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Storing away your hot rod or classic ride for the winter serves a multitude of purposes. Protecting paint and metal from the salt and brines used to treat snow covered roads. Preventing costly accidents on slippery, icy highways. Keeping the bitter cold from cracking and degrading the beautiful rubber and vinyl. The list goes on.
But now spring has sprung, the birds are chirping, the sun is out, and you’re ready to get back to cruising through the countryside in your baby. The steps you take before getting your car back on the road will determine how many years you’ll get out of it, and how long it’ll keep purring every time you turn the key.
The best place to start is under the hood.
A Service Done is a Repair Saved
By keeping a vehicle serviced on a non-negotiable service schedule can save thousands of dollars over the course of vehicles life. A simple and cheap, Langley oil change is one of the best things you can do for your car to increase its overall lifespan and dependability.
Whenever a vehicle has sat for an extended period, changing the oil before you fire it up and get it moving down the coastline can keep you from shelling out thousands for the following costly repairs.
Piston Damage
Motor oil is the only line of defense between the large, fast-moving pistons and the cylinders they ride in. When motor oil is old or infused with sediment, the viscosity of the oil (ability to diffuse friction) is greatly reduced.
As that friction builds, so does heat. If the problem isn’t addressed, that heat will eventually lead to potentially catastrophic piston damage including cracked piston heads, burnt out crowns, and in severe cases, the complete melting and fusing of the piston to the cylinder walls.
Piston and cylinder repairs can easily reach into the thousands of dollars, assuming that the entire block doesn’t need to be replaced. In which case, you might be dipping into the youngest child’s college fund.
Clogged Lines and Injection Ports
Even if the oil that was in your car when you stored it was relatively new, chances are it’s been compromised during storage. As the car sits without running, sediment and metal fragments sink to the bottom of the pan and collect around each other.
Firing the motor up without draining the pan and filtering off this contaminated oil can cause pressure line to narrow, decreasing oil pressure and causing the motor to start heating up.
Just like the arteries in the body, as lines travel further from the heart (Oil Pan) and towards the extremities (injection ports), they become smaller and smaller. The smallest pieces of sediment and gunk can clog an injection port to the point of it failing to provide any oil into the cylinder.
Both issues can lead to the piston damage noted above.
Ghost Issues
One of the most expensive problems to fix is the problem that can’t be found. Multiple trips to the shop, diagnostic charges, trial and error fixes, all of these can add up over time.
Oil pressure and filtration problems can often make problems arise while driving but disappear when it goes into the shop. Lines unclog, injection ports open, etc. The mechanic can’t find anything wrong, but then the next day, the problem shows up again, prompting a return trip.
A simple $50 oil change could easily prevent all the issues listed above. Along with saving you thousands in repair costs, it also extends the life of your motor and your precious ride.
So before you pull out your classic this spring, save yourself a repair and get a service done.
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This content is sponsored by Ben Obirek.
Photo: Shutterstock