Car Oil

I had a bit of a surprise the other night - my check oil light flickered on the way home from work. Repeatedly. That was Wednesday night. It was about -10 deg F that night. Yes, ladies and gents minus ten. I decided to wait til morning to check my oil because it was supposed to be warmer. It was warmer. Yea! My oil, however, was way low. sigh.

I ran over to an auto parts store. Called my mechanic who had changed my oil the last time. Asked him what kind of oil he used? 10w30 fully synthetic.

Another customer backed out of her parking spot directly into a third customer coming into the parking lot directly behind my car while i was on the phone. She kept saying, i was looking in my mirrors. I confirmed with my mechanic that in drivers ed they taught us to turn around and look out the back window when you back up. always. This concludes today's Public Service Announcement.

I went into the store. Found what i needed with the help of a store clerk and nearly fell over. It cost almost $8 a quart. ack! I needed two, i'm sorry to say, but only bought one. Next oil change i'm going back to Valvoline's MaxLife 5w30. It's only about $5 a quart. sigh.

If you're curious, it's been 3,000 miles since my last oil change.

Car Maintenance Update

It's been two weeks since the mechanic said he had resolved the oil leak in my car. I checked my oil and lo and behold, it hadn't dropped even a millimeter. PtL!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am that this issue is resolved.

Car Maintenance

I took my car in for a tune-up and lots of maintenance. I needed my catalytic converter replaced and a lot of the various lightbulbs had burnt out. I mentioned my ongoing issue with a mystery oil leak. I've had the leak for about two years old and they hadn't found out the problem yet. I also decided i should have a new battery since mine was seven years old, yikes!

I was surprised and pleased to hear that the found the source of the oil leak. Ummm, k, i was jumping up and down and praising the Lord when they told me. It was the seal on the head gasket. Oil was filling one of the sparkplug compartments. They replaced the seal and changed my oil. I am so looking forward to checking my oil in two weeks to see that it "didn't" change! I'm also looking forward to checking my gas mileage which should go up from my usual 31 mpg. :-D