The Main Functions of Engine Oil in Your Car Explained

by Emily Scott Emily Scott

Engine oil is often taken for granted, and its relevance is undervalued. But did you know that there are some key functions of engine oil that ensure that your car performs to its full potential? Engine oil is the lifeblood of any car's engine.

The importance of engine oil for the health of any vehicle cannot be overstated. Engine oil serves a variety of purposes in addition to lubrication. The following are the 5 main functions of engine oil in your car explained.

1. Lubrication

The primary purpose of motor oil is to lubricate the engine's working parts. Proper lubrication enables all of the engine components to glide past one another without causing excessive friction.

If friction is allowed to accumulate, the engine's performance will be significantly slowed. It would also generate a huge quantity of heat, which might cause serious damage to critical engine components.

Oil usually runs down into the oil sump when an engine sits. When the engine is started, the lubricant must be circulated fast throughout the engine to produce enough cranking velocity for the engine to turn over.

Engine oil must develop a coating between moving components once the engine is running to render them "slippery," increasing power, productivity, and efficiency. Each type of engine requires a specific viscosity range for the oil to produce a suitable film between moving components while still flowing fast and easily throughout the engine.

Some people assume that if an SAE 30 oil gives adequate protection, then an SAE 50 oil must provide even more protection.

That isn't always the case. Using an SAE 50 oil in a vehicle that wasn't meant to tolerate it may not result in increased engine wear, but it will almost certainly result in higher engine temperatures. This can be just as damaging to your engine's lifespan as the engine wears.

2. Protection

An engine oil's layer between metal surfaces has a purpose other than lubrication. Motor oil protects against wear by preventing engine components from coming into contact with one another. However, oil can also protect in another way.

Rust and corrosion inhibitors are included in engine lubricants to safeguard against normal wear and tear. This reduces oil oxidation and improves the performance and durability of an automobile's engine.

Engine oil must prevent engine components from rusting. Acids in engine oil are caused by oxidation of the lubricant, contamination from condensation, and combustion by-products. Corrosion happens when these chemicals come into contact with engine components, resulting in untimely component failure. These acids are combated by engine oils.

3. Gap-Filler

The space between the piston and the cylinder is not particularly smooth—engine oil functions as a gap filler and aids in boosting the engine's speed and performance.

Engine oil helps to improve engine sealing, particularly the enclosure of pistons and chambers. Between the different parts, a protective layer is placed, filling any gaps that may occur.

4. Coolant

Coolant properties in engine oils keep the top engine and its moving sections cool. It protects an automobile's engine against energy loss and deterioration.

The engine temperature rises as a result of the energy lost in burning and friction between mechanical components. The heat is partially addressed by the lubrication circuit thanks to the lubrication supplied by the engine oil. It works in conjunction with the coolant, which can only cool specific areas of the engine.

Engine oil is responsible for a significant portion of the cooling that occurs in your vehicle. Your radiator is only in charge of cooling your engine's upper section. The rest of your engine's important components, such as the joining rod bearings, crankshaft, pistons, timing gears, camshaft, and many others, are cooled mostly by the motor oil.

Within an engine, heat is produced by both the burning process and friction induced by the movement of engine parts. Oil is pushed onto these heated surfaces as it flows through the system, carrying the heat away to the oil sump.

The heat is then dispersed into the air around the sump. One of the drawbacks of having an extremely thick oil is that it may not flow as rapidly as the engine requires, resulting in less heat exchange and greater engine temperatures.

5. Cleaner

Detergents are additives in most engine oils that eliminate pollutants and other contaminants from the oil, allowing the moving parts to stay clean. This helps to keep the engine safe from serious damage. Engine oil's cleansing ability is essential, despite its lesser-known status. In the engine, tiny deposits accumulate and remain suspended. Dust or burning residue can be found in them.

The debris would block the engine and impair its performance if it weren't for the engine oil. These pollutants are carried to the oil filter by the flow of engine oil, where they are contained and hence unable to produce damaging residues on engine surfaces.

If an engine isn't kept clean, it won't run efficiently. Deposits in an engine clog up the pipes, reducing fuel efficiency and depriving your engine of its power. Furthermore, impurities in an engine's oil that are left "unprotected" might cause immeasurable wear.

If a particle greater than five to twenty microns in size (based on the vehicle) is not eliminated or controlled, it will severely harm the engine. To give you a sense of how tiny this is, human hair is 100 microns thick.

Although filtration is important, the oil must also play a role in this regard by preventing buildup in the engine and maintaining impurities in suspension until they can be eliminated by the oil filter.

Final Word

The level of engine oil must be monitored regularly to change the oil at the appropriate time for it to serve all the main functions of engine oil. The oil that has been overused has lost its effectiveness, putting the engine and its components in jeopardy.
It is also critical to select the correct type of engine oil for the vehicle. One can conduct an online search and study reviews and literature to determine which engine oil is suited for a specific vehicle's make and model.