Easy Oil Changes, I Have Them.

"Tripper" (tripe46) 12/17/2019 at 12:00 • Filed to: None

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I changed the oil on my wife’s Forester for the first time over the weekend. We let the dealer do it while it was still under warranty.. . I also decided to order an oil analysis kit from Blackstone Laboratories. The forester has always “used” a little oil so I figured it would be worth the $28 bucks to find out if anything seems a miss.

The Blackstone kit comes with an oil sample bottle, absorbent cloth, plastic bag, forms, windshield sticker, and instructions all packed neatly into a larger bottle. The kit itself is free, you pay when you send in the sample for analysis. You get the sample from the middle of the stream, cap off the smaller bottle, put it in the bag wrapped with the absorbent cloth, stick that in the larger bottle, fill out the form, and stick in your mailbox. Really easy.

I have changed the oil in 3/4 cars now. The M3 is the most complicated because I have to use ramps, remove a panel on the bottom and the filter is in a slightly awkward location. Don’t get me wrong this is still a really easy change but the other cars are easier so I have to stretch it as far as I can. The most painful part here is the price of the oil.

The 02 I can do without ramps even though it is very low. The drain plug is looking you right in the face as you look under the front bumper and I have fashioned a funnel type thing that hooks to my catch pan. The oil filter is angled perfectly to be able to be removed by hand. Again the oil is a little on the pricey side. I go for the Brand Penn (green oil) for around $7 a bottle. The car takes 4.5.

The Forester is hilariously easy. Made even easier by the techs at Subaru who decided not to replace the plastic cover for the oil drain...Thanks... I know some Subaru filters are deep in the heat shield minefield, not mine. It’s just sitting up there like an upside down cup. I had to use a pipe wrench to to get this one off. WTF happened to “hand tight”!?

I went with Idemitsu oil, which I have never heard of before, but was well reviewed, and cheap. Stuck with the Subaru Filter and a new crush washer.

I decided to quickly look at the steps for the Alltrack. I think this one is the easiest. The pan and plug are plastic, you don’t have to remove any splash guards, and the plug requires 1/2 turn before it pops out. The filter is in a similar location to the Subaru...This is another car I can do on the ground.

Anybody else have a particularly easy or particularly difficult oil change?

Thisismydisplayname > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:08

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My Pacifica is dead simple with the extractor. All from the top filter is a cartridge, so that’s simple too.

My Dakota on the other hand blows. The draining of the oil is simple, but the filter is on the side of the Vee and makes a huge mess while spinning it off.

Worse was my old Q7 with the 3.6l, the oil filter was a cartridge and wouldn’t have been too bad except you had to basically dump out the cartridge to get it out of the car.  Sucked big time.  

Tripper > Thisismydisplayname 12/17/2019 at 12:09

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Ooo I’ve never tried an extractor. 

CalzoneGolem > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:10

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Some of these made my oil changes even easier.

PowderHound > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:11

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I’m not sure what year your forester is but I imagine locations are the same as my 03 WRX. Can do all fluids without a jack/ramps and in a very short time.  The slight lift helps, I think when it was stock height getting to the transmission drain plug was tough without a jack

Tripper > CalzoneGolem 12/17/2019 at 12:12

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Oh man, def getting one of these for the forester

bob and john > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:13

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my SV650 was hilariously easy.

I actually did an oil change in the middle of a ride once it was so simple.

see that small black bit behind the header, lower on the motor? thats the oil filer. Drain plug was a standard 17mm.

I’ve had so many of these bikes, I have an oil change down to more or less the time it takes to drain.

1: open oil cap
2: remove oil filter, let drain from there.
3: remove oil drain bolt at the same time
4: once it stop pissing from the filter , screw the new one on
5: once it stops peeing from the bolt, replace,
6: dump 3L of whatever motorcycle oil I had kicking around. that bike didnt give a FUCk what it ran.

5 minutes with a 4 minute beer break

Discerning > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:17

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F150 is a pain simply because of the skid plate and the plastic oil channels that are supposed to route the oil to a drain location. This is the case for the filter location and the drain plug.

Oil goes everywhere. Doesn’t matter what I do. It always goes eveywhere. Ruined my gloves and pants the first time.

The cherry on top? 8.8 quarts. Not 9. Not 8. Not 8.5. ONLY 8.8 quarts.

It’s honslestly not worth it to do it myself. The next time I’m letting someone else do it for a nominal fee.

The Honda Pilot is extremely easy. No need to lift it. Filter and drain plug are in spots that make sense and don’t cause any issues. Best part is only 4.5 quarts and the engine prefers less oil vs. more. You can even check it cold. So I normally pour out 2.5 cups in a separate container and then pour the rest of the 5 quart jug into the car.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Thisismydisplayname 12/17/2019 at 12:17

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Cut the bottom off a 2 liter bottle, loosen the filter, slip the bottle over the filter and finish unscrewing. The filter and oil drips into the bottle, then you just dump it into the catch pan.

Source: a former and future Dakota owner.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:22

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The title of the post for some reason called to mind a pregnant woman saying she “has easy births”.

Maybe this tea really has been on the shelf too long.

Tripper > Discerning 12/17/2019 at 12:24

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Is your F150 a raptor? T hat seems like a ton of oil. My E90 M3 took 8 quarts at a cool $15 per!

atfsgeoff > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:24

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My oil changes are pretty straightforward, but I did need to get a special filter housing removal tool for the Volvo. With that tool it’s very easy. All the other filters on my vehicles are canister-type and have enough clearance around them that I can use a strap wrench if they’re on too tight.

CalzoneGolem > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:30

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Highly recommend. I put one on our new Soul during its first oil ch ange.

Discerning > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:40

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Nope. It’s a 2018 with the new direct and port injection modular V8.

8.8 is nothing compared to the 10 quarts that the same engine takes in the mustang GT. At least they only have to deal with an even number.

Was already buying g two 5 quart jugs. Would have been nice to just pour it in.

Truly don’t understand the fractional quart capacities. My old DSM required 4.7 and even the 4.5 requirement for the Honda is dumb.

The C5Z only took 6.5 quarts, but the LS6 liked running around with a full 7 quarts.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:47

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My Cruze (1st Gen) is simple enough once you've raised it. The problem is that it is too low to fit the jack under. Have to drive up some wood planks before I can jack it.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 12:58

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Mine was pretty easy on my Accent! I did it back in October....my first time changing the oil on any car. All seems fine so far and I was ridiculously careful with EVERYTHING so I didn’t screw anything up. Now that I know what I am doing I could do it quickly now, but ‘slow and steady wins the race’ , as they say, and I’d rather take it slow to know I am doing it right. :)

Cash Rewards > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 13:02

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06 tundra (v6) is dead simple. Plenty of room to get under, filter right there easy to reach from up top, plenty of room in the v6 when there's space for an 8.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 13:13

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The filter on my 528i is a cartridge that loads into the top of the engine. It’s nic e because it mostly drains itself of oil but you still always end up dripping everywhere when you remove it.

The car’s not high enough to put a catch pan under it while still having room to put a tool on the drain plug so I have to ramp it.

Btw, I think a Subaru using a bit of oil is just kinda normal.

Tripper > atfsgeoff 12/17/2019 at 13:15

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Interesting design. I thought it was the same as any other filter wrench until I saw the underside pic.

Tripper > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 12/17/2019 at 13:29

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M3 is the same as your 528. I pick the filter up with a bag like it’s a dog shit. Then carefully turn it inside out while trying to hold it over the canister.

I have heard the same thing about Subarus particularly the manual trans foresters. However I had two others that I beat the piss out of and they never used any. (An 05 WRX, then an 04 STi).

BMW told me the same thing about M3's they even have it in writing for the M cars . Again there, I have owned two M3's one I’ve had for 13 years and has never used oil. The other I had for 18 months and it used a quart every two fillups!   I refuse to believe that “it just happens”. To me it’s got to be the result of improper break-in/maintenance or a design defect.

Subaru did ask my wife if she “down shifts” to which she replied “yes and properly” indicating that she does not just let the clutch out like a neanderthal. They told her that causes more blow by.

I dunno, I’m probably wrong I just can’t abide it.

facw > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 13:32

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I don’t like doing them on my S60. Drain plug and filter are behind a splash guard which is hard to get off without getting way under the car. Even if I left it off, they are close enough to the middle that I couldn’t just reach under. S40 was a lot easier since they were both accessible and reachable without sticking anything more than an arm under (I still jacked it up to have a little more room to work).

and 100 more > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 13:33

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My Grand Cherokee is fairly easy. I don’t have a skid plate to deal with underneath (because it has no off-roading aspirations), and the oil filter is a cartridge-type and its mounted up on top of the engine, right in front of the intake. Seriously no mess at all.

hillrat > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 13:38

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08 Torrent was dead simple. Everything was easily accessible once you put it up on jack stands. Didn’t even need instructions.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 14:01

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I drive a car with 270k miles so a bit of oil consumption is expected for me. Even then it's not much, about half a quart between oil changes.

functionoverfashion > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 14:12

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My truck is harder than it should be, considering how much room there is to work under it. Draining is as easy as it gets. But the filter is a cartridge. The gasket goes on the rim of the cartridge housing, but nothing holds it in place. There’s a groove on the engine block for the gasket, but of course, it won’t stay there while you screw in the housing (it’s on an angle and facing down) , and you can’t comfortably get two hands up there from above or below, just due to the location of the front axle and various suspension and steering components, and the fact that I think it’s exactly half way vertically between the hood and the ground. Last time, w ith a little oil on it, I got it to stick to the block long enough to get the housing on , but it got out of its little groove when it rotated - and you can’t really see all sides of it at once, without getting out from under the truck and carefully inspecting from above, in front, behind, below, etc. So I found out it wasn’t on right when I started it up and it was leaking everywhere. 

At first I was like, “why would someone buy a kit to convert an engine like this to a regular spin-on filter?” and now I get it. Probably will do that next oil change.

Tripper > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 12/17/2019 at 14:39

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Yea that is about all the Forester uses, but it always has. The second oil change it used a lot more.

Urambo Tauro > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 19:25

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My Mustang has two engine oil drain plugs, thanks to the saddle shape of the oil pan. And they’re just far enough apart that I can’t have them both open at the same time while draining.

My Sierra on the other hand, has just one plug, AND the filter’s locat ed right next to it, so I don’t have to move my catch pan around. Not having to jack the truck up to change the oil is an added bonus!

Thisismydisplayname > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 12/17/2019 at 21:43

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I’ll try that next time around. The best I could do was a gallon ziploc bag, but if the oil was too hot, the bag got dropped and the mess was a bit worse.

I like the 2 liter idea.  

Dogsatemypants > Tripper 12/17/2019 at 22:52

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Good move on the crush washer replacement. I have seen soooooo many slippy scoobies dribbling dino juice bec ause somebody decided to save a few pennies.

hillrat > CalzoneGolem 12/18/2019 at 07:18

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I don’t know what that is, please explain.

CalzoneGolem > hillrat 12/18/2019 at 07:49

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It’s a valve that you replace your drain bolt with. 

Wacko > Tripper 12/20/2019 at 11:16

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even easier with my ez oil drain valve.

Boxer_4 > Tripper 12/20/2019 at 11:58

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I’m looking forward to oil changes on the Crosstrek. Should be much better than on my old Forester. I have two free oil changes, then I’ll take over.

I haven’t decided yet which oil I want to use. Idemitsu is up there, same with Shell Gas Truck. I ran Chevron Supreme in the Forester and was quite happy, but there is no 0W-20 synthetic grade.  I’m also thinking of sourcing the Tokyo Roki black filters, but that’s probably overkill.