Disclaimer! Changing your oil can be dangerous! You will lift a heavy vehicle off the ground and be under it. Please observe all precautions when changing your oil. I am not liable for any injuries received from people misusing the information contained in this post.

The Quartermile: What you need to know
Ramps are much easier and safer for raising your car than a jack and jack stands. (block behind rear wheels)
A filter wrench is the correct tool for removing an oil filter. Install new filter ¼-½ turn after tight, by hand.
A drain pan with a spout is much cleaner than an open drain pan.
It’s best to have a friend who’s knowledgeable about cars help you the first time you attempt to change your oil if you never have before. Don’t ruin your car! If you are unsure, ask.
Emails can be sent to hooglandaxel@gmail.com or the comment section below.

By this time, if you’ve been reading, along you’ve attended a few events hopefully and hopefully bought a new vehicle (or you would have had I released these posts in the order I originally wrote them. On that note look for a future “How to buy a car” post). Now it’s time to make sure your new car is ready to go. One way to get intimate with your car is an oil change. Hopefully you referred to my last post and when you bought your new car you asked the seller when the last oil change was, then you should be aware if you car is due. Even if it’s not due yet, it will definitely need an oil change sooner or later. (If I had released that post yet)

The oil change is one of the best ways to get to know your car. It is also one of the easiest ways to work on your car and feel like you’ve really accomplished something.

Like any work, I find it easiest to handle the oil change in two stages.
Stage 1: Gather all supplies
Stage 2: Actually change the oil

You will need a good list of things to change your car’s oil. Some are nice and some are necessary. Oil is necessary, ramps are nice but not necessary.
Necessary:
New Oil (refer to your car manual for the weight of oil, ex 10w-40, conventional or synthetic)
New Filter
a way to lift the car off the ground (Lift, ramps, jack stands/jack/wheels)
socket to remove drain pan plug (Make sure it’s the right size!)
Oil filter wrench (this is not actually necessary but it’s definitely the best way to remove the filter, actually no it’s necessary)
drain pan

Really really nice to have:
clean rags
Ramps

First you will need to get your vehicle in the air. I have been making due with using my wheel changing scissor jack and jack stands. This is a much more difficult and time consuming way to do this. The nicest way, in your parking lot, is to use ramps. They are fast and relatively inexpensive. If you do use a jack the safest way to secure the car in the air is to put another set of tires under the car’s front tires. It’s nearly impossible for the car to fall off a tire. If you don’t have tires, jack stands are also very good. You should also have your park brake on, the vehicle in park and a block behind your rear tires, all to prevent the vehicle rolling away. Safety First!

Now you are ready to drain the oil . Make sure to have an oil drain pan under the drain plug and offset in the direction that the oil will shoot out. Here is a good place to mention the benefits of a drain pan that is enclosed and has a spout to help you pour out the oil.

Drain pain with spout

Stripped oil drain pan bolt (from a friend, not me!)

Next you will want to remove the oil filter. There are 2 main types of filters. Historically most vehicles used external filters, and these are still very common. More recently there are cartridge filters. These are often easier to change and less messy. For external filters, there are multiple wrong ways to go about removing this part. It is possible to use a large channel locks to grab the filter. You can also stab a screwdriver through the filter and turn using that. Both of these methods will ultimately cause you more trouble than good. You will likely puncture the filter and make a big mess with oil everywhere and expose yourself to sharp surfaces on the filter. The correct way to remove the filter is using a filter wrench. Some filters have a large socket built into the bottom of the filter. These can be good, but personally I have always had good luck with the strap style filter wrench.

Filter wrench

Now to install the new filter. First you will want to let all the oil drain out. I like to wipe off the seating surface on the engine block with a clean rag. You will want to smear some of the new oil on the sealing ring (on the filter) to ensure a good seal. Then spin the filter back on until snug, then turn between ¼ and ½ a turn, by hand. This is all the tighter the filter needs to be reinstalled. It should be snug but not so tight it is squeezing the seal out, creating a leak. This is one area where changing your own oil is good. Often a shop will over tighten the filter to where it’s nearly impossible to remove! This is to cover themselves as it’s better, for them,if it doesn’t come off than if it falls off. Same goes for the drain pan plug for that matter.
By now all of the oil should have drained out of your car. You can remove the oil and put the drain pan plug back in. Make sure to wipe all the oil off the pan. Start threading the plug back in BY HAND. In fact this is a good place to mention that all nut/bolts should always be started by hand and tightened as much as possible this way to avoid cross threading. There should be a torque spec for the pan plug. Often to snug and then ¼ to ½ is good. As you work on your car more you will definitely develop a feel for tightening nuts eventually and for most general nuts/bolts you should develop a “calibrated” hand so you shouldn’t need a torque wrench unless it’s an important vehicle part, like a head on the engine. You definitely don’t want to over tighten this bolt as you will strip the thread which will lead to an oil pan change. If you are at a level where you are tempted to tighten the pan plug til you are stripping the threads, you probably aren’t ready to perform an oil pan replacement. It’s probably best to practice tightening a bolt in a nut held in in a vise if you have never tightened a bolt in your life.
After you have put the filter and plug back in you are ready to fill the vehicle with nice new oil. I always use a small funnel to direct the oil back into the engine and not get it all over the engine!

funnel to fill crankcase

Label bad oil!

Hopefully this post has gotten you excited about working on your car. In the future I will investigate some more exciting work. But I think changing your oil is a definitely a good place to start for those who haven’t gotten their hands too dirty yet.

Ready to go!