My DIY Oil Change Nightmare

[Charlie]

Hi guys, just finished up my first oil change @ 1500 miles! * Lowers head shamefully * Took me the ENTIRE bloody day!!

Background: Used to just go to quick lube places for my old car (hand me down). Now that I have a car that I bought with my own $ and care about it, I decided to do as much work on it myself as possible.

So I had done oil changes with my dad in the past (where I would do all the work, dad supervising), and they went just fine, every time. I had no idea what lay in store for me..

With my dad, we had stupidly just used those emergency scissor jacks on each pinch weld (Right and Left) to raise the car while we were under the car. I definitely wanted to do things right this time, EVERYTHING safely and correctly.

So..I had bought me a 2.5 Ton Hydraulic Floor Jack (19" raise height), 2 Ton Jack Stands, 2 pairs of wheel chocks. These were all purchases I had done earlier in the month so I would have everything ready for when I hit 1500 miles.

1500 miles hit and I was psyched, I had everything ready! Set up all my stuff in the garage and..lo and behold, the hydraulic jack was not long enough to get to the front jacking point between the two front tires!! And the floor jack was NOT one of those small wimpy ones either that you can get for like $30. It was a nice, quality one, well sized, and still came up ~8 inches short.

I was SHOCKED. There went my idea of going under a raised car safely supported by jack stands..

I then tried jamming myself under the car while lowered. Thankfully I am small and skinny and am able to do this.

I then realized the strap type oil filter wrench I had bought, was not going to work due to the location of the filter + lay out of surrounding things. Uggh, yet another purchase gone wrong!

Went back to NAPA to return my jackstands. Then went to Adv Auto Parts to return the floor jack wheel chocks. While there, also get a 'normal' oil filter wrench of the 65-67mm, 14 flute variety.

Got back home, jammed myself under my unraised car again, and actually WAS able to get the oil filter off. BTW, that little scoop thing under the oil filter..what a joke! It does nothing! (Aggh, the goggles...they do nahthing!)

Next, I then attempted to loosen the oil drain plug. BTW, if this saves anyone any trouble - the correct socket size for the drain plug is 17mm.

So I heard people say that the oil filter was going to be hell due to Mitsubishi utilizing the assistance of Godzilla to screw it on. My experience with the oil filter was not 'easy' due to the unraised car/cramped space situation, but it really was nothing hard to un-tighten.

The drain plug on the other hand! My goodness, who torqued this thing on??!! After a very good long while of struggling with the thing, I came to the terrible realization. I need to raise the car up for this. Terrible realization b/c all I had access to were 2 emergency scissor jacks, EXACTLY what I wanted to avoid from my earlier days. At this point, it was WAY too late to go back to the auto parts store to get what I really needed, some ramps. So..I actually did do the stupidest thing again. I raised the car up with the scissor jacks, and what's worse, I didn't even have my wheel chocks anymore, took a deep breath and rushed under the car so I could be under there the least amount of time possible. Even with better leverage position, thing would not budge! Repositioned my legs to use the front wheel for even better position/leverage, pushed with all my might, and BOOM!! - my left hand went flying into the front wheel well cover scraping off a good amount of skin (went through my glove like a puffy cloud).

Got out from under the car to control the bleeding. Once the bleeding was not as bad, put on a fresh glove and got back under the car (now, I HAD to finish this!). Much to my surprise, the drain plug was loosened (that's how I hurt myself, when the stuck plug came abruptly loose, my hand followed in the direction I was loosening with all my force).

From there on, nothing else eventful happened. Actually no, scratch that. Some winged insect actually flew in my ear canal! Happened as I was replacing the front, under panel/cover that I removed to get better access to the oil filter. Strange feeling having something flapping it's wings in your ear canal. I think I managed to get it out as I don't feel/hear anything there anymore, still..I do feel paranoid about it..

So that was my first oil change ordeal! Good thing is, even though I DID take the whole day to do it, it was done! Actually eager for the next oil change (5000 more miles) b/c I know it will go a LOT smoother (drain plug not super torqued, etc).

-Charlie-

[cookiemonster]

Sounds like a headache. On the bright side, at least you know what's needed for your next oil change!

What viscosity and filter did you end up choosing to use for the change? How did the old oil look?

[jamiec]

Good on you for doing the job your self and after all the fun you had you are still going to do it again

One tip for those tight nuts or bolts I use a rubber mallet to hit the end of the spanner this cracks it loose so you don't smash your hand into something (as you know about this now).


Cheers Jamie

[aydu]

Congratulations on getting the job done.

The issues you encountered may be the universe telling you that you were meant for things other than oil changes.

I received a similar message on plumbing. I now hire plumbing jobs out and have been much happier.

As you noted, a job can be made significantly harder and more risky without the proper tools.

Please never again yield to the temptation to get under a car supported by scissor jacks alone. Providing any amount of engine protection is not worth sacrificing your well being.

[kalifornia]

Congratulations on getting the job done.

The issues you encountered may be the universe telling you that you were meant for things other than oil changes.

.

man oh man oh man listen to the universe

[Charlie]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys (reason why I joined this forum!), I've read them all and will implement many of these in my next OC.

I was definitely not discouraged even after the debacle lol. You know how we learn best through mistakes?? Well..I learned a LOT, let's just say that! Since I've come so far and learned so much already, I definitely feel it would be a shame to not stick with it b/c I know my next OC will be so much better and smoother!

I love getting any advice from here. I hope someone can write up a tutorial (with pics?) on Transmission servicing for fluid change (and filter? do we have transmission filter in our cars or just a screen?), BEFORE I get to that particular maintenance item!

To Cookiemonster: I just stuck with the 'recommended' 0w-20 viscosity. I went with Mobil 1, Advanced Fuel Economy Synth, and Mobil 1 Extended Performance Filter. Also..HOW did you get the filter off from the top???! I tried that before jamming myself under the car unraised, but there appeared to be too many obstacles in the way. Going in from bottom after removing the front under cover panel seemed to be the best solution to me. Also, to answer your last question, used oil looked absolutely fine with no sparkling metal wear particles, then again I did not drain the factory filled synth and fill up with dino for a break in period.

To R01K and Basic: I definitely thought of doing the jack first, stands next solution, however the dilemma came when I was reading through the manual. Says to jack only at specified points. On the front left and right side, there is only one 'authorized' jack point designated each by a pinch weld on each side. If I take up this spot with a jack to raise the car, it now leaves me with no place to put the jack stand since the jack is occupying the pinch weld. There is this guy who invented something to get past that issue with these 3 sided metallic stools so you can get around this 'same space occupying' issue, but they're SOOOO expensive!!...he was promoted by Jay Leno too.

To Basic: Definitely took the ramp advice seriously. I wanted to do everything as safe as possible, so when I browsed the ramps and inspected what was available at my local autoparts store, I was not instilled with much confidence in the ramps I found. The Rhino Ramps I inspected were those plastic ones with not too many structural supports in the hollow underside. I know they rate them at like 3 times higher weight than our car's curb weight..but looking at those ramps, I just had a very hard time believing it and did not want to risk it so I thought the safest thing would be the, front jack point raising, to lowering onto 2 jackstands in front method. Though now since the hydraulic floor jack method is out of the question (NOT going to buy a super long floor jack), I'm definitely looking much closer at car ramps again.

To Minihaha: Thanks!! I will DEFINITELY be implementing that procedural order next time! I had no idea about the, opening up oil cap first thing, though it makes sense now that I remember about air pressure. For my first oil change though, I definitely needed to take off the oil filter first b/c the thing with the Mobil 1 oil filter, I wasn't entirely sure it was going to fit on the car. I went to the Mobil 1 site, and they give no recommendations for 2014 Mitsu Mirage for oil filters. Checked out Autozone, according to their site (at least when I checked), it did not recommend any Mobil 1 filters either, just a Fram. I looked up thread type, and it appeared to be the same as the recommended Fram model, so I bought the Mobil 1 model based on that info. Still was not super certain though, so I wanted to dry fit the Mobil 1 filter first before draining the oil so I could at least drive back to the auto parts store in the event it did NOT fit...though, now thinking back with how everything else went South, I'm VERY surprised the oil filter wound up fitting!!

To Daox: YESSS!! A DIY oil change guide would be of immense help to many people, many of whom may not post on the site but still browse the site. Due to different configurations, clearances, etc from car to car, the best, easiest, most efficient way to do something on one car may not be the best thing to do on another (I learned, strap type oil filters are useless for our cars coming at the filter from the bottom for example).

To FredM: Duuuude, those Fumoto Valves!!! WHY are those not stock in EVERY single car on this planet??!!!! I will definitely be seriously investigating this avenue before my next OC. Thanks for showing me that!!!

-Charlie-

[M-88]

Have you tried putting the car on ramps?

I drive the focus on some 4x4s and use wooden wedges to get on them. I'm sure the clutch hates me from trying to climb the ramp but ...

Glad you got it done! There's a good satisfaction in doing something yourself!

My first oil change on my Cherokee was a bit frustrating. I took off the filter, no problem. Took off the drain plug, no problem. Went to remove the oil cap to add the new oil and ... the oil cap wouldn't come out.

[Daox]

Welcome to the wonderful world of working on cars!

As you learn little tricks here and there it all becomes easier to do, even when there are hangups (and there always are).

I recommend getting yourself a 'cheater bar'. This is basically just a piece of pipe to slip over the ratchet to give you more leverage. I have one and its only about 8" long, but it really helps out a lot. The mallet trick also works quite well.

[R01k]

Lesson learned the hard way: NEVER work on your car in a hurry.

No matter what, keep a cool mind and take the time to go the store several times if necessary and do things correctly, even finish the job at the other day if start feeling pressured.

You probably could have risen the car holding it by the sides with the jack and the stands.

[Minihaha]

Tip (for the next time) - drain the oil out of the oilpan (via the drainplug) first, before you remove the oil filter. Any residual oil that was being held in the filter due to possible stagnant oil in the lines should release into the pan as the pressure differential will most likely cause the stagnant oil to drain. Also - crack open (a bit) the oil-fill-cap to allow full drainage.

Also - please don't do that again with the lifting jacks and no jackstands, it's just a risk not worth taking, is it? Being crushed by your car trying to change your oil.... pretty lame way to go out. BTW - your drain bolt incident was waaaaaaaaaaay sketchy for a car not on jackstands too, the sudden inputs to the static vehicle could have spelled disaster.