How to Do an Oil Change (for Beginners)

Oil is something that your car needs to operate properly. It is used to keep the engine lubricated so that it runs correctly and very smoothly. Oil eventually gets used and needs replacing. The oil doesn't evaporate, but the color gets a dark black and works worse and worse. It just wears out after so much time. These are the very simple steps to replace your oil. This is an oil change on a 2007 Lexus RX350 with a V6 2GRFE engine.

Why you should change your oil

Shop Towels

Socket Wrench

⅜ inch socket (or 14mm)

Socket Extension

Oil (Special type and amount explained later)

Oil drain plug gasket

Oil collector

Oil filter

Funnel

Drip Pan (not pictured)

Drain Pan

Ramps (could use a Jack and Jack stands)

Wheel Chocks

Gloves (Optional)

To begin, you need to find out a couple things about your car. Every car has a different type of oil it needs for the engine. On the drivers’ side door there is going to be a VIN number that you can put into Google to find the kind of engine oil you need. Sometimes, the type of oil is on the oil cap. It will also tell you how much oil you need for your engine. Your car also needs a new oil filter every time you change the oil. The VIN number should have told you the model of your car, and you can use the websites below to shop for what you need. Newer cars have a different type of filter than older cars, which will be explained when we actually take out the filter.

Oil Filter Lookup

Oil Lookup

Your car most likely does not have the ground clearance to just go under it. You need a way to lift your car safely so that it does not fall. The method I will be using involved putting the car up on ramps and putting wheel chocks on the back tires.

You are going to position the ramps around where you want your work area to be. Next, line up the ramps with the wheels. Make sure they are almost perfectly aligned to prevent the car from falling from the ramps. You will then drive the car onto the ramps, and feel for when they sit on the flat part of the ramp. Now that the car is on the ramps, put wheel chocks at the back to prevent rolling. It is also very important you put the car in park.

Oil stains on the driveway or workspace always look bad, so make sure to place the drip pan. On top of the drip pan, place the drain pan. This will collect all the oil for later disposing and also prevents it from making a mess. Position them properly in relation to the oil pan. Before you start to do anything else, it is useful to slightly crack open the oil cap in the engine bay to allow for the oil to drain faster. Now get the socket wrench and place an extension on it, then the 14mm 3/8ths inch socket (image 8). Make sure to turn counter-clockwise (picture 4). You only need to crack the bolt loose, and after that you take the bolt off by hand. The oil will start to drain once the bolt of all the way off and now you let it drain into the drain pan.

The next thing you are going to do is replace the old oil filter. Different cars have different type of filters, cartridge filters and non cartridge filters. This car has a cartridge filter in which you only need to replace part of the filter. Older cars have filters where you replace the whole filter. You are going to take the socket off of the extension and put the filter removal tool on the oil filter. It has teeth on it, so you cannot mess up putting it on the filter. The filter still has oil in it, so be careful and place the oil drip pan accordingly. Once the filter is taken out, let it drain and clean the area that the oil filter was inside of with brake cleaner. This does no harm, and cleans up the area. Dry it with shop towels.

Now that the oil filter has been taken out and drained, you want to clean it out really well with the brake cleaner before installing the new cartridge. The cartridge should slide in very easily. Next, you have to take off the old gasket. You should be able to do it by hand, but if you are having trouble, use a screwdriver. Now put the new gasket on the same groove the old gasket was on. Next you are going to prefill the oil filter. Fill it a comfortable amount, and when you install it keep it straight. Now go back under the car and hand tighten the new filter. Afterward, use the socket wrench and oil filter tool to tighten it. Now, put the new gasket on the oil drain plug. Put the drain plug back and tighten it with the wrench.

Get your funnel and place it on where the oil cap was. Leave a small space for air to go in to prevent bubbles. Slowly and steadily pour the oil into the funnel. This car took 6.4q of oil. This would be the big container of oil along with one and a half of the small containers. These containers have meters on the side to determine how full they are. Afterward, close the cap firmly.

Next, you are going to reset the maintenance light on your dashboard. Every car is somewhat similar but also different in sequence. For this RX350, you have to press and hold the odometer button while turning the car to the on position. This should slowly reset the odometer until the numbers reach 0.

To make sure the level of the oil is correct, leave your car running for about 5 minutes. Make sure you are on level ground, so take off the back wheel chocks and slowly back the car off of the ramps. Now, get a shop towel, take out the dipstick, and wipe it clean. Put the dipstick back in the car, wait five seconds, and take it out again. Do not touch the stick with your hands, only with a shop towel. If the level is comfortably near full, you have successfully finished the oil change! Now you must dispose of the old oil.

You must properly dispose of old oil, as it is very bad to dump somewhere into the environment. Place the funnel on the old oil container and pour as much of it as you can into the container. Use the other containers to pour the rest into. If there is still good oil in another container, use a non corrosive plastic container to store the oil. You can now take this oil to your local autopart store for proper disposal.