Changing your Oil

Changing your Oil

Changing your own oil can seem a little daunting if you have never done it before, but after you've gone through it once it will become a simple way to save you some money and help you connect to car and take some control over it's maintenance.

The things you will need

• Socket wrench (or boxed end)
• Oil filter wrench
• Oil drain pan
• Gloves
• Funnel
• Dirty old rag/t-shirt
• Clothes you don't mind getting messy
• Jack and jack stands (depending on ground clearance)
• New Oil (consult owner's manual on what kind and how much you will need)
• New oil filter (again, consult owners manual)

      

Before You Begin

There is a considerable amount of "crud" that accrues in your oil, which is partially why you want to change it, the get that "crud" out. This crud will stick around if you try to change the oil stone cold, in other words you need to run the car before you change the oil. This will loosen the crud and allow it to flow out with the oil old when you change it. You also don't want to the oil to be hot, since you may burn yourself, so you also want to let it sit for a little while until it is just warm.

Now is a great time to locate you oil filter and oil drain plug. It should be towards the front of your car. 

  If your drain plug and filter are far away form each other (like in this picture) you will have to move you pan after you drain you oil and before you remove you filter (which will drip quite a bit of oil.

Now place you pan under your oil drain.

You should also remove you oil filter cap (how you check your oil), this will help oil flow a little better, but mostly it will remind you to replace the oil after you're done with the under-the-car aspects. Even the most experienced mechanics sometimes forget to add oil after an oil change, a very bad thing for your car.

 

Draining Oil

Put your gloves on now because things shall be messy from now on. Use you socket wrench to remove the drain plug. 

The last part of unscrewing you will want to do by hand, being careful to keep you hands out of the projected path of the oil (which if you get wrong is a good reason not to change the oil when its hot).

 It varies from car to car but draining usually takes 5-10 minutes. While your oil is draining clean off your drain plug. Once the oil has drain screw the drain plug back in and tighten. 

Remove the Filter

 New filters that are properly installed don't go on terribly tight. But they can be hard to get off later because their sealing gaskets swell over time.  The black thing on the white oil filter it the "filter wrench" if you have never seen one before, it attaches to your regular wrench.

You can use an extension to your ratchet to get a little extra knuckle room, like pictured here. Filters loosen in a hurry, at which point oil starts to gush out all around the perimeter. Go slowly and switch to unscrewing the filter by hand as soon as you can.

At this point there is no way to avoid a mess, just make sure your pan in bellow the filter. Hold the filter over the pan to let the excess drain out.

 

Use your rag to clean away as much of the oil as you can from the part where the filter screws on. This will help you form a seal with your new filter. Smearing a dab of new oil on the new filter's O-ring (black rubber part where you screw it on). Install the new filter.

Before you tighten the filter, draw a reference line on it with a marker or paint pen. Generally, oil filters are tightened no more than three-quarters of a turn to a full turn beyond the point where the O-ring first contacts the sealing surface. Consult your manual or the oil filter box to confirm the proper amount.

It's time to add oil. Add approximately one quart less than the recommended amount. For Instance if your engine requires 5.7 quarts, add five now and holding the last one back for later. Also hold the bottles on their side for a smooth pour.

Now it's time to replace the oil cap and start the engine. Run the engine for 30 seconds or so to circulate the new oil, then shut it down and check your work area underneath the car for leaks.

The only other step now is to properly dispose of the old oil and filter. Most auto parts stores that sell oil will take your waste oil at no charge. If yours won't, local municipalities often have household hazardous waste drop-off points.

Congratulations! You're done.