Many people don’t understand that by paying attention to 3 essential elements their car or truck could potentially last forever. My track record for low maintenance vehicle longevity speaks for itself and it’s due to the upkeep of these 3 things:

Air Filters
There is so much hype out on the street regarding air intakes and how you can save money on gas or increase your horsepower just by changing out your air filter. There is a ring of truth to this but the cost doesn’t justify the tiny reward. The air filter is the most vital filter in your car. Skimping on filtration to reduce intake pressure drop is going to very likely allow some uninvited particles in to leap and fly about your engine. This is where you’ll find abrasive dirt and grit. As long as you use a filter made with high quality paper and it has high filtration efficiency, you won’t be worrying about the uninvited particles that are out to turn your engine grungy.

Oil Filters
Next filter in the hierarchy of importance is your oil filter! Your oil is going to trap any rampid contaminants that have managed to sneak into your engine via the air or fuel intake and is going to lead them to their capture at the oil filter. A couple things to consider. You don’t want an oil filter made up of materials that are only going to weaken as time goes on. I personally like the internal end caps of the filter to be made out of steel. Cardboard end caps, that are found in a lot of oil filters, aren’t sturdy enough for my liking. Another consideration would be the bypass valve. When you first start your engine the cool oil is much thicker. Until the element is heated up your engine relies on the bypass valve to allow the oil to flow. If the bypass valve is of cheap construction it could hang up and stick open… bypassing your filter continuously and pumping your engine full of unfiltered oil (watch out piston rings!).

Motor Oil
Here’s the low down on motor oil; cheap oil has low detergency and didn’t have high filtering standards during production and is going to leave you with sludge, it doesn’t have what it takes to prevent internal engine damage. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “oil is oil” and I hope you know that that saying doesn’t ring true at all. The time it takes to read up on oil quality and know what your looking for is well worth the lifetime of protection that results from it. Don’t shop for oil based solely on price… if you see a bottle of oil priced at a dollar… run!

Keeping your engine on the up and up means using quality products that are going to greatly increase your vehicle’s life span as well as save you both time and money in the long run when it comes to vehicle maintenance. The time it takes to locate a good air filter, sturdy oil filter and a quality motor oil is well worth it.