I've changed the oil and filter in our (now my son's) Mazda 6 (80K miles currently) in my signature about 10-12 times over the years. I'm not a super handy guy, but I use ramps, it takes almost exactly 5 qts, it's not a difficult job, and generally takes me less than an hour start to finish. He was home for college for a few weeks before returning to AZ for a internship recently so we gave it the once over (installed a new battery, new air and cabin air filters, checked/topped off all the fluids, and lastly, an oil and filter change). He's rolling on newish Continental tires so all is well.
Everything was going fine as I had drained the old oil, removed the filter, reinstalled the oil pan drain plug, and rubbed some oil on the oil filter gasket before installing a new Fram Ultra. In goes 5 quarts of Castrol EP 5W-30 and I look under the car for a few seconds to check for leaks. Seeing none, I check the dipstick and everything looks good. I fire up the car and it sounds fine for a few seconds and then all the sudden doesn't sound so good, so I shut it down. There is an Exxon Valdez level of oil on the garage floor and I have no idea where it is coming from. Upon closer inspection, a part of the oil filter gasket came unseated while I was installing it and was sticking out of the side of the filter, so oil had been coming out of that area for a few seconds. To Walmart I go for kitty litter, Purple Power, and some more oil.
I reinstalled the filter after reseating the gasket and triple checking it, and began adding the new oil 0.5 quarts at a time. It took almost 3.5 quarts, so a lot of oil had come out in a short period of time. Oil was EVERY WHERE on the bottom of the car so I removed all the under engine trays and wiped them down as well as everything I could reach under the car prior to reinstalling the belly pans. On the plus side, the bottom of the car is now near concours level clean and I will ALWAYS double check that the gasket is seated properly prior to installing the new filter. Total time from start to finish, 3.5 hours! Ugh.
Everything was going fine as I had drained the old oil, removed the filter, reinstalled the oil pan drain plug, and rubbed some oil on the oil filter gasket before installing a new Fram Ultra. In goes 5 quarts of Castrol EP 5W-30 and I look under the car for a few seconds to check for leaks. Seeing none, I check the dipstick and everything looks good. I fire up the car and it sounds fine for a few seconds and then all the sudden doesn't sound so good, so I shut it down. There is an Exxon Valdez level of oil on the garage floor and I have no idea where it is coming from. Upon closer inspection, a part of the oil filter gasket came unseated while I was installing it and was sticking out of the side of the filter, so oil had been coming out of that area for a few seconds. To Walmart I go for kitty litter, Purple Power, and some more oil.
I reinstalled the filter after reseating the gasket and triple checking it, and began adding the new oil 0.5 quarts at a time. It took almost 3.5 quarts, so a lot of oil had come out in a short period of time. Oil was EVERY WHERE on the bottom of the car so I removed all the under engine trays and wiped them down as well as everything I could reach under the car prior to reinstalling the belly pans. On the plus side, the bottom of the car is now near concours level clean and I will ALWAYS double check that the gasket is seated properly prior to installing the new filter. Total time from start to finish, 3.5 hours! Ugh.
