I'm sure there are many people who write on this site who are too young to remember the full service gas station. While the tank filled, the attendant cleaned the car's windshield and asked a very important question: "Can I check your oil for you?" Today, most of us are pumping our own gasoline, but a good idea would be to check the oil every time you fill the gas tank. Many of us are tempted to forget about it until the usual 3000 miles rolls by, but there are problems that can occur in between oil changes.

Older cars tend to burn oil. In fact special oils are made for older autos, and experts recommend using these products after the car accumulates 75,000 miles. It's surprising how much oil some cars can burn. Take note of smells and smoke coming from the cars in front of you when you pull up to stop lights. Sometimes it's pretty alarming. You just might be driving one of these cars!

Also, for do-it-yourselfers, it's very easy to improperly mount an oil filter. Sometimes they don't "seat" properly, and often the rubber ring will tear if the filter is screwed on too tightly. A leaky filter will leave spots on your driveway, and it's pretty easy to spot a problem, even without checking the dipstick. Let this go for a few weeks, and this small problem will most assuredly turn into a bigger one!

Here's another scenario. If you get an oil change at one of the many fly-by-night service centers, it's a good idea to check your oil early and often. Why? These places are manned by people who don't care as much about your car as you do. I have heard a few horror stories about drain plugs not being screwed back in, etc. In fact it happened to a friend of mine.

One of the problems of modern life is that we have eliminated many jobs that were deemed as unimportant. The full-service gas station attendant is one of these. I recommend that you should take over one of his most important duties and ask yourself that question: "Can I check your oil?" It will only take a couple of minutes, and the results could save you thousands of dollars!

Learn more about this author, T.C Leonard.
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