well, that last post about jiffy lube did it for me.

I hate letting people work on my truck unless I'm standing there. I can do simple things, like change my air filter, and my fuel filter.

now I'd really like to learn how to change my oil and filter...and to do it the perfect way...not lazy cutting corners.

is there a good manual, instruction sheet, or someone...I live in arizona, south of Phoenix...please!!

anyways, I'd feel more comfortable doing those three things myself.

then eventually diffs, tranny and filter, and transfer case.

 

I'll give you a hand when I get back to Arizona this spring..lol. Seriously it is easy to do.

Get yourself the proper fluids and oil filter, bring the engine to operating temp, then put the truck up on some ramps, set the park brake, get a good container under the oil pan, loosen the drain plug with a 3/8" ratchet (some kind of latex or rubber gloves helps now), remove the plug and let drain (make sure your container holds more than 12 quarts), remove the filter and you can do this from below (thats where I do it anyway). Fill your new oil filter with clean oil and install hand tight, grease the lube fittings, crawl around under your truck inspecting u-joints, shock absorbers, exhaust system, and look for leaks from the trans, transfer case or diffs. Reinstall drain plug (don't over torque it) then refill crankcase with 12 quarts of suitable oil. Start truck and check for leaks. Drive and be happy.

 

These guys work at a lube shop. They're not mechanics, they have no specialized training to deal with YOUR particular make/model, or anyone elses for that matter.
After taking my 99 to the Jiffy Lube, I drove to Vegas and back. 500 miles round trip. Drove it hard both ways. Anyways, checked the oil a couple of weeks later, and it was off the stick. 3 quarts, and it was barely on the stick. Checked for leaks at filter, seals, drain plug...nothing. One tank, burns one quart. Open the filler while running,,,all kinds of airflow......rings are shot! Even with a supervisor checking the techs work they still left me with nearly no oil...........and 3 weeks later,,,no proof!
Rebuild on my 318 with 60,000 TLC miles on it.......$$$$$$.....a lot!!

No more quickie lube shops for me!! EVER!!!
It's my fault! I should have checked the work before I left the shop!
I shouldn't have been lazy that day and did it myself(and saved money and piece of mind)

Nobody works on my vehicles anymore except me! Nobody cares about my vehicles like I do! And at $7.50 Hr, why should they care!
That's my ordeal.......learn from it please!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Mike
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Get a fumoto valve, I need to get one of those too. It'll make it quicker/easier to drain

 

Tools I use:

3/8 ratchet
1 -12" and 1 -4" 3/8 ratchet extension
oil filter cap removal tool
4 gallon drain pan
funnel
Shop towels and/or latex gloves

You need 12 quarts (3 gallons) of 15w40 oil and new oil filter. Pretty much everyone here agrees that Fleetguard Stratapore filters are the way to go, but you can do a search on that. Oil is a matter of choice. If you don't have a favorite, take a week of vacation and do another search . There are TONS of threads that start with "what oil should I use"

1. I usually drive my truck until it is up to about 140 degrees.

2. Open hood and remove oil cap on top of the valve cover. Place drain pan under oil pan drain plug.

3. Remove drain plug with 3/8" ratchet (No socket is required) to drain oil in pan.

4. Remove oil filter. it is located on the passengers side just in front and above the exhaust manifold. I access it from underneath you can see it if you are lying underneath just behind the rear axle looking up. The first thing I do is loosen the filter to where I can spin it by hand. Then I put a ziplock bag over the filter and spin it loose. Usually it will slide right down into the bag, and the bag will catch most of the oil as you bring it down out the bottom.

You don't need the oil drain pan under the filter if you are careful. You might get a little oil that comes out of the filter housing and hits the front crossmember, so use the shop towels to clean that up. The filter is fairly hot, but can be handled as long as you didn't start the oil change right after a long drive.

5. Check the filter mount and make sure you have removed the old filter seal. Then double check it.

6. Let the whole thing drain for a while (.5-1 hr)

7. Use fresh oil to lube new filter seal. I usually pull the seal of the filter and coat it lightly with fresh oil then press it back into the filter base. It's not a tight fit, so very easy. Fill oil filter with oil (It will hold near a full quart, then reinstall (about 1/2 - 3/4 turn after the filter is snugged to the filter base)

8. reinstall oil pan drain plug and tighten.

9. Now that you are out from under the truck and ready to add fresh oil... get back down there and double check that you reinstalled the drain plug. Now add remaining 11+ quarts of oil using funnel.

10. I usually buy gallon bottles of oil so I put the old oil right back into these containers and take them back to recycle. I think all Autozones and Advance Auto's recycle old oil.

Note- Some guys will remove the oil filter from the top by removing the air tube that runs from the air filter to the turbo. You can get to it from the top pretty easy that way too. Also, as has been mentioned before, since you are under the truck, that is the time to get out the grease gun and grease the two knuckles and front driveshaft if you have 4wd. You will need a grease needle to do that. If you search this forum, you will find a part number where you can get the grease needle from NAPA. That will take you ten minutes and help pass the time while the oil is draining.

 

Jiffy Lube...ewwwwwwwwww.

I have a 2WD and something I find handy is, when taking the old filter out, just remove the air box and intake tube. On my truck, it's a 10mm bolt on the rad support and 2 slotted screws on the intake tube. That way I don't have to try to horizontal-mombo out of the way of the oil shower that usually follows cracking the filter loose. I can't get my manly frame underneath the front of my truck; the air dam is too low. I attack the drain bolt from the drivers side behind the front wheel, lying on my back. That's a bit of a PITA but it gives me the opportunity to check everything out from underneath. My truck looks surprisingly new for an 03 with 108,000 miles on it that has spent most of it's life in the salt belt.

While the air box and intake tube are out of the way, it's a good opportunity to check out the impeller on the turbo and make sure it's still in good shape. You can turn the shaft and try to wiggle it to check for play. Just be careful because it's sharp and should spin easily and if you go attacking it with your finger tips you might cut yourself. I also blow out the filter housing, intake tube and remove any leaves, bugs or dead rodents that find their way in there. I also fire up the shop vac and suck the turbo clean, in case anything settled in there while it's been exposed.

I have it down to about 30 minutes to go slowly and check and recheck everything thouroughly. Once you get a system and mental roadmap, it's nothing at all. There's no way I'll ever rntrust a $10,000.00 engine to one of these quick oil change places. No way in H-e-double hockey sticks.

 

thank you everybody.

I now feel very confident in doing this on my own. excellent!

 

Got the idea of using a 5-gallon bucket for a drain pan from one of these threads a while back, works great as long as you have 4x4...

 

Don't know if anyone above wrote (too much to read) but don't put the drain plug back in too tight as you'll strip the pan threads.

I've heard of people's filters backing off of a 5.9 while they're driving. My friend's dad pulled into the driveway trailing oil (luckily he was getting home and shutting it down). I put my filter on tighter than any other car I've ever had, due to these stories and the fact that the factory put it on TIGHT. Please anyone, tell me if I'm wrong in doing this but I'm paranoid.

 

I have not changed my oil yet on the new truck (2500 miles) but on my old truck (Powerstroke) I used an ice pick to puncture the bottom of the old oil filter and let the oil drain out before removing it. Never spilled a drop, course I had to slide the drain pan over to catch the oil after it drain all out from the drain plug. I will try this technique on the new truck when I am ready for the change.

 

One thing I learned by changing my own oil is...If your catch pan cannot fill faster than the oil pan can drain you end up with a BIG mess.

How's that song go..."Don't ask me how I know"

I'm still working on a catch pan with a wide opening to avoid this.
tom

 

Very good point. It comes out of the Cummins FAST. I use a 5 gallon pan with no top (basically a 3' diameter hole).

 

+1 on the fumoto valve. I've never spilled any oil when removing the oil filter. I've got a 4x4 and lie underneath it and reach up and use an oil filter wrench to loosen the filter and then spin it off by hand. cake.

 

I agree on the fumotovalve. It is awesome. You can control the oil flow down to a trickle if you want. It also makes it easy to collect an oil sample if you ever want to send one off for testing.


I also use a 5 gallon bucket. Just makes everything easy, even if the wind is blowing. No mess. Then I take the used oil down to the local Ghettozone to pour into their vat for recycling.

 

Another vote for the Fumoto here. For how fast the oil comes out, you want some control over the flow!