How to Change the Oil in Your Car

Video Transcript

"Ok today we are going to change the oil on this Mitsubishi. First thing you want to do once you've secured the car in a nice safe manner. Obviously today we have a professional lift but at your house you may be on a jack. If you use a jack please use a jack stand. First thing you want to locate is where the oil actually drains from and where the oil filter is. Right here is the oil drain. It's usually on the bottom of the oil pan and right here is the oil filter. We will be removing the drain plug to allow the oil to drain and removing the filter and replacing it with a new one. To do so you put the wrench on the oil drain and break it loose. Make sure you have an approved container to catch the used oil in. Which will drain like that. Now you will want to remove the filter. Also trying to catch any excess oil that comes out of the engine. Once the oil finishes draining, you will want to take the drain plug reinstall it on the oil pan and tighten the drain plug. Lubricate the seal on the new oil filter with new engine oil and reinstall on the car. Hand tight filters will usually suffice and it usually is three quarters of a turn after contact. At this point take a rag, wipe off any excess oil that may be in that area. And move to the top side of the vehicle to add the oil. Now we want to locate where to refill the engine all that. On most cars it's on top of the valve cover as such right here. Simply remove the oil cap. I usually set it on the valve cover as not to forget it. And you will want to refill the engine with fresh oil. In this case this car is taking the five W thirty engine oil. I always like to use the funnel to avoid spillage. Now you will want to reinstall the oil cap and start the vehicle. The reason we started the vehicle was to allow the oil pump to transfer the oil throughout the engine to include filling up the oil filter. If you do not do that you will get an incorrect reading the first time you go to check the oil level. Which we are going to do right now. We now have a clean dipstick so now we can get a accurate reading. Fully insert the dipstick into the tube, maybe. And get a reading. In this case we are exactly one quart low and we need to add an additional quart. Now we are going to recheck the oil level again. At this point there is no need to restart the car based on the fact that the oil filter is full from the first time that we started it. Now the oil level is exactly correct. Always remember each car is different as far as the viscosity of the oil that's required by the manufacturer. You always want to be sure of the type of oil that you are installing in your vehicle."