Going to do oil change myself at the DIY shop (and rent a lift). What do I need?

[7milesout]

Doesn’t help that I’m tall with thick forearms.

DT88 - I'm built like Shrek. 6'2" and otherwise just like Shrek. I played college football too. I described the position I have to get into to get a grip on the filter somewhere in the forums, I don't recall the thread. And all I get out of it is about 1/8 of a turn or less, when it's tight. But you have 2 things working against you.

1. You haven't found the arm position yet, and 2. If it is the original oil filter, it might have been installed by King Kong and have 1,000 lb-ft of torque on it. You may have to get the cap wrench thing for the first time.

I can't remember the position so much but my grip on the filter is with my left hand, up under that radiator hose, seems like my face is near the top of the radiator, and it is a blind grip. And I sort of push down on my arm and twist at the wrist to create a counter-clockwise motion on the filter. Once it cracks backwards even a little bit, I might turn it a couple more times with my left hand, but then I can change my position to something more comfortable and spin it off. I spin it until it pukes oil, then I stop and let it drain for a while, while I recover from the pain on the bicep area of my left arm that something on the radiator was poking. Nothing has bled from the poking, but it felt like it was gonna.

I'm the type that I might get a scratch and bleed a bit from doing stuff like this, working on cars, but don't really do anything about it. One time at work, some hoity toity lady came up and was bothering me blabbering about something, I don't know, I wasn't listening. And she said, "that scratch on your arm is red and infected." And I said something like, "so what ... it'll get uninfected..." She seemed annoyed and walked away, which was all I wanted anyway. Anywho, I haven't bled on the Mirage ... yet.

[defensivetackle88]

Sorry long overdue update.

I went ahead last weekend to get me the necessary parts to do the task beforehand.

Bought the drain plug gasket and oil filter at my local dealer. Cost me $10 and change.

Ordered me 6 quarts of 0w-20 synthetic oil and 6 quarts of 5w-30 synthetic oil at Costco. Cost me $53 and change. This is the best deal I could find to compensate both service of my G4 (twice) and Highlander.

Got me the filter wrench from Amazon for $8.

And my favorite part of the weekend was the stubby racket 3/8 in drive and the drive adapter from AutoZone (shown pic on the right side) MADE IT EASY for me to loosen the filter from the G4! I was super duper happy although surprised given the dealer tendency to over tight it.



Gosh the stubby racket is so thin and small enough to help loosen the filter!

I think I’m ready based on what I have. Plan on doing the oil change this weekend?

[defensivetackle88]

Too bad the stubby racket and drive adapter cost me $35. Wish it could be cheaper but I’m good since it is a one time expense for me.

[defensivetackle88]

The tools from the left side of the above picture are mine from years ago and these don’t fit enough to test the filter easily.

[defensivetackle88]

Can anyone confirm that only 12 plastic clips must be taken off? I donÂ’t see anyone else in another thread mentioning the exact #. I could see myself losing some clips (donÂ’t have great memory retention)

I ask becauseÂ…well I got under the car for the first time and noticed and learned that the plastic tray must removed, just to make room/gap/space for the oil filter to come out (and not have a messy oil tray).

I also noticed and learned that oil change can be done without a lift (yay!)…with mild inconvenience (groan). I imagine having 15” set of wheels would help raise the car a tad bit (sigh…not there yet). Thankfully, I can reach the drain plug with one arm semi-extended.

Still planning to get this one done. Now waiting but unsure which it worth getting? the magnetic drain plug or the drain plug value from Fumoto

https://a.co/d/cPAwucw

[Mark]

Can anyone confirm that only 12 plastic clips must be taken off? I donÂ’t see anyone else in another thread mentioning the exact #. I could see myself losing some clips (donÂ’t have great memory retention)

I ask becauseÂ…well I got under the car for the first time and noticed and learned that the plastic tray must removed, just to make room/gap/space for the oil filter to come out (and not have a messy oil tray).

I also noticed and learned that oil change can be done without a lift (yay!)…with mild inconvenience (groan). I imagine having 15” set of wheels would help raise the car a tad bit (sigh…not there yet). Thankfully, I can reach the drain plug with one arm semi-extended.

Still planning to get this one done. Now waiting but unsure which it worth getting? the magnetic drain plug or the drain plug value from Fumoto

https://a.co/d/cPAwucw

Tires

15" wheels do not lift a car higher than 14" wheels. 15" wheels have 15" rims with less sidewall height. 14" wheels have 14" rims with more sidewall height.

175/65r14 (common alternative to 165/65r14) tires and 185/55r15 (common alternative to 175/55r15) tires are the exact same height, because they both have an outside tire diameter of 23". You could say the 15" rims use lower profile tires than 14" rims, but the overall difference in car height is zero.

---------------------------------------

Drain Plug/Valves

You don't need a magnetic drain plug or Fumoto oil drain valve. I changed oil for over 30 years without either. Take the drain plug out and put it back in when you are done. A new crush washer would be nice, but I don't think that is even necessary.

I have added a Fumoto drain valve to my Mirage, but it's not necessary to do an oil change. I've done 15 oil/filter changes on my Mirage, & the last 14 have been with the Fumoto drain valve. They are nice, but surely not necessary.

-------------------------------------------------

How I do my Mirage oil changes

If I had to remove all the plastic under my Mirage every time I did an oil change, I would probably sell the car. Thus, I don't think that is necessary. All of my oil filters have come off from the top, while I am standing upright on my two feet. That's the purpose of having the stubby handle racket & correct oil filter socket. If you can't grab your oil filter from the top with your hand, the ratchet/socket allows you to work around the radiator hose with ease.

I drive my Mirage up a homemade ramp I built from scrap lumber (see pic below). In all honesty, this may not even be necessary, but I find it a bit easier to get underneath the car if it is up a few inches.

I put a cheap plastic tray (kitten litter box or dish pan tub) under the oil pan to drain it.

While that is draining, I put a second cheap plastic tray under the oil filter area.

Using both arms/hands I reach around both sides of the radiator hose to remove the oil filter. The ratchet/socket works best coming in from the passenger side of the car (it's going on using my left hand). Once I get it loose (part of one turn maybe), I use my fingertips from both hands to spin it off. I try not to drop it.

I make sure the oil filter gasket came off with the old oil filter, & I put a light coating of oil on the new oil filter gasket. Lining up & getting the new oil filter started is probably the hardest part of all this. Once again I am using both hands to aid in the process. Since I can't really grab the oil filter all that well with either hand, I use the ratchet/socket combination to do the final 3/4 turn of the new oil filter.

At this point, I go back under the car. I closed the Fumoto oil drain valve (or would replace my oil drain plug). I take a rag with me & wipe any oil on the plastic tray. I also reach up and try to wipe the metal plate under the oil filter off. I pull both plastic trays out when I am done doing that.

My old oil goes back into an empty 5 quart oil jug. Our county shop has a place to dump old oil. Places like Auto Zone may take it, too. One of our tire shops will take it, & they use old motor oil to heat their shop.

I add enough oil to see it on the dipstick. I start the car up & back it off the ramps. As I am putting everything away, I turn the car off & let it sit. I go back & fill it to the top mark on the dipstick before I am completely done.

In all honesty, I wouldn't want a lift to do an oil change. I've lifted cars with a floor jack & set the front tires back down on blocks of wood to raise up the front, too. You have to do both sides, & it's more hassle. I find driving up my homemade ramps to be faster.

I am not saying this is the only way to do an oil change or that it is the best way. It's what works best for me with what I have. I use my homemade ramps for my Forester & Kawasaki Mule at times, too.

I've been changing oil in things since the 1970's, & I have never used a lift. I have removed oil filters from the bottom, but the Mirage is not one of them.

[defensivetackle88]

[defensivetackle88]

Finally did the oil change and the fog lamp today. Definitely learned a lot on the process. Took me under 1 hour to do the oil change.

It was plainly easy to do the oil change. I liked it. Equally easy as my 05 Corolla that i used to own years ago. Love the drain plug location! Yes, it was a lil messy.

I completely disliked removing the undertray and I won’t be taking it off again in the future. (I took it off because I wanted to see how it looked like. It was super duper clean down there lol)

Another thing I completely disliked is the drain plug bolt. Man, It TINY! And doesn’t require a lot of effort to loosen it. I have to get me something else better. Fumo value maybe?

Now as far as fog lamp installation went, gawsh it was tedious and long. I cannot believe I had to remove lots of clip liners from the wheel well in order for me to get better access. I didn’t even remove the wheel (too lazy. Eric’s video on fog lamps installation certainly helped me).

Cutting the bezel with a small blade was easy. Mounting the lamp was ok, a lil annoying to do so but eventually got it done. Rather deal with this job myself than paying $200 at the dealership for the labor alone (not including ETAC programming).

Notice from above when I said lamp; not lamps. Because I ran out of time at the shop and I plan to go back there tomorrow to install the other lamp.

[defensivetackle88]

Also I collected small sample of dirty oil for oil analysis. I wanna find out if I could had gone for another 1k miles or not. I have the kit to send it back to them but I forgot to bring it with me. I had to use the mason jar. Better than nothing.

Yes I know, I didn’t need to have that many tools with me to do those jobs but I wanted to. It just for my peace of mind. I’m a rookie lol.

[Top_Fuel]

Also I collected small sample of dirty oil for oil analysis. I wanna find out if I could had gone for another 1k miles or not.

I do 5,000 mile oil change intervals and have had my oil tested 5 or 6 times over the life of the car. Unless you are driving in some pretty harsh conditions, 5,000 mile intervals are definitely no problem. Looking at my test results, I probably could have been doing 7,500 intervals.

HERE is a link to my last analysis done at 100,000 miles. You can also see the previous test numbers.

If you get an oil analysis, be sure to get a TBN test.