Some Tips about Changing Your oil?

NWOIHTS

Not sure when to change your oil?

Simple - look at the dipstick and if it's more black than gold then it's due a change - that's it! Also remember to flush with oil flush (not fuel flush) for 10 mins with warm engine and running before emptying. Let engine rest for ten mins before removing sump plug and let it drain until it drips no more; it's important to get the last black drips out as it just contaminates the new oil. I used to see guys in the trade screwing sump plugs back on when the oil was still literally pouring out like a stream.

Help oil release by jacking car up on opposite side of drain plug so it's like your tipping the engine up to empty it. Sometimes plug is on left/right or back of engine so if at back jack up whole front evenly.

If you are feeling up to it you can cup your hand round the filler like a tube and gently blow down the oil filler hole when draining to get the last drips out of the old stuff. don't release and take a deep breath over the engine or you'll get a nice oil smell up your nose, move away before re-inhaling!

If you've got what looks like mayonnaise on the back of the filler cap then you more than likely use your car for short journeys meaning it doesn't get a chance to fully warm up and the oil vapours coagulate on the extremities of engine.

Remove the oil filter after you've drained the oil. Use an oil filter chain to release it. In the old days used to hammer a screwdriver through it and turn it to loosen but wouldn't recommend this unless you know what you are doing. Unscrew it slowly until you see oil starting to seep down (into your bucket below) and then lift it up on it's threads and more will pour out, do this until you see the oil stream slow down, then unscrew and lift off with the end of the filter going down first. This is to stop the oil still in the canister pouring out. some filters aer on the engine at 90 degrees to the side of the engine, others upturned. Upturned ones aren't so bad as long as you lift them off keeping them upright to stop oil spilling out.

Another important thing to check is your engine oil breather system, especially if you have "mayonnaise". Usually you'll see a pipe going on to the rocker cover near the oil cap, which will come from the inlet manifold or thereabouts, take the pipe off and make sure it's not gummed up. Also a pipe from near the sump up to the rocker cover or thereabouts (may be hidden at back of engine) If you're not sure what pipe it is leave it well alone and get someone who know what they are doing.

If the oil breather is blocked you can start to suffer blown gaskets, oil leaks and poorer engine performance. The breather recirculates back pressure that shoots down the side of the pistons into the oil sump from the combustion process, so this pressure will start to blow oil seal gaskets if oil breather blocked.

Happy Motoring!

paddedjohn

To stop your car being stolen when you go shopping take a bucket and a length of hosepipe with you. When you have parked up simply syphon the fuel out of your tank and carry it around with you in your handy bucket, hey presto your car is safe from thieves.

Weird_Nev

Bear in mind that in a diesel engine oil goes black very quickly and so simply inspecting it isn't a sound indicator of oil condition.

Much better to stick to a regime of servicing in line with manufacturer recommendation and use of the vehicle IMO, but no more than 10,000 miles between changes in any instance.

Richard53

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Bear in mind that in a diesel engine oil goes black very quickly and so simply inspecting it isn't a sound indicator of oil condition.

Glad it's not just me! I once got my car home after a service, after driving no more than 3-4 miles, and checked the oil to find it black as a very black thing. I queried this with the garage, thinking they hadn't changed it, but they assured me they had. I wasn't totally convinced, but when I started doing my own oil changes I realised that a diesel will blacken its oil very quickly indeed.

Also, I thought that using flushing oil was considered unnecessary these days? I can see that on principle it is a good idea, and I have done it in the past (although with no measureable effect), but does anyone actually do this any more? I haven't heard of it for a long time.

Weird_Nev

I used engine flush on the advice of a trusted mechanic friend. (The kind of mechanic who can fabricate parts, is an ex engine builder for bentley, and works as head mechanic at an independant specialist servicing all makes and models of performance car).
Dump the treatment in the engine, let it idle for ten minutes, then drain it.
It breaks down the gloopy lumps of old oil which get stuck in oil galleys and can cause problems in the long run.
Most reputable "old school" mechanics that I've used also do this and swear by it for keeping an engine going well into old age.

bigjl

There is only one caveat with performing an oil flush.

If the car has never been flushed there is always the chance some larger pieces of rubbish can be moved to the sump and if the engine has had adds misses changes this can block the oil pick up tube in the sump.

Which is why it is common practice to only flush an engine that has been regularly flushed from new.

Also to be considered is that new oils, especially full and semi synth oils have much better cleaning abilities than oils of the past.

And just using a good oil with good detergent additives can sort a lot of you issues.

If the oil in a petrol car goes dirty quickly it actually means it has cleaned a lot of rubbish from the engine and put it in suspension.

There is all the risk of a flush removing gunk that is keeping an iffy gasket from leaking.

Though that can happen with a good quality full synth oil aswell.

NWOIHTS

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Bear in mind that in a diesel engine oil goes black very quickly and so simply inspecting it isn't a sound indicator of oil condition.

Much better to stick to a regime of servicing in line with manufacturer recommendation and use of the vehicle IMO, but no more than 10,000 miles between changes in any instance.

I don't know about it going black very quickly, if by using the car for very short runs then yes it will blacken quicker. Fact is that if the oil is black it is contaminated it needs changed. When I worked in the trade any mechanic I knew with a diesel used to change oil about every 4K. Now the engines are tighter tolerances and more efficiently designed so I doubt the oil will contaminate as quick, although that also depends on wear of the engine.

NWOIHTS

Richard53 wrote: »

.

Also, I thought that using flushing oil was considered unnecessary these days? I can see that on principle it is a good idea, and I have done it in the past (although with no measureable effect), but does anyone actually do this any more? I haven't heard of it for a long time.

Emm no just as important to flush your oil than it ever was, oil is oil and contaminants are contaminants! I think people are getting the never need to service or do anything to your car' fever now because of the longer service intervals. Flushing also helps thin the oil so it drains better and pulls out all the muck with it.

worried_jim

BUSY MUMS. Save time making sandwiches by getting your son or daughter to stand on the worktop wearing an ice skate and step onto the middle of each sandwich.

gilbert_and_sullivan

ignore this, ended up in the wrong thread for some reason

bigjl

NWOIHTS wrote: »

Emm no just as important to flush your oil than it ever was, oil is oil and contaminants are contaminants! I think people are getting the never need to service or do anything to your car' fever now because of the longer service intervals. Flushing also helps thin the oil so it drains better and pulls out all the muck with it.

No fever here.

Change the oil in all the family cars myself.

Never leave them longer than 8k but usually do them between 5-6k as they are all partly used in stop start traffic.

Always use top quality Full Synth oils and the best filters available, no Halfords specials.

The only cars I have ever had flushed were my Subaru which was mainly dealer serviced from new, if an intermediate oil was done by myself it was again full synthetic.

It is common knowledge in the trade to be wary of flushing an engine that has been subject to poor maintenance and also for any vehicle that has not been flushed regularly throughout its life.

The reasoning for this is in my previous post that I suspect you have ignored.

The only way you can make sure big lumps of varnish and gunk don't end up blocking the oil pickup is to drop the sump after using a flush.

And it has never been common practice to stick a screwdriver in an oil filter to remove it, that might be something you have found common but it is more the act of a diyer without the correct tools.

Using a Full or Semi synth oil with a good detergent pack is much safer as it will remove the build up of gunk and varnish slowly, so that the likelihood of big lumps blocking essential oil ways and oil pick ups is reduced to almost nothing.

However if you never use cheap or off spec oil and don't forget to change it your engine is unlikely to have any sludge or varnish in there anyway.

Some people are against flushes completely, I am not in that camp.

You can't really make a judgement that nobody on the forum changes their oil purely going by the info in the thread.