Engine and Car Maintenance

Tyre Rotation

You should make it a must to rotate your tyres every 5,000 miles or 8,000km. This is very handful to save your money from changing your tyres regularly due to tyre being worn on one side.

Tyre worn one sided.

Clean brake dust off regularly

Brake dust contains all sorts of nasty stuff. If you leave it too long, the combination of road grime, moisture and heat from your brakes will bake it on to your wheels. Brake dust normally clings to wheels with static electricity so a damp sponge and clean cold water is the best way to get it off. This will ensure that your brakes will work in its very optimal condition. Be on the look for scratches on the surface of your brake disc (if you have one). That is a sign for a replacement of the disc or skimming of the disc. Also look for cracks if there is any.

Dirty and Cracked Disc

Brand New Cross Drilled and Slotted Performance Disc

Check your tyre pressures

Check your tyre pressures regularly - once a week is ideal. Bad tyre pressures can affect fuel economy, handling and comfort. It's easy to do and there is no excuse at all for you not to do it. Properly inflated tyres will also last longer and prevent tyres from being worn out before its time.  

Example of a Pressure Gauge

Check your tread depth

Bald, slick tyres might be good for motor racing but they're no good on the road. Most tyres come with tread wear bars built into them now - find one, examine it and if your tread is too low, replace your tyres. Four new tyres might seem expensive but they're cheaper than a fine or an accident.  

D.I.Y Battery Change

Tools needed:

A socket wrench

New battery

Wire brush or battery terminal cleaner

Clean water

Why replace your battery?

A good, healthy and working battery is the core aspects in operation of the car. A good battery can last for about five years with the proper care. Battery failure/weakened can occur in as fast as three years in very hot or cold climates since these conditions take a heavy toll on your vehicles battery. Some cause of premature battery failure are overcharging, undercharging, abuse, or vibration. Modern vehicle computer systems create a small but constant drain on batteries, even when the vehicle is parked, long sitting periods can cause a vehicle's battery to go dead and need a charge.

At some point, your battery will need to be replaced. This is usually a simple task, but sometimes they can be difficult do to severe corrosion. If your battery looks like it's going to be very difficult, take it to a professional and have them replace it.

Get the correct battery for your car. You can always ask your parts dealer for the correct size of the battery or you can just refer to the old one. It is a good idea to bring your old battery in to be sure you get the correct replacement, and you can leave it there to be recycled. Make sure your new battery is fully charged.

MAKE SURE THAT YOU WORK IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA AWAY FROM SPARKS OR OPEN FLAMES. PLEASE DO NOT SMOKE.

Disconnect the NEGATIVE cable first and then only you disconnect the POSITIVE cable.

Remove the battery hold down. It may be along the top of the battery or on the battery tray clamped to the side of the battery.

Once it is free, carefully lift it up and out of the tray.

BATTERY'S CONTAIN SULFURIC ACID AND IT CAN BURN YOUR SKIN. IT IS VERY CORROSIVE TO ANYTHING IT COMES IN CONTACT WITH.

Look at the battery tray. If there are signs of rust and corrosion, clean it off with plenty of clear water. Allow the tray to dry and spray it with the primer to prevent further deterioration.

Corroded Battery Tray

New Battery Tray

Place the new battery in the tray and reinstall the hold down clamp.

If you have a top terminal battery, clean the inside of the cables with a battery brush and wire brush the battery posts. If you have a side terminal battery, clean the terminals with the wire brush.

Corroded Battery Terminal

Clean Battery Terminal

Check and make sure there is no corrosion on the battery cables. Clean them as required.

Reattach the positive battery cable first and then the negative battery cable. Tighten the tight but on side terminal batteries do not over tighten. You can pull the side post out of the battery if you over tighten them.

Give the terminals a good coating of White Lithium Grease to keep them from getting corroded.

Start the engine and you're done.

This is a quick and easy job that should take 30 to 45 minutes.

Understanding Engine Lubrication

What does the Lubricants actually do?

Your lubricants that you pored down into your engine does two things. Primarily it stops all the metal surfaces in your engine from grinding together and tearing themselves apart due to the problems of friction, but it also transfers heat away from the combustion cycle. Engine oil must also be able to hold in suspension all the nasty by-products of combustion such as silica (silicon oxide) and acids. Finally, engine oil minimises the exposure to oxygen and thus oxidation at higher temperatures. It does all of these things under tremendous heat aWhat is "SLUDGE'?

Sludge is a black gluey/slimey texturesd substance that is commonly found inside an engine. The chemical compounds in engine oils break down over time due to prolonged exposure to high temperatures and poor maintenance habits. When the oil oxidises, the additives separate from it and begin to chemically break down and solidify, leading to the baked-on oil deposits turning gelatinous, and that nasty compound is what is lovingly referred to nowadays as sludge. It's like black yoghurt. What doesn't help is that modern engines, due to packaging, have smaller sumps than in the "good old days" and so hold less oil. This means that the oil that is present in the engine can't hold as much crap (for want of a better word) and that can lead to earlier chemical breakdown.

The most common factor in sludge buildup is a combination of mineral oils, a lack of maintenance by the car owner and harsh driving conditions. Although this isn't true in all cases. A 2005 Consumer Reports article discovered that for some reason, some engines from Audi, Chrysler, Saab, Toyota, and Volkswagen appear prone to sludge almost nond pressure

How to understand the numbers/codes? For Example 15W 50?

As oils heat up, they generally get thinner. Single grade oils get too thin when hot for most modern engines which is where multigrade oil comes in. The idea is simple - use science and physics to prevent the base oil from getting as thin as it would normally do when it gets hot. There's more detail on this later in the page under both viscosity, and SAE ratings. But as a quick primer - the number before the 'W' is the 'cold' viscosity rating of the oil, and the number after the 'W' is the 'hot' viscosity rating. So a 5W40 oil is one which behaves like a 5-rated single grade oil when cold, but doesn't thin any more than a 40-rated single grade oil when hot. The lower the 'winter' number (hence the 'W'), the easier the engine will turn over when starting in cold climates.

Grades for Motor/Engine Oil

What is "SLUDGE'?

Sludge is a black gluey/slimey texturesd substance that is commonly found inside an engine. The chemical compounds in engine oils break down over time due to prolonged exposure to high temperatures and poor maintenance habits. When the oil oxidises, the additives separate from it and begin to chemically break down and solidify, leading to the baked-on oil deposits turning gelatinous, and that nasty compound is what is lovingly referred to nowadays as sludge. It's like black yoghurt. What doesn't help is that modern engines, due to packaging, have smaller sumps than in the "good old days" and so hold less oil. This means that the oil that is present in the engine can't hold as much crap (for want of a better word) and that can lead to earlier chemical breakdown.

The most common factor in sludge buildup is a combination of mineral oils, a lack of maintenance by the car owner and harsh driving conditions. 

How to get rid of "SLUDGE"?

There are no hard and fast rules for curing an engine of sludge buildup. If it's really bad, flushing the engine might be the only cure, but that could also cause even more problems. If flushing the engine results in bits of sludge getting lodged where they can do more damage, you're actually worse off.

It's interesting to note that some race technicians and mechanics have reported sludge buildup in race engines as a result of aftermarket additives being used in conjunction with the regular oil. The chemical composition of the additives isn't as neutral as some companies would lead us to believe, and combined with particular types of oil and high-stress driving, they can cause oil breakdown and sludge to appear. So, i would be very careful to pour in any aftermarket additives into my engine.The lesson from them appears to be "don't use additives".

My practices is simple...get a cheap mineral grade lubricants and changed it as often as 1000 - 1500km instead of the normal 5000k routine. Draining the oil is a quick job and you will be satisfied with the results.

Mineral Or Synthetic Lube?

Mineral oils are based on oil that comes from dear old Mother Earth which has been refined. Synthetic oils are entirely concocted by chemists wearing white lab coats in oil company laboratories. The only other type is semi-synthetic, sometimes called premium, which is a blend of the two. It is safe to mix the different types, but it's wiser to switch completely to a new type rather than mixing.

Despite their name, most synthetic derived motor oils (ie Mobil 1, Castrol Formula RS etc) are actually derived from mineral oils - they are mostly Polyalphaolifins and these come from the purest part of the mineral oil refraction process, the gas. PAO oils will mix with normal mineral oils which means Joe public can add synthetic to his mineral, or mineral to his synthetic without his car engine seizing up (although I've heard Mobil 1 is actually made by reformulating ethanol).

These bases are pretty stable, and by stable I mean 'less likely to react adversely with other compounds'. They tend not to contain reactive carbon atoms for this reason. Reactive carbon has a tendency to combine with oxygen creating an acid. (As you can imagine, in an oil this would be A Bad Thing.) They also have high viscosity indices and high temperature oxidative stability. Typically a small amount of diester synthetic (a compound containing two ester groups) is added to counteract seal swell too. These diesters act as a detergent and will attack carbon residuals. So think of synthetic oils as custom-built oils. They're designed to do the job efficiently but without any of the excess baggage that can accompany mineral based oils.

Do i really need to use Flushing Oil?

Unless there's something seriously wrong with your engine, like you've filled it with milk or shampoo, you really ought never to need a flushing oil. If you're transitioning from a mineral oil to a synthetic oil, likewise you probably don't need to flush the engine first.

If you do decide to do an oil flush, first drain your engine of all it's oil, but leave the old oil filter in place. Next fill it up with flushing oil and run it at a fast idle for about 20 minutes. Finally, drain all this off (and marvel at the crap that comes out with it), replace the oil filter, refill with a good synthetic oil and voila! Clean engine.

Of course, like most things nowadays, there's a condition attached when using flushing oils. In an old engine you really don't want to remove all the deposits. Some of these deposits help seal rings, lifters and even some of the flanges between the heads, covers, pan and the block, where the gaskets are thin. I have heard of engines with over 280,000km that worked fine, but when flushed, failed in a month because the blow-by past the scraper ring (now really clean) contaminated the oil and screwed the rod bearings.

Hope this article will benefits all of us...