I'm back! Been gone for forever...been goin thru some things =( Anyhow, guess what... I'm changing my own oil for the first time tomorrow all by myself! Got all the stuff and I'm ready to do it =) Any pointers?? haha

 

Ummmm have something to catch the oil? make sure to dip your fingger in the oil and put it around the seal of the new filter. Its easier if the oils warm too and check the oiil pan plug for any metal shavings...Good luck.
P.s. change the [IMG] [/IMG] to lower case letters to get your sig to work

 

I assume you don't have a lift and you plan on using floor jacks.

Anyway, make sure you lay down cardboard or something under the car... I've never been able to not get some oil on the ground when I change mine. Also, make sure the drain bolt is on pretty ungodly tight... I've made the mistake of thinking it's "tight enough" and letting my car sit overnight... you'd be amazed at the puddle of oil a car can accumulate overnight with the oil steadily dripping out of the pan every 10 minutes or so. Also, make sure you wipe all the oil off everything it might have dripped on... burning oil is a terrible smell.


Also, on an unrelated note, I think it you change the IMG in your sig to lowercase, the picture should show up.

 

Beat you to it

 

Yeah, I know[8D]

I sort of zoned out halfway through typing or else I'd have beat you

 

Thanks =)

I am using ramps... someone told me they would be more simple for me as long as I don't drive off them...lol.. instead of tryin to figure out the right spots to put the jacks. I was scared I wouldn't put them in the right spots. I did know to put oil around the seal of the new filter.. I've been reading up on this so I can do. Love cars...always wanted to work on them.. so this is step 1 right!? hahaha. gonna be funny 108 lb. girlie girl tryin to get that filter off.. I'm excited and can't wait to get to work! yay!

 

hahaha o man...if you can, blcok the back wheels with wood or something, wont totally prevent anything but can help, ebrake, use it. and actually, get a Haines manual for your civic. If theyre out for that year, that is

 

Do not put it on ungodly tight, overtorqueing the bolt can strip it. Hand tight + 1/4 turn is usually the rule of thumb when a torque wrench is not available. You might not be able to get the filter off by hand, espcially ifthe dealer did a previous oil change. Everytime I have worked on a car that went to the dealer for the previous oil change, the filter was on VERY tight. Most times I have to pound a filter socket on there to get the filter out (then pound the filter socket out). So if you can't get it out, head over to autozone with the new filter and get a socket that fits it.Take the oil filter off first, that way if you can't get it off you can still drive over to autozone to buy a socket. I bought the socket when I was working on a Corolla a while back and its paid for itself 5x over. I also picked up some other misc strap filter wrenches/sockets from a garage sale and they are very helpful especially since I got them all for under $5. You can never have too many tools. I started out doing oil changes, and I've moved up to rebuilding cylinder heads so just keep doing smaller jobs until you get the hang of this stuff.

 

are you laughin at me? lol! Ok, dude told me I didn't need to chock the back wheels as long as I used the ebrake... but that was my ex who told me that.. is he tryin to kill me or what? LOL! They got the manual at Auto Zone?

 

Actually, ive always used a strap wrench with rubber straps, does the trick for me http://www.filtersfast.com/AquaPure-...ter-wrench.asp just like that actually. Im not sure if they have it there, it might not even be out yet, i got mine at pep boys, but you can check/ask if they can order it too. Id do the blocks just in case, and if you cahnge the oil in a skirt or something, ill lol. girlie girl, dont break a nail