It's time for an oil change! Conducting an oil change is perhaps one of the simplest maintenance jobs you can perform.  Its ease is not to be confused with its importance; oil is the life blood of your car.  Your vehicle's engine will fail within a year if you neglect to change the oil.  Below is a brief overview of the kind of work you should be expect when performing an oil change.  The information below is not sufficient in teaching you how to do an oil change.  You will need additional help from someone with previous experience.  Only minor knowledge of hand tools is required to perform an oil change.

An oil change can not be performed without the following:

-Wrench fitting the size of the oil drain plug.
-Two jackstands rated to support the weight of the vehicle.
-Hyrdaulic jack rated to support the weight of the vehicle.
-Several quarts of oil in the weight (viscocity) required by the manufacturer.
-Oil filter.
-Some sort of used oil collector/container.
-Car that needs an oil change. =)

    Your car should be on level ground with the parking brake tightened to its maximum.  1) Place the jack underneath the frame of your vehicle.  Make sure the pressure release valve is tightened on your hydraulic jack before lifting.   Refer to the owners manual for proper jack placement.  Hint: its the same place where you would lift the vehicle to change your tire.  Lift the vehicle, making sure the vehicle frame is properly settled on the jack.  Make a good judgement of the height.  You want to be able to fit comfortably underneath the vehicle.  Place a jackstand underneath the vehicle frame or subframe on the side of which you are lifting.  The jackstand height should be slightly lower than the lifted height of the vehicle, meaning, you should have to lower the vehicle a few inches it makes contact with the jack.  It is imperative that the jacks be place on the frame or supporting parts connected to the subframe.  These are the only parts of your vehicle that can support the weight of the car.  All other parts will readily bend and contort.  I have seen people puncture holes through their oil drain pan by attempting to support the weight of the vehicle on it.  Repeat this procedure on the other side.

 
 
 
 

2) Now the car is "lifted."  Test the integrity of the support by shaking the car.  Note: it should not shake any more than it would if it was on its tires (it should probably not shake at all).  Sometimes the car has not properly settled onto the jackstands and may jolt a bit before settling in place.  Do not be alarmed.  Retest by shaking again.  After everything is secure you may work underneath the car.  Place the used oil collector underneath the drain plug located on the oil pan.  Find a wrench that fits the oil drain plug.  3) Loosen the plug until you can finish unscrewing it with your hand.  Unscrew the plug fully.  4) The used oil will drain upon removal of the plug.  Make sure its collecting into a container and not spilling on the ground.  Used oil is a possible carcinogen and a definite environmental safety hazard.  Allow oil to drain completely; this may take a few minutes.
 

Now your oil is drained, but there is still used oil residue in the engine.  Get out from underneath the car and open your engine hood.  5) Located and unscrew the oil fill cap and flush this residue out by adding a half to full quart of new oil.  6) You will see the clean oil draining from the bottom.  After this is done, replace the oil drain plug and hand tighten with your wrench.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

*I PULLED OUT THE NO. 7 PIC BECAUSE IT WAS IRRELEVANT

8) Now locate the oil filter.  In some cars the oil filter can be conveniently unscrewed from the top with no draining required.  For the rest of us unlucky ones, it will be underneath the engine.  Move your oil collector underneath the filter.  Loosen it with your hands.  9) Allow the oil to drain into the pan for a few moments before unscrewing it completely.  Be advised, there will most likely be some oil left in the filter as well, so observe care in handling it.  10) After the oil has drained from this location as well (shouldn't take long) lubricate the rubber o-ring on the new replacement filter and hand tighten back onto the engine.  Tighten only until it is snug.  The o-ring will allow the filter to turn a bit both ways.  You should not tighten it to the point where you can't turn it clockwise anymore.

Now all work underneath the car is completed.  You can lower the car back down by reversing the process in the first step.  Your oil filler cap should still be unscrewed from when you flushed the oil out earlier.  11) Add the proper amount of oil using a funnel.  Hand tighten the cap back into place.  Your car is now ready to be driven again.  Enjoy abusing it for another 3,000miles or pampering it on your daily commute for 7,500miles before expecting another oil change.

Recommendations:  Add some sort of motor flush (K&W, Gunk, etc.) into the engine just before performing an oil change.  Follow the instructions on the back label of the container.  This will help flush out thick sludge and deposits that might not otherwise come out with your oil change.  Invest in some good oil if you're driving the car hard.  Fully synthetic motor oils work well to lubricate the engine in extreme driving conditions.  Synthetic motor oils cost about 4x more than regular oil so mom's picking up the kids from soccer practice probably won't need it.  However, dads and sons who think their new ride is a race car, might want to look into it.  Take the time to clean out your injectors with injector cleaner during oil change.  Deposits from your gasoline continually reduce the efficiency of your injectors by clogging them.  You may want to use a complete fuel system cleaner every few oil changes.  Washing your hands with some sort of heavy duty hand soap will get the dirty oil off your hand with ease.

Below are the price differences between an oil change your mom would do, and one I would do:

Cheap:
5 quarts of generic store brand oil = $5.50
1 generic store brand oil filter = $3.00
Total parts price = $8.50

Expensive:
5 quarts of Mobil 1 Fully Synthetic motor oil = $22.50
1 Mobil 1 High Efficiency oil filter = $13.00
K&W Motor Flush = $2.00
VP Racing Fuels, fuel system cleaner = $22.00
Total parts price = $59.50

To make up for the additional cost, sell massive amounts of shoes,  and you're on you way!

written by Arthur Iinuma