Car Care
Oil Change for Novices
Step-by-step oil change basics
Created by Mac DemereChanging your vehicle’s oil is easy, useful, saves money, and is extremely rewarding when measured by the number of interior household projects avoided.
Here’s another reason changing your own oil may be better than having it done at a dealership or quick-change place: Rather than draining the oil through the plug in the bottom of the oil pan, many such places suck the used oil out through the dipstick tube. Making your engine last longer is not among the reasons for choosing this process. Instead, it speeds up the process and eliminates the chance the mechanics will improperly—or forget to—reinstall the drain plug.
A lot of pros and do-it-yourselfers believe letting the oil run from the drain hole is more beneficial. Personally, I go further: After letting the oil completely drain out and with the drain plug still removed, I pour in a cup of new oil to help flush out as much old oil as possible.
Tools and Parts
The first step in any mechanical project is to make sure you have all the necessary tools and replacement parts. To prepare for an oil change, here’s what you’ll need:
— Floor jack (the one that came with car is just fine).
— Professionally made jack stands or purpose-built ramps, designed to accept the weight of your vehicle. (With ramps, you don’t need a jack or jack stands.) Never crawl under a vehicle supported only by a jack. And don’t bet your life on makeshift jack stands such as stumps or ice chests.
— Wheel chocks. Here’s a use for those four-by-fours and cinderblocks you were planning on using as jack stands.
— Box-end wrench, the kind that looks like a ring connected to a length of steel, or socket and ratchet to fit the oil drain plug. Make sure that not only is the wrench the correct diameter, but that it will work in the confines under your car.
— Combination oil drain pan and recycling container. Get the biggest one available, especially if you’re working on an SUV with a skid plate. There’s no telling where all that oil will go.
— Cardboard or newspaper to catch the oil that goes places you didn’t expect.
— Oil dry or kitty litter to clean up the oil that went further than you expected in your wildest imagination.
— Spare oil drain plug and a replacement gasket for said plug. Old gaskets leak and drain plugs have a habit of being sucked into the oil drain container or transported to another dimension.
— Oil-filter wrench. The tight confines of today’s engine compartment have ended the days of universal oil filter wrenches. This includes the redneck universal oil filter wrench: a long screwdriver which we punched through the filter and used it to spin it off. Ask your auto parts store for recommendations.
— Oil. Check your owner’s manual for recommended oil specifications. Unless you’ll encounter extreme conditions and have advice from a professional, stick to exactly what your vehicle manufacturer recommends. Increasing viscosity or viscosity spread may do more harm that good. Most vehicles use four to five quarts unless you have a Porsche in which case you may need up to 10.
— Oil filter. Just like oil, it’s dumb to buy a cheap filter. Ask the auto parts store personnel to make sure you’ve got the right one.
— Gloves. Or asbestos-tipped fingers.
Step-by-Step Process to Change Your Engine Oil
Step 1: Start the engine to warm the oil. It has to be warm enough so that it will it flow freely from the engine, and it needs to be stirred up enough to make sure as much bad stuff as possible is suspended in the oil. A rule of thumb: Drive around for about 10 minutes.
Step 2: Give the oil a few minutes to fully drain into the oil pan. (The time it takes to do steps 3 through 6 will be plenty).
Step 3: Position the car over cardboard and/or newspaper.
Step 4: Pull the parking brake hard and place blocking devices in front of and behind both rear tires.
Step 5: Jack up the car and set it down on jack stands. Or drive it up on the ramps. (If you use ramps, do this step before step 4.
Step 6: Place the oil drain pan where you think most of the oil will go. Open the catch-pan’s access hole(s).
Step 7: Loosen the oil drain plug. If it doesn’t come free right away, ensure you’re turning it counterclockwise. For those who’ve never used an analog clock, this means “rotate the plug to the left.” Perhaps better said: “Turn it the same way you would to open a beer bottle.” You may have to employ extra leverage to get the plug loose if the previous mechanic over tightened it. A suggestion: Place a length of pipe over the ratchet handle. If the plug still won’t budge, double-check that you’re trying to turn the plug counter-clockwise. Open a beer upside down if you’re still not sure. If you’re turning the plug the correct way and employing a cheater bar won’t make it budge, stop and take the car to a professional.
Step 8: Remove the drain plug. When it comes free from the oil pan the plug will be followed by a torrent of near-boiling oil. This means the best you can do is roughly aim where the plug falls. This is why you bought a spare. And why the cardboard and newspaper is on the floor.
Here’s a critical tip: If you must leave the car after you’ve drained the oil and before you have completely finished the project, place a piece of duct tape across the steering wheel and write on it “Do Not Drive. No Oil.” Put another piece of duct tape over the key slot or engine start button, take all the keys with you and look the doors. This will not deter teenagers.
Step 9: Partially remove the dipstick and oil filler cap to eliminate any suction that might impede the flow of the old oil.
Step 10: When no more oil flows out, check the plug-mounting surface for remnants of old gasket. Then reinstall the drain plug, using a new gasket. The plug should screw in smoothly, or you’re cross-threading it. Or the previous mechanic cross-threaded it. (It’s possible to correct this situation with a tap: Ask your auto parts store.) The plug needs to be tight, but not so tight as to crush the gasket. (Put the cheater bar away before you reinstall the plug!)
Step 11: Reposition the oil catch pan and remove the oil filter. While it may be only warmish on the outside, the oil filter will still contain hot oil.
If your oil filter is fitted to the engine open-end up (or almost open end up), here’s a good deed you can do for your motor: Partially fill the filter with new oil. When you start the engine, the oil pump won’t have to fill an empty filter, and lubricant will get to engine surfaces quicker.
Step 12: After making sure there’s no old gasket material stuck to where the new filter gasket embraces the engine, smear a bit of oil on the new filter’s gasket and screw it on. Do not over-tighten it! I don’t have very strong hands, so I get it as tight as I can with one hand then crank in another quarter to a third of a turn using both hands. Do not use the oil filter wrench!
Step 13: After double-checking that the drain plug is in place, fill the engine with the amount of oil recommended by your owner’s manual. Give the oil a minute to drain into the pan and check the oil level with the dipstick. It’s very bad to put in too much oil. The crankshaft whipping through excess oil turns it into a froth that makes it difficult for the oil pump to maintain proper pressure.
This may be over-kill for a street engine, but in order give the oil pump a chance to fully fill the filter and oil lines before the engine starts running, I turn the key to the start position long enough to make the engine turn over a bit but not so long as to allow it to start. (With our race engines, we manually turned the oil pump until full pressure showed up on the gauge.) If it does start, I switch off the ignition immediately. I repeat the process a couple of times before actually starting the engine. Do NOT touch the accelerator during this process. If the low-oil warning light doesn’t go out in six seconds, shut the engine off, double-check the engine oil level and look for leaks. If the dipstick shows plenty of oil and you see no leaks, start it again. If the oil light again fails to stop glowing in another six seconds, have the car towed to a mechanic.
Step 14: After the oil light has extinguished, let the engine idle for a minute or two and shut it off. Crawl under the car and check for leaks. If you have an SUV with skid plates, it’s likely some used oil collected on top of the plates and may drain off. Recheck the oil level with the dipstick.
Step 15: Let the car down off the jack stands.
Step 16: Take the used oil to the recycler or to an auto parts store that accepts used oil.
Step 17: If the next day, you find leaks, inspect the spilled oil. If it’s black, it’s probably used oil that got trapped on top of something. If it’s clean, look around the oil filter and oil drain plug for signs of clean oil. Clean oil means an active leak. If the leak is around the oil filter, try tightening it another quarter turn. If you can’t tighten it, it’s likely that you over-tightened it the first time and damaged the gasket. Remove the old filter and install a new one, but this time don’t crank so hard on it. If the fresh oil is from around the oil drain plug and the plug is already tight, you get to start back at step one. Get a new oil drain plug and gasket.
Here’s a warning: Changing your own oil is a simple, gateway activity to other easy, useful, money-saving, care-car projects.