Newbie getting started with changing oil

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by greenjp:
I heartily recommend "Rhino Ramps", which are plastic/fiberglass, cost ~$30, and can be found at any good auto parts or hardware store. No worries about the car falling on you, and it takes all of 5 seconds to get the car on and off them.

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Heartly agree. For the Acura you need to set a 2 x 4 or a 2 x 6 piece right in front of the ramp or your bumper will catch on the ramp.

IO honestly think you will need the ramps..I used to change the Cavalier from up top. My Sentra is worse than that and the Acura is worse still. But reach down there and if you can touch it with your hand then the tool I suggested will work. For a newbie it might be tough though.

 

[beanoil]

quote:

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Originally posted by HALSTEADTW:
I've never met a car yet that I had to jack up to change the oil. I'm not familiar with this Acura of yours but if you're like me, long arms, you might just be able to go with out jacks!(**** of a lot safer)

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You would have to be really thin to get under my Focus, or have arms 4 feet long!

 

[johnd]

For years when I lived with my parents I never jacked up the car to change the oil. They had a high curb that you could drive onto from the driveway. It left about a 20" space under the car. Safe as could be and plenty of room-just remember to set the brake and or chock wheels before you get under it.

 

[greenjp]

quote:

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Originally posted by Al:
Heartly agree. For the Acura you need to set a 2 x 4 or a 2 x 6 piece right in front of the ramp or your bumper will catch on the ramp.

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Might not need the 2x4. My other car is a Saab 9-5 Aero, which has a pretty low front spoiler. It clears the Rhino Ramps by
jeff

 

[wavinwayne]

FWIW,

Here is my over-technical oil change routine on my '00 VW GTI 1.8T

1. Drive car onto Rhino 8000 ramps in my garage. Put cark in park. Turn engine off.

Engage parking brake. Chock rear wheels.
2. Put on a pair of rubber surgical gloves
3. Go to my toolbox & obtain my 3/8" ratchet, 4" extension, 17mm socket, & cup-style oil filter wrench, & put each of them in an easily accessible location from under the car.
4. Raise the vehicle's hood.
5. Remove oil dipstick & oil filler cap & set both aside.
6. Crawl under the front of the car & remove the plastic splash shield, & set it aside.
7. Place a large piece of a cardboard box on garage floor under oil pan.
8. Place oil drain pan on top of cardboard.
9. Remove oil drain plug & drain oil into drain pan.
10. Replace drain plug, once oil has slowed to approx. 1 drip per second. Don't overtighten. Just "snug" it.
11. Move oil drain pan & cardboard to be directly below oil filter.
12. Place 4" extension & cup style oil filter wrench onto my 3/8" ratchet.
13. Place filter wrench onto filter & turn counter-clockwise until oil starts flowing out. (Don't remove yet)
14. Once oil has slowed to a few drips/second, remove oil filter. Be ready to pour oil from filter into drain pan.
15. Wipe oil filter mounting base clean with a clean rag. Make sure old filter gasket came off.
16. Fill oil filter approx. 3/4 full with new oil & oil the mounting gasket on the new filter. (Personally, I wouldn't pre-fill a sideways or upside down mounted oil filter)
17. Screw on new oil filter until the oil filter mounting gasket touches filter mounting base on engine. Then turn 3/4 of a revolution.
18. Fill engine with specified quantity of new oil. (Double check that step #10 was performed before filling with oil)
19. Replace oil filler cap & oil dipstick. Check under car again to make sure oil is not pouring out.

20. Replace lower engine plastic splash shield.
21. Remove all work materials from under the vehicle.
22. Triple check that oil is not leaking from anywhere under the car.
23. Remove chocks from rear wheels
23. Start engine.
24. Assuming no obvious major engine noises or warning buzzers, disengage parking brake & slowly back car off ramps. If you are on a slick concrete floor, the Rhino ramps will shoot out from under the car. It's sort of aggravating to me. I'm working on a solution.
25. Put all tools back in their respective storage places, discard waste materials (gloves, old rags, oil bottles, etc.)
26. Take used oil to an approved collection center.
27. Congratulate yourself on a job well done. Oh yeah, now is when you grunt, or make your favorite "Manly Man" noise.

[ August 23, 2005, 10:37 AM: Message edited by: wavinwayne ]

 

[bmwguy]

To be honest, pay someone to change your oil/filter. For $20.00 at Wally World they can do if for you.

I am not discounting your abilities or your determination to work on your own car. But changing your oil can be a mess regardless. Plus you need to dispose of your used oil (and oil filter) properly. You cannot simply toss the filter out in the trash.

Spend your energy in the oil asle (next to me!) and study the brands. That way you can make an educated decision at change time.

 

[sjlee]

I usually put two sets of jackstands under my car... one set to hold the car up and the other set as a backup in case the first set fails.

quote:

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Originally posted by daemonite:
My neighbor almost died under his car when his cheap ($9.99) jackstands broke.

Luckily he survived but he injured his spine.

Get ramps or buy really good jackstands and keep the jack in place as a safety. Make sure your car's emergency brake is all the way activated and if it's a manual transmission keep it in gear, if its an automatic make sure its in park.

Most likely since it's a honda engine you will need to raise it off the ground.

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[sjlee]

quote:

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Originally posted by bmwguy:
Plus you need to dispose of your used oil (and oil filter) properly. You cannot simply toss the filter out in the trash.

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Most oil changing places will take your used oil and filter for free. In case you didn't know, most garages sell their used oil which is then recycled.

A motorcycle shop in town will take used oil and uses it to heat their shop in the winter.

 

[martyi]

I think bmwguy gave you good advice. Buy a good filter (such as Honda's Filtech or Nippon - NOT their Honeywell/Fram filter) for about $7. Get 5 qts. of Havoline or Motorcraft 5W20, or whatever the manual calls for (these oils are all you need for most 5,000 OCIs and only extended drains or very unusual driving conditions would warrant synthetics). You can get your oil for about ten bucks, often even less on sale.

WallyWorld will do the labor for about $12. They may not be perfect but there is a nationwide policy at their service departments to have supervisors even double check things like oil changes and they'll usually do as good a job as anyone else. So for less than $30 you get to choose the oil and filter YOU want to use and never have to worry about the work or disposal of materials.

If you just want to mess around with your vehicle by doing oil changes then get a Fumoto oil drain and the work will be very easy (get the model with nipple so you can direct your oil into a bucket with no spillage). Also, Honda vehicles usually require an adaptor which you can get from Fumoto for around $6. Fram makes a "SureDrain" device which also takes the place of the normal drain plug and is suppose to be pretty good too.

 

[oilguy3]

quote:

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Originally posted by pmwalter:
Filter wrenches are for girls. Just grab that hot slippery oil filter and twist it off with your bare hands. It'll put hair on your chest.

But most of all, be safe! I remeber a guy that slowely suffocated to death when his car slipped off his jacks and crushed his chest when he was working under his car. It took him a few minutes to die. He scratched the ground with his fingernails to get out but couldn't. He couldn't yell to his wife a few feet away because his chest was compressed. This is when I used to work with the Medical Examiner's office (Coroner) back in college.

So be safe and enjoy your new hobby. Now that I've scared you off a bit.

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Thanks for that picture, I'm going to puke. Now I'm going to get the shakes every time I change my oil.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

quote:

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Originally posted by pmwalter:
Filter wrenches are for girls. Just grab that hot slippery oil filter and twist it off with your bare hands. It'll put hair on your chest.

But most of all, be safe! I remeber a guy that slowely suffocated to death when his car slipped off his jacks and crushed his chest when he was working under his car. It took him a few minutes to die. He scratched the ground with his fingernails to get out but couldn't. He couldn't yell to his wife a few feet away because his chest was compressed. This is when I used to work with the Medical Examiner's office (Coroner) back in college.

So be safe and enjoy your new hobby. Now that I've scared you off a bit.

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Man you guys are scaring me. I just exchanged my ramps a few days ago for a pair of jackstands. And I was going to go change the oil this coming Saturday too. Now I'm getting scared of using the jackstands.

 

[427Z06]

Most Honda engines use an aluminum crush washer on the oil drain plug. It should be replaced whenever the drain plug is removed. If you don't replace it, the old reused washer may leak a few drops of oil when the car sits for any length of time. The local Honda dealer will have them, but if they charge more than $.50 for one, I'd look for another source locally or buy a bunch off the internet.

One caveat, Honda likes to use aluminum oil pans so be careful not to overtigthen the drain plug or you'll strip the threads. A torque wrench would be best, but if your careful, you can do without. Just remember YOU'RE NOT TIGHTNING A WHEEL LUG NUT. Screw the drain plug in by hand and then GENTLY tighten with a wrench until you feel a moderate amount of resistance...or as someone else said.."just snug it".

Good luck.