I'm writing this because I keep seeing the same old debates in un‐related threads about changing your oil vs paying someone else to change it. I also see the same debates of how of how long you should wait between oil changes and a few other trivial details that people love to squabble about. I am a mechanic and I have worked for several different chain‐store 'shops' (if you (if you could call them that.) They rarely care about your car and often just often just want to shuffle it in and out of the of the bay as quickly as possible to make more money on the next oil change. (I eventually quit because I ethically I could not work for such lousy companies while they preached about excellent service in the front room.) I have built and modified many different cars, and currently work as a fleet mechanic for several different rental car companies (freelance) and do side‐ jobs when I have the time. Now we shall begin..... I recommend you change your oil yourself. The financial savings may be negligible to you, but changing your own oil is smart for several reasons.
1)It puts you in 'touch' with your car. However mechanically illiterate you may be, working on your car helps you understand how it works more completely. 2)YOU are overseeing the project including the oil/filter used, torque on the filter and drain plug, and YOU can make sure the whole process is done correctly. (I have seen many 'shops' collect payment for the 'premium' oils and filters, only to use cheap/bottom‐shelf products shelf products when the customer isn't looking.) 3)Every time you change your oil, you have a few minutes to look over the entire machine for any leaks, soon‐to‐be‐problems, damage to parts, failing/failed parts, etc. 4)Changing your own oil has been scientifically proven to boost testosterone levels in test subjects, male and female. I have done maths on it and i trust the researchings. 5)Working on your own vehicle is an open invitation for hot babes to come up and flirt with you because they may or may not have a car problem of their of their own that they need help with. Regardless of their of their own vehicular agenda, they want your dink and it is your civic duty to give them the opportunity to indirectly 'request' it by giving them the opportunity to approach. wait wut? Now for the procedure I recommend
1)go for a short drive and bring the car up to operating temperature (hot oil is more viscous) 2)always try to unscrew the filter first (if you (if you can't get the filter off, you don't want to drain the oil because then you are stuck with an incomplete project and can't/shouldn't drive with an old dirty filter (even if you if you replace the oil.) if the if the filter won't budge, use a filter wrench. if that if that doesn't work, large water‐pump pliers, if that if that doesn't work ‐ cuss at it with the foulest words you know and stab a
screwdriver through it for leverage. This works better when there is an audience of neighbors, of neighbors, coworkers, bosses, aforementioned‐hot‐babes, etc.) 3)next, remove the oil filler cap (this helps drain the oil more quickly, taking more contaminants with it.) 4)remove the drain plug and try not to get your hands covered in hot oil when it drains into the pan. (hot oil has NEVER burned me on conventional cars/trucks. Maybe on high‐performance motorcycles the oil gets hotter, but I have NEVER been burned by 'hot' oil coming out of the of the pan. If the If the vehicle is at normal operating temperature, there is no reason for the oil to be scalding hot. It will be hot, but it will not cause burns and blisters unless you soak your hand in it for a bit.) I like to remove the drainplug most of the of the way, then use my hand to press in on it while I unthread it the last little bit. Then you can simply pull it out of the of the way and not get a single drop of oil of oil on your hands. (And make sure your drain pan is big enough to catch ALL the oil in the motor otherwise you will have a mess to clean up.) 5)wait for three seconds between drips. This is very important ‐ as recommended by 99% of service of service manuals, but overlooked 99% of the of the time by whoever is doing the oil change ‐ especially in 'shops' where there are many cars that need 'service' waiting outside and time is tight. As the oil drains it will slow to a drizzle, then to individual drips. You should wait until you have a FULL THREE (or 4) second count between drips. The stuff you stuff you want OUT of your of your motor is CONCENTRATED THE MOST HIGHLY in these last few drips. Leaving a 'little' oil left in the motor and putting the drain plug back in negates most of the of the purpose of the of the oil change. Use the time waiting to overlook the entire machine again for any leaks/etc. Preventative maintenance is much cheaper than repair work. 6)Torque the plug to recommended torque ‐ easily found in the manual or after a 10 second google search with your make/model. Pro‐tip: the torque is a LOT less than you think. Screw on the new filter. Do not over tighten the filter ‐ the rubber gasket actually melts when the motor heats up and causes a tight hermetic seal. OVER TIGHTENING THE FILTER WILL CAUSE YOU MAJOR HASSLES NEXT TIME. The rule here is snug PLUS another half turn. half turn. Not as tight as you can make it because it only gets tighter when it heats up. (then check the drain plug is in again because you feel very stupid when you add 5 quarts of oil of oil ‐ check the dipstick, see no oil on it, look under the car and see your five quarts trickling into the storm drain down the street.) 7)Add new oil to the recommended capacity (found on the same page of your of your manual/internet search as the drainplug torque rating.) 8)Start the car and let it idle for alteast 1 minute (or go for a short drive.) This spins the oil pump and circulates the oil into the new filter and through the empty oil passages. 9)Turn the car off, wait 1 minute for the oil to drip off the off the internals (crank/rods/piston skirts/etc) and collect in the oil pan of the of the motor. 10)Check the oil level on the dip stick and add oil to bring it up to the 'full' mark. Some ppl recommend
bringing i halfway between the 'full' and 'empt ' mark but nowadays ma y older vehi les burn or leak a little oil between maintenance so having a little 'extra' oil is a good buffer. (Having too much oil in our motor will lessen your overall HP a d TQ due TQ due to more drag/ ass on the r tating asse bly. Having oo little oil
ill do intensi e damage t ALL INTERN L COMPON ENTS that will take MASSI E work to fi
later on down the roa (valve seals, bearings, valvetrain, piston rings, etc). 11) After 50 miles, check the oil level and look f r any leaks. IIf everything If everything still looks go d ‐ congratulations now you know the proper proc dure for oil hanges and o tell your f iends. Side notes
How man How many miles y miles betw een changes
Simple answer ‐ it's up to you. Complex answer ‐ I do it every 3k
iles (4800k ) because changing your il is the SIN LE BEST THI G
you can do for your car's health. If ou want to
ait 20k mile s between oil changes, go for it. If you If you want
to chang oil every 1k miles, go for it. I'm not here to debate personal preference. Eve y time a mo or turns over, it creates
etallic parti ulate as the metal pieces move agains t eachother. These metal
shavings re carried in the oil and continue to grind away at he moving i ternal parts. Combustion gasses bl w past the piston rings o ALL motors and contami nate the oil
ith unburned fuel, carbon,
and water. (Yes water is a byprodu t of combus of combus ion, even if nly in small mounts.) When carbon/water/fuel make it into your oil, it's visc sity is reduc ed and it doesn't 'stick' to the internal as well, leading to oil sta vation and increased wear and tear. (
hen your c r sounds 'ro gh' in the
morning it's because the oil has all dripped off t off t e internals vernight an it takes a fe oil pump o get everything re‐lubri ated.) I have destroyed negligence. (See belo )
seconds for the
otors myself due to oil condition
Synthetic or conventio or conventional?
Again, personal preference. I use c nventional ils in the car I work on/ aintain. Syn hetic oil has more detergen s and smaller molecules than conventional oils. More detergent s mean the oil is more corrosive (not MUCH f an f an issue on the internal themselves ) and more c rrosive oil dissolves slud e which may have built p over time and plugged oil leaks you WOULD hav . Smaller m lecules mea s the oil is mor prone to le k, as it can find it's way out of the of the mo or through a smaller hole. Duh. This is why switching to synthetic oil often cau es oil leaks n older mot rs. I also use conventional oil because it is cheaper. High quality conventional oil will lubricate just cate just as
ell as
synthetic, without the negative sid effects. Some ne er vehicles laim that co ventional oils will damag e them and they MUST O LY use synt etic oils. It is o coinciden e that these ehicles are riven primar ily by the sa e pretentio s phaggots hat make up hese bullshi k blanket st tements that overlook sc ientific and empirical fact.. If you If you put conventi nal oils in a ehicle that 'requires' synthetic, nothin g will happe . The vehicle will operate fine, and for less money as well. IF you
ant to use s nthetics go r ight ahead, j ahead, j oke is on you.
Which is he best oil? best oil?
Clean oil is the best oil. Expensive dirty oil is wo se than clea cheap oil. For most of u of u we can run he basic Cas rol or Mobil oils sold at ‐mart/walmart/costco/p rt store. Most of us of us can even use the cheapest in‐store brands sold at th local part store. (O'reilly , napa, etc) YES this does INCLUDE I the people w o drive 'hig er' end vehi les. (All you 50z, Musta g, STI, Evo, Skyline, Type , etc owners ‐ just because our car was
arketed as
'race inspir d' supercar or somethin like that ‐ it does not mean
your cars will not operate perfectly well on cheap oils and re ular octane fuels. Marke ing is everyt ing
and appealing to consumers by selling them "high‐performance‐race‐cars" complete with extra precautions they 'MUST' take does nothing but boost that ego of yours. of yours. Yes, now you hate me.) In the cars I maintain I use the local Costco Mobil1 and rated weight/viscosity for the car I am working on. In my personal cars (high performance, aftermarket parts and tuning, high compression, boost etc) I use Rotella T or Royal Purple. I like these oils because they have tested higher in Zinc content than most, which is good for a number of debatable of debatable‐but‐true reasons. I supplement the oil with Lucas heavy duty oil stabilizer (Which does nothing but boost viscosity) for peace of mind of mind when revving to 10k RPM. side notes
‐too much oil in a motor can blow out seals, cause leaks, cause excessive smoking, and hurt performance
‐too little oil in a motor causes wear to increase tenfold, higher temperatures, more wear, and higher amount of wear. of wear.
‐synthetic vs conventional is personal preference, don't let anyone tell you otherwise ‐cheap vs expensive oils is personal preference IN 99% OF CONSUMER AVAILABLE STOCK TRIM VEHICLES. (excluding cars $100k+)
‐local part stores are required by law to accept your used motor oil, they legally cannot turn you away unless you bring more than allowed (2gal here)
cliffs
‐don't be a phaggot ‐change your own oil ‐don't buy into the marketing hype surrounding expensive cars and products ‐most oil‐change places don't give a funk about your car ‐i'm hungry and it's time for breakfast ‐no one actually read all that
