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How-to: Oil change

G

GTO Pete

CEG'er
Joined
Apr 7, 2001
Messages
161
Location
Maryland
====Oil Change How-To====
By CEGer Derk2000

=Tools/Material Required=
6 quarts of oil
Oil filter
Socket wrench
15mm socket
Oil filter wrench (optional)
Old cardboard box or newspaper
Oil catcher
Oil funnel
Clean rags or paper towels

1. Check your oil level. This is a good time to determine whether you're loosing oil or not.
2. Slightly warm the oil by driving ~3-5 minutes. Warm oil flows better.
3. Elevate your car - jack up, put on ramps, or drive on a curb.
4. Loosen your oil filler cap and partially pull your dipstick out. Suction inhibits the oil from easily draining out.
5. Set down your newspaper or old flattened cardboard box underneath your car. This will eliminate the mess from the inevitable oil spillage.
6. Set the oil catcher underneath your oil pan.
7. Loosen the bolt on your oil pan using the 15mm socket. Your old oil should drain quickly.
8. Once the draining oil has slowed to a drip, wipe up the mess as best as you can and put the oil pan bolt back in. Donï't over tighten, but certainly don't under tighten.
9. Locate your oil filter and slide your oil catcher underneath the filter. Be mindful of your hot exhaust pipes.
10. Loosen and remove your oil filter and let it drain. If it's too tight, use an oil filter wrench to loosen it. There's a considerable amount of oil in your filter, so beware. Clean all areas, especially any rubber that may have gotten oil on it.
11. Once drained, examine your old filter and make sure the gasket came off with the filter. If you�re not sure, compare the new and old filters and make sure they look the same.
12. Clean the surfaces of old oil. Apply new oil to the gasket of the new oil filter. Pour some new oil into your filter 1/4 - 1/3 full should do. Begin threading the new oil filter on, making note of when the gasket makes contact with the metal surface. Tighten ~1 full turn after gasket contact.
13. Pull out and clean your dipstick. Remove your oil filler cap and clean it. Pour 6 full quarts into your engine. Put your dipstick back in and replace your oil filler cap.
14. Check for leaks under the car. If there are no leaks, start the car and let it run for a minute or two. Turn it off and look for any leaks. Tightening the oil pan bolt or the filter may be necessary - remember that it may be too hot to work on for a few minutes.
15. Repeat every 3,000 to 5,000 miles.

Total Time: 20 minutes + clean up
 
best thing for redirecting the oil filter mess is the filter box itself. take it from a former Jiffy Lube employee:laugh:
 
Yeah, I did my first oil change on my car last weekend and it went rather well. I think Ford has a good design where the bolt is on the oil pan, but not so good as where the filter sits. When I pulled my filter, oil fell all over my exhaust and down the front of the oil pan.. Easy to do on these cars though. AmsOil & Wix FTW!
 
KyleQ said:
... I think Ford has a good design where the bolt is on the oil pan,...!
Click to expand...
Actually, I'm not too excited about the location of the oil drain bolt. I can't fit a socket and wrench in there due to clearance issues. Only a boxed wrench, 6-point 15-mm, of course. And of course, I rounded off the bolt one time using a 12-point 15-mm boxed wrench and then learned to use only a 6-point 15-mm boxed wrench after that. :eek:

Also a Craftsman Part #28-20519 Oil filter removal tool (self adjusting wrench) makes it easy to remove the oil filter if you don't want to remove the lower radiator air deflector.

The oil filter location, that is as ridiculous as it can get (other than some cars which have it inside the engine). I will try the oil filter box trick next time though. :cool:
 
Last edited:
shortened how to:

remove drain plug, when empty replace

remove oil filter, dab some oil on new filter gasket and replace. wipe excess oil off frame/y pipe.

fill with 6.5qts oil of your choice !

lol

As far as the location of the plug/oil filter. Can't fault ford for doing what they could in the small space they had. The oil filter location honestly is not that bad. I've seen MUCH worse.
 
FWIW my preferred method is to remove the splash guard and not bother jacking the car up. I can reach the filter pretty easily with the guard removed. It's held on by about 10 torx screws IIRC. Probably takes about the same amount of time to jack up and lower the car as it does to remove and replace the guard, but this way I don't have to mess with the jack and stand(s).
 
Viss1 said:
...Probably takes about the same amount of time to jack up and lower the car as it does to remove and replace the guard, but this way I don't have to mess with the jack and stand(s).
Click to expand...

What about clearance (as in sliding under the car) for removing the oil drainbolt?
 
Tony2005 said:
Actually, I'm not too excited about the location of the oil drain bolt. I can't fit a socket and wrench in there due to clearance issues. Only a boxed wrench, 6-point 15-mm, of course. And of course, I rounded off the bolt one time using a 12-point 15-mm boxed wrench and then learned to use only a 6-point 15-mm boxed wrench after that. :eek:

The oil filter location, that is as ridiculous as it can get (other than some cars which have it inside the engine). I will try the oil filter box trick next time though. :cool:
Click to expand...

Ok, the location of the bolt and its accesibility sucks, but the design on how it flows out is good. I have 3 different wrenchs, and sockets and other stuff. I was no comfertable torquing at that percarious angle.
 
TGO said:
shortened how to:



fill with 6.5qts oil of your choice !

lol

As far as the location of the plug/oil filter. Can't fault ford for doing what they could in the small space they had. The oil filter location honestly is not that bad. I've seen MUCH worse.
Click to expand...

Ford recomended capacity is 5.5 Qts, 6 Qts will bring the oil to the top of the safe range. this is on any 2.5 or 3.0 up to around 2005, after that Ford recomended capacity is 6 Qts. Recomended weight should be 5w/30.

As for filter location...Ford has some much worse ones, try changing the oil on a pre-98 Zetec Contour/Mystique.
Trust me, my day job is at a Ford Dealer quicklube.
 
again, as documented by roush labs & ford - it is PERFECTLY safe to run 6.5qts of oil. this is not a new thing. it is common knowledge.
 
NorMich99SE said:
Ford recomended capacity is 5.5 Qts, 6 Qts will bring the oil to the top of the safe range. this is on any 2.5 or 3.0 up to around 2005, after that Ford recomended capacity is 6 Qts. Recomended weight should be 5w/30.

As for filter location...Ford has some much worse ones, try changing the oil on a pre-98 Zetec Contour/Mystique.
Trust me, my day job is at a Ford Dealer quicklube.
Click to expand...

I've noticed a lot of cars past 04 that recommend 5w20, my fusion does and also my 01 f250 triton v10 does. now what would happen if I changed up my contour w/ 5w20. also back to the how to can you just let it run at idle for about 3-5 mins. because 3-5 of driving can get the engine pretty hot.
 
TGO- I didn't mean to imply that 6.5 was bad for the engine, just figured I'd state the Ford spec for those who'd like to know.

For the question on 5w20, since my post was quoted I'll assume it was directed at me. My knowledge is a bit limited, I'm no chem expert or anything. 5w20 should flow about the same in cold weather or when cold, as that's that's the 5 in the weight, the difference is it will be a bit thinner when warm. That's the second number, the higher the number, the thicker the oil is. Street Rodder magazine had a great article on oils, but it doesn't seem to be online, I'll try and keep an eye on it to see when it shows up, but it explained very well the differences, ratings and everything for deciding what oil to use. I doubt 5w20 would hurt, but you never know for sure. All Ford gas engines now use 5w20, except the 4.0 V6, which supposedly runs like crap with 5w20.
 
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