Do It Yourself Oil Change

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     Our cars are *extremely* easy to do oil changes on (no tools required, no ramps required), and by doing it yourself, you *know* that it gets done right instead of having to pray that Jiffy Lube remembered to put your drain plug back on, didn't strip its threads, put the right kind of oil in, actually changed the filter, put the right size filter back on if they even put one back on at all, didn't drain your transmission fluid and add new oil into your engine, didn't overfill the oil, didn't underfill the oil, didn't get grease all over your leather seats, didn't drive your car into the hydraulic lift stands, didn't crush your trim with the hydraulic lift, or any of the other things that happen on a daily basis at most of those establishments..

     Go to an auto parts store. Buy an oil container - the flatter, the better. I bought one from Pep Boys which holds 12 quarts, is all of about 4" high, and comes with its own funnel. Cost: about $10, if even that much.

     Call Imparts at (800)325-9043 and tell them you want to purchase oil drain valve part F-106. It's a locking drain valve which replaces your drain plug. It costs $17. It *won't* come open. For your first DIY oil change, remove the drain plug with a big wrench and replace it with the drain valve, which comes with its own washer. Align the valve so that its lever is in a position which is easily accessible.

     When you want to change your oil, park on a flat surface. Use your scissors jack to raise the front left corner of the car high enough that you can fit your oil container with funnel under there. Reach under the car and unlock the drain valve. Lower the car down. Wait for the oil to drain (if you actually want to get most of the old oil out, you're going to be waiting a lot longer than the 10 minutes those quick-lube places shuffle you in and out in). Raise the car back up enough that you can reach back under there. Lock the drain valve. If you're changing the filter (half as often as the oil under most circumstances), twist it off with your hand while you still have your oil container and funnel right there to catch all of the oil which will drip out at this point. If the old filter doesn't come off with just your hand, then either it was put on too tightly, or you're more of a 98-pound weakling than I am. Invert the filter into your funnel and move the container and funnel out of the way. Wipe the old oil off of the filter mounting surface if you're so inclined (but don't get shards of paper towel trapped up in there!). Take your new filter (I use the genuine Mitsubishi ones under the "why try to save two bucks on a $xx,xxx car" principle) and fill it with about 1/4 qt of oil (takes several instances of fill-wait-fill- wait-fill-wait before it all bubbles in). Coat the rubber gasket on the new filter with a thin film of the new oil. Screw it onto the mounting stud. When you feel it contact the mounting surface, back it off about half a turn and then slowly retighten it so you can tell exactly where the contact point is. From that point, tighten it 3/4 of a turn. Doublecheck to be sure you remembered to close your drain valve. Lower the car. Fill with about three quarts of oil and check the level on the dipstick. Continue to fill until the dipstick reads full. Doublecheck that you've reinserted the dipstick and closed the engine oil filler. Clean yourself up, start the car, make sure the oil pressure comes up, look under the car and check for leaks (and don't confuse leaks with any small amount of oil that might be dripping from anywhere that you spilled it - one common area is when you remove the filter, you might get oil on top of the chassis crossmember which will then slowly drip down and look similar to a filter leak if you just glance under the car). Drive around for maybe 10-15 minutes. Come back, wait several minutes for everything to settle back down, and check the oil level again - you may need to add more - but don't overfill!

     That's it. No tools required, and once you figure out how to do it, you can usually do the entire process without getting a single drop of oil on your hands (especially if you're not changing the filter).