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When you use the wrong oil for your engine, it causes leads to a fatal breakdown. Similarly, when the oil in your engine is dirty, there are higher chances of a serious breakdown. What the engine need is a constant flow of clean oil.
But what is the difference between clean vs dirty engine oil? How do you know that the oil in your engine is dirty? Basically, new engine oils are considered clean, while dirty engine oils are the ones that have been on the engine for an extended time.
Apparently, the motor oil you use on your car determines how long the engine would last, and how efficient it’d perform throughout the lifetime. Automakers do recommend the oils to use on their specific models, but not all drivers heed to that.
If you would want to use a different oil for your car engine, it is important that you crosscheck the specifications of the new oil to ensure it matches the one recommended by your vehicle manufacturer.
What is a Clean Oil?
Put simply, clean oil is a new motor oil that has not been used before. Literally, all new motor oils are clean oil, and that’s what your engine needs.
You should never pour oil drained from another vehicle into your engine, that’s a bad act!
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What is a Dirty Oil?
It’s simply the opposite of clean oils; dirty oils are the oils drained from an engine. The oil looks dirty because it has gone into the engine, cleaned the engine parts, and thus carries dirt, sludge, and other containments.
Once you drain oil from your vehicle, it is not advisable to reuse the oil on another vehicle or engine. Dirty oils have no benefit to offer, instead, they’d mar the performance of your car engine, and possibly cause it to break down.
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Clean Vs Dirty Engine Oil
The explanation above clearly shows the major difference between what you can call clean engine oil and dirty engine oil.
Every new, unused motor oil is “Clean” and every used motor oil is “Dirty” (regardless of if the oil was poured in and drained immediately.
However, what makes an engine oil more effective than another is the additives used in its formula. Aftermarket motor oil manufacturers use different additives to meet certain engine oil requirements and certifications.
But, regardless of the additives used in a motor oil formula, once it is used in an engine and drained, it is not worth using on another engine. The dirt accumulated in dirty motor oils can cause instant engine breakdown.
How Do Your Know Your Engine Oil Is Dirty?
Clean engine oil can turn dirty when it sits in the engine for a long time. Thus, it is recommended that you go for an oil change at certain intervals – this is to drain out the dirty oil in your engine and refill clean oil to keep your engine performing as expected.
More so, you use the oil dipstick to constantly check the state of the oil in your engine. Apparently, when it becomes dirty, you’d clearly see it on the dipstick in one of your routine checks.
An oil change is something you could do by yourself, or get a mechanic to do that for you.