The proper way to change oil.

[Geesie]

I heard this from someone. It makes sense, but no one does it this way.
First, dont let the car completly warm up. The thicker oil will catch more dirt. Next, keep the drain plug out for a long time. Get as much oil out as possibe. Then run a couple of quarts of new oil through the engine with the drain plug still out, to help get some more crap out of the engine. Put drain plug in, add oil. Remove filter, fill the new filter with new oil. Disable fuel and ignition, crank engine over till oil pressure builds up. Now you can finally start the engine. :lol:

This is like everything you can do wrong with an oil change.
The only way to make it worse is to add "only finger-tighten the drain plug"

 

[dan2286]

I heard this from someone. It makes sense, but no one does it this way.
First, dont let the car completly warm up. The thicker oil will catch more dirt. Next, keep the drain plug out for a long time. Get as much oil out as possibe. Then run a couple of quarts of new oil through the engine with the drain plug still out, to help get some more crap out of the engine. Put drain plug in, add oil. Remove filter, fill the new filter with new oil. Disable fuel and ignition, crank engine over till oil pressure builds up. Now you can finally start the engine. :lol:

This is like everything you can do wrong with an oil change.
The only way to make it worse is to add "only finger-tighten the drain plug"

I dont think everyhing is wrong about it. Its not a bad thing to flush a couple of courts through the engine. Definately not a bad idea to fill the filter with oil and prime the oil system, it cant hurt.

I am sure people have heard an engine knock like hell right after an oil change. I am sure priming the system will eliminate that, or atleast help. We do it for the first start of a new engine, I guess what I am trying to say is that it is definately overkill, but what does it hurt?

 

[andrewmp6]

I have a oil filter magnet on most of my cars i think it works don't really know but there cheap so is a magnet drain plug too.Some of the old timers i know run a transmission pan magnet in the oil pan but your stuck taking the oil pan off every now and then to check and clean that magnet.

 

[megaladon6]

oil picks up dirt as it travels through the engine, not when it's sitting stagnant. plus the cleaning additives only work when hot. in terms of getting any heavy particles sitting in the pan, you have 2 rivers one flows fast one flows slow, which one has the larger loose rocks in it? plus the thinner hot oil will drain out of the internals better. putting in new oil and not running the engine won't accomplish crap because it just goes down the drains, not through components. plus it's cold so none of the additives are working.
filling the filter and priming the engine is a good idea, especially on an older engine that's worn out.
oil flush can work if used early on and continuously, otherwise the gunk you've built up which IS your bearing gets washed out and you now have huge clearences. not good.
as stated, doing a double oil change with a short drive period works great. so does ATF if you don't use too much. ATF has tons of cleaners in it, but it can work too well (like motor flush) i believe the rule of thumb is 1/2qt of ATF for every 4qts oil. or you can just rum mobil 1 5w-40 synthetic oil. LOTS of cleaners and emulsifiers to keep any dirt in suspension.
filter magnets are a great thing and absolutely necessary on a new engine.

 

[SBCregal]

to clarify...use atf and run it for a while just before changing the oil. dont add it and run it the whole time

 

[pontiacgp]

Disable fuel and ignition, crank engine over till oil pressure builds up.

I go one step further...I take my distributer out and turn the oil pump with a drill to build up pressure..... 8)





ok so I'm joking.. :lol:

 

[Derision]

I've done hot and cold, but I have settled on hot...it's thinner and flows good, removing the most particles. Would you discard bacon grease when it's hot, or when it's cold?

You know, I was bored once, and a friend and I did some calculations and figured out that if one were to drink a gallon of bacon grease a day, you'd put on like 20 pounds a week.

I just thought I'd share that.

Change oil every 5000 miles, not 3000 miles.
Don't waste oil...I'm totally against drilling for oil in ANWR as long as I hear about wasting oil.

I don't even go by the mileage, actually. They say 3000 miles or 5000 miles or whatever. I change it seasonally... beginning of every season I change it. I guess that averages about 3000 miles or so (the way I drive, anyway), but I always did it that way. I change it twice in the winter, incidentally. My car has only hit 156,000 miles, though, of which the engine has 60,000 so... I don't know if that's any indication of whether it works or not. I'll update it when I hit 200K.

Anyone try a filter magnet? Thoughts?

I've heard two variations... I've also heard the variation of sticking the magnet to the bottom of the oil pan. I tried that when my GP was still a 231 and it actually worked.

However, I read something that scared me... if that magnet comes loose, or if the particles inside manage to get dislodged, instead of having a random assortment of particles scattered throughout your oil, you have one big CLUMP of particles -- possibly now magnetically charged and sticking to each other -- floating around through your engine. I'd rather take the damage from one or two stray particles than from a clump.

Granted, the same principal probably doesn't apply to the actual filter magnet (because the filter itself would discourage such a rogue clump from infiltrating our tender spots), but my paranoia prevents me from trying it, just in case.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I've done hot and cold, but I have settled on hot...it's thinner and flows good, removing the most particles. Would you discard bacon grease when it's hot, or when it's cold?
Some people don't believe in the stuff, but I run some engine flush thru mine before I drop the oil....been doing that for a long time...absolutely no sludge in my engines.
Change oil every 5000 miles, not 3000 miles.
Don't waste oil...I'm totally against drilling for oil in ANWR as long as I hear about wasting oil.

And who made you the arbiter of what is wasteful? If you can prolong the life expectancy of a vehicle, it is not wasteful as the energy expended in the manufacture of said vehicle is being allowed to have a greater usefulness. If you are really this concerned about wasting oil, sell the G body and buy a hybrid or a Diesel subcompact. True, the hybrid is not really all that ecologically friendly with it's toxic batteries and short service life (anything under 300,000 miles is short), but a diesel Golf or Jetta should be what you are driving if this concerns you so much.

 

[megaladon6]

a note on oil change mileages, yes the 3k number is very old and oil has MASSIVELY improved in that time, especially with synthetic in the mix. BUT, the engine manufacturers have taken advantage of this and designed in tighter tolerances and the like. so your service interval has in fact, not changed. and if you live in a "severe service" area--anywhere with hills or dust, the service interval is 3k. anywhere else is 5k. of course this is the general interval. some manufactures allow more, but you should never go over 5k unless you are running a quality synthetic oil. and even then i wouldn't go over 7500mi. i've seen too many engines blow because people believed the owners manual when it said 7500-12000mi intervals with regular oil or 10k-12k with synthetic.
also, oil viscosity has become critical in newer cars. just a couple of (many) examples, if you run 10w-30 in a gmc envoy instead of 5w-30 you will destroy the bearings inside of 50k mi. if you run 5w-30 in a prius you will lose 10-20% of your fuel mileage, honda HATE any viscosity other than EXACTLY what they call for (usually 5w-30 or 5w-20).

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I agree. I monitor my oil's color a few times a week, which is why I double change it now and then. It is very clean ( can't easily read the dipstick) when it is new, but by 2500 miles it is dark brown. This is with Mobil 1 Synthetic 5w-30. Small engines run hotter due to a lack of low end torque and a need to rev higher, which breaks it down more quickly.