Oil and filter change

At least keep your mobile in the pocket so you can call an ambulance.

I think they would have to suck pretty hard to do that ;-)

There are systems that use a tube that pushes down the dipstick hole to pump the oil out, (and if there is no drain plug fitted, it's the only way), but it's not that common.

It's not a great idea, especially if the operator doesn't push the tube in far enough.

Chris

Err, surely axle stands are the way to go to support a car after jacking up?

But most don't need *that* much extra height to do an oil change - so driving them up onto decent chunks of 4" high or so wood usually is enough.

Exactly.

Thus spake Hiram ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) unto the assembled multitudes:

I meant to say earlier that I have my car serviced annually as per recommendation, but I change the oil and filter myself at the 6 month point, so it gets two oil changes per year. Possibly overkill, but as I'm also a biker who's used to doing fairly frequent oil changes it's a hard habit to break, and can only be good for the engine.

I know it goes against everything we regard as self-obvious, but there's some strong evidence now that we do more harm than good by changing oil too often. See:

This URL returns a 404 here.

Chris

Hopefully back soon - it was the more detailed reference.

"Due to upgrades and product enhancements, The SAE, PRI, EAuditNet and IAQG websites are currently unavailable.

Thank you for your patience."

John

Thanks. I will be interested in reading it. Since retirement, I'm only doing about 4K miles a year, but still change the oil and filter annually. Perhaps not such a good idea?

Chris

Short of sending a sample to the oillab it's a good idea.

I'd be guided by manufacturer's recommendations. Low mileage driving usually means an engine doesn't often get to optimal operating temperature. The result is greater accumulation of corrosive water and acids in the oil.

John

About 25% of my driving is sub-5 mile trips, the rest are usually 10 miles plus, so I don't think that would be a problem.

When I change the oil at 12 months/4K miles, it looks much newer than when I did 10K changes.

Chris

That's less carbon in it though, which isn't a particularly good indicator. Either way it's probably fine, at 4K a year the engine will outlast enough other expensive things that it'll outlast the car.

DIY it if you already have the tools. New filter and sump plug is £7 or so from the dealer for my car. Manufacturer specification oil can be had for £10-15 for 5 litres or so if you know where to look (Fuchs, via opie, GSF, ECP or ebay for VWs). Oil can be had even cheaper if you are willing to buy

The mechanical bits are easy. You want a 6 sided socket for the sump plug or the relevant plug key (PSA often have square ones). Two lumps of wood is normally enough to raise the car up. Old oil goes to the tip, where they take it off you for free.

At the end of the day, you haven't saved a great wodge of cash, but you have a proper filter, with the proper oil and you know a good job has been done. OTOH National tyres will use a pattern filter, bog standard oil and rush it. To give you some idea of the difference between filters, the VW filter I fitted to a Golf this week was almost twice the size of the pattern filter that came off.

It takes a good half hour to drain the old oil. Kwik fitters will just let as much as they can out in 2 minutes to keep to turnover schedule.

My feeling is oil companies ain't going to allow longer change intervals than makes sense - after all why would they? Some say extended intervals on modern cars are a con - designed to cut the costs of inclusive servicing - but then I can remember when 3000 mile changes were the norm, and engines wore out every 50,000 miles or so. ;-)

I've changed oil many times, but where I am living now I haven't got a lot of space. I'm gradually coming round to doing the job myself, but I will need a plan on how I'm going to get the filter off without breaking it.

I'm quite interested in this idea, I'd like to find out some more. The sae site is down for maintenance unfortunately.

Regardless of doing it yourself or having it done while you wait you should make sure the engine is good and hot. The oil then drains in minutes.

There's no way you'll get every last drop out - some will remain in oilways etc.