How to Change Oil After Open Engine Repair

Video Transcript

"In these clips were going to talk about the proper way to remove or replace an engine valve cover that is cracked, excessively worn, rusted out or otherwise defective. In this clip were going to talk about one of the last steps you have to perform anytime you open the engine and expose it to ambient air gusts, dirt and any kind of foreign contamination. What you're going to want to do is change the oil. Fire the engine and let it run for approximately 1 minute and 1/2, 2 minutes. What that will do is pump the engine oil around the surfaces that were exposed. Being that we had a used valve cover put on it's also going to wash out any contaminates that may be on that valve cover that we didn't get off in our cleaning process. Shut the engine off. Wait approximately 10 or 15 minutes so all the oil will drain down from the cylinder head. On this particular vehicle I just changed the oil. It's an old, late model vehicle, so I'm not going to necessarily going to put the money into an oil change until it comes due. You're going to get underneath it. Pull the drain plug and drain it into your appropriate container. Change the filter. The filter will have picked up all of that nasty foreign material that was floating around in there. Reinstall your plug. Reinstall your filter. Refer to your vehicle's owner's manual for the proper amount of oil to put back in. Depending on the engine it can vary widely from like 3 1/2 quarts all the way up to like 5 or 6 quarts. Like I said, refer to your owner's manual. Once you have the appropriate amount oil put in it, fire the engine. Let it run until the oil pressure gauge comes up or the oil pressure light goes out. Shut it off. Wait approximately 2 minutes and check the dipstick. And that is the last step that you're going to perform anytime you replace the valve cover and expose the engine to the outside air."