You can save good money changing your automobile oil yourself. The high cost of labour makes it very expensive to take your car into the shop for a simple job like changing your engine oil and filter. When you can easily do the job yourself. To start with you need provide the clerk at the auto parts store with the year your car was made, together with the make, model and engine size. With all this information you should receive the correct parts for your vehicle.

The clerk at the auto parts store will either find your filter in stock or order it for you. Select the type of oil the manufacturer of your vehicle recommends. A common grade of engine oil is 10W30. Select the size of oil container your vehicle usually uses for a refill. Mine usually uses about four litres of oil. You will need an oil filter wrench that will fit your size of oil filter and a box end wrench to fit the size of oil pan bolt your vehicle has. They are commonly about one half of an inch. Be sure you have a variety of wrenches available around that size. You will need a metal pan about six inches deep which should be large enough to hold more than four litres of oil. These are readily available at hardware stores. You will need some newspapers and rags to wipe your hands on.

Wear old clothes. It can get a little dirty under vehicles. Start by blocking the tires. Place a large rock or block of wood in front of and behind the two rear tires of your vehicle and be sure the emergency brake is engaged. Look under the front end of the vehicle. Find a solid metal horizontal support which is strong enough to hold the weight of your car. Place the jack under it and jack up the vehicle. Raise the vehicle high enough so you can slip under on your back and move your arms about.

Check where the oil filter is located. Some are located under the vehicle. Some are on the side of the engine block.

Crawl under the car and place some newspaper under the oil pan. Place the metal container to drain the dirty oil into on top of the newspaper. Take your selection of box end wrenches with you under the car. Find the wrench that fits the cars' oil pan bolt. Loosen the bolt by turning it counter clockwise. When the bolt is loose, finish taking it out by hand. Be sure that the pan to drain the oil into is below the bolt hole. Remove the bolt. Allow the dirty oil to completely drain out of the car into the metal container. When the dirty oil is finished running out of the car, remove the pan of oil. Remember to replace the oil pan bolt and tighten it.

Place newspaper on the ground under the oil filter. Take the filter wrench and tighten it around the oil filter. Turn the oil filter counter clockwise to loosen it. Finish taking it off by hand and then drain the remaining oil in the filter into your metal pan. Empty the oil in your collecting pan into some plastic containers.

Be sure that the new oil filter has the rubber washer properly seated. Screw on the new oil filter by hand. Then tighten it with the filter wrench. Do not over tighten the filter. Just make it so you can feel it is tightly snug.

Find where to fill the oil into the engine block. Open the filler cap and pour in the clean oil. Close the cap.

Start up the car and check that the trouble light for oil goes out. This indicates you have proper oil pressure. Turn the engine off and let the car sit for a couple of minutes and then check the oil level dip stick. The oil level should be between minimum and maximum. Make sure that there are no leaks under the car. Do the clean up of your newspapers and rags. Let the jack and your car down slowly.

Over the years, doing this work myself has saved me hundreds of dollars.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Auto Parts