How to Change Your Air Filter

When Should You Change Your Oil?

"If you are one of the many people who let a windshield reminder sticker govern when they get an oil change, here's our advice to you: Drop that habit. Instead, follow the automaker's recommended service intervals. In many modern cars, your best bet is to rely on the vehicle's oil life monitoring system to let you know when it's time for a change.

Let the Manual Guide You
Oil change information is in the maintenance chapter of your owner's manual. If for some reason you've misplaced your owner's manual, many automakers have put their manuals online. You can also search our Edmunds Maintenance Schedules. We have an extensive maintenance database on vehicles dating back to l980.

In many instances, you'll find that the owner's manual lists two service schedules. These are based on "normal" and "severe" or "special" driving conditions. Read the descriptions carefully to see which schedule reflects how you drive. In our experience, the vast majority of people fall into the normal schedule.

Trust Your Oil Life Monitor
In recent years, a number of automakers have installed oil life monitors of varying complexity in their vehicles. The more basic versions are more maintenance minders than actual systems. They're based on mileage, and switch on a maintenance light when the vehicle hits a predetermined mileage range.

The more advanced oil life monitors, on the other hand, constantly take information from numerous sensors throughout the vehicle and then use a complex algorithm to predict the life of your oil. Based on your driving conditions and habits, the frequency of your oil changes can vary." [Continue reading]

How to Replace Windshield Wiper Blades

How to Replace Windshield Wiper Blades -- powered by ehow

How often should I change my oil?

"Most vehicle manufacturers recommend changing the oil once a year or every 7,500 miles in passenger car and light truck gasoline engines. For diesel engines and turbocharged gasoline engines, the usual recommendation is every 3,000 miles or six months.

If you read the fine print, however, you'll discover that the once a year, 7,500 mile oil change is for vehicles that are driven under ideal circumstances. What most of us think of as "normal" driving is actually "severe service" driving. This includes frequent short trips (less than 10 miles, especially during cold weather), stop-and-go city traffic driving, driving in dusty conditions (gravel roads, etc.), and driving at sustained highway speeds during hot weather. For this type of driving, which is actually "severe service: driving, the recommendation is to change the oil every 3,000 miles or six months.

For maximum protection, most oil companies say to change the oil every 3,000 miles or three to six months regardless of what type of driving you do.

A new engine with little or no wear can probably get by on 7,500 mile oil changes. But as an engine accumulates miles, blowby increases. This dumps more unburned fuel into the crankcase which dilutes the oil. This causes the oil to break down. So if the oil isn't changed often enough, you can end up with accelerated wear and all the engine problems that come with it (loss of performance and fuel economy, and increased emissions and oil consumption)." [Continue reading...]

2013 Ford C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi Preview

In the lead up to the 2012 show in Detroit, Ford released a few more specifications for the upcoming Ford C-MAX Hybrid and its plug-in variant, the Ford C-MAX Energi.

No hard numbers yet about anything electrical, but Ford officials did make a few promises:

• The C-MAX Hybrid will achieve better EPA fuel economy ratings than the Toyota Prius v. Ford didn’t mention the regular Prius, so we could assume that C-MAX Hybrid fuel economy will fall somewhere in that Prius sand
  wich.
• When in electric mode, the C-MAX Energi is targeted to deliver a better fuel economy equivalent (MPGe) than the Toyota Prius PHEV. Ford said this enables C-MAX Energi to have an overall driving range of 500 miles (about 800 km).
• Both C-MAX models will use Ford’s new-generation “power split” hybrid technology, enabling the vehicles to operate in electric-only mode, gas engine-only mode, or a combination of both.

[Continue reading...]