Top 5 DIY tips to Maintain your Diesel Engine

Regular maintenance is essential to ensuring the longevity of your diesel engine. If you have a diesel vehicle that you often use for transporting loads, then there are a few maintenance tips you can be following to ensure your vehicle remains effective. The typical maintenance tasks include changing the diesel oil, inspecting the filters, checking the engine’s coolant, draining the water separators, and taking care of your turbocharger.

Diesel Oil Changes

As diesel engines are high heat running motors, diesel oil changes are critical. By checking and changing the oil, the engines will continue to work efficiently and smoothly. If the oil is not replaced it will block the heat transfer and hamper the oil’s cooling function. Oil changes are recommended every 6 months or 10,000 km. However, if you use your vehicle for hard-driving and towing then it becomes necessary to change oil more frequently.

Inspect your Filters

Inspecting and replacing diesel fuel filters is crucial to the welfare of your vehicle. It is usually located within the engine bay. With today’s diesel fuels the filters need to be changed at certain intervals. It should be a priority to change the oil filter each time the oil is changed.

The air filter is one of the areas of a car that can accumulate the most dirt due to the engine. If you don’t keep it in good condition, you run the risk of poor performance and it increases your fuel consumption. Air filters need to be changed every 10,000 km to 15,000 km or every 12 to 18 months (depending on conditions).

Check Your Engine’s Coolant

Engine coolant maintenance is equally as important as an oil change, and more than 40% of diesel engine maintenance problems can be attributed to engine coolant negligence. An engine’s cooling system runs off coolant, which is a mixture of water and coolant additive. However, the coolant can often become acidic over time and can cause major problems. It is important to replace the coolant filter and top off the cooling system at every oil change, test the coolant twice a year, and replace the coolant every two years. Plus, make sure the coolant you are running in your engine meets the original equipment’s manufacturer specifications.

Draining the Water Separators

One of the important reasons to drain water and dirt from a diesel engine is that diesel fuel becomes contaminated easier than gasoline. This can cause corrosion in the fuel delivery system. To avoid this, many diesel cars install a water separator. This small filtering device is used to remove the water from the diesel fuel before it reaches the sensitive parts of the engine.

Save your Turbocharger from Failing

A lot of things happen in a matter of seconds when you turn on your car, and one of the most crucial ones is the flow of oil coming from the oil pump to the turbocharger. You should always allow your vehicle to start up and idle for a few minutes before departure. In this way, the engine oil has time to reach the turbocharger. So, the worst thing you could do to a cold engine is mashing the accelerator as soon as you start your car.