Home oil change

[Ardent]

Given the work done by many of the great and good on here, doing an oil change should not be a "biggie"

And yet, As usual, I was beaten at the first.
Access to the sump plug. Fine and dandy.
Access to the filter.  Arrgh!!!

How do others access the oil filter in a home drive/garage set up?

[Johnny5]

Hi, I drove the car backwards up on to 4" home made timber ramps (what I had).  4" clearance was only just enough, to the point that I couldn't breathe, and if I wanted to turn my head I had to slide out first, and I'm 5'9" and only 147 lbs.  6" clearance would be better, especially if you've got lowering springs.  Get expert professional supervision to ensure ramps are used safely. 

I removed all plastic nappies, and once getting under car, lying on my back, was able to undo the filter.  Getting under car is main hurdle, and a little daunting if you've never done it before.  Or, take it to a mechanic you trust and give them a bag of the right size cable ties for doing the nappies back up.

I'm not going to lie to you, I found it hard, because my 4" ramps aren't really high enough.  Next time I will use higher, and ramp up the front wheels, too, to avoid car and engine being tilted.  I tried metal ramps, but for some reason car would not reverse up them.  I also looked at plastic ramps, but some owner reviews complain of them breaking, even within weight limits    I will stick to quality home made timber ramps, but just go bigger next time.  Some have used axle stands but, again, get professional advice to ensure car has been made safe first before venturing underneath.  I, personally, didn't feel safe using axle stands, but I expect there are those who feel differently.

I became very well acquainted with the underneath of my car, marvelling at not only the neat design, but also various bits of rust, prompting me to take the car to rustbusters - expensive, but worth it, but that's another story ...

[Call the midlife!]

Trolley jack under offside sill with some protection, jack it up far enough to get an axle stand in as a failsafe for the jack. Lay down at the side of the car and reach across for the filter.
Filter will invariably be tight as a duck's, chain wrenches are nigh on impossible to use one handed much the same as the rotating clamp type.
Make starter point with automatic centre punch then drill a hole in the filter to stick a strong screwdriver through to undo the filter.
Remove filter, lower car back down to allow oil to drain while you have a brew.
Jack it back up again, lubricate new filter seal, bang it on hand tight and fill her up.
They're a massive pain in the rear with domestic equipment Jase, I've got fairly long arms and it's a stretch for me.
Unless you're taking the car up high enough to get right under and use both hands be ready for a struggle. That said it's definitely doable.


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[delhusband]

You know me Jase, only done it a couple of times, but my experience is
1. Jack up with oem jack, one side, enough to get decent access to sump plug
2. Get pan underneath, remove plug and drain
3. Lower oem jack, wait until drained
4. Jack up with oem jack again, enough to get halfords basics jack under engine mount
5. get my halfords basics jack + extra block of timber on puck and jack under engine mount (because full extension still not enough to get halfords basics stands underneath car) put stands + chocks under car
6. Remove trim immediately behind rear nappy I think from recollection. (curse at screws just sheared, tap new holes with tap/die set ready for new screws)
7. Yeah, try removing that filter, Uh-uh. Always ended up using a screwdriver, praying it doesn't shear off whilst threaded section still attached to car

[Ardent]

@Johnny5 @Call the midlife! @delhusband

Morning all
In reply to your posts, I experinced all of the same.
Conviently I am nappyless to begin with.
I was looking to jack up via engine mount and then slide some blocks under wheels and lower.
Jack did not have enough height to get anything under. By the time body raised and wheels finally off the floor jack had maxed out. (sit jack on something first)
Also did not see anywhere I would hav been "happy" to place axle stands.
Arm reach. Nope.
Sliding under. Nope. Makes me smile, J5 and I nearly weigh the same. (I'm heavier) Somewhat different size packaging though.
Liked the idea of the plastic ramps. May reconsider now. But surely those that have reported issues cannot have been using a car this light. 250kg a corner?
Regards filter wrenches. I use on e of these. https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-cht719-two-way-three-jaw-oil-filter-wre/ brilliant.

[shnazzle]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F252585769997

These are on my watch list.
I already have these without the additional built in jacks and they make car work much much easier.
Just back it up onto the ramps, done.

Then it's just a case of sliding under, spending 20 mins wrestling with the stupid nappies and doing the necessary

Forgot to add; my drive is at an angle. So when I back it up onto ramps, it actually gives me a couple inches more clearance under the car.
Obviously, wheel blocks (not bricks) under the front wheels. Solid as a rock

[Carolyn]

@Johnny5 @Call the midlife! @delhusband

Morning all
In reply to your posts, I experinced all of the same.
Conviently I am nappyless to begin with.
I was looking to jack up via engine mount and then slide some blocks under wheels and lower.
Jack did not have enough height to get anything under. By the time body raised and wheels finally off the floor jack had maxed out. (sit jack on something first)
Also did not see anywhere I would hav been "happy" to place axle stands.
Arm reach. Nope.
Sliding under. Nope. Makes me smile, J5 and I nearly weigh the same. (I'm heavier) Somewhat different size packaging though.
Liked the idea of the plastic ramps. May reconsider now. But surely those that have reported issues cannot have been using a car this light. 250kg a corner?
Regards filter wrenches. I use on e of these. https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-cht719-two-way-three-jaw-oil-filter-wre/ brilliant.

Wooden block on top of jack will give you the height.

Jack stands under the forward mounts for the suspension arms that go forward from the hub.  Plenty strong!!!

[Call the midlife!]

I just use that method because it works for me, it's the quickest and easiest for me on my own and safer than trying to reverse it up ramps without a banksman.
Anything else that involves raising the car then it's the engine mount and a carefully selected set of wooden blocks. Unless I'm only going up far enough to get stands under the subframe.


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[Bossworld]

My car doesn't have the nappies so having to do the filter on mum's car was a new task in frustration.

I've only got the Halfords cheap jack/stands/chock set.

Use a small offcut of wood on top of the jack to get the extra height. I then use the stands with a couple of offcuts of wood, which fit nicely under the subframe and blocked in by the bolts.

Extension bar on the sump plug in the case of mum's car which was torqued far too high.

Her oil filter came off by hand, mine always needs a tactical flat screwdriver and hammer.

[Ardent]

Sort of glad its not just me thats finding it "fun"

Will revist armed with some blocks of wood.

[shnazzle]

Unless the blocks of wood are at least 2x the surface area of the stand base, I'd be so nervous. Reminds me of stacking chairs to get to the light at the top of the stairs.
I did consider some rally jacks. But they usually require something on the car, welded into the frame.

[Call the midlife!]

Unless the blocks of wood are at least 2x the surface area of the stand base, I'd be so nervous. Reminds me of stacking chairs to get to the light at the top of the stairs.
I did consider some rally jacks. But they usually require something on the car, welded into the frame.

I don't think anyone is putting wood  UNDER the axle stands? The wood goes on top of the trolley jack to increase the lifting height. I certainly wouldn't put anything under the axle stands but then mine are 2 ton extendable ones.
I do keep saying I'm going to buy a bigger, high lift trolley jack but I'm running out of storage space as it is and I have to use a jack on the front sill initially anyway.


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[shnazzle]

Ah, sorry, slow morning Slow week.
Slow life haha. I'm just slow

[delhusband]

Even wood on jack isn't great, could split

[Call the midlife!]

Even wood on jack isn't great, could split

It could, you're right but as long as you cross grain the engine mount then the pressure should keep it in place without a catastrophic failure.
Never long grain it.


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[shnazzle]

Speaking with my Club head on; safety first, practicality 2nd guys
I'm sure this is already the case but just highlighting it further, given that being crushed under the car is still the main accident/killer in DIY car repair

[Bossworld]

For clarity the pieces I refer to span the front to rear depth of the rear cross member to distribute the load and then sit on top of the axle stands on each side.

A ghetto version of the design someone posted up on here previously that they'd cut to align with the bolts on the underside of the cross member.

But yes, certainly wouldn't be chucking random pieces under the car to support ~500kg of weight at the rear

For the Mini, as it's a substantially heavier car, I have what looks like a hockey puck with a notch protruding out of the top, which fits into the four jacking points on the car. Had to pay £50 to add the jacking point plastics as they're not standard on the Countryman  .

[MisterK]

Sort of glad its not just me thats finding it "fun"

Will revist armed with some blocks of wood.

Why not take the easy route?  My car's booked in with Matt at Rogue in a couple of weeks for an oil change and a pre MOT once over. 
With regards to ramps, I use the ones made for my campervan levelling.....Millenco Quattro.  No problems with weight...they happily take a 3500 KG Motorcaravan 

[Johnny5]

Just remembered, last time (first and only time, so far) I did it, I went looking for a filter wrench.  Started off at Halfords and didn't like the selection much.  Our filter is unusually small, so much so, that I thought I'd got the wrong one at first.  Being small, there aren't many off the shelf wrenches that fit.  Plus, annoyingly, there is no industry standard for number of flats on oil filters    So, you can find oil filters with different amount of flats, making a 'fit over the top' cup style wrench no use, unless it has precisely the number of flats your filter has, and it has to be exactly the right diameter (diameter can be measured across the flats, across the the corners of the flats or across the diameter of the round circumference    I would like to think the industry measures it across the flats, but who knows what different motor factors do).

I'm not sure, off the top of my head, what happened in the end, but after contacting Toyota main dealer, it was either unavailable, long wait or silly expensive, so I bought a giant pliars type wrench, back at Halfords, ironically.  I remember being unhappy with this at the time when I did my oil change.  It looked like the least worst option I could find that fitted our very small filter.  But, the problem was, it has tiny teeth in it to avoid slip, and these work by biting into the thin tin can carcass of the filter, pinching it in places.  This is fine for getting off old filter, but left me quite disconcerted as to whether I might have slightly pierced my new filter when tightening it.  I know some people just tighten new one by hand, but I was unsure about that, and didn't want dead engine from self loosening filter and contents of sump on road surface.

Having decided on Toyota OEM oil filter every time from now on, I'm going to have another go at tracking down the bespoke cup style wrench, as the diameter and number of flats will always be uniform for both.  I bought OEM filter last time, after reading the following excellent thread.  Having spent 8 years testing filters for the medical and pharmaceutical industries, I can honestly say I agree with the venerable gentleman's findings:

https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?topic=21233.0

[shnazzle]

My filter removing tool of choice. Every time.
A bigger one than the one pictured.
No messing about. Clamp the fker, squeeze tight until it crushes the filter and turn. Absolutely no point being gentle with a disposible item. And keeps my hands clean

[Ardent]

@Johnny5
Despite its looks.
This really does work a treat and covers a wide range of sizes. Small enough for our needs.
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-cht719-two-way-three-jaw-oil-filter-wre/

[McMr2]

Apologies if it has been suggested already but taking the rear wheel off helped me come at it from the side and get some purchase. I also bought a filter removal tool with the correct flats (few pounds) that fits onto a ratchet which also made life easier.

[Johnny5]

@Johnny5
Despite its looks.
This really does work a treat and covers a wide range of sizes. Small enough for our needs.
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-cht719-two-way-three-jaw-oil-filter-wre/

Cool.  Will look into it

[Joesson]

@Johnny5
Despite its looks.
This really does work a treat and covers a wide range of sizes. Small enough for our needs.
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-cht719-two-way-three-jaw-oil-filter-wre/

I like the look of that Jason and if my very old home modified wrench needs replacing that is what I would get as access with a socket from below should be straightforward.
I really don't enjoy the screw driver and hammer method of removal as I have always got smothered in the dirty oil, but sometimes needs must!
@Johnny5 my understanding is that an oil filter should  be hand tight, after wiping a film of oil onto the rubber washer. I use both clean / not oily hands to tighten.
My jack height extender is a 75 x 50 x 150 mm long block of beechwood, very dense wood,
with a recess 10mm or so deep to locate on the top of the jack.
It would seem that unless you pay a lot of money a trolley jack that is low enough to go under the 2 will not extend high enough to get the axle stands under in one lift.
My material of choice is carpet between the axle stand top and the car sill jack points.
My wheel chocks are sections of 100x 100mm timber ( old fence posts).
Similarly I sometimes stack these in layers at right angles under the sills as a fail safe for the axle stands. In my youth I used the removed wheel and perhaps the spare but those were steel wheels with fattish tyres and not so prone to impact damage as our alloys.
I believe I have mentioned previously that one of my first jobs on my 2 was to drill and tap all the nappy fixings and replace with stainless steel.
When replacing the nappy the (as far as I know OE ) plastic clips hold the nappy in place while I fit the ( new) stainless machine screws. I really do not find taking off or refitting the nappy that much of a chore.
There is a pice of vinyl floor covering (ex kitchen floor covering) on the garage floor that fits between the wheels. On this is a piece of carpet, face down, that gives me something that is very thin to slide about on under the car.

[Newbie57]

You can do this without jacking the car up or completely removing the nappies. There is a flap secured with a screw that gives access to the sump nut. You can partially undo the front nappy to gain access to the filter.