Changed oil today for the first time! <interesting read>

[mAdD INDIAN]

So me and my buddies decided to change oil in the 240SX today, this being the first time for us. I decided to put in Mobil1 Tri-Syntethic 5W-30 oil.

So we jacked the car up (using the jack that comes with the car and a jackstand) and had two main things to do before we put the oil in:
1) remove the drain plug bolt:- that took some time. About 30mins to get that freaking bolt out. We used a wrench that had a hole in the other end. Now in the beginning we couldn't get enough grip on the wrench and after 30mins of cursing and trying different approaches I decided to put the wrench on the bolt and put a metal rod thru the hole on the other end. And I pulled hte rod with all my might to loosen it. Then we used the socket wrench and got it out.

2) removing the oil filter:- this was the hardest! you'd think it was easy...but noooo...it had to be really tight. On top of that, my friend tightened it a little more by accident. So from the hood, we spent about 2 hours trying to take it out. Nothing would work. We tried wrapping the filter with cloth, old towels, and even newspaper. The oil filter wrench wouldn't get enough grip and there wasn't enough space to turn the filter. We stripped the rough stuff on the filter off so there was no grip. Then we decided to try from under the car (didn't look like enough room but we tried anyway). After a few attempts it didn't work..until I got smart! We wrapped newspaper over the filter and then put the filter wrench on and slid it all the way close to the engine block. And then turned. It moved a little. Then the paper got shredded. So we ripped up some more paper and used that. Then it turned a bit more and eventually got loose enough to turn by hand.

After that everything went smooth (how hard is it to put in oil filter/oil/drain plug..that was easy).

It made a 15min job take around 4 hours. Now I know why people pay mechanics to do the job! But it does feel good to know that you involved yourself with the car and it turned out successfully! (altho my pants are stained with oil!)

 

[boyRacer]

next time you do it... you'll do it in half the time... then half it again the next time...

i remember i got so relaxed about it... i put the new oil in before i put the drain plug back in...

 

[Sluggo]

Next time you get an oil filter stuck, just use the old trick of hammering a long screwdriver through it, and that gives you a little leverage.

 

[notfred]

hahahaha!!!!


BTW: When an oil filter is REALLY stuck, stab a screwdriver through it, and use the screwdriver as a handle to run it by.


Dammit, Sluggo stole my nifty screwdriver tip :|

 

[Evadman]

You can lock 2 combination wrenches together to get extra leverage using the boxed end. If you do not understand, I can take a pic for ya.

Also, so as sluggo sugjests. Screwdrivers are your friends. Hammer it though and twist.

<edit>
Damn you sluggo

 

[PsychoAndy]

This is why I pay $9.99 for someone else to do it. Granted, I dont need synthetic....but I dont have to worry about the drain plug from hell, jack stands, or filter problems. I dont get my hands dirty and the used oil gets disposed of properly.

-PAB

 

[NutBucket]

Yeah, practice and you'll have it down to a 20 minute job.

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

You can stab a screwdriver thru the filter? Are you sure that's safe? Hmm...never thought of that...that would have saved atleast 2hours!!!

Yeah we got the leverage down..but we didn't have the right wrenches or enough space underneath the car. It just makes me wonder how those ppl on those DIY car shows on TNN and Speedvision do the jobs so easily. They make things like changing cams sound so easy.

"ok bob we'll remove the head and the intake manifold. wow it comes right off! and now we'll put in the new cams!" You never see them struggling with bolts!

I find the hardest part about working on your car is actually getting the bolts/pieces out rather than the actual procedure!

 

[KokomoGST]

Hehe, very true that once you get used to it, you can do it pretty quickly. I still takes me about 30mins including getting & putting away tools because I'm anal about letting the old dirty oil drain out as completely as possible. Using an old gallon milk jug works perfect for most cars to hold the old oil. I live 2 minutes away from the town recycling center/public works so oil disposal is easy.

I'd much rather make sure it's done right with oil that I KNOW is new synthetic rather than filtered and recycled conventional that some oil change places use.

EDIT: car wrencher's secret weapon = PB Blaster

 

[Sluggo]

Yes guys, you must be fast with the screwdriver trick

It is messy though, but just the ticket to fatally stab the crap out of the filter that has been causing you headaches.

 

[Eli]

I hate to be a thread pooper, but Mobil1 Tri-Synthetic sucks. It's the worst of the synthetics. :frown:


Although I suppose it's better than the 99 cents/quart no-brand dino juice

 

[psteng19]

That's why it's so much easier to have my mechanic do it for $15.

The thing that prevents me the most from doing it myself is clean up.
Where do you discard the used oil?

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Originally posted by: Eli
I hate to be a thread pooper, byt Mobil1 Tri-Synthetic sucks. It's the worst of the synthetics. :frown:


Although I suppose it's better than the 99 cents/quart no-brand dino juice

I heard its good and better than the Castrol Syntec I had which is worse. I saw some test results which showed that Castrol Syntec shows more wear in the engine.

What's your reasoning for the Mobil1 to suck? Also I'm providing a link that has a full spreadsheet of results of oil analysis from different oils on different cars (mostly Maximas though since its from a Maxima site).

Link to the page..quite informative

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: psteng19
That's why it's so much easier to have my mechanic do it for $15.

The thing that prevents me the most from doing it myself is clean up.
Where do you discard the used oil?

Just gotta know where you can take it.. In any big city, it's not a problem.

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Originally posted by: psteng19
That's why it's so much easier to have my mechanic do it for $15.

The thing that prevents me the most from doing it myself is clean up.
Where do you discard the used oil?

We just give to our local Canadian Tire (Pepboys-like store) and they discard it for free.

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Ok Eli you were right, the new Mobil1 Tri-Syn uses the new formula which is not true syntethic. But when you guys say its crap, does that mean its bad for the engine or its good..but not as good as Amsoil?

Mobil1 in the most common oil here in Toronto. Its pretty damn hard to find Amsoil here. Quaker State, MotoMaster, Mobil1 and Castrol are most popular here. And rare brands like Redline/Amsoil are probably expensive. For reference, 1qrt of Redline motor oil costs $25CDN and their tranny oil costs $19CDN per qrt. Not cheap at all. It costs me ~$60CDN for 3 qrts of tranny oil! Not sure if I shoudl take the plunge to Redline altho I heard great things about it.

 

[thedarkwolf]

One other little oil filter trick

Instead of using a cloth or newspaper to try and get a good grip on the filter use a peice of rough sandpaper. If that fails then stab it with a screw driver .

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN

Originally posted by: Eli
I hate to be a thread pooper, byt Mobil1 Tri-Synthetic sucks. It's the worst of the synthetics. :frown:


Although I suppose it's better than the 99 cents/quart no-brand dino juice

I heard its good and better than the Castrol Syntec I had which is worse. I saw some test results which showed that Castrol Syntec shows more wear in the engine.

What's your reasoning for the Mobil1 to suck? Also I'm providing a link that has a full spreadsheet of results of oil analysis from different oils on different cars (mostly Maximas though since its from a Maxima site).

Link to the page..quite informative

Hmm. Cool links. I dunno. I was just going by the info on AMSOil's website. If you were looking for the best, you should have gotten amsoil

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
Ok Eli you were right, the new Mobil1 Tri-Syn uses the new formula which is not true syntethic. But when you guys say its crap, does that mean its bad for the engine or its good..but not as good as Amsoil?

Mobil1 in the most common oil here in Toronto. Its pretty damn hard to find Amsoil here. Quaker State, MotoMaster, Mobil1 and Castrol are most popular here. And rare brands like Redline/Amsoil are probably expensive. For reference, 1qrt of Redline motor oil costs $25CDN and their tranny oil costs $19CDN per qrt. Not cheap at all. It costs me ~$60CDN for 3 qrts of tranny oil! Not sure if I shoudl take the plunge to Redline altho I heard great things about it.

Like I said, It's going to be better than the regular mineral oil. I would pretty much treat it like normal stuff, change it if you're unsure.. and get a true synthetic. Why don't you just order it from their website? http://intershop.amsoil.com/cgi-bin/Amsoil.storefront

I'm going to be using AMSOil's Formula 4-stroke oil in the Honda GXH50 I'm going to be putting on my scooter. The old engine blew a crankcase seal.. i'd rather put a new engine on it than fix the old one.. lol

 

[rahvin]

A filter and plug on that tightly were on WAY to tight. You can thank the last Jiffy Lube place you went to for that one, they use air hammers to take the stuff off and to put it back on and they just hammer till it stops moving. Oil filters should not be more than finger tight. Lightly oil the seal with the used oil before you put it on and twist till its firmly on. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN. The bolt in the pan should be tight with a normal wrench, no tighter. You can end up striping both the filter post and the oil pan putting stuff on that tight. When you are done, check for leaks and you are good to go.

Now that you have those two items loose enough to get off without an air gun you should be able to change the oil in 30 min or less depending on how you do it. I pull my car up on a curb and jack the other side till the pan is level then drain, replace the filter, plug and refill with oil. The whole process including lifting my car takes less than 30 min.

Recycle your oil.

 

[blahblah99]

haha I remember first time I changed oil on my car it took over an hour. Now I can do it on any car in less than 10 minutes. It helps a LOT to have the RIGHT tools. Don't use the oil filter wrench with the metal band - get the plier type wrench because it works much better. The right socket for the oil drain plug also cuts out 30 minutes in trying to open it.

And alas, Don't OVERTIGHTEN either the plug or the filter. When they stop spinning freely, all you need to do is give them a 1/4 turn.

 

[bUnMaNGo]

Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
Ok Eli you were right, the new Mobil1 Tri-Syn uses the new formula which is not true syntethic. But when you guys say its crap, does that mean its bad for the engine or its good..but not as good as Amsoil?

Mobil1 in the most common oil here in Toronto. Its pretty damn hard to find Amsoil here. Quaker State, MotoMaster, Mobil1 and Castrol are most popular here. And rare brands like Redline/Amsoil are probably expensive. For reference, 1qrt of Redline motor oil costs $25CDN and their tranny oil costs $19CDN per qrt. Not cheap at all. It costs me ~$60CDN for 3 qrts of tranny oil! Not sure if I shoudl take the plunge to Redline altho I heard great things about it.

Actually there seems to be some controversy with Mobil's new formula (SuperSyn)... the stuff about their old formula (Tri-Syn) was true and that's why they were forced to remove the "fully synthetic" label off of their bottles. Anyways the thing with their new stuff is that there's something about the anti-wear agents that they use in their new formula (I didn't really understand all the chemical mumbo-jumbo in the thread). I read about it on a 19-page thread on honda-tech.com. Seems like everybody's getting to like Red-Line motor oil and MTF... people are saying some good stuff about it, although it's pretty pricey.

As for taking 4 hours to do an oilchange... hrmm, I dunno what to say about that I've been doing oilchanges since I was a little kid (my dad is a DIYer) and have done every single oilchange on my car since I got it (almost 5 years ago) and perform all general maintenance on it as well. I just performed my 90k tuneup (oilchange, tranny oil change, coolant change, brake fluid change, clutch fluid change) on my car, and my 16k tuneup on my bike (oilchange, brakes, and sparkplugs, which were a bitch). I guess you gotta be somewhat mechanically inclined to do this stuff. I don't have the guts to do a valve clearance adjustment on my car just yet because I've never done anything with the internals of an engine, and I'm scared to take off the head For taking off the filter, there's a neat filter wrench that fits onto a rachet that I use... I don't bother with those old school filter wrenches because I could never get enough room on those. For the drainplug, I just use a cheater bar (a big long metal pipe as you figured out later) with a rachet, and it comes off really easy (physics, my friend ) Oh yea, shop manuals help a bunch too when you're doing stuff like this. I bought the Haynes manual for my Integra, and the factory service manual for my CBR 600. I don't see any point in driving over to Jiffy Lube, waiting half an hour, and paying $10 for an oilchange, when I can do the same in half the time.

 

[Crab cake]

Nissan couldn't have engineered a worse place for the oil filter on the K24 engine. Shadetree mechanics should avoid this engine (also found on the Altimas) like the plague. It's an extremely reliable engine though.

 

[DeadHead]

Same with the toyota 22re engine. Man, the oil filter is a pain to get at. The wrench I have doesn't even fit these tiny filters either so I had to struggle by hand forever! Its a good engine though, no leaks no nothing, and its going on 150,000 miles.