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How
to Change your Oil
For most cars buy six quarts (US) of good oil. Here we recommend staying
with the manufacturers recommended (check your owners manual) oill for your
car. Your engine will need about five of those quarts (also check your
owners manual for the correct amount) and you keep one in the trunk in case
the car needs an extra quart during the operation of the vehicle.
About oil: I don't know what brands are available to you folks in Canada. In
the USA some of the best are Pennzoil, Quaker State, Castrol, and Valvoline.
If any of these are readily available to you, use them for long engine life.
Most brands are very good, though, and don't knock yourself out trying to
find these.
What is important is: whatever the brand you chose, stay with that brand
forever. Do not mix oil! If you chose a synthetic oil such as our Mobil1, do
not mix regular oil with synthetic oil.
Pick up a good oil filter for the vehicle. In the USA, the best filter we
now know of is the Fram Dual-Guard. When I say good filter, I mean one that
will do the job removing the carbon and such from the engine oil. Talk to
your mechanics and find out what is the best in Canada. We also have
Purolator and a significant amount of "cheap" filters. Always go with the
best. A good filter is a lot cheaper than an engine overhaul.
Pick up a decent "oil filter wrench" from you local hardware store or parts
house. There are several different style of these items and the key phrase
is "working in close quarters". Chose one that will do the job for you and
get the filter off the engine. I, personally, use a metal strap wrench
because I have never found a vehicle that it wouldn't fit or do the job.
Buy a decent oil container pan to put under the car to receive the oil.
Forget the old dishpan or bucket. You need a pan that will contain the oil
that can be closed to seal the oil after it is drained. Why? Because you are
going to be a good citizen and recycle the oil after it is drained rather
than dump it in the trash or on the ground. God gave us this earth to live
on and use, but not abuse.
Okay, you're ready to start the process. First, understand that if oil gets
on your hands or arms, it's not like acid. Mechanics use clean engine oil to
wash off dirty oil, but afterwards wash thoroughly with soap and water.
Petroleum based products are better off off the skin.
Elevate the front of the vehicle using the car jack. Elevate it only enough
to give you access to the underside of the engine and give you some room to
move a wrench. Use "jack stands" when ever possible. Never depend on your
car jack while you under the car. Too many fail and too many folks get
crushed when the car comes down.
Locate the oil fill cap on the engine (usually on the valve cover) (usually
where you add oil to the engine). Remove it and set it aside.
Locate the engine pan plug on the lowest part of the engine oil pan. If you
read the Haynes Manual, you know that the oil pan is covering the entire
bottom end of the engine. The drain plug will have a hexagonal head on it
and may be any size from 13mm to 17mm.
Locate the oil drain pan that you bought (to contain the oil) directly under
the drain plug on the engine.
Using a socket wrench or a combination wrench of the right size, loosen the
oil drain plug on the engine and remove it completely. You will get some oil
on your hands (but, who cares?).
Let the oil drain completely from the engine. Go have a cigarette, drink a
beer, or whatever. Let it drain completely into the container under the
vehicle.
Replace the drain plug on the engine oil pan. Rule of thumb is that you
tighten the drain plug tight. How tight is tight? Well, I use a combination
wrench (the closed end) and use one finger to pull it tight. When my one
finger cannot pull it any tighter, that is tight enough. If you don't have
much strength in your hands, use two fingers to pull the wrench...but no
more. That will seal the drain plug and keep you from stripping the threads
out of the oil pan.
Next move the drain pan to a point under the oil filter. Use your filter
wrench and rotate the filter counter-clockwise to remove it.
Counter-clockwise means you are looking at the filter on the engine from the
bottom. A couple of turns with the filter wrench and the oil filter will
come free from the engine. At that point, you can unscrew it with your hands
and drop it into the pan beneath it. Oil will escape from the filter and
drain down into the pan. This is normal.
Open the new filter in it's box and you will notice that it has a rubber
gasket on the base. Open one of the bottles of engine oil and take a "little
oil" from it to coat the rubber gasket thoroughly. If you don't do this, you
won't get the filter off the engine the next time. The rubber gasket will
seal itself to the engine and cause you a lot of grief.
Screw the new filter onto the filter pipe coming out of the engine and screw
it down to the base (using hands only). Turn it with your hands until it is
tight. Use the filter wrench you bought and turn the filter one quarter turn
more to seal it.
Note: Some say turn it 1/2 turn more. Smokey says 1/4 turn is sufficient and
will make it a lot easier to loosen next time.
Okay, you are done under the car. Release the jack and the whatever else you
are using to hold the car in the UP position. Remove your drained oil and
its container for proper disposition later. Put the car on the ground in
normal driving status.
Find the engine oil fill on the valve cover and add five quarts (US) of new
engine oil. Cap the oil fill hole.
Pull the engine dipstick and check the oil level. You will find that it
reads one (US) quart high. Reason: The filter is empty. These extra quart
resides in the filter when the engine is shut down.
Start the engine but do not rev the engine. Just let it idle. The light on
the dash that says "OIL" will illuminate for a brief time and them
extinguish. This is the time for your oil pump to pick up the new oil and
pressurize the system.
Let the vehicle engine run for about five minutes. This will warm up the
engine and let the oil circulate. It will also give you a chance to make
sure the filter is not leaking. Check under the vehicle and make sure you
are not leaking oil onto the pavement.
Shut the engine off. Check the dipstick on the engine and it should read
"FULL". You should have no oil leaks under the engine. The next time you
have to do all of this is 3000 miles or approximately 5000 Km. If you value
your engine and your car, you will maintain this schedule. Every Km you
drive over this figure means wear on the engine and early engine failure.
ALWAYS CHANGE YOUR FILTER
WITH EVERY OIL CHANGE!!!!
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