Today’s engine is a collection of advanced parts and systems that provide the driving force to get you down the road. Modern electronics and materials may have made repairing engines more complicated, but the basic engine layout has not really changed over the years. Proper care and feeding of your engine will have it purring for many years. The major moving components of the engine are pistons, crankshaft and valve train. It is much more complicated than that but this is just the basics. Valves open and close to provide a fuel mixture to the combustion chamber. As the fuel mixture is ignited it pushes the pistons down which in turn make the crankshaft turn. The crankshaft is attached to the transmission which is attached to a driveshaft which is attached to the wheels.

Main & rod bearings on the crankshaft, cam bearings on the camshaft, lifters and tappets, valve stem and valve guides along with variable valve timing components are all lubricated with oil. Clearances between these components are measured in thousandth of an inch. Therefore it is imperative you have your oil changed regularly and use the recommend weight of oil. Oil should be changed on regular intervals otherwise major damage to the engine can occur.

Other component in your engine like timing belts have interval changes that should be observed. Modern engine tolerances are so tight that if a timing belt would break it could potentially bend, break valves causing internal damage. Repairing this kind of damage can run into thousands of dollars to repair.

Here at Van Loo’s Auto Service we are always striving to educate owners on preventative maintenance. Doing so will make happy drivers & prevent unexpected problems. The old adage applies, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”