How to do an oil change
How To Do an Oil Change
By: Miguel Arredondo
Materials:
- Jack
- Jack Stands
- Wheel Chocks
- Ratchet Set
- Oil Filter Wrench
- Oil Filter
- Oil drain washer
- Motor Oil
- Drain Pan
- Funnel
- Rags
- Gloves (optional)
- Safety Glasses (optional)
- Owner's Manual (optional)
Step 1: Jacking up your car
Make sure your car is parked on a level surface and engage the parking brake. Next, place the wheel chucks behind the rear tires and kick them in to ensure they are properly seated. Once you have identified the front jacking point of your car, use the jack to lift the front end of your car high enough to allow for the jack stands to fit under the two front side jacking points. Put the jack stands into position and slowly lower your car to ensure that it is properly seated onto the jack stands.
Step 2: Draining your oil
Look under your engine to find your Oil drain Plug. It will usually Say Engine Oil in embossed lettering and have an arrow pointing to the plug. Once you have found it, place the drain pun under the location of the plug. Grab your wrench with the specific sized fitting for your vehicle and turn it to the left to loosen. You may feel a pop as if something cracked, but this in normal. Once you feel the pop begin to loosen the bolt with your hand, keeping pressure on it to keep the oil from coming out. When you're ready, make sure the drain pan is in position and release the plug making sure the oil is going into the pan. Allow the oil to drain fully. When done, replace the drain plug with a new washer and tighten it back up. Do not over tighten, because you may crack your oil pan or stip the threads.
Step 3: Replace Oil Filter
Find the oil filter and using the oil filter removal tool, loosen the oil filter. Make sure the drain pan is under the filter area to catch oil as it starts to flow out. Once the oil starts flowing, allow it to drain to a slow trickle, then remove the filter completely. Clean up the oil filter location on the vehicle your rags. Take a look the make sure the seal of the old oil filter did not stay attached to the vehicle. Using your new oil, lubricate the rubber seal on the new oil filter. Screw the new oil filter into place on the oil filter housing, turning it one full turn past the point where the seal touches the housing.
Step 4: Replace Your Oil
On top of your engine you will see a cap labeled "Engine Oil" or "Motor Oil." Unscrew the cap and place it to the side. Place a funnel into the opening and begin to fill with the new engine oil. Refer to to your manual for the recommend amount of oil to replace.
Step 5: Check the Oil Level
This blog is pretty clear and can definitely be used to achieve its purpose. Although I found myself needing to backtrack a little bit, there was enough information here for me to get a good pictures of how to change my oil.
ReplyDeleteThere are some issues with this blog, however. For one thing, there are some inconsistencies in tone and terminology. I appreciated the image of the man who had jacked up his own car, but because all of the other images were straightforward, it felt out of place. Additionally, you changed the name of a tool to "oil filter removal tool" from "oil filter wrench." I'm pretty sure these are the same thing, but not being a hundred percent might really stress out some readers of this blog. There are grammar errors here and there, as well.
While these considerations would have improved the blog, this is a decent submission for a culminating assignment.