HOW TO - CHANGE YOUR CAR'S OIL!

Good morning everyone!

Do you want to save some money by changing your own oil?
You've come to the right place!

Today I'm working on a 2010 Chrysler Town and Country. It has a 3.8L V6 engine. It came in for a quick oil change, which in the mechanic world we call "gracy work". It's something that easy and can be done quick! Want to learn? Let's get to it!

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You may find that a lot of the newer vehicles sit low to the ground, this can be annoying if you're not flat as a ruler...cough. So to start, either jack up the front of your vehicle (USE JACK STANDS), or better yet, drive up on a pair of car ramps. After that, lift your hood and remove your oil cap to help with drainage.

When I remove my cap I like to place it in the hood latch. If by some freak accident you forget to put the cap back on and try to close your hood, you won't be able to because the cap is there.

Next, crawl under the car and locate the oil pan. It's on the very bottom of the engine, and will have a bolt in the side or bottom of it. This is your drain plug. This vehicle uses a 13mm bolt, so grab a drain pan and place it under the bolt. (evidently my paint skills aren't as good as @klye's)

Then your socket or wrench and loosen the bolt. When taking it out, be quick to get your hand away or it will be covered in oil.

It will begin draining. After the oil stream has come to a drip, resintall your drain plug.

Locate your oil filter. It looks like a small canister. This can be anywhere. Side, back, front, even the top of your engine. When you find it, you should be able to loosen it with your hand unless the last person Hee-man'd it. When you begin loosening it, oil will pour out simultaneously, so be careful.

If you cant, use a oil filter wrench. There's so many styles of these, but this is my favorite. just put it on the end of your 3/8" ratchet, then loosen. The jaws will get tight around the filter and loosen it.

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After it is off you'll want to look at the surface to be sure your old gasket didn't stick to it. If it did, and you reinstall the new filter, it could leak, and your engine could lock up, then North Korea will attack, police will shoot your dog, and you for recording the dog shooting. Here the gasket came off. It is was still stuck, you'd see a thick black ring stuck to the surface. Simply pull it off if that happened.

After you've ensured it is a clean surface, fill your new filter about halfway with oil and lubricate the o ring with some new oil. If you don't, you'll hate yourself next oil change because you can't get the filter off. Then screw it back on and hand tighten only.

Next, put the vehicle back on solid ground and begin pouring in oil. This vehicle takes 5qts, but every vehicle is different. A cool place to check your oil capacity is here. Reinstall your oil cap and start your vehicle for 5-10 seconds, and look under to ensure there's no leaks. (YO, @PENNZOIL send me some steem for this advertisement!)

Next, grab your dipstick and check the oil level. There will be an indicator on the stick to show what levels are acceptable. If you used the correct amount of oil and had no leaks, you'll be golden.

A lot of newer vehicles have maintenance lights. These are lights or words that come on the dash letting you know to change your oil.

Each manufacturer has different ways of resetting this. This is Chrysler's. Turn your key to ignition on (dont start it), and press the gas peddle 3 times, then start it. You'll notice your light has gone away! This is not magic, folks.

Now, drive your vehicle for another 3k miles or 3 months until your light comes on again then repeat the process!

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SIDENOTE:
If you tackle this yourself and get injured or die, I am in no way responsible.
I did not instruct you to hurt yourself.

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