t need to remember these parts as they are all dealt with when you get a new oil filter. It is important to understand that clean oil is necessary to run your engine, and that your oil runs through your oil filter about 12,000 times every 3,000 miles. That means the longevity of your oil is reliant on the quality of your oil filter.

Get your oil changed as well as an oil filter replacement at Miller’s Automotive Service in Gastonia, NC. Call us at 704-865-8827 to learn more or to schedule a service.