My NCT is due this month. My car has never failed an NCT, but with news that two insurance companies will no longer cover cars over 14 years old, I began to think that maybe the NCT might get more stringent for older cars. My car is 19 years old.
So, off I went and read the most popular blog on CompleteCar.ie, Eight top tips on how to prepare your car for its NCT. I then did the following:
- Cleaned car
- Removed cute blanket and pillow from back seat (it's for the dog, honestly)
- Checked seatbelts
- Checked interior light
- Took CDs out of glove box (yes, CDs, I have no Bluetooth)
- Tied glove box shut (yes, my glove box is held together with ribbon)
- Topped up screen wash
- Replaced all three wipers as rubber was very worn, (spent ages online looking for right sized wipers, couldn't find them so cut some to size, they fit now)
- Checked front lights, replaced blown sidelight
- Checked rear lights, noticed one brake light wasn't working. Took all bulbs out to check, all were fine. No idea what was wrong. Spent AGES trying to fix bloody light. Gave up, drove to nearest garage, they fixed it in two minutes. I had the wrong bulb, I needed a combined brake and taillight bulb, I only had taillight! Oops!
- Got the tyre pressure reading off car door panel, 1.8kgf/cm2. Consulted Google and got PSI conversion of 25.60, went to petrol station, deflated tires, they were at 36PSI. Oops, again. I really should read my last blog post on tyre pressure and follow my own advice.
- Went home and got car registration certificate and driver's licence, as I need these on the day.
- Looked at past NCT reports (everybody keeps these, right?), noticed that year-to-year my tyre imbalance and emissions figures were increasing. Oh dear! Dug out car maintenance receipts (everyone keeps these too, right?) read that this year my car has had four new tyres, wheels balanced, two new front brake pads, new inner and outer fan belts, a new alternator, new bonnet lock, new back exhaust box and new window wiper motor installed - a whopping €849.43 of work done on car worth less than €1,500.
Now, I was feeling confident about the NCT.
However, whilst researching preparing for the NCT I kept coming across offers for pre-NCT car services, which cost in excess of €100. Looking at the checks included I figured I had done most of them myself. The only thing I hadn't done was an oil and filter change. Now, here's an admission, I've never had my car serviced and I've never had the oil changed. I have owned my car for three years now and I've done 30,000km (18,641 miles). However, my uncle owned the car before me so there is actually 164,749km (102,370 miles) on the clock. And the reason I've never had a service? Well, I'm really tight with money and I pump so much of it into my car in petrol as it only gets 20mpg (14 litres/100km). I'm serious, that's worse than the new Ford Mustang 5.0-litre V8! So, parting with €100 or more on an oil change, especially when I know I can do it myself for cheap, is just not something I can justify. An oil filter costs €5 and oil about €15 and it's free to recycle the oil. But after watching a few YouTube videos on how to change oil and the filter I decided it was way too complicated and messy and my curves would never fit under my car anyways. So I thought feck it. I don't need one, do I?
I started looking into what exactly oil filters do, why it needs changing and why oil needs changing too. Will it really make that much of a difference to my car? So this is what I learned this month: oil filters and oil are the life-giver to a car. It is akin to blood rushing around our bodies, which brings good stuff to the organs and carries waste away to be filtered out; it regulates temperature and has hydraulic functions (you'll have to Google that yourself as I'm keeping this PG). Oil does the same thing. It regulates the car's temperature, making sure the moving parts don't get too hot. It acts as lubrication for the metal engine parts that grind against each other; it reduces friction, thus heat, preventing overheating and sparks. It prolongs the life of the engine parts, reduces wear and tear by stopping the metal parts from touching off each other. Most of the oil lubricates the crankshaft area, the camshaft and the rocker arms, but oil also keeps the pistons moving smoothly by lubricating the cylinder. It does all this by following a path from the top of the engine to the sump and back up again.
On this journey it passes through the oil filter that catches and prevents any debris from getting into the oil. But why is this important? Well, it turns out that dirt particles, particularly metal ones, can rip bearing and cylinder surfaces. If these particles get between the moving metal components it can cause major damage to the engine. The filter collects and holds on to this dirt, but over time the filter gets clogged up and if it gets clogged up it means the oil can't flow through it at the correct rate and pressure to protect the engine. Furthermore, if it is clogged it won't be able to filter particles, which will remain in the oil. This can lead to engines seizing and a massive invoice to get it sorted. So this is also why it is important to never run low on oil - if your car runs out of its blood it won't survive, just like us. If the oil light comes on this is a huge warning to top up immediately. I speak from experience; I lost my Nissan Serena to low oil. The oil light came on, I ignored it for too long and my home (I was living in the van at the time) came to a complete stop on top of a snow-covered mountain in New Zealand. The mechanic towed it back to town but said there was nothing to be done to fix the engine. I had to abandon the car. I shed a tear or two.
But when does oil need changing? Basically, if the oil is any darker than a cup of black tea it should be changed. I checked the oil and it was more like jet-black treacle stuck to the dipstick! Double oops! And how often does the oil need changing? Well, this depends on the age of the car and amount of mileage done, but here's a stat: oil passes through the engine four times each mile driven. By 3,000 miles the same oil has passed through the filter 12,000 times. That means my oil has passed through the filter 74,565 times and that's assuming my uncle got the oil changed before he gave me the car (he didn't!). I dread to think what that filter looks like. Yikes!
So can I save money and just get an oil change and not a filter change? Turns out that would be like pouring a bottle of Evian into a dirty glass and trying to drink it with a blocked straw. I'm finally beginning to see the light.
Now, I'm actually quite embarrassed about never getting an oil change and not realising how crucial it is to the maintenance and protection of the most important components of a car. I think it's time to finally spend some money and hand this over to the experts, but happily I've found a discounted offer on the internet! Win! Right, that's it for this month - end of lesson. Here's hoping all the effort pays off and my car passes the NCT, but if you see me at a bus stop you'll know otherwise. Stop and give me a lift, won't you?