How To Change Your Oil and Oil Filter

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Do you like to spoil your car with the highest quality oil but hate paying $80 every oil change? If you have the time and patience to follow this video you can have the best for your car at a fraction of the cost. Changing oil is not as hard as you may think!

Highlights

Changing oil is usually the first thing an amateur mechanic will learn how to do. But why go through the effort or mess of learning to do it yourself? Because you will know that it was done right! The last time I let someone change the oil on the Civic they added double the amount of oil and didn’t bother to check it! Absolutely ridiculous.

Oil is the most important thing for your engine. It needs to be changed. You need to make sure you keep the appropriate amount of clean oil in your engine at all times.

What You'll Need

Here's a summary of all the parts you will need for this video:

Oil Drain Pan: There are two main types of drain pans: open and closed (shown above). I like the closed ones since you can drain the oil, seal up the container and take it straight to the oil recycling facility. If you go with the regular pan you can pour the oil into laundry detergent containers, milk jugs, or another oil container.

Oil Filter: I only use premium oil filters with my favorites being the Mobil 1 and K&N oil filters. Call it brand loyalty. Call it paranoia. But you have a choice too: go with a cheap brand (tissue and paper stuffed in a metal cylinder) found at most stores or go with the premium, engineered product. At the least, the filter should have a check valve. This check valve will ensure the oil doesn't drain out of the filter when the car is off which in turn will help reduce dry start conditions.

Oil: If you have a relatively new car I would definitely go with a full synthetic motor oil. I notice an immediate increase of 1 to 2 miles per gallon with the Mobil 1 Full Synthetic. If you have higher mileage I would be a little hesitant to switch over at this point: go with a synthetic blend that says "high mileage" on it.

Funnel: I like to have a funnel for each type of engine fluid. For example, I have one funnel for oil and a separate one for coolant. Before each use I clean the inside and tip of the funnel since dirt left in these places will flow straight into the engine.

Ratchet/Socket Set or Wrench: in most cases the only bolt you’ll have to touch is the drain bolt. Your basic tool kit should have the proper wrench or socket but sooner or later you may want to invest in high quality automotive tools .

Jack/Jackstands or Ramps: I showed you how to raise your car using jackstands in the last episode. A faster and easier method is to use a set of ramps. There are many types but I would recommend these ramps because they are light, strong and have a gradual slope so even my lowered car can make it up them with little hassle.

Rags and Newspaper: It can get messy.

Planks: I got a plank from Home Depot in the scrap section for a dollar or two and then cut it in half.

Applications

You can apply the techniques shown in the video to most vehicles. Some European cars will have a different type of filter. In that case you’ll want to pick up a repair manual specific to your vehicle.

Go ahead and type your car and the words "repair manual" in the search box below:

Notes and Warnings

If you are getting your filter from a parts store then ask them to double-check that it is the right one for your car. While filming the video I ran into this exact problem. Luckily, I could take my other car back to the parts store and get the right filter.

Learn how to raise your car safely