How to change your own motor oil

The decision to change your own oil or take it to a discount service station is a debatable one. On one hand, you can simply hand someone around $30 and wait 30 minutes while service station personel crawl around under your vehicle, changing out the oil, lubing all the joints that need grease, and hopefully checking important fluid levels. This is quite appealing to many people especially since, for only $30, a person is all but guarantied to stay clean through the ordeal (unless you happen to spill the complementary coffee on yourself). For others (for whom this article was written), trusting a non-certified technician to work on your vehicle may put butterflies in your stomach, or the couple dollars you would save by doing it yourself is considered money well earned.

The Argument for Changing Your Own Oil

There are a number of good reasons for taking your vehicle in: it is new and the dealership offers free or discounted oil changes; taking your vehicle to a discount service station costs nearly as much as doing it yourself; your talents lie in areas other than mechanics, making you a potential threat to the well being of your vehicle; etc. But there are also reasons that are often overlooked for doing the oil change yourself. The most valuable reason is that it forces you to spend some time with your vehicle, looking under the body and the hood. This will eventually familiarize you with some of the mechanics and allow you to notice issues developing long before they become breakdowns. You will also have the satisfaction of knowing that everything was done properly and that some technician did not forget to tighten the drain plug (you will be double checking that right?).

Before the Oil Change

Obtain the following items before you start changing the oil:

• Drain pan (for the used oil)
• New oil (you will need to determine which “weight” and how much oil - ask the local auto-parts store for help, or refer to your owner’s manual)
• New oil filter (local auto-parts store can help you here as well)
• Properly sized wrench for the drain plug
• Paper towels or rags to wipe off excess oil
• For some vehicles: a jack and stands (never crawl under a vehicle with only the jack holding it up - always have the car supported with stands)

Oil Change Procedure

A different version of the following procedure can be found in the service manual for your specific vehicle. For any repairs, it is recommended that you purchase one of these at your local auto-parts store. They run $20 to $30.

1. With the park brake on and the vehicle on level ground, jack it up (larger vehicles may not need raising), and place the stands somewhere strong enough to support the weight of the vehicle. Then, slowly lower the vehicle so that it rests on the stands (many jacks will suddenly lose pressure without warning, and the vehicle can come down on top of you - this is why stands are extremely important!).
2. Identify the oil drain plug (it should resemble a bolt and be located on the lowest part of the engine near the bottom of the oil pan). Place the drain pan directly underneath the oil drain plug.
3. Remove the oil drain plug. Be prepared for oil to flow up to 2 or 3 inches from the side of the oil pan on oil pans that have the oil drain plug located on the side.
4. Once all the oil has drained, wipe off the drain plug and reinstall it being careful not to cross-thread it. Snug it up tight.
5. Locate the oil filter and place the drain pan directly beneath it.
6. Unscrew the oil filter and place upside-down in the drain pan (if oil filter is too tight, auto-parts stores carry an oil filter wrench). Make sure that the rubber seal comes off with the filter - if not, remove the rubber seal as well.
7. Wipe off the area where the oil filter was, and install the new one. Once you feel the rubber seal of the oil filter come in contact with the engine, give it another 1/4 to 1/2 turn. Avoid over-tightening it because it will be very difficult to get it off the next time.
8. Remove the pan and all tools from under the vehicle. Jack the vehicle up and remove the jack stands. Then lower the vehicle.
9. Identify the oil fill tube (this is different from the oil dipstick).
10. Carefully fill the vehicle to the proper level with the proper type of new oil (a funnel may greatly help here).
11. At this point, you are complete with the oil change. After re-capping your oil fill tube, start your engine, let it run for a couple seconds (say 15), then shut it off, and check for leaking oil under the vehicle (other than that created by accidentally missing the oil fill tube while refilling your vehicle with new oil).
12. Check for the proper oil level on the dipstick (pull out the dipstick, wipe the oil off it, place it back in, and pull it out once more to check the oil level on it).
13. It is highly recommended to do a lube job on your vehicle at this time. If a lube job is never done, and your vehicle is the type that needs this maintenance; then eventually, important components in your car will fail. A lube job involves crawling around under your vehicle and looking for all the Zerk fittings and pumping some grease into them with a grease gun. Every vehicle is different, so please use a service manual to help you with this task. You can also type “Zerk fitting” into an Internet search engine to get a picture, and then go hunting for them. Most are located around your front wheels for lubrication to the suspension and steering joints.
14. Take the used oil to an oil recycling location. Many auto-parts stores will also take your used oil for no charge.