Life Skills - Day 1

How to Change the Oil in my Car

Tightening the oil pan plug with a torque wrench

This is something that my husband usually does for me, and if he doesn't, we take it to a oil change place and get it done. He is the "car guy", so I never have to concern myself with it, but my Grandpa owned (and now my uncle and cousin own) a tire store and did work on cars, so I figured I should probably know something about them. How to change the oil seemed like one of the best things to learn (since I already know how to change the tire), and my husband was happy to teach me. I told him he had to not help me unless I really needed it, otherwise I wouldn't think about that I was doing and just follow his instructions and then later not remember how to do it, and he did quite a good job with that. We were lucky that although it was December, as you can see from the pictures, no snow on the ground :) We started by going to the store and getting new oil and a new oil filter and then got to work. He got out all of the tools I would need, I read how to do it in my car's manual, and then I drove the car up on the ramps. I remembered to put the parking brake on, and then popped the hood to check the oil level. It looked okay, a little on the low side, and the oil was not too dark, but he said it was time to change it anyways, so I did. I encountered a problem right away because the oil filler cap was on so tightly I couldn't get it off myself. If he hadn't been around, I probably could have asked my neighbor, or used a wrench or something, but he helped me loosen it, and then I crawled under the car to start draining the oil. I needed to use the torque wrench to get that plug undone because it was on so tightly, but soon I did, and I was pleasantly surprised by the warmth of the oil . . . it helped keep me from getting too cold (although it was a pretty nice day out) even if I did get a little dirty. After the oil was drained and the plug put back in (and tightened with the torque wrench to the proper tightness), I had to refer to my manual to figure out where in the world the oil filter was, and then he had to help me again because it was again on so tight that I couldn't loosen it. After he loosened it, I got it off and got that drained too. By this time it had started raining, so that was an adventure! After the oil filter was successfully replaced, I refilled the oil and put the cap back on, started the engine to ensure the car liked what I had done to it, and then we cleaned up. We took the oil up the road to an oil recycling spot, and that was it. I survived, my car survived, I learned something new, and I feel very accomplished. A good start to December I think :) 

Refilling the oil