Changing oil

So you want to change your oil. If you haven't done this before, it isn't as messy or as hard as some people would lead you to believe. Lets go over some of the things you will need.

1. A set of car ramps. This is mainly for low clearance vehicles such as cars to give you room to be able to move around comfortable. If you don't have a set of ramps, you can always always use a jack and jack stands to give you clearance also.

2. A chock for one of the rear tires. This helps minimize the chance of slipping or rolling when the car is up on a ramp or on a jack.

3. A Ratchet, short extension (1 or 2 inch), and socket to fit the oil pan drain bolt. Older vehicles will use an SAE measurement like 9/16" or 5/8". Newer vehicles will use a metric one like 11 or 12 mm on average. You can use a wrench if you want.

4. Filter wrench. This is designed to take off oil filters than were placed on too tightly.

5. Oil collection pan. You can go way old school like my dad when I was growing up and just use an old oversized pasta pan, but you can buy one that has a grating in it so even if you drop the drain bolt, you won't need to be searching around in the oil for it.

6. Teflon tape. This is a white tape with no glue on it that is used to maintain thread integrity by keeping dirt and moisture off the threads of bolts.

7. Rag, oil, and oil filter. You will want to check your car manufacturer's guide for how much oil and what type of oil filter to use with your vehicle.

Now that we have our tools and parts, lets get to changing the oil.

1. Drive the car up the ramps. The easiest way to accomplish this is the following; park the car with a foot or two left in front. Place the ramps in front of the two front tires, making sure that tires are straight. Gently apply pressure to the gas pedal and ease the car onto the top of the ramps. It is good to have someone assist you with positioning. When the car is on the ramps, correctly placed and none of either tire is hanging off, you can place the car in park and engage the hill / parking brake. Now go ahead and use your wheel chock behind one of the tires.

2. Turn the engine off. I know, to steal from Bill Engvall, this is a "Here's your sign" instruction. But I have seen people try to do this before. You may also need to allow some time for the engine to cool down, so take a few minutes and read through the rest of these instructions.

3. Open the hood and loosen the oil fill cap. This will allow the oil to drain more quickly because air can be displaced. Also this minimizes the chance of oil squirting off in some direction when you remove the drainage bolt.

4. Place the drain pan underneath drainage bolt. I know, but I've seen people miss this step also.

5. Use your ratchet or wrench to remove the oil drainage bolt. You may not see oil start to flow until the bolt is most of the way out. Once you have the bolt off, use your rag to clean it off. Take your teflon tape and wrap some clockwise around the threads of the bolt and break it off.

6. After the oil is finished draining, put the drain pan bolt back in and tighten it with your ratchet or wrench. A good rule of thumb for how tight to make it is to use the same amount of force to put it on as you used to take it off.

7. Slide the oil pan underneath the oil filter. Try to remove it by hand if you are able to. If not, then use your filter wrench to break the filter off then you can remove it by hand. If you have a screwdriver or awl handy, this is always a good time to break the anti-flow back valve on the old filter before letting it rest in the oil pan.

8. Before placing the new filter on, take and dip your finger into one of the new oil bottles and run your finger over the rubber seal on the base of the filter. This will provide a nice even seal.

9. Put the new filter on and tighten it by hand. Once you get resistance tightening the filter, turn it another 3/4 turn and the oil filter is reinstalled.

10. Go ahead and add your oil now. Since you've already checked your owners manual, you know how much oil is needed, so go ahead and start filling. I normally use a funnel to put in oil so then oil isn't getting dripped onto the engine and creating a real stink. After the oil is back in, replace the fill cap. Yes I want your hood to stay open still.

11. Remove you tire chock, start your car, disengage your parking brake and back your car off the ramps.

12. Check all your fluids. To check your transmission fluid the car needs to be running. Also watch underneath your car to make sure you do not have oil leaking.

13. After you're certain all your fluids are good to go, then close the hood, turn your car off. Write down the date you did the oil change and what the mileage was.

14. Recycle your oil by taking it to the fire station or your local auto parts dealer or dealership to have it recycled.

14. Over the next couple weeks pay close attention to the oil level to make sure you don't have a leak.

However, if you don't want to do that, you can always have us change your oil.