I was in WalMart yesterday and man did they have a lot of useful tools to help someone do their own oil changes at home; filter wrenches, EZ drip oil plugs, etc. Can the members with experience doing oil changes at home share their tips with the rest of us?

How do you lift your car; ramp or lift? EZ drip oil plugs; yay or nay? Which filter wrench works best? What do you use to catch the oil? Which after market filter works best? Please share anything else that I might have missed.

Pull into quick lube place, wait a few minutes, drive out.
I still do it myself every now and then but with the kids, the honey-do-list, and work.....Its hardly worth my time.

I knew it. "Gee - why get all dirty over a $25 oil change?", I'll tell you why:

1) drain plug not tightened - almost fell out on trip home;
2) old filter left to rattle around, hidden above engine brace;
3) broke wire to oil pressure sending unit;

and the winner:

4) drained transmission, filled engine, sent car on its way.

The first three happened to me, the fourth to an acquaintance. That last one "totalled" the car; it was still in court last I knew. Let's just say that my confidence in the "quick oil change" places is pretty low. That includes dealerships offering low-cost "fast" oil changes, because their least-experienced or apprentice mechanic is usually the one assigned to oil changes. Oil-change technicians are, well, generally pretty low on the food chain.

That all said, a bunch of tips:

1. End-cap filter wrenches are usually a waste of money, since they only fit one size. If you change filter brands, it is likely that the wrench won't fit the new one. For that matter, even Honda has changed the size of the replacement filter for the E.

1a. If you follow the next two instructions, you may not need to use a wrench again. For the occasional "difficult" filter, I keep a band-type removal tool around.

2. Use a filter wrench only to remove. Never tighten a filter with a wrench! Tighten by hand only, 3/4 to one full revolution after the gasket has contacted the seat. Much tighter and you risk distorting the seal.

3. Lube the gasket on the filter with clean oil, and wipe off the seat on the block just before screwing the new filter on.

4. Figure out what your used-oil disposal situation is going to be before you start the job. In most (all?) areas it is illegal to dump the old oil in the trash (which some folks do by putting the used oil in the now-empty oil bottles). I would like to think that E owners are way too enlightened to do stupid things like dumping used oil down a storm drain or out in a field.

Car parts chains that cater to D-I-Y (AutoZone, Advance Auto, Pep Boys) will accept used oil for free. Some areas (my experience in California) might make you sign a log; that's another discussion.

If you use one of those combination drain pan-containers (I do, and I love 'em), don't count on it being suitable for "round tuit" storage and transport for the trip to where you dump it. The little plug in the middle doesn't seal very well, and it is a potential mess. Get a 5-gallon gasoline can and clearly label it "used motor oil".

5. When buying oil by the bottle (I usually buy it by the sealed case), double-check the breakaway seals, especially at D-I-Y car stores. Low-lifes will put their used oil in the bottles and "return" them.

6. I feel that ramps are unsafe. You have to apply a lot of throttle to climb them and then rely on your reflexes to instantly back off when you land in the perch. And that doesn't include bad-case scenarios where one or both ramps slip while you're trying to climb them. A minor negative with ramps is that you have to find a place to store 'em.

7. If you have to place any part of your body other than your arms under the vehicle, use jack stands. You don't have to necessarily rest the vehicle on the stands (although it's recommended) - but there had better be something there between the vehicle and you should the jack somehow fail. It's rare but not impossible - probably once a year or so I read in the local paper where a car has fallen on someone.

8. Kitty litter and paper towels. Have them handy, as in next to the pile of tools and bottles of new oil. Hopefully you won't need the litter, but you will want to have the towels within reach.

9. (Nearly) everybody says to change the oil with the engine warm, so that all the "gook" is suspended. Truthfully? This isn't very practical for most D-I-Y'ers - too much risk of getting burned, either by hot oil or by contacting an exhaust part. What I do is pour in a quart of new oil after the old oil has drained - but before replacing the pan plug - to more-or-less push remaining dirty oil out of the pan. Besides, "gook" build-up isn't a problem if you're changing your oil regularly.

10. Don't fall for the Fram hype. The current owners of the Fram brand started resting on their reputation about 10 years ago, and these days the orange cans are the poorest-quality oil filter on the market. Watch out -other brand names can be re-labelled Fram filters. Motorcraft, Wix, Mobil1 and Purolator are known to be good quality. If Dad swore by the orange can and you insist that he just can't be wrong... well, things change. Check it out for yourself:
http://www.frankhunt.com/FRANK/corvette/articles/oilfilterstudy/oilfilters.html


I've doubtless missed something significant here, but since I'm a stickler about oil changes on three vehicles I'm doing this process just about once a month. Lots of things learned the hard way.

YMMV! :wink:

The EZ-Drip oil plugs have some (obvious) risk to them - they can be broken off in off-road or other bad clearance situations. If you anticipate at any time going off-road or climbing a curb (or you have particularly obnoxious speed bumps in your area), stick with stock.

:?

[quote:f2b24f4412="MikeQBF"]I knew it. "Gee - why get all dirty over a $25 oil change?", I'll tell you why:

[/quote:f2b24f4412]

Here's another winner fro changing one's own oil. I took my 5 quarts of Royal Purple oil to my dealer. It has a purple dye marker, similar to that in transmission fluid. Picked up my vehicle, checked the oil level. No purple oil in engine. Went back in to shop, demanded to see empties - the tech had 4 empties, gave me back one full. Unable to convince them/prove I've been "royally" ripped off, short of a lab test of the new oil, I leave promising myself never to trust another tech to change synthetic oil - it's easier for him to pump in 5 quarts from the drum and save the good stuff for his own car.

i would either do it myself or have dealership do it
as they are only deal with honda cars..they know what is right to do..
my acura has its oil change at dealership every time since i buy it

then..i do the oil change on my jeep by myself..
as it has higher ground clearance..easy to access...
i can wait as long as i want until the dirty oil drain off completely..
and the pure in the new oil...save me money by having quick lube kind of shops do it...

10. Don't fall for the Fram hype. The current owners of the Fram brand started resting on their reputation about 10 years ago, and these days the orange cans are the poorest-quality oil filter on the market. Watch out -other brand names can be re-labelled Fram filters. Motorcraft, Wix, Mobil1 and Purolator are known to be good quality. If Dad swore by the orange can and you insist that he just can't be wrong... well, things change.

Hmm... What do I see at the bottom of my factory Honda oil filter?
Manufactured by FRAM.

Hmm... What do I see at the bottom of my factory Honda oil filter?
Manufactured by FRAM.
Ha! :lol:

I knew that... and that it was going to come up sooner or later! Tell you what... tomorrow I will run down the street to the dealer and get the gen-u-ine item, and cut it apart. I will then go to the parts store and get the orange-can Fram, and then Wix versions, and do the same thing. Should make for a very interesting day!

Truth? Fram certainly knows how to make good filters - that's how they amassed the reputation. I suspect that's what they do for Honda. They just haven't done it in their aftermarket lines for a long while.

:?

[quote:daa8d9bbab="Slowhand"][quote:daa8d9bbab="MikeQBF"]I knew it. "Gee - why get all dirty over a $25 oil change?", I'll tell you why:

[/quote:daa8d9bbab]

Here's another winner fro changing one's own oil. I took my 5 quarts of Royal Purple oil to my dealer. It has a purple dye marker, similar to that in transmission fluid. Picked up my vehicle, checked the oil level. No purple oil in engine. Went back in to shop, demanded to see empties - the tech had 4 empties, gave me back one full. Unable to convince them/prove I've been "royally" ripped off, short of a lab test of the new oil, I leave promising myself never to trust another tech to change synthetic oil - it's easier for him to pump in 5 quarts from the drum and save the good stuff for his own car.[/quote:daa8d9bbab]

I too had a similar situation. I paid the hefty extra cash for Syntec oil at the local quick lube and the next day I found a small puddle of oil under my car. I took it back, they drained the oil, and said they didn't tighten the plug enough. Right before they began filling my car with oil the manager asked me to step into his office to discuss something. He made small talk to pass time and I bolted out of there suspecting they were trying to fill my car with the cheap stuff and not the Syntec that I paid for. Sure enough, I caught the mechanic red handed. The manager then apologized and refunded me the difference for the Syntec vs regular oil change. I left never to return.

I do have to mention though that my local Jiffy Lube have been very professional with my other cars.

Hmm... What do I see at the bottom of my factory Honda oil filter?
Manufactured by FRAM.
Not any more. The new (current) Honda filter is from Dana Corporation (Wix). I could not get the Fram-manufactured filter from the dealer - they've been out of the "old" version for several weeks.

I have Honda, Wix and Fram oil filters in front of me, and just from what I can see through the bottom, the "official" Honda filter seems to be the best - more filter medium than the Wix, but with Wix construction. The Fram is as I expected, junk.

Pics will be posted (probably in a new thread in "Under the Hood") after I cut them apart.

If anybody has an unused old-style Honda filter that they are willing to donate to this project, please PM me so we can arrange for shipping.

You should always change the crush washer on the drain plug when you change the oil. You get a better seal and are less likely to strip the plug (since the washer gives before the threads).

First, a technical question, has anyone used one of those oil pumps to pump out the oil and avoid the drain plug, under car, issue?

Now for some comments. I worked at the Mobil lab where Mobil 1 was invented and talked with a number of the scientists who invented it. They, understandably, thought it was the cat's meow. I haven't followed oil ratings in recent years so I don't know the current thinking on oil types, but synthetic sounds like the way to go for me, especially at 5-10,000 mile intervals.

Second, when I lived in Florida I was in a Mobil station and was looking around the service bay. I noticed the Mobil 1 bottles on the shelf appeared to have been opened. I pulled one down and opened it and the seal was missing. These guys were probably switching oil and selling regular oil as the high-priced spread. I planned to report them to Mobil but a few weeks later the station was closed.

Constant vigilence is the price of freedom and the price of not getting ripped off!

I do my own oil changes, for the reasons said above. Plus, I've found that I can put Mobil 1 in for the cost of whatever is cheap in the 55 gallon drum at the moment that the cheapo places have. I bought one of those "quick drain" things for a Nissan I had and loved it. If your oil plug is in an odd place and tends to splash on everything this is the answer. Just keep the old plug in case anything happens with the new one. I personally never had a problem though. I still don't see why Honda puts the filter on the back side of the block. It's like that on my mom's Del Sol, and makes it tough to get to.

[quote:5760ac0be1=" "]I still don't see why Honda puts the filter on the back side of the block. It's like that on my mom's Del Sol, and makes it tough to get to.[/quote:5760ac0be1]

I don't think Honda could have found a more difficult location for the oil filter, other than having to remove the front right wheel. . .or some body trim. LOL

[quote:d365ba757f=" "]Second, when I lived in Florida I was in a Mobil station and was looking around the service bay. I noticed the Mobil 1 bottles on the shelf appeared to have been opened. I pulled one down and opened it and the seal was missing. These guys were probably switching oil and selling regular oil as the high-priced spread. I planned to report them to Mobil but a few weeks later the station was closed.[/quote:d365ba757f]

There's always a small chance the oil was returned and the customer pulled a fast one. But there are some service stations that might do that too.

-brendan

Something I would highly recommend is placing something over the crossmember below the oil filter to deflect dripping oil. I'm assuming it's like my wife's '02 CR-V where oil will drip onto the crossmember and into holes in the top. As a result, oil will continue to drip for hours. I created a gutter out of aluminum foil, last oil change, and no oil went on or into the brace. Otherwise, you'll have dripping for hours and a puddle under your car!

bluesman77

>There's always a small chance the oil was returned and the customer pulled a fast one.

I ran into exactly this at a local AutoZone, although I had enough of my wits about me to catch it first. This is why I now insist on buying sealed cases, too.

But the idiots are getting sneakier. Last week we bought some PAR floodlights at the hardware store (a real hardware store!), and I was surprised to find that one of the "new" ones wouldn't work. After looking at it closely, it was the wrong brand and wattage for the packaging - which had been opened from the bottom and hot-glued back together. Haven't had a chance yet to take the store owner aside and warn him to not take returns on bulbs any more. Those d*mn lights were $10 each!

:evil:

Oil filter of Choice - Purulator Pure One PH14610 Awesome! And kinda a work of art with the blue metallic paint job and red silicone interior. About 3x the pleats of a Fram 2x WIX and tighter weave too.

if you guys are looking for a nice "quick drain" plug that won't leak or break...go here:

http://www.fumotovalve.com/

solid brass, check it out. many members on honda-tech.com use them and swear by them.

[quote:c2ba4e1863=" "]Oil filter of Choice - Purulator Pure One PH14610 Awesome! And kinda a work of art with the blue metallic paint job and red silicone interior. About 3x the pleats of a Fram 2x WIX and tighter weave too.[/quote:c2ba4e1863]

What stores carry the Purulator?

If you go with the Fumoto oil valve, get the one with the nipple. It completely eliminates the mess of oil dripping off the undercarrage.

I posted this in Performance section:
http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7144

Basically, filter can be accessed from top and cleaner oil change using cut out plastic jar as spout for old oil from filter.

[quote:af43c652e7=" "]If you go with the Fumoto oil valve, get the one with the nipple. It completely eliminates the mess of oil dripping off the undercarrage.[/quote:af43c652e7]

The oil plug opening is not above the cross member - no problems there it drips straight onto the ground :D . I have the Fumoto - it's great.

[quote:9a8ab52011=" "]If you go with the Fumoto oil valve, get the one with the nipple. It completely eliminates the mess of oil dripping off the undercarrage.[/quote:9a8ab52011]

I'd NOT go with the nippled version. The oil pan sits very low and the normal Fumoto valve would sit lower to the ground as it is, going with the nipple version would lower the clearance even more.

I concur. No nipple. Works great.

I am the manager of the local VIOC shop. I have a lot of experience and know a few tips. I like to change my own oil in my driveway. The element is a hard oil change, even harder than my civic. I do have a tip for the filter. I swear by k&n filters and mobil 1 filters. I use both, depending on what store I am at to buy the oil (0w20 mob 1). For those who can really access the filter with a filter wrench, try the k&n filter. It has a 1 inch hexangonal head on the end. I would use a 1/2" drive ratchet and a 1" socket. Good luck.

This is more related to transmission oil, but I noticed a couple people reccommending the dealer for changes, and hey, the tranny has oil in it too...

I recently discovered that, despite Honda Corporate saying to use only Honda ATF because of the special additives or whatever, my local dealer has been changing mine with regular old ATF. I discovered this because I've been noticing steadily deteriorating shifting in my Civic recently, and decided to change the ATF myself (every other time was just more convenient for the dealer to do it while the car was in for something else).

Anyway, when I asked for ATF, the parts guy asked which kind I wanted, Honda or regular. I asked why they even had regular, and he said that some people don't wanna pay the extra for the Honda ATF.

This could be very bad... it will damage your tranny after enough time (which is what I've experienced). So be careful with your dealer too.

Also, I have generally found STP oil filters to be consistently cheaper than Fram and see, to work well. I had the Purolators rubber seal sort of melt onto the engine makingit very hard to remove.

Also, to play devil's advocate... my parents Ody has never had anything but Fram filters, generally changed every other oil change, and it's been fine for 80,000 miles.

Yeah, I carry Genuine Honda Auto, Manual, and Dual Pump fluid in my store for newer hondas. We have trans fluid that is completely compatible with Honda Trannys but...that's not what I would do on my own honda so...

Be careful on the differential because that is a completely different fluid, the Dual Pump fluid.