Main Street Rides

The past decade has been packed with technological advances in the automotive industry; everything from park assist to voice activated controls.  With all the little trinkets that now decorate dashboards and navigation screens it’s easy to overlook the most important part of your car, your drivetrain.  Back in the 70’s and 80’s cars had big engines that didn’t come close to filling their even bigger engine bays; very few cars were turbocharged or supercharged, and forget about ever seeing a car with direct injection or fancy electronically controlled valve timing.  Engines had plenty of clearance between moving parts and after about 150-200,000 miles, hippie era cars we’re about as useful as a broken record player is today.

Now it’s 2010, the 2.0T engine in a Volkswagen Jetta is likely more than half the size of your granddad’s Oldsmobile or Cadillac yet it it’s twice as fast and twice as fuel efficient.  Modern day motors get their fuel efficiency not only through advanced technology but also because of their smaller size and they get their power through advanced methods of timing, fuel and air management, and forced induction.  Now, engines are stuffed into relatively small engine compartments to make cars more space efficient and covered with plastic to make them look pretty; the clearance between moving parts are considerably smaller than the cars of yore.

With highly efficient engines comes the need for highly efficient methods for cooling and lubrication.  With this fact on their minds many automakers are pushing for higher standards for the motor oil that will hopefully keep those modern marvels that they have under the hoods of their cars running for 300,000 plus miles.  The oil that runs through an engine of a car is its life blood; it keeps moving parts lubricated to help reduce damaging frictional heat and also suspends harmful debris like metal particles.  This new standard of oil is reportedly being called GF-5 and will apply to both conventional and synthetic oils.  Keep an ear to the ground for more news as much isn’t available yet at the moment because while many people don’t realize it, their car is likely one of the biggest investments that they’ll make so it’s best to take care of it.