Your car’s engine is probably one of the most important and expensive to replace, yet probably the easiest to maintain. Unlike suspension, batteries, or tyres, whose life is dependent on time or distance, the life of an engine can go beyond a million kilometres.  It is actually common to find commercial vehicle engines beyond two million kilometres. You could ask; what is the secret?

The answer is very simple. Servicing the engine, on time, every time, with the right parts, especially the right oil, is the common secret.

What are we lubricating and why?

The internal combustion engine, the one that uses petrol, natural gas, ethanol, diesel or other bio fuels, has many metal parts moving against each other. These include crankshaft bearings, pump bearings, rocker shaft bearings, pistons, camshaft bearings, camshaft lobes, and others. Wherever there is metal to metal contact, friction is bound to happen. Where there is friction, there is wear. Where there is wear, there is cost and frustration.

Lubrication simply means the removal or reduction of friction, hence reduction of wear, and reduction of maintenance or repair costs. Lubrication is achieved by supplying a flow of lubricating film between the moving parts. The lubricating film is the lubricant, in our case, engine oil.

For more on lubrication