ALT-1 How to Change your own Oil
This is a Plain English Article.
Besides pumping the gas, keeping clean and properly functioning oil in your engine is not only the most frequent service required by your automobile, it is also the most important. Here you will find a very precise guide to the many aspects of changing your oil, and, of course, some problems that you may encounter. This article is divided into sections, and, as always, if you are familiar with any of the topics, feel free to skip to the next. This article is intended to provide you with the minimum amount of information that is necessary for you to change your own oil.
Oil Change Overview.
If you are not comfortable letting someone else touch your car, you of course want to be able to change your own oil. Though the actual practice of changing the oil in most vehicles is relatively simple, there is a big margin for error and you obviously have to know a lot more than you would if you were to take it to a professional. Now, we're going to talk about how to change your oil in very simple terms, and also some things to keep in mind while you do.An oil change consists of three steps. Step number one is to empty the oil pan of old oil. Step two is to replace the oil filter. Step three is to properly fill your vehicle up with new oilThere are some you should do before you change your oil. Firstly, be sure that you know where the oil pan, the oil plug, and the oil filter are located and that you have access to all of them. Be sure that you have the correct replacement filter, and enough oil. Be sure the car is secure, and turned completely off. Leaving the keys in the ignition to listen to the radio can drain your battery. Lastly, be sure that you have all the tools necessary to change the oil on your vehicle. They are listed in the article and will also be listed more concisely at the end.
Step One: Draining the oil pan.
Given that there are a variety of methods to lift a car, and sometimes this isn't even necessary, we'll move on right to draining the oil pan. There really is only one method to deal with the old waste oil that is going to drain from your car, and that is to catch it. Trash bags, and or cardboard should be used to cover the area under your car, specifically around the drain plug, but some kind of bucket is necessary as there will be multiple quarts of oil draining from your vehicle and no amount of trash bags or cardboard will be enough. Before attempting to change your oil, make sure you take every precaution including emergency breaks, and stability for your props. Also, make sure the car is not running.The first step in draining your oil pan is to locate it. Be aware that it is sometimes very easy to mistake an oil pan for a transmission pan. You can find out where your oil pan is via the net, or other sources. Some transmission pans do not have a plug to pop, but some do and if you should take out the trans pan plug by mistake, do not panic. Simply put the plug back as quickly as you can- getting your hand full of stinky transmission fluid in the process- when you see that the fluid that's draining is more red than brown or black, and top your transmission fluid off like you would if you had low oil, only via the transmission dipstick tube.This can be a huge problem however if your transmission dipstick tube is sealed off. Some transmission pans even have what looks exactly like an oil filter on them, so be wary. Once again, you need to be a little knowledgeable when changing your own oil, especially for the first time. Many people will tell you that it is easy, and it is, when you know what you are doing.Oil pans are located in different places depending on the year, make, and model of your car. Oil pans on older Hondas, for instance, are usually found toward the front of your car on either the driver or passenger side. The oil pan on many trucks and Jeeps is a little further back and directly in the center between the driver and passenger sides. There are exceptions to all of these rules, however.Once you've located your oil pan, you have to find the oil plug. The oil plug is always found on one side of the lowest part of your oil pan. There is a simple reason why this is so. Oil falls to the lowest point inside the pan, and therefore the lower the plug, the more oil can drain. Oil plugs can also come in a variety of sizes. You're pretty much covered if you have 13mm - 19 mm wrenches handy. If you don't, you can try a crescent or otherwise adjustable wrench however, this makes it much easier for you to accidentally strip out the head of the plug before you can get it loosened.Once you've got the right size wrench on there, too small won't fit and too big will strip the plug, take into account that a car gets hot, and metal expends and contracts with temperature. You should probably be attempting this when the car is cold, at least for your first few times so you don't burn yourself, but everything is also just a little less tight on colder cars. Get your wrench on there, and if you have a bigger wrench handy you can use the double wrench technique so that you don't have to use too much pressure to loosen the plug. To determine which way the plug should be spun can be confusing depending on which way the oil plug faces. If it is facing you, you should be pushing your wrench to the right. If the oil plug faces away from you, you should be pushing your wrench to the left. If the oil plug to your right, you should be pushing on your wrench, and if the oil plug is on your left you should be pulling. The double wrench technique is when you put one wrench on your plug, and then put another bigger wrench on the bottom of the first wrench to help with torque. Before the plug is loosened, you should not actually push or pull at all, but rather tap the wrench in the appropriate direction. The plug will typically be tight for a little less than a spin and then suddenly be lose, so if you're pushing or pulling, you can accidentally injure yourself. A series of firm taps on your wrench is ideal to loosen a tight plug.Once the plug is loose, it should spin out relatively easily. If it does not, the plug is most likely cross threaded, meaning the threads on the plug are not lined up with the treads in the pan. If you have to apply any amount of serious pressure to get your plug to spin out, stop, tighten it up, and bring your car to a professional. If you force a plug out, you may not be able to get it or even a replacement plug to go back in, leaving your car stalled. If you go ahead and take one out anyway and find that when you put the plug back in that it won't tighten, find a way to get to an auto parts store and inquire about a pan saver, though you really should try and avoid having to do that.You should be aware that there are metal pans, and aluminum pans. Metal pans will be darker colored, and aluminum pans will typically be lighter colored, which does you no good if you have no basis for comparison. Metal pans are more sturdy and safer to pull out a cross threaded plug. Aluminum pans on the other hand, are very easy to break. Note: If you are working on a Ford F150, the plug will most always come out a little rough, however, those oil pans are built to last, and usually just replacing the old plug is enough to fix the problem.Position your bucket under the oil plug before you loosen it too much, as oil may stream out. There is going to be oil dripping straight down, and also in a stream that can shoot a few inches so you have to be careful not to spill it. Once your bucket is in place, pop the plug the rest of the way out with your fingers. You may want to use gloves if its hot, but this limits dexterity. Ideally, you can pop the plug out and move your hand out of the way before it gets covered oil.There are different recommendations on how long to allow oil to drain, and some people will even let it drain over night. This is not harmful, but it is unnecessary. A few minutes will suffice. After a few minutes you'll notice the oil trickling straight down out of the pan, and that means it has drained enough for all practical purposes.If you and or the street under your car is not totally covered in oil at this point, you are halfway there, congratulations.There are a few things to note before you put your plug back in. Firstly, you should have already noted how well the old plug spun out. Basically, if you were not able spin it out easily with just your fingers, you should replace the plug.On every oil plug there should be a gasket. Some plugs come with one use gaskets that are built into the plug. You should replace these every time.Sometimes the car comes out of the dealership with a metal gasket on the plug. Most vehicles with the exception of diesels should use a fiber gasket on the oil plug. If the gasket on the plug is metal, replace it. Basically, you can't go wrong if you replace your oil plug and gasket every time you change your oil. Sometimes the fiber gaskets get stuck to the oil pan and you have to pry them off, using a flat head screwdriver or something similar. If this happens, replace the plug and gasket.Always have a replacement plug and gasket ready when you change your oil, just in case. It isn't hard to get one. Just go to an auto parts store, ask them for an oil plug and give them the make and model of your vehicle. Once again, plug heads can come in different sizes.When you are ready to replace the plug, ideally, you should be able to screw it back in with your fingers. If you can't, the pan might be damaged or the plug could be the wrong size. Note: if you didn't force the old plug out with a wrench, the new one will almost always spin right in if it's the right size.Spin it in with your fingers until you can't spin it anymore, then put your wrench back on it. This is important: it is possible to over tighten the plug. You should tighten it until it doesn't turn anymore with a small to medium amount of pressure on the wrench. If you tighten it too much, you can damage your oil pan, and free-spin the plug. A plug is in free-spin when you keep turning it but it will never actually tighten up. They can be a pain to get out and usually come out with extreme damage to your oil pan. Again, should you not be able to get a plug to tighten correctly into your oil pan, find another ride to the nearest auto parts store and purchase a pan saver.Once the plug is correctly tightened, you are ready to move on to step two. Congratulations.
Step Two: Changing Your Oil FilterOn most vehicles it isn't hard to spot the oil filter, however there are exceptions. It is almost always in close proximity to the oil pan, but regardless, sometimes it can be hard to find and even harder to get to. An oil filter can rest on the front of the oil pan, the back, the sides, and they face a variety of different angles. Sometimes it is better to get the filter from up top through the hood. The list go on and there is really no way to narrow the search down for you. Therefore you should consult documentation on where the oil filter is on your particular vehicle if you can't find it. Determine if you can access it before you start draining the oil.Once you've located your oil filter, it should be a simple matter of spinning it off if you have the right tool. The best tool for loosening an oil filter is a filter wrench, which looks something like this:http://www.classic-car-magazine.co.uk/articles/images/oil_change/oil_filter_wrench.jpg. There are of course other tools that will work, and there are some vehicles which by design make it near impossible to use a standard filter wrench, but not many.The oil filter, like the oil plug, is not quite as tight when the car is cold, but it can still take a little force to get it moving. Whatever tool you use, it is always best to put the pressure as close to the base of the oil filter as possible, as this is the most internally supported part of the filer. It is possible to break the skin of an oil filter open without loosening it at all. At which point, you are stuck with a filter that is both leaking, and not functional- not to mention you've just made the entire process a little more messy.After you've loosened it a bit using your filter wrench, you should be able to spin it off with your hand. A few turns on a used oil filter will not likely set it to leaking, but any more than that will, so position your bucket under it before you start. It is fine to take off the oil filter after you've drained the oil, or before, and it is also fine to add oil before you've changed the filter, just do not start the vehicle. The only oil that is draining from that filter is the oil that was already in it when you shut it off.After you spin the oil filter off, it is very important that you check the base of it and see that the rubber gasket is still attached to it. The bottom of an oil filter will have one big hole, a bunch of smaller holes, and then a circular piece of rubber around the outside of it. If that rubber is not present on the filter you just took off, it is likely stuck to the face-plate, which is the piece of metal you just spun the old filter off. If you do not remove it, it will prohibit the new oil filter from sealing correctly and when you start the car oil will shoot everywhere.If you've spun the filter off and accounted for the gasket on it, check your new filter to make sure that the gasket on it is still in tact- check for breaks, tears, dirt, or anything else that will keep it from sealing to the face plate. If the gasket on your new filter looks good, you merely have to spin the filter on. There are some vehicles which by design recommend that you fill up the new oil filter with oil before you attach it, and this does eliminate that first dry start you get after every oil change, but mostly it isn't necessary. What you do want to do is dip your fingertip in a little oil- used oil or new oil it doesn't matter- and then run your finger across the rubber gasket on your new filter. This allows the filter to spin on without snagging the gasket. Important: you do not need to use any tool to spin a new filter on. You should not even use all the strength you have in your hand. Spin it with your hand until its tight on there, and then spin it about a 3rd of a turn more. It is possible to damage the base-plate by over tightening a filter, but it is not by any means easy to do with your bare hands, so really unless you're exceptionally strong, you can probably safely tighten it using moderate to strong force if you're using just your hand. If you've done everything correctly thus far, the filter will not leak if it is snug on there.Once the new filter is on, take this time to do a recheck: put a wrench on your plug to make sure its tight, try to give you filter another little spin, if you can't using a little strength, that's perfect, and then reaffirm that the gasket from your old filter was not stuck to you're the base-plate when you spun your new filter onto it. Next, you need to use some type of degreaser and water to clean off any of the old oil that may have spilled onto various parts of your engine. Failure to do this can cause your car to smell, smoke, and in some cases, can cause small fires, depending on where the oil has spilled. Confirm now that you've adequately cleaned up behind yourself, it is important. If everything checks out, congratulations, you are ready to add the oil.
Side note: Canister Filters
A lot of new vehicles are coming out with what is called a canister filter. This basically means that instead of an external oil filter, the engine has a plastic or metal piece that spins off, and the filter itself sits inside that. This is more eco-friendly than traditional filters, but on the same note, it is a terror for people who have no training in how to deal with it. It requires a completely different set of tools (though sometimes you can actually get a canister filter off with a Filter Wrench, this is not advisable) and allows for a lot of error. Breaking or cross-threading a canister filter will be time consuming and expensive. The gaskets are actually part of the piece attached to the engine, and not the oil filter, and you need to make sure you change them every time. There are also life-time gaskets which are almost always green, and if you change one of these out, you can void your cars warranty. So, all and all, if you're car has a canister filter, you should probably bring it to a professional.
Step Three: Finally Filling Up the Oil.
Each automobile has an operational zone, or safe zone in terms of how much oil is in it. Too much oil can be just as damaging as not having enough. Fortunately, you can always drain more oil if there is too much in there, or add more oil if you need to. Standard fills for a lot of cars are in the 4 to 5 quarts range, but some take as little as 3 quarts, or even as much as 8. It is much easier to research to find the correct fill for your vehicle, but it isn't actually necessary. If, however, you know or have found the fill, merely put the correct amount of oil in using a funnel.If you want to find the fill on your own, there are a few things you need to know. Firstly, you need to know that your dipstick tube is not broken or separated at the base from your engine block. A very slight wiggle on it will usually be enough to tell- if it is lose, it is probably cracked somewhere. You also need to know that the dipstick itself is functioning. Check your oil before you change the oil to see if the dipstick is in working order, and also to note if the oil was low. If it is, you may be burning off oil, and may need to change the oil more frequently. Once you've established that your dipstick is in working order, you merely have to put in one quart at a time and check the dipstick. Contrary to what many people think, an oil dipstick only measures the top quart of oil. What does that mean? It means that it is possible to only be one quart of oil short, and for absolutely no oil to be showing up on your dipstick when you check it. So, never add more than a quart at a time before checking the dipstick. If you get oil on the very bottom of the dipstick, but it is not in the operating range, start adding half a quart at a time until it is in the middle of the operating range. Once it is, replace the oil cap.You are not finished yet.If you did not add oil to the new oil filter before installing it, then it is empty, and regardless of what the oil dipstick reads, your oil level is going to drop as soon as you start your vehicle that first time as oil is shot into the filter. Don't worry, though, if the oil is in the operating range when you start your car, your oil level will probably drop less than half a quart. This will not damage your engine unless you run it for long periods of time. So, once the cap is back on, start up your vehicle.Visually inspect the oil filter and oil plug and confirm that they are not leaking. This can be hard to do if you didn't clean up any old oil that might have hit your engine block when you were draining the old oil and changing the filter! Once you've established that everything is tight, and there are no leaks, shut the car off, and check the oil again. If it has dropped below the safe range on your dipstick, you should add a little bit at a time until it gets back to where it needs to be. Once the oil is within the operating range, and you've confirmed that nothing is leaking, congratulations, you did it, and now it is time to clean up the mess!
The List of Tools:
1: The correct size wrench (Most oil plug heads are between 13 mm - 19 mm)OrA socket wrench and socket setOrAn adjustable wrench (This seems like the way to go until you realize how easy it is to strip an oil plug out with one of these)
2: The correct size filter wrench
3: Cardboard sheets, trash bags, and a bucket
4: The correct replacement oil filter
5: The correct amount of oil (Or more)
6: Gloves or other heat resistant fabrics in case something is too hot
7: Degreaser or other cleaning products
How to Dispose of Waste Oil.
Everyone loves the environment. If you want to begin changing your own oil, you should know that in most places it is required by law that any business that sells oil changes MUST also accept and dispose of waste oil. Do Earth and a favor and bring your old oil and filter to them!
