How to Change Your Motor Oil

Series Summary

Major car tune-ups, or vehicle overhauls, are vital to the upkeep and maintenance of an automobile. A car is a complex machine made up of simple machines, which have many different parts and processes that must be checked for breakage, leaks and wear. A mechanic does all of these tune-up checks when a car comes into the auto shop. However, many car owners learn how to check their cars for issues themselves to fix common problems without costly mechanic visits. A little automobile knowledge goes a long way in saving money, avoiding scams and keeping cars in top shape. In this free video series on car maintenance, an ASE-certified master mechanic discusses troubleshooting for common car problems. Find out how to change the motor oil in a vehicle to keep it running smoothly, and get tips on diagnosing a slipping clutch. Prevent overheating of the engine by maintaining the coolant fluids, and even get information about the basic workings of a car engine. Keep a car running at its best with this helpful automotive guide.

Video Transcript

"Hello. My name is Mark Blocker. In this segment we're going to cover how to change your engine oil. Some of the basic tools you'll need is I recommend having some protection for your hands. Some, just, rubber gloves work just fine. You're going to need a wrench to remove the drain plug from the oil pan. If you have the correct size box-end wrench, that would be a better option or a socket or ratchet works good. And you're going to need a pliers or a oil filter wrench. This be an oil filter wrench, and just a standard pair of channel lock pliers. Either one that you have. The channel locks will do the trick if you don't have the oil filter wrench specifically. A pan to drain the oil in. And then, of course, you're going to need your engine oil and oil filter to replace on the car. Okay. The first thing we're going to need to do is you're going to need to jack the vehicle up so you can gain access to the oil pan. After you jack the vehicle up, you're going to want the engine at operating temperature, and you just want to put your pan underneath it, remove the drain plug so the engine oil drains out. Once all the oil's drained out completely, you can temporarily put the plug back in. Then you need to replace your oil filter. The oil filter's located in different locations on every vehicle. You can check the owner's manual and that should give you the location of it. This particular vehicle, it's located up underneath the intake on the back side of the motor. Just use a pair of the....the oil filter wrench or channel locks to grip the filter, and you want to turn it counter-clockwise to remove it. Just unscrew it. After unscrewing it about three or four threads, you'll have some oil drip out. Just be aware of that. Let it go down into your pan so you catch it. After the oil stops dripping, just go ahead, unscrew the filter to remove it. Before you install the new filter, you want to lubricate this o-ring. You can do that with a little petroleum jelly, or a little bit of new oil out of one of your quarts of oil. Just a little bit on your rubber glove. And just smear it around to lubricate that so it goes on nice and tight and gets a good fit. When you put the oil filter on, only put it on hand tight. Tighten it down real snug with your hand. Don't use a pair of pliers to tighten it down. Those are only used for removing. Make sure that you put your drain plug back in all the way, tight. And then you can lower your vehicle down to the ground. And then you just need to add your engine oil. Right up on top of the motor you'll find the engine oil cap, just remove that. Use a funnel. If you don't have a funnel, after pouring in our first quart you can take a razor knife and just cut one of the quart bottles in half, and that works real good as a funnel. You just remove the cap and set it in there, and you can pour the oil into there. It just helps prevent you from spilling all over the motor. If you do spill on the motor, just wipe it up with a rag and dispose of it properly. And just add the amount of engine oil necessary as per the owner's manual, usually four or five quarts for most of today's cars. And then make sure you start the engine up, run it for a few minutes, shut it off and recheck your oil level prior to completing the job. Also, you want to make sure and take your old oil and dispose of it properly. Put it into a container where you can take it down to an automotive facility that can recycle that properly for you. Thank you very much for watching, and please watch other videos in these repair areas."