Changing oil is easy, but there are some preparations that we need to consider. As an example, people who are living within the city limit should make sure whether there is a regulation about working with potential pollutants, such as engine oil. It could be necessary to properly obtain a container for the used oil, as letting it from reaching the ground can be against the law. Before we start, we should make sure that the car is parked on the level surface. If necessary, we should put blocks of bricks or woods behind all the tires to prevent it from moving forward or backward. The front part of the car should be jacked up high enough, so we are able to reach under it. Jacks should be positioned behind the front wheels and under the body.
It is quite likely that we will be working on the ground, so we need to prepare an old blanket or a piece of cardboard. We should also have a pan that can hold about 7 quarts of used oil when we drain the engine. A good wrench is needed to remove the plug to drain the oil. We shouldn’t use adjustable wrench, because it could damage the plug, making it more difficult to remove in the future. In general, we should have a proper tool. The engine should also be allowed to cool down, because working with hot oil is dangerous. No matter how careful we are, oil will get into our skin. We should allow the oil to drip completely and then we can put the plug by hand. When tightening it with wrench, we shouldn’t force it, because we may cross thread it. We should put a bit of pressure when using the wrench, of course not too weak, because we don’t want the fresh oil to leak slowly.
We should slip the filter wrench over the oil filter. We should make sure that we are able to tighten up the wrench more easily, by positioning the handle toward us. Paper towels could be needed because some of the oil could run down from the sides of oil filter. We can twist the filter further to remove it and we could put it into the drain pan. When we are adding fresh oil, it should be poured on the oil filter. If we want to replace the oil filter, we also need to be careful not to cross thread it and put just enough force to tighten it. We could tighten it as much as we can with our hand and use the filter wrench to tighten it slightly further. If we do this too tight, the mating material can be squeezed and oil will seep.
Many cars would need about 5 quarts of fresh oil, with filter installed. We should crank the engine and check the gauge to make sure that the oil level is adequate. We should check the underneath of the car for leaks when the engine has been turned on for five minutes.