It’s the most important thing you can do to protect the engine in your car, truck or SUV. But, when a Wonder Lake winter sets in, regular oil changes are more crucial than ever.

Wonder Lake winters are hard, hard, hard on cars. The ice, sleet, snow and road salt scratch the paint and give rust access to the body of your vehicle. Those elements on the road make traction difficult to maintain, which can land you in a ditch, upside a tree or into another car.

That rust also attacks your car, truck or SUV’s suspension and steering components. But the cold really does a number on your engine.

Cold thickens fluids. Remember that while considering the role engine oil plays in the heart of your vehicle. The engine is the heart of your car, truck or SUV and engine oil is the lifeblood of the engine.

When you start the car, and the engine is cold, the engine oil is at its thickest consistency. It’s imperative that the oil move quickly up from the oil pan and throughout passages on the inside of the engine. Until the oil gets there, parts are moving metal against metal.

When two metal parts rub against each other, you have friction. And friction causes heat and wear. Those two parts scratch at each other like angry cats. And once scratches appear, they cause additional and deeper scratches. And, with hot parts, the metal is softer and more susceptible to scratches. It’s an all-around bad combination – heat and scratching.

But if the engine oil makes its way through oil passages, as though through the veins in a person’s body, the miracle of lubrication occurs before the damage is done.

Engine oil with lower viscosity numbers is designed for use in the winter. Fortunately, oil producers provide multi-viscosity engine oils so drivers can run the same engine oil year round (the higher viscosity number indicates an oil’s ability to withstand higher temperatures – you should check your Owner’s Manual to see what viscosity of engine oil you should use in your vehicle’s engine).

The longer you run engine oil in your car, truck or SUV’s engine, the more its capacity to withstand heat and cold is broken down. In the meantime, the oil begins to carry more and more particles of dirt and molecules of metal. These little bits make reduce the engine oil’s ability to provide clean lubrication. The result is greater wear and tear.

The solution is to change your oil on schedule. This is important all year round. But, when a brutally cold Wonder Lake winter sets in, changing the oil on schedule is critical to the highest degree.