Can You Feel The Difference After an Oil Change? (Here Is Why!)

Do you know if you can feel the difference after an oil change or does an oil change improve the performance of your car? Well, you are at the perfect place to find the answer to such a question.

There is somewhat of a debate as to whether you can ‘feel’ the difference after you have switched out the oil on your vehicle.

Some people say that you can, while others will say that it is impossible to tell. Us? Well, we are going to say that it will be dependent on how frequently you change your oil. If you have waited far too long to change your oil, then you are more likely to experience a ‘change’ after that oil change.

Let’s explain.

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Can You Feel The Difference After An Oil Change?

As we said at the start, this is going to be completely dependent on you and how often you change your engine oil.

If you are changing the oil every 3,000 miles or so, then you are going to barely feel any difference. This is because the engine oil that you have swapped out is pretty clean.

About the only thing that you will feel is a sense of pride and accomplishment that you have actually changed the engine oil on time.

However, if you have taken a bit of time to change your oil, and perhaps overshot that oil change time limit by a few hundred, or a thousand miles, then you may start to notice some serious improvements to the way that you drive.

All of those issues that we mentioned in the previous section should have, hopefully, disappeared. This means that the way in which your vehicle drives is going to be incredibly smooth.

It is going to be a true joy to drive…at least until that next oil change is due!

What Does a Vehicle Feel Like With Unclean Oil?

Probably the best way to explain what difference you can feel is to explain how your car is going to behave when your oil hasn’t been changed for a while.

Remember, you should be changing the engine oil at least once every 3,000 miles, although you may need to swap out that oil a little bit earlier if you notice these issues sooner.

As we will explain in a short while, if you are keeping up with your engine oil changes, then you will never actually feel as if your oil needs changing.

You will just see that check engine light, swap out the oil, and you are not doing it for another 6-months to a year. If your vehicle actually starts to feel different to drive, then you have left that engine oil replacement a little bit too long.

We are going to putting to one side the various things that happen when your vehicle’s engine becomes a bit unclean but doesn’t impact the driving experience.

For example, while a check engine light is a tad annoying, it is not going to impact the driving experience.

Seeing dark grit inside of your oil isn’t going to impact the driving experience either although, of course, that oil is going to be impacting the driving experience.

Your Engine Will Sound Louder

Perhaps the biggest sign that your vehicle is due for an oil change is the fact that your engine is going to sound a whole lot louder.

Remember, the purpose of engine oil is to help lubricate the various components inside of the engine. It is meant to stop them from rubbing against one another.

If the engine oil is dwindling or starts to get a little bit gritty, then there will be a grinding sound in the engine. It may be minor at first but the more you drive without swapping out that oil, the louder the engine sound will get.

Obviously, the founder your engine gets the less lubricant flowing around that engine, and the more likely you are to start seeing serious issues when you are driving.

Obviously, as soon as you change your engine oil, those engine sounds will stop. The driving experience becomes a lot more pleasurable.

Of course, if you do not see a change in the way that your engine sounds, then there is a good chance that the various components in your vehicle have started to wear down.

If that is the case, then you are going to need to take a trip to the local garage.

Driving May Feel Less Smooth

When your engine oil becomes tainted, you may start to notice that your vehicle becomes less smooth when you are accelerating, or even when you are driving.

You may even notice a small change when you are changing gears. This is all down to poor lubrication in the engine.

Some people describe the driving experience as almost ‘chugging’. Although, the feel may be barely noticeable if your engine oil is only a little bit dirty.

If you continue to drive a couple of hundred, maybe a couple of thousand, more miles without changing that oil, then you will run into some serious problems.

Your Vehicle May Shake While Idling

A lot of people with unclean engine oil may find that their vehicle shakes a little bit while it is idle. This is due to the amount of friction between the various components in your vehicle.

Once some new engine oil has been added into the mixture, then the shaking of the vehicle while idle will likely stop.

For many people, this may actually be the first sign that the engine oil needs to be swapped out.

Final Word

If you have actually been putting effort into ensuring that your oil is changed regularly, then an oil change shouldn’t feel that different when you get into a vehicle.

Some people will note that their vehicle drives a little bit smoother, but it is probably not going to be noticeable to the vast majority of people.

If you have left that oil change a little bit longer, though, then you will likely notice some major differences in the way that your vehicle drives.

In fact, the whole driving experience is going to become a whole lot more pleasurable. It is lovely.

References

https://www.topdriver.com/education-blog/actually-need-oil-change/