New initiate to OIL CHANGE CLUB

Your garbage truck company will accept the used motor oil in a plastic contaniner??? I'm kinda surprised to hear that. What city are you in?

Here in Columbia, MO, and in much of the country, it's against the law to dispose of used car oil in the regular household trash. Here you have to take the used oil to a used oil disposal site, a place that has a very large metal tank where you can dump your oil into.

Places like Autozone, Walmart, some mechanics garages, etc. have these tanks and let you use them for free. Walmart even has a big tank to hold used oil filters in addition to used motor oil. Autozone, however, does not accept used filters. The Autozone guy just told me to drain the filter for 24 hours, then throw it away. He said 24-hour draining of the filter is OSHA's rule.

Try a different angle!

What car are you changing the oil on?

You can feel when the tube hits the bottom. But just as a double check, you can easily measure the amount of oil extracted.

Measuring is the ONLY way to be sure when using an extractor. You cannot tell if your hitting the bottom of the pan OR a baffle or even the oil pick-up.

Can you get lucky and have a vehicle that the baffles are out of the way or have a cut in the correct spot? Yes. Should you rely on that luck with every vehicle? Nope

In NY it the law that ANY place that a garage that sells over 500 gallons of oil or any retailer that sells over 1000 gallons of oil must accept up to 5 gallons per person per day of used motor oil for recycling FREE of charge. Tossing it in the trash, down the drain, or on the ground will get you a BIG fine and possibly jail time.

Not the garbage truck. We have three separate trucks come by. One is for yard waste. One is for recycling. Paper, cardboard, plastic, steel, and aluminum are all mixed together in one big container that they supply, while you put household batteries into a plastic bag, and oil into a plastic jug and the filter into a plastic bag. The third truck is for garbage that goes to the landfill. All the cities in the Bay Area do this. They're trying to stop used oil from being poured into storm drains, which all go straight to San Francisco Bay, which is already extremely polluted.

The Mityvac extractors are made of translucent plastic with measuring marks on the outside, so it is fairly easy to see how much oil has been extracted.

One thing that works really well when you need an extra funnel, quick and cheap: an empty 2L soda bottle. With scissors, cut into the middle of the bottle (pinching the bottle a bit helps), then cut your way up to the cap part, cutting round until you have a nice little funnel. Careful not to cut yourself on the sharp plastic (it IS sharp).

Wipe your funnel clean first before you use it for oil though. You don't want sugar water mixed with your oil.

We just moved, the car needed an oil change, and I couldn't find my funnels anywhere... soda bottle it is... the orifice is bigger than the bottom hole in my regular funnels, so oil pours faster... plus there's no pointy tip, so it fits better.

Michael

I use an X-Acto or a box cutter. Again, SHARP! But works quite well.

'91 Grand Marquis '94 Acclaim

My '94 LHS was easy!

So on Friday night just after I started the car, the "Maintenance Required" light comes on and blinks 6 times, then turns off. It happened every time I started the car. 6 blinks, then off. I'm thinking I musta broke my 'yoter somehow when I changed the oil a week ago, and it took 7 days to show up. Unfortunately there's no 'puter around to search the newsgroups since I'm at a gas station in St. Louis 125 miles from home.

All the fluids look fine, so I ask a fella what it could mean. He says the "Maintenance Required" light came on because the oxygen sensor probably broke its porcelain piece when I hit a bump or something. Couple hundred dollars in labor and parts, he says. Luckily the '06 is still under factory warranty.

The next day, while still in St. Louis, I take the car to Seeger Toyota, the dealership that sold me the car 2 years ago. When I explain what's been happening, the friendly and very helpful Chad in the service department says the "Maintenance Required" light only comes on when it's time for an oil change--only then and never else.

I tell'em I changed the oil myself a week ago--my first time doing it myself. He said I just needed to reset the Camry's

5,000-mile oil interval count back to zero by holding the odometer button in, then turning the key to the on position (not start), and waiting a few seconds until the ODO display turns to dashes, then zeroes. Then release the odometer button.

Well, that was easy enough! I didn't break my 'yoter after all!

My only thought is the warning light should say something like "Change Oil," not "Maintenance Required" since maintenance could mean anything from low coolant, break fluid, transmission problem, etc. Chad says "Maintenance Required" only comes on for one reason and one reason only: It's close to 5,000 miles since your last oil change, so change it again. (I had changed the oil after 4,000.)

Can't wait to rotate and torque the wheels soon with my trusty Craftsman torque wrench!

The Acclaim is easy, but the arm comes out oily. Barely have to raise the Acclaim to do the job.

Chad's interpretation was not quite correct. The "maintenance required" light comes on every 5,000 miles because 5,000 miles have elapsed on the odometer since the light was last reset and not because the oil was changed

5,000 miles ago. The system was designed that way because the oil should be changed every 5,000 miles. It says "maintenance required" and not "change oil" because at some 5,000 mile intervals, there are other things to be maintained or checked, like inspect brakes (not "break"), replace air filter, replace coolant, etc. If the light merely said "change oil," people might neglect the other maintenance items at some intervals.

When I started the car on Friday, the "Maintenance Required" light must have come on at about 4,500 miles. I mentioned it blinks 6 times, then turns off, but I forgot to mention that Chad says it will stay on permanently at 5,000 miles until you reset it, hopefully after an oil change, of course.

Well, yeah. ;-) Most of the rest of the required maintenance and safety checks can be done by a DIY'er with a few basic tools (like a grease gun and the right grease) and a repair manual.

Ramps help a lot, and a lube pit or two-post lift would be a godsend. I'm looking for a good excuse to raise the garage roof three or four feet to clear a lift...

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Ray O, I think you're right and like your interpretation of the "Maintenance Required" light, but would you believe the 2006 _Scheduled Maintenace Guide_ refers to it as the "oil replacement reminder light."

Here's the exact quote found in the footnotes of almost every other page in the Guide:

"Reset the oil replacement reminder ("MAINT REQD") light after replacing engine oil, if vehicle is equipped with this light."

Bruce, I've been wondering about grease issues since reading a couple days ago a brochure from an Advance Auto store called _Chassis Care: Why You Should Inspect and Lube Your Chassis Every 6 Months_.

In the brochure, it says to "Use a grease gun to lubricate the Ball-joints and Tie-rod ends. Some manufacturers do not provide grease fittings on OEM Tie-rod ends since they are pre-lubricated, sealed units from the factory. A flexible hose helps in tight spots. Apply until grease oozes from the seal. Wipe off extra grease."[End Quote]

Does anyone know if the '06 Camry is one of those cars that has pre-lubed sealed units that don't require greasing? Are there other spots in the chassis and suspension that require lubing?

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I would think there is very little, perhaps nothing, under the chassis of the '06 Camry that requires lubing, but maybe I'm wrong.

FWIW,

I used to think lubed for life OEM parts weren't any good, but my wife's Beretta had the original tie rods last 15 years and 220,000km.

I consider that to be more than adequate. I'd be willing to bet that there are quite a few cars made in the last 15 years going to the junkyard with OEM lubed for life balljoints and front end parts on them.

I much prefer that to the truck I own, which has about 3 bazillion (okay it's only 8) places to lube on the front steering.

Ray