Oil filters are important

I enjoy performing my own vehicle maintenance. At a child I was fascinated with watching my father change the sparkplugs, change the oil and other fluids. My fathers even replaced the brake pads and bleed the brake system. When my brother and I became old enough my dad had us assist him with working on the family vehicle. Helping was dad’s way of ensuring that we could maintain our own vehicles. My family did not have much money to put into new Automobiles so all the vehicles we had were older and required some tender loving care or TLC to keep them running. When I was able to afford a nice vehicle I purchased a six year old pick-up truck. It was easy to maintain and fun to work on. There was plenty of space in the engine compartment, so most components were readily accessible.

Cheryl, my spouse at that time, hated the truck. It seemed to her every time she drove the truck it would quit operating and left her stranded. I would go to where she abandoned the truck to repair it, but it would start and run fine for me. Cheryl convinced me that we needed a new vehicle. I relented and we traded it in for a Honda Civic. This was the first new car I ever owned which was a double edged sword. I could not perform my own maintenance due to the warranty being voided if I worked on it. That was the positive side. The other side was paying someone else to maintain the Civic when I could do most of the servicing for less then half the cost the dealer charged.

I enjoyed the Civic but it was too small for me. I traded the Civic for a Nissan Xterra SUV and was a better fit for me. When the warranty had expired I started performing routine maintenance because I enjoyed working on the vehicle and was on my time.

When I started dating Jennifer she knew nothing about maintaining her vehicle and always took it to the dealer for all the maintenance. Her father never took the time to show her the basic maintenance of changing the oil, air filter and checking the fluid levels. I offered to work on her car and to show her how to do the maintenance also. She was a quick study and was always eager to change the oil and had even replaced the passenger side mirror. The only part she had trouble with was removing the oil filter due to its location. Jennifer has requested I teach her roommate to change the oil in her vehicle. I said yes.

After all this time of performing maintenance for myself I have become complacent. I have changed the oil but have chosen to replace the oil filter every three oil changes. Well that has come around to bit me. I had gone three oil changes without changing the filter so I should have changed it this last oil change two weeks ago. Before I change the oil I started hearing a tapping sound and just thought the oil maybe low. I changed the oil and the tapping stopped but it came back the next day and kept getting worse. I had resigned to the idea that I would have to take the Xterra into a repair shop for an engine overhaul. My last thought the night I was taking it to the shop was the oil filter had not been changed in a while and maybe it was clogged. I changed the filter and the tapping stopped. The oil that was in the filter was black not light. So I almost caused the demise of my vehicle. I have owned the Xterra over ten year and it is still running barely. I made Jennifer make me a pinkie promise not to tell anyone. I am not looking forward to the price I will have to pay for that promises.