well tomorrow i am gonna change the oil on my moms van by myself for the first time ever. what little things do i have to watch out for. i have done this before on my civic but my dad was watching me but since he moved out he has nothing to do with my mom so i am gonna do it for her. i know you get the oil gasket a little oiled up before you screw her back on. any other little tips?

 

same thing as on your civic, except im sure the van uses twice as much oil.

 

lol 4.5 quarts of oily happiness!

 

get a new crush washer for the drain plug

 

I always run about 1/4 qt of oil through the engine after draining it with the drain plug open just to get the extra stuff out

 

excellent well i am goingto start it right now before it gets too hot outside. cause it has been getting stupid hot out lately

 

is it possible that the oil filter could get soo hot that it fuses to the engine? because i am 2 hours into this job and the fricken oil filter wont come off

 

dont think it would have done... are you using the tool to remove it(dont know its proper name thinks its an oil filter remover haha)
try using some kind of extension on it if it is possible so you can get more leverage so it is easier to turn.
and remember lefty loosy righty tighty

 

well the funny thing is is that i have been doing it right but its crushing the oil filter

 

use the specialty wrench to remove it, then you can hand tighten it. it might be on there too tight because the last person to change the oil probably used the wrench to tighten it but actually overtightened it. and in the case of the crush washer, it doesn't not always need replacing like most people think, every couple oil changes it's recommended to change it, but if it's in decent condition, then you can reuse it a few times.