How to: Oil Change

[interloper393]

a mechanic told me before an oil change to warm the oil first? is this so it drains quicker? forgot to ask him lol

[TwistedHumour]

Oil will be less viscous when its warm so should drain easier/better - at least thats what I\'ve always thought.

[Ricco_04]

Yep this is true! :Thumbs-up

[Crazy Eddie]

I\'m hoping so, I just ordered it - should save messing with jacks, axle stands, spanners, drain plug washers and all that malarky. Should be able to drain the coolant system easily too. The same thing is £40-£50 on Screwfix and other sites so I reckon this is a little bargain.
 
Oh, and the pump bit on top unscrews so that you can put a normal cap on to take the bottle where you want it (recycling etc.)

Have you used this yet and is it any good time for my oil change and this looks like it could really help.
Or is it a bag of cack???

[andysmee]

It arrived a couple of days after ordering so I can\'t fault the service. I am moving house next friday so I may not do the oil change this weekend but given how easy it should be, I think I will try.
 
I thought of taking pictures but I should only need to take one! I\'ll keep you posted...
 
I hope the oil filter is easy to buy from Halfords as suggested

[andysmee]

Done!

• Undid the oil filter while engine was cold to check before going to Halfords.
• Bought Castrol GTX 10w-40 mineral oil 5 litre (£16.99), a funnel (set of 4 for £2.50 odd), and a filter (Halfords HOF-257 £8 ish)
• Assembled the oil extractor (so simple, no instructions!)
• Removed dipstick
• Fed pipe down to sump
• Pumped up extractor 20 times
• Removed filler cap
• Waited....
• Removed oil filter and replaced with new, lubricating new filter first (as bove)
• Waited...
• Returned from reading on MRC every ten minutes to pump up extractor again
• Waited...repeated four times (over an hour)
• Poured a little new oil into filler cap using funnel
• Pumped up the extractor and watched the fresh oil run through the pipe (hopefully flushing the sump out a bit)
• Removed pipe
• Poured in new oil checking level after 3 litres (showed about half on the dipstick)
• Poured in another litre (dipstick showed full)
• Replaced filler cap
• Removed pump off bottle and put lid on
• Drove to tip to dispose of oil

Took about an hour, had to wash my hands :Thumbsup!
 
EDIT: There are some instructions on the pump, it advises not to pump more than 20 times and not to use with flammable liquids

[Crazy Eddie]

Nice 1 cheers for that have ordered mine now so when it comes I\'ll probably do all the cars in my excitement :Party

[dj_dee99]

I did mine at my mates with the usual jack & axle stands. Only takes 15 mins from start to finish.

[andysmee]

That\'s fair comment. It did take *forever* to extract all the oil - that\'s the trade off for having a small enough pipe to go down the dip stick hole. But, as you can see from the picture, I didn\'t even have to move the car from its normal parking spot to do it and I spent most of the time inside in the warm and dry surfing on MRC! You just need to pop out every now and again to pump it up to keep the flow going...child\'s play really (although I haven\'t got any kids to bribe to do it for me)

[stylus350]

That\'s fair comment. It did take *forever* to extract all the oil - that\'s the trade off for having a small enough pipe to go down the dip stick hole. But, as you can see from the picture, I didn\'t even have to move the car from its normal parking spot to do it and I spent most of the time inside in the warm and dry surfing on MRC! You just need to pop out every now and again to pump it up to keep the flow going...child\'s play really (although I haven\'t got any kids to bribe to do it for me)

Did you warm the car up first? Ive been using one of these (similar) for the FD and the one time I did it cold it took probably 8 times longer. When warm the engine is emptied 7 or 8 mins at the most. How lucky to have the filter at the top too!

[andysmee]

possibly not warm enough...so yes, that would explain it, I shall do better in January for the next one!

[k.j]

I just bought a 1993 RX-7 and the first thing I\'m going to do is an oil change with filter. I got the filter from Halfords (surprise, surprise) and have always used Mobil 1 oil on my previous cars.
Would it be okay to use this on my RX-7? I\'ve read all the threads from you guys and can\'t dind a definitive answer yet.
Also, does anyone know where I can buy a workshop manual for this car. Any replies much appreciated, thanks.

[Fish]

So long as its the mineral version then yeah no problem. As for the workshop manual, you can download free from the web.

Fish

[k.j]

Thanks for the info Fish. But how can I tell if it\'s the \'mineral\' version?
Errr, where on the web for download/buy?

[TwistedHumour]

Speak to these guys!

Opie Oils - Clicky click!