Roger, a long-time McHenry resident, has babied that car for years. Weekends, when it’s warm, it’s not unusual to see him out in the driveway washing and waxing his ‘beauty’ – an older car that looks as good as new.

Considering all the care Roger puts into the car, he clearly has a love affair with the car.

He doesn’t wait for parts to fail; he monitors the condition of the car on an on-going basis. If a part is showing wear, he has it replaced. He understands that wear in one area of the car, like one bad apple spoiling the entire bunch, will cause increased wear in other parts of the car.

Roger follows the prescribed maintenance in the Owner’s Manual to a T. That includes everything right down to lubricating the door hinges when called for. With all the TLC he gives the car, no one in the neighborhood is surprised that he drives down his McHenry road in a decades-old mechanical gem. But, there is one thing Roger does, above all else, to ensure that his car is in the peak of condition.

Change the oil on schedule to ensure the long life and value of your car

Roger knows that the oil is the lifeblood of the car’s engine. And, the engine is the heart of the car. He changes the oil on schedule because it’s a simple and inexpensive procedure that has value far beyond the effort required.

Imagine if you could replace the blood in your body periodically: you could replace your blood with new, oxygen-rich, energized blood that has a proper cholesterol level. This is what you do every time you change the car’s oil.

The old oil is filled with dirt and metal particles that can damage moving parts in the engine that come into contact with each other. Over time, the detergents in the oil breakdown. It is less capable of doing its job – lubricating moving parts in the engine, removing debris and reducing the heat of friction between moving parts.

Roger changes the oil on schedule because he cares about the heart of his car the way his wife feeds him whole-grain wheat bread. She knows a good diet is good for Roger’s heart, just as he knows regular oil changes are good for the heart of his classic old car – they’ll go a long way to keep that old beauty driving down McHenry roads.