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10 Major Mistakes You’re Making When Changing Your Car Oil
By Autobytel.com
If you change your own oil (or even if you have a shop do it), your car may not be getting all the attention it needs. Almost everyone who has ever changed the oil in a car has made at least one of these mistakes at one time or another.
To help you learn from our mistakes (and so that you don’t have to make them yourself), here is our list of the top ten major mistakes you’re making when changing your car’s oil.
Changing the oil too frequently, not frequently enough, or not at all
It’s best to follow the oil change interval specified in your owner’s manual. If most of your driving is stop and go, you spend a lot of time idling, you tow regularly, or you live on a dirt road, you may need to follow the ‘Severe’ oil change schedule.
While changing the oil too frequently probably isn’t going to damage your engine, it is going to hurt your wallet. Not changing the oil frequently enough on the other hand can lead to costly engine repairs and the dreaded ‘sludge
Not checking the oil between changes
The recommendation used to be to check your oil every time you filled your car up with gas. Some full-service stations (remember those?) even offered to check your oil for you, and if the attendant forgot to offer, your gas was free.
Today you are probably safe checking your oil once every week or two, unless you know your car burns oil or has a leak. Some people are pedants and recommend checking it every day, which seems excessive, but better safe than sorry, right?
Not performing other routine maintenance at the same time
If you bring your car into a shop for an oil change, they’ll probably want to do a lube job, grease your doors, grease your emergency brake, and check the air filter, brake fluid, transmission fluid, engine coolant, and power steering fluid. Many times people who do their own maintenance will call it a day as soon as they are done swapping out the oil, without tending to these other tasks.
While many cars today don’t come with any grease fittings that need servicing, some aftermarket parts still include grease zerks that should be kept filled with a good quality grease.
Using oil additives
With today’s oils and engines, using an oil additive is probably not going to provide any benefits, and may in some extreme cases actually harm your engine. Generally, if your motor is in good shape, and you follow the recommended oil change interval and use the recommended type and weight of oil, using an oil additive is just going to be a waste of money.
Today’s engines often outlive the vehicles that they are installed in, even without the use of any special additives.
Using the wrong weight of motor oil
If you are still using 10w30 because that’s what you’ve always used or because that’s what you remember your mother or father buying, you’re probably making this mistake. Modern cars have tighter tolerances, and aren’t usually designed to use 10w30 anymore.
Using too expensive or too cheap a motor oil
If your owner’s manual recommends synthetic oil, you should follow the recommendation, but otherwise using synthetic might be just a waste of money. Unless your car sees severe duty such as extreme engine temperatures (some turbocharged and supercharged vehicles fall into this category, as well as some high performance naturally aspirated engines), towing, or racing, conventional oil might be the right choice for you.
Synthetic is not recommended for use in some engines, for example in rotary engines where it can damage seals unless specific care is taken to choose a compatible synthetic oil.
Over tightening the filter or drain nut
Some people seem to really like to tighten things as much as they possibly can, even when there is no reason to. Tightening a clean new oil filter with one hand is usually enough, and makes removing it much easier (you might not even need to use a wrench, sometimes just two hands are enough).
For the drain plug, if it doesn’t have a crush gasket, 20 to 25 ft-lbs is usually about right, while plugs with crush washers are usually tightened a bit more, around 30 to 35 ft-lbs. Overtightening will just cause you problems when it comes time to remove the filter or drain plug.
Not replacing the drain plug crush washer or oil filter cover o-ring
On some cars, especially those designed in European countries, the oil drain plug will use a soft metal washer to seal it. These washers are often not reusable because they are crushed the first time the drain plug is tightened down.
If you don’t replace the washer, you may end up with a slow and annoying leak. If your car uses a replaceable oil filter cartridge instead of a normal filter, you might want to consider changing the oil filter cover o-ring at every oil change as well.
Not rotating your tires
Oil changes often coincide with the tire manufacturers’ recommended tire rotation schedule (usually somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 miles). Rotating your tires every oil change can be quite a bit of work (especially if you don’t have a lift), but should help them wear more evenly and last longer.
Not keeping track of oil changes
Usually when you get your oil changed at a shop they will place a sticker on your windshield telling you when the oil was last changed. The sticker acts as a reminder, and lets you know when the next oil change is due.
If you are changing your own oil, remember to keep track of the mileage and date, so you know when it’s time to do the next service. Otherwise, you’ll be trying to remember the exact date and mileage of your last change, or you may forget to do your oil change altogether.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A bill aimed at prohibiting hawking, trading or preaching inside commercial vehicles in Nigeria has been passed by the Senate.
The bill known as the Federal Road Safety Corps (Amendment) Bill, 2026, imposes fines between N50,000 and N100,000 for violations if assented to by the President.
The piece of legislation was passed by the red chamber of the National Assembly on Thursday and should later be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
Members of the upper chamber of the parliament explained that the law was amended to discourage distractions in commercial vehicles and improve the safety of commuters.
In addition, motorists who fail to cooperate with officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) during roadside breath tests conducted on reasonable suspicion are liable to fines or imprisonment or both.
Lawmakers noted that this was to improve compliance with road safety regulations and reduce road crashes, as fines for driving under the influence of alcohol or intoxicating drugs were raised to N100,000 from N5,000, with the risk of spending two years behind bars.
It was also proposed that disobedience to traffic lights, road signs, pavement markings and other traffic control devices will now attract N100,000, while the fine for speed limit violations is now N100,000, with reckless driving now a fine of N100,000 or two years’ imprisonment.
By Dipo Olowookere
Residents and motorists plying the Aina Obembe Road in Baruwa, Ipaja, Lagos, may soon heave a sigh of relief as the excruciating traffic gridlock being experienced in the area both day and night may soon be a thing of the past.
This is because the chairman of Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA, Mr Lukmon Agbaje, has directed those involved in indiscriminate truck parking along the road to remove the heavy-duty vehicles within one week, threatening to invoke appropriate enforcement measures for noncompliance with this directive.
Speaking during a meeting on Wednesday with the management of SENA Company, which owns the affected trucks, as well as the leadership of Oluwadara CDA and other key stakeholders like the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), at the council’s secretariat, Mr Agbaje frowned at the prolonged inconvenience suffered by the community, stressing that public roads must remain accessible and safe for all users.
He emphasised the need for a collaborative approach in resolving the issue without undermining legitimate business operations, noting that he’s focused on finding a lasting solution to the gridlock experienced between Oluwaga and Aina Obembe, where parked trucks have continued to obstruct traffic, disrupt business activities, and pose safety concerns for residents and motorists.
He tasked the firm and the CDA to jointly identify and implement alternative parking arrangements that would remove all trucks from the affected roads and restore the free flow of traffic.
He declared that, “The welfare of our people remains our highest priority. No individual or corporate organisation should obstruct public infrastructure or create avoidable hardship for residents. We must ensure that economic activities coexist with public safety, order, and convenience.”
The council chief reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to promoting orderly development, ensuring safe and accessible roads, improving traffic management, and creating an environment where businesses can thrive alongside the well-being of residents.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has cut import levies on new and used vehicles by as much as 10 per cent in a move aimed at reducing the cost of vehicle importation, even as it commenced the implementation of a new Green Tax surcharge.
According to an update issued by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Wednesday, the import levy on new vehicles has been reduced from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, while the levy on used vehicles has been slashed from 15 per cent to five per cent under the 2026 Fiscal Policy Measures, which took effect on July 1, 2026.
The customs said the policy is designed to ease the cost of vehicle imports while advancing the government’s environmental sustainability objectives through the newly introduced Green Tax.
The implementation also reduces the overall import duty on fully built passenger vehicles from 70 per cent to 40 per cent.
As part of the Green Tax framework, a new environmental surcharge of between two per cent and four per cent will apply to petrol-powered vehicles with engine capacities exceeding 2,000cc. However, mass transit buses, electric vehicles, and passenger cars with engines below 2,000cc are exempt from the surcharge.
Beyond the automobile sector, the fiscal measures also lower import duties on several essential goods. The duty on imported rice has been reduced from 70 per cent to 47.5 per cent, while crude palm oil now attracts a 28.75 per cent duty.
In addition, import duties on agricultural and manufacturing machinery have been completely removed to support local production, while Waste PET has been added to the export prohibition list to encourage domestic recycling.
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