Trust us: it's worth checking your car oil is at an optimum level. If you do so, your car will thank you!
Trust us: it's worth checking your car oil is at an optimum level. If you do so, your car will thank you!
Why checking your oil?
Oil check does not only help improving your engine's performance, it also increases your car's life expectancy.
Remember to check the oil level and make it a habit before every long journey.
By checking oil,
Also be sure to choose the right oil, as this is important for your engine's resilience and performance.
Benefits of maintaining an optimal oil level:
Increase your engine's efficiency and reduce the fuel consumption.
Reduce premature wear of engine components.
Prevent the formation of deposits and limit the development of corrosion.
Reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
Your car's oil consumption depends on many factors:
The type of vehicle you own.
Your driving style and where you usually drive (city, roads, highways).
The mechanical condition of your engine.
Weather conditions.
To go further, you can have a look to the following advice per type of oil:
Checking cars’ oil level helps prevent faults and most importantly avoids mechanical damage which may – in the short-or mid-term – prevent your vehicle from running smoothly.
Checking cars’ oil level helps prevent faults and most importantly avoids mechanical damage which may – in the short-or mid-term – prevent your vehicle from running smoothly.
Before you begin:
The manufacturer's service manual will tell you how often you should check your engine's oil level, as well as what type of oil you should use.
Caution! If you have to top up your engine's oil, it is very important that you use the product recommended in your user guide.
The vehicle's manual will show you where the oil gauge is on your engine.
Make sure the engine has been switched off for at least 2 minutes so that the oil is "resting" and at the bottom of the sump.
Check that your car is on a stable and horizontal surface in order to ensure that you get a good reading.
Get a cloth or a roll of paper towel.
How to check the level:
Open the engine’s bonnet and locate the engine oil gauge or dipstick (this is usually a brightly-colored ring or hook).
Pull on this hook in order to remove the stem in its entirety. Then wipe it with the cloth and insert it back into the gauge.
Pull out the stem once again and look at where the mark left by the oil is. This is your engine's oil level. You should also see the two lines or marks for ensuring that oil levels are between the minimum and maximum levels.
Your engine's oil level should be between the "minimum" and the "maximum" lines on the gauge.
How to put oil in your car?
Never put more than the "maximum" quantity of oil – doing so may damage your engine and its oil-tight seal.
Similarly, the level should never be below the "minimum" line so as to ensure optimum lubrication at all times and avoid engine wear.
If the level is below the "minimum" line, you must top up your oil immediately.
If you think that the level is too close to the "minimum" line, it is advisable (although not obligatory) to top up the oil.
Transmission oil is a mixture of base oil and additives with very good anti-wear and anti-scoring properties and good stability to thermal oxidation. Manual transmissions use a variety of oils: regular motor oil, heavyweight hypoid gear oil or even automatic transmission fluid in some cases. Your owner's manual will tell you what your transmission calls for.
Transmission oil is a mixture of base oil and additives with very good anti-wear and anti-scoring properties and good stability to thermal oxidation. Manual transmissions use a variety of oils: regular motor oil, heavyweight hypoid gear oil or even automatic transmission fluid in some cases. Your owner's manual will tell you what your transmission calls for.
What does transmission fluid do?
The key function of transmission oil is to lubricate hypoid gears in manual and automatic transmissions for cars and trucks.
Did you know?
Our transmission range for manual gearboxes is TRANSELF
It's important to regularly check the transmission fluid level between service intervals. Letting your car run low on transmission fluid can cause the transmission to shift improperly - or even not at all. It also can harm the internal parts of your transmission, which will not be properly lubricated. Unfortunately, you may not hear any noises or have other clues that your transmission is low on fluid, until it's too late.
How to check the manual transmission fluid level?
Checking transmission fluid is actually not so easy to do: indeed, the gearbox is not easily accessible without equipment and there is no straightforward system – such as an engine oil gauge – for determining oil levels.
Checking the transmission fluid level requires working under the hood of your car with the engine running. This can be very dangerous if you aren’t careful. You should therefore contact your garage mechanic in order to have it checked. They will have equipment for checking oil levels and topping it up if necessary.
If, however, you still wish to carry out this operation yourself, here is our advice:
To be done before the beginning of your transmission fluid check:
Get a cloth or a roll of paper towel.
Refer to your service manual to find out what transmission fluid your gearbox requires and how frequently it should be changed. The manual will also tell you where the filling cap is located.
Where is the transmission fluid dipstick?
On some cars, it is easy to mistake the transmission dipstick for the crankcase oil dipstick, so make sure you are clear on the location of your transmission.Look towards the back of the engine, near the firewall. This is where the transmission is located on most cars with rear-wheel drive.On cars with front-wheel drive, the transmission dipstick is usually located in the front of the engine, connected to the transaxle.
How do you check transmission fluid – Step 1:
Park your car on a horizontal, stable surface. Disengage the clutch and apply the handbrake. Make sure the engine has been switched off for at least 2 minutes so that the oil is "resting" and at the bottom of the sump. If your car has been used for more than 30 minutes, allow the engine to rest for a few minutes so that the transmission fluid can cool down. This is important for your safety, as well as ensuring that the results are not biased.
How to check your transmission fluid – Step 2:
Refer to your service manual to in order to locate the gearbox's filling cap and find out what type of spanner you need in order to unscrew it.
How to check transmission oil – Step 3:
Open the filling cap and check transmission fluid level: it should be just beneath the cap. Given that there is no gauge, you may use a metal stem or screwdriver in order to probe the oil level and find out how high it is in the sump.
Note: the oil may also overflow. If this happens, then it is at the right level. Quickly replace the cap.
You can use a syringe to take an oil sample for analysis. However, we recommend that you get a professional to carry this out. Remember to screw the filling cap back on in accordance with the instructions in the user manual.
Manual transmission fluid top up
In order to top up the oil, you have to locate and unscrew the filling cap.
We recommend that you use a syringe or a special pump in order to gradually insert fresh oil into the gearbox sump.
Keep checking the oil level as described above in order to ensure that it does not overflow.
It is advisable to check the state of the brake fluid every 10,000 km. As a general rule, brake fluid should be replaced every 50,000 km (or every 2 years).
It is advisable to check the state of the brake fluid every 10,000 km. As a general rule, brake fluid should be replaced every 50,000 km (or every 2 years).
Your vehicle's service manual will give you more precise information about how frequently the brake fluid should be checked and changed and what type of fluid should be used.
If you find anything out of the ordinary, contact your usual garage.
Checking brake fluid recommendations: as brake fluid is a hazardous fluid, we recommend you to bring the used cans to a toxic waste center for disposal.
Before you begin:
Refer to your service manual in order to locate the brake fluid reservoir. Its location depends on the type of car you have. The brake booster is on the driver’s side of your vehicle, usually up near the firewall. Just in front of that, sitting on and connected to the brake master cylinder, is the brake fluid reservoir, usually a plastic canister like the one shown here. Older vehicles don’t have a plastic reservoir; instead, the master cylinder is a little metal box with a lid that you must remove to check the fluid level.
Make sure that your car is on a stable and horizontal surface.
Ensure that the engine is cold – i.e., switched off – before taking a reading.
How to check the brake fluid level:
The brake fluid container is made of transparent plastic so you can directly check its level by looking at it.
Visually check the fluid's level. It should never be below the "minimum" level. Your brake fluid should not get used up when your vehicle is in use.
So if the level falls, it means that there is a leak in your circuit.
In this case, we recommend that you go to your garage mechanic immediately so that they can find the leak.
This will avoid problems braking and prevent serious risks for both you and other motorists.
An automatic transmission (also called auto, self-shifting transmission or A/T) is a type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually.
What is an automatic transmission?
An automatic transmission (also called auto, self-shifting transmission or A/T) is a type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually.
What is automatic transmission fluid?
In the past, most automatic transmissions had three gears (plus reverse) and if it had four gears, you had a real hot rod – or a luxury barge. Now, automatic transmissions have up to eight gears, either to placate performance drivers or to give cars optimal gearing for fuel efficiency – or both.
There are 3 main types of fluids for automatic gearboxes:
The Automatic Transmission with Manual Controls
The Continuously Variable Transmission or CVT
The Dual-Clutch Transmission (DCT)
Did you know?
Our transmission range for automatic gearboxes is ELFMATIC
The best automatic transmission fluid for cars is ELFMATIC CVT MV
The best automatic transmission fluid for trucks and buses is ELFMATIC G3
How to check automatic transmission fluid level?
Refer to the vehicle's service manual before carrying out any operations.
The vehicle must be on a level surface with the engine switched off for at least 5 minutes. The handbrake should be applied and the gearbox in neutral
If you own a car with an automatic transmission, your car will have a dipstick for this purpose. Be careful not to make the common mistake of confusing the transmission dipstick with the crankcase dipstick. For most cars, checking the automatic transmission fluid consists of pulling the transmission dipstick out while the engine is warmed up and running and with the transmission in park. We suggest that you check your owner's manual, however, since some manufacturers may have a different procedure.
Automatic transmission check – Step 1:
Locate the gearbox' filler cap (located beneath the cap) and unscrew it
Automatic transmission check – Step 2:
Remove the filler cap and check the level
Automatic transmission check – Step 3:
If there is no gauge, you can use a metal rod or a screwdriver to find the oil level in the sump. You can use a syringe to take an oil sample for analysis. However, we recommend that you get a professional to carry this out.
Automatic transmission check – Step 4:
Remember to screw the filler cap back securely.
Automatic transmission fluid top up
If topping up is necessary, please follow these steps :
Locate and unscrew the filler cap.
Use a syringe or a special pump in order to gradually insert fresh oil.Pour the correct fluid slowly into the transmission. Add a little at a time so you do not overfill.
Keep checking the oil level
How much transmission fluid do you add to your vehicle? It depends on what you're doing:
Are you doing a simple top-up? If you see that the transmission fluid is a little low on the dipstick, start with a half a quart to a quart of transmission fluid. Recheck the level and add 1/4 quart at a time till the level is up to the full or max mark.
Are you doing a transmission service, where you drop the pan and replace the filter? This kind of service regularly needs 4 to 5 quarts of transmission fluid in order to replace what was lost in the pan.
Are you replacing the entire transmission fluid? It could take anywhere from 9 to 13 quarts of transmission fluid to adequately replace the entire transmission fluid.
If you notice a rapid fall in the quantity of this liquid, there is a leak in the circuit and we recommend that you go and see your garage mechanic quickly.
If you notice a rapid fall in the quantity of this liquid, there is a leak in the circuit and we recommend that you go and see your garage mechanic quickly.
In order to check the level of this liquid, it is vital that your car be parked on a flat surface. The engine must be cold – i.e., it must have been switched off for several hours – so as not to skew the readings and avoid any risk of splashing or burns if you have to open the filling cap.
Where is/ what is coolant in a car? Refer to your user manual in order to locate the coolant filling reservoir. It is made of transparent plastic and has 2 "Maximum" and "Minimum" markers. It is essential that the liquid’s level is between these two markers.
If the level is below the "Minimum" marker, top it up with the coolant recommended in your service manual. Otherwise, you will risk your engine being insufficiently cooled – i.e., it may overheat, requiring you to switch off the engine immediately and resulting in damage to the various parts.
If the level is above the "Maximum" marker, some of the coolant in car will need to be removed with a syringe or suitable pump. Otherwise the cooling circuit will be over-pressurised, which may result in hot fluid being splashed out while you are using your engine.