Why and what to check after your quick oil change service

By: Mark R Gittelman
The quick oil change service center is probably not the best place to get your oil changed. Although using one of these places is better than not changing your oil at all. The fact is that the oil change service center rushes the repair and makes their money on volume of oil changes. Whenever a mechanic or an oil changer rushes the service, there is a good chance that they may miss something very important.

After your quick oil change service is completed, one of the first things that you want to check is that the oil is filled to its proper level. Each vehicle has a different oil capacity. Not all vehicles take 5 quarts of engine oil. For example, my 4.3 L Chevrolet engine in my blazer takes 4 1/2 quarts of oil. Any time I had my oil changed by somebody else. They have overfilled the oil by a half-quart or more.

The instructions for checking your engine oil level can be found in your owner's manual. Usually along with a picture of what the dipstick looks like.

In most cases, the dipstick handle is yellow for engine oil. If you should find that the engine oil is overfilled return to the oil change service center and have them correct the condition.

The next thing you want to check after your quick oil change service has been completed. Is the tire pressure on all four tires? This again was supposed to be included in your oil change service. But it is important enough to double check to make sure that your tires are properly inflated. Under inflated tires can reduce fuel economy drastically and can be considered a safety concern. The federal government has considered this so important that it has mandated that all new vehicles come with a tire pressure monitor system. Chances are your next vehicle will warn you when your tires are under inflated. But if your car does not have this system. It's a good idea to purchase a tire pressure gauge and keep an eye on your pressure. The tire specification can be found usually on the doorjamb of the vehicle on the driver side or also in the owner's manual. Under the tire section.

The next thing you should check after the oil change service has been completed is to verify that the oil filter is not leaking. Sometimes when oil change mechanic is performing your oil change service. He may get distracted and forget to tighten the oil filter all the way. Also a common mistake is for the oil change technician to forget to remove the old oil filter O-ring gasket that can sometimes get stuck to the oil filter housing. If this happens when he screws on the new oil filter there will be two O-ring gaskets. In between the oil filter and the housing sealing surface. In this scenarioFree Articles, the oil filter may not leak right away. But there is a good chance that it will start leaking soon.

Going to a quick oil change service center is okay if you are willing to follow up and make sure that the service was done correctly.

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