At Home Car Maintenance

Preventative maintenance will ensure your vehicle continues to run smoothly for longer, saving you money in the long term and giving you peace of mind. Here are a few vehicle tasks you can do from the comfort of your own home.

Perform an oil change

Oil is the lifeblood of an engine, but unfortunately, it does not last forever.
Your vehicle manufacturer will indicate a service interval in your manual, which should be strictly adhered to, this will also specify which specifications your oil must meet.

The Which Oil guide on our website is a quick and easy way of finding the right oil for your vehicle. It matches vehicle specifications to a suitable Millers Oils product for your vehicle. If you need any assistance with this, we have a dedicated team of technical experts to assist you.
https://www.millersoils.co.uk/which-oil

An Engine Flush should also be added just before you change oil. This product contains advanced cleaning additives which dissolve any deposits and varnish which may have accumulated over time.
https://www.millersoils.co.uk/products/engine-flush/

What you need: socket set and ratchet wrench, oil filter wrench, oil pan, funnel, new oil filter, replacement drain plug washer depending on the application, new oil and engine flush (optional).
You may also need to jack your car up.

How to change your oil:

1. Pour Engine Flush into engine through oil filler cap – idle car for 15 minutes.
2. Release oil sump drain plug and allow oil to pour out into a drain pan.
3. Once the flow of oil stops, replace drain plug (you may need to replace the crush washer).
4. Use your oil filter wrench to remove the oil filter.
5. Lubricate the new oil filter rubber gasket with new engine oil and screw back into place.
6. Fill the engine with new oil, our Which Oil tool will tell you how much you need. Once filled, double check oil level with dipstick.
7. Dispose of old oil responsibly.

Clean your injectors

Fuel injector are expensive bits of kit, but a well looked after injector can last the lifespan of the car.

Injectors are designed to atomise fuel so it can be combusted efficiently in the cylinder, poor atomisation due to dirty injectors can result in poor fuel consumption, misfiring, emissions test failures and reduced power.

Fuel additives such as Millers Oils Petrol or Diesel Injector Cleaner are highly concentrated cleaning agents developed to remove deposits from fuel injection systems.

Maintenance on your injectors clean is an easy task, our injector cleaner fuel treatments can be added to a tank of fuel, then all you need to do is drive as normal!

https://www.millersoils.co.uk/products/petrol-injector-cleaner/
https://www.millersoils.co.uk/products/diesel-injector-cleaner-2/

Clean your DPF

Diesel particulate filters, over time, can clog up. Increasing the back pressure of your exhaust system and subsequently reducing the efficiency of your engine. A clogged DPF often has a lot to do with driving style, if you are doing short journeys and not allowing the car to warm up fully, “the DPF will not work optimally, therefore causing it to clog up”. The DPF will not enter its required regeneration cycle, allowing carbon deposits to build up and block the DPF.

Millers Oils DPF Cleaner and Regenerator reduces the regeneration temperature required to allow the trapped soot particles to be burnt off. Simply add this treatment to a tank of fuel and take your car for a drive on the motorway. To speed up the process, select a lower gear than normal, this will increase exhaust temperatures.
https://www.millersoils.co.uk/products/diesel-particulate-cleaner-and-regenerator/

Gearbox and differential oils

These fluids need changing much less often than your engine oil, but your car can still benefit from upgrading the oils in your gearbox and differentials. Around 5% of the total energy of a vehicle is lost in drivetrain inefficiencies, namely friction.

Millers Oils gear oils utilise our Nanodrive technology to reduce friction and wear, therefore increasing fuel economy and vehicle power. Try using either our EE Transmission or CRX NT+ products in your gearbox and differential.

Again, our Which Oil guide can help you find the correct oil and quantity needed for your vehicle:
https://www.millersoils.co.uk/which-oil

There is a lot of variation from manufacturer to manufacturer on the process involved in changing these fluids. The differential is normally the easier of the two. This is also much easier to do in a front engine RWD car as there is much more accessibility than with front engine FWD as these can be very compact.

What you will need: Oil drain pan, a large syringe with plastic tubing (to pump oil in/out of the differential), socket set with ratchet wrench, new oil.

How to change the differential oil:

1. First, ensure you can remove the plug from the filler hole
2. Remove sump drain plug
3. Dependant on model, this plug will be on the bottom or the side of the unit, if it is on the side you will need to extract the oil with your syringe
4. If you have no filler hole, pump in fresh oil using syringe until it pours out.
5. If you do have filler hole, replace drain plug and fill with appropriate amount of oil.

Warning – PLEASE READ

*Millers Oils is not liable for any damages caused by work undertaken yourself. Always read your car’s manual.

Home maintenance is only recommended for those who feel competent in the skills to complete this role safely and with the resource to dispose of the old oil and components responsibly.

If you do not feel confident please seek a professional service, Millers Oils have an extensive network of professional garages throughout the UK who we recommend to complete the services mentioned.

For details of your nearest professional garage, please contact Millers Oils.*

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