In Picture there is two oil filters, the blue Simota being a used one and black Tokyo Roki made Mazda RX-8 filter being new one.
Service stations can charge you a pretty hefty sums for as simple procedure as it is. Usually in Subarus equipped with gasoline turbo engine the oil change interval is somewhere between 5,000 to 7,500 kilometers. On my wifes -07 Turbo Forester it's 5,000 kilometers. The car gets driven about 50,000 kilometers per year. That's 10 oil changes in a year. My usual choice of oil, oilplug gasket and filter cost around 70-80€ per change. If i'd take it to the shop, they would add 60 to 80€ for the labour and oil disposal costs. My friend told me that the BMW dealership service quoted him for 240€. For a freaking oil change! My VERY strong opinion on that is the next: IT'S A LEGALIZED ROBBERY! And no, it's not an M-series car, just a plain Diesel that uses regular oil.
But there is a catch with the BMW. The oil pan apparently doesn't have a plug for draining so the oil must be pumped out, atleast that's what my friend told me. And because almost no one has the pump in their own driveway, dealership and service stations can charge what ever they like because oil is one of the most vital parts of your cars engine.
If i do my own oil changes the yearly costs for that are around 800€. If i pay for someone to do it, yearly costs will double to around 1600€. Now that is a amount of money i'd hate to see going to waste. Wrap your head around that thought for a second, throwing 800€ away. Now think about the other maintenance you need to do like washing, polishing and hoovering your car. With that sum of money that you pay yearly to service stations for maintenance labour it's more than possible to rent a part of heated garage, possibly with good lift and access to few pricyer tools like welding machines, drill press etc. Or if you have your own garage with the house you're living in, what else can yearly 800€ get?
We have few empty oil barrels that we got for free. If we fill one barrel full of oil, it's usually free to return to a company that regenerates the oil. Unless the oil is too watery, then it'll cost you. And it's even possible to use the old oils in oil or diesel powered heater when you mix it with proper fuel for the specific heater. It might not be legal depending where you live but it's possible.
Because every car has their own places for everything, this is more of a general guideline rather that specific how-to.
You'll definatelty need good oil resistant gloves since it's preferrable to change the oil while it's hot, or atleast warm because it runs better that way. I have used double gloves. Some normal thin working gloves under and nitrile coated ones over them to prevent the hot oil getting to my skin. And by hot i mean it. Oil can be over 100c (usually it's cooler in the pan, but still quite warm) so it's possible to burn your skin if you go in with bare hands. Also some engine parts might be really hot.
Then few tools:
-Spanner for oil drain plug (some cars require hex bits or some other bits for the oil drain plug)
-A dish or bucket where you drop the old oil. Pick a decently sized one because there can be quite lot of oil in the engine. Look in the owners manual for the expected amount of motor oil
-Rags, cleaning cloth or something like that
-Possibly a oil filter cup or something similiar for opening the oil filter
-Possiby some screwdrivers for removing the possible underside plastic under the car that hides the oil plug and possibly the filter.
Investigate where your oil filter is located from owners or service manual, dealership, car service or internet is are good places to find info if you don't want to go searching blindly around the engine bay. Even http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ might have the info.
Drive the car on the ramps, jack it up or position it on the car lift. Pull the dipstick out a bit so that air can travel through the hole, if you have one. Not all engines have dipsticks these days. Open the oil filler cap so that the air can travel through that hole too. Lift the car if you're on a lift or crawl under the car and remove protective plastics that are usually held in place with plastic body panel studs (yes, the notorious studs, get few spares just in case). Position the dish or bucket under the oil drain plug so that when it opens all the oil goes in to the container of your choice. If you do this on cold engine and the filter is under the on on the side of the engine, take a cup of coffee since it takes few minutes to drain. Unless you got a second dish that you can place under the filter while removing it.
If your filter is on top of the engine, leave the dish under the oil drain and remove the oil filter if you have the oldschool metallic, or open the cap if you're on newer car that has oil filter cup and you only change the filter itself (media). This will let the oil channels breathe even more, so there might come out some more oil from the drain plug.
Clean the surfaces that the sealings of the filter are going to get pressed against. Avoid dropping dirt in to the system as it damages the bearings.
Get the new oil filter and moisturise the rubber seals with new engine oils. This prevents them from burning against the metal. Use a finger to spread the oil evenly on the seal and screw the new filter back to the engine. Now keep in mind, it's not ment to be tightended with any kind of tool. Just bare hand. Exept if you have the plastic can type. I've seen "25Nm MAX" reading on one plastic cover, if i remember correctly it was Volkswagen.
Put the oil drain plug back with new plug gasket and tighten it properly, but do not over-torque it. Otherwise you'll end up buying a new oil pan if the old one cannot be fixed and even fixing the old pan is going to cost some money fi you don't have the tools.
When you have fitted the plug and new filter it's time to fill the engine with new oil. Now it's not necessary to have some sort of funnel, but it's going to make it so much easyer and cleaner. I made my funnel out of plastic bottle that just so happens to screw on to the existing place of oil filler cap.
Once you have filled the engine with proper amount of oil (Check from the owners manual), put the dipstick and oil filler cap back in place and turn the engine on. Let the engine run for few minutes and look if your oil drain plug or filter leaks. If not, shut the engine, but everything back in place and you're done.
My oil change takes about 30 minutes from drive in to drive out. If i'd have carlift, it'd be done in 15 minutes because ol change is a routine for me these days. First time with new car it might take a bit longer.
It's recommended to have a friend along who knows what they're doing for the first time you do this to help you out even though it's not that hard. Actually every time you go under the car that is on jackstands or lift, it's highly recommnded to have some company in case something bad happens.
If you got comments about anything, feel free to post and i'll respond to my best knowledge.
Take care, enjoy the ride and drive safe
Hannu
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