General Question

_Whitetigress's avatar

Can you help me in a step by step vehicle oil change?

Asked by _Whitetigress (4378points) August 9th, 2012

I have 1995 Nissan 200SX.

Tips and tricks greatly appreciated, thanks!

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7 Answers

syz's avatar

How to change the oil in your car (complete with pictures and a video).

josie's avatar

Well, your local auto parts store will be a bigger help than Fluther. But having said it, you will need a bucket with water tight plastic bag lining it. You will need a wrench or socket that fits the drain screw. You will need a new filter, and filter wrench. You need specs to know how much oil you need. You will need oil. Oil is a vital element in the care of your car engine. Use the new generation synthetics. I like Valvoline. It is much more expensive, but oil matters.
Crawl under the car and find the oil pan. It is the bottom most thing that hangs down off the engine. There will be a big screw in it. Find the wrench that fits the screw, and loosen it. But the bucket underneath and finish unscrewing it and let the oil drain into the bucket until it stops. Remove the oil filter with the oil filter wrench and let it fall into the bucket. Put the drain screw back, with a new seal if it has one, and you can replace it. Otherwise use the old one. Put on a new oil filter. Wipe a little oil on the gasket. Put it on tight, but do not over tighten it.
Crawl out from under the car. Open the oil cap. It will probably have a picture of the oil symbol on top, or it will say OIL. Pour in new oil, the amount recommended. Probably 4 quarts for that car. Check the dip stick. Start the car, let it run a minute, shut it off, let it wait for bit, check the dip stick. Should say full. If it is not full, add half a quart. Check again.

CWOTUS's avatar

… and then check under the engine to ensure that the plug is back in properly and there are no leaks. (Actually, you’d be checking this with the first quart of oil that you added in the “fill” process, because if the plug is loose or cross-threaded you can fix things then with the loss of no more than a quart of good oil. Check again after the engine has been warmed up and then shut off.)

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

I was always taught to change the oil while the engine was warm so it drains better and gets all the crap out with the oil. Just be a little careful not to get burned.

hiphiphopflipflapflop's avatar

If you are tempted to use some very cheap motor oil, you might want to check to see if it is among the nine motor oils for which the Petroleum Quality Institute of America has put out a consumer alert for not meeting specs. Watch for the bottles scrolling across at the upper right of the webpage.

abundantlife's avatar

1. To get started you will first need to make a trip to the parts store to grab roughly five quarts of oil, a oil filter, and ask for a mileage tag. Getting the cheapest oil doesn’t necessarily mean saving because it could get better gas mileage with better oil so talk with a part store rep.

2. You will need a car jack or floor ramps. You will need an oil wrench, a ratchet, and socket (usually you will need a 14–15mm), and then you need a oil pan to drain old oil into.

3. You need now to jack up the car or drive it on to the car ramps. pop the hood and unscrew your oil cap. Get underneath it with the wrench and socket. find the drain plug, and get your socket that fits the plug and go counter clock wise with your wrench. Once loose remove the plug and let drain into your oil pan. Once the running oil stops put the plug back in and tighten it with socket wrench turning it clockwise.

4. Now get back under neath your car with your oil wrench and find your fuel filter, fitting your oil wrench around it, twist counter clockwise, remove the filter. Rub the top of your new filter with a light coat of oil, following by hand screwing filter around fitting to get it started, once started snug it with your oil wrench by twisting it clockwise.

5. Time to put your oil in, start by pouring four quarts in, after you have four quarts init, check your dip stick and add additional oil as needed.

6. Ok now its time to pull the car down off the ramps. Making sure your dip is reading full you can close the hood. Put all your tools back in a place were you no were to get them for the next time. Dump your used oil into a barrel or bucket, waiting until filled to take to a registered place to take the oil.

7. Now, before you start driving get your mileage tag that you got at the part store and read your odometer. Having the car mileage add three thousand mile and that’s when your next service change is. (example beginning mileage 67,867 next service mileage 70,867.

8. The last thing left is to get in your car stick your key in the ignition and turn it right. You are now able to move about the country.

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