Oil Change Fear and Woes

[Chaplain Kent]

Chummy is in the shop for his third oil change on the new engine. For those who do not know the story he lost his engine due to a bad oil filter being put on. I can not get over my worry and fretting each time he goes in for an oil change so maybe it is time I learn how to do this task. The new engine has two oil filters not just one to screw up. Question is how do I get the front end high enough and hold it up without using the levelers? There is a lot of oil in that crankcase, I think they said 16 quarts. I would need a really big pan to drain all that into.

[clancy_boy]

I may not know how to lift the front end of "Chummy" to get you more room but I can comment on the container for a drain. My F250 holds 15qts and was a real problem to drain into a pan. Walmart has a pan that holds all the oil from my engine plus the filter which I estimate at around 14.5 quarts by the time I do my oil change (~5000 miles). IT JUST BARELY HOLD THIS AMOUNT OF OIL. I then drain the oil into a 5 gallon container for transport and disposal. From your post this won't do, but I had used a 5 gallon tupperware container before I used this drain pan and it worked well as it had handles on the sides and was low profile to slide under the truck.

I have been pre-filling the oil filter because it holds over 1.5 qts and I could hear the engine run funny momentarily without oil before it was all filled up by the pump.

[davidh]

Hi Chaplain Kent. You will need at least a 10ton floor jack and two 10ton adjustible jack stands to set under the steer axle. If you decicde to do your own service work to it. You should find a old 55 gallon plastic barrel and from the bottom of barrel up to the first rib of barrel cut off the remaining upper part of the barrel. After you have done this cut two hand grab slots just below the rib of your new oil drain pan. Another trick that you can do is before you remove your oil filters take a long pointed steel punch and with your trusty hammer punch a hole into the bottom of each oil filter and let them drain into your new drain pan before you remove them. this will save you from a big oil mess. When you install your new filters, fill each filter with oil almost full, then tighten by hand then give filter a 1/4 to 1/2 turn more with filter wrench, if you over tighten the filters you will have one heck of a time removing them during next srevice.

[cooperhawk]

I always change my own oil. My engine at least, is at an angle so that the oil will drain out completely without lifting the unit. I have a large flat oil basin that I think I got at Sears that fits under the engine. If your filter is like mine, it is a cannister built onto the engine that a filter fits inside of. I drain the engine oil and then move the basin and remove the filter. Biggest problem is crawling under the unit from the front to do this. DIRTY!

Putting the new oil in was always a problem until I bought a pump. Now, I stick the pump into a gallon of Rotella, and pump it right into the engine.

Saves a lot of money doing it myself. I also then grease the chasis.

[Pick]

Replace your oil drain plug with a "Fumoto Valve". That is what I did on my Duramax. Then I just go under the truck and fill individual 1 gallon jugs until empty. Almost makes changing your oil fun!!!

Do a Google for "Fumoto Valve" or go to: http://www.kennedydiesel.com/

[Chaplain Kent]

Originally Posted by Pick

Replace your oil drain plug with a "Fumoto Valve". That is what I did on my Duramax. Then I just go under the truck and fill individual 1 gallon jugs until empty. Almost makes changing your oil fun!!!

Do a Google for "Fumoto Valve" or go to: http://www.kennedydiesel.com/

What an incredible device, thanks. I wish I had known about it before this oil change since I would have had them install it after the oil was drained.

[scf31]

I have used a valve like that , I put 6 inches of clear hose on it to "see" the oil, for a motorhome its the trick also why are you tipping Chummy back ?

[scf31]

How about that Filter Mag !!!! check for metal slivers and particals after a oil change, I need one !!!!!

[guy99]

Just a word of caution, never crawl under a vehicle while the chassis is being supported by either air bags or your levelers. If you have ever seen a loader blow a hydraulic line and seen how fast the bucket falls, you would never want to be under one. Likewise if you jack it up, don't rely on the jack to hold it up while you are under it. If you want to get under the MH without jack stands I'd suggest that you deflate the air bags, then if you can fit, you're safe. Harbor Freight puts 6 ton jack stands on sale pretty frequently.

[ralley]

I have been looking for a while for a fitting which is used in lieu of the drain plug. It allows oil to flow into a piece of hydraulic tubing with a bung on the end--the diesel in my sailboat came with one. The bung can be hung up on a protrusion in the block when not used to drain oil, and can be any length. It helps to avoid spills. Has anyone seen one of these for sale? I suppose you could put a piece of tubing on a fumoto valve.....

Rob

[overlander63]

Why not do as the tandem axle trailer owners do, and use a couple of 2x6's? One under each front wheel, or even one cut in half. If you still don;t have enough room, you can try parking along the street, with one wheel on the curb, and the other in the street, close to the curb. That would give you another 6 inches of clearance. Of course, if you don't have curbs, disregard the last part of this post.

[Chaplain Kent]

I picked Chummy up last night. $138.00 for two oil filters, 16 quarts of oil, wiper blades, fuel filters (2), grease, and a nice report stating I had a leaking steering shock absorber. Maybe I need to get used to this routine.

[genearnold]

Several years ago a friend gave me a Fumoto Valve for my birthday. I love it!

Gene

[guy99]

and a nice report stating I had a leaking steering shock absorber

I highly recommend the Bilstein steering stabilizer, I noted a large improvement when I installed one on my MH.

[davidz71]

Originally Posted by scf31

How about that Filter Mag !!!! check for metal slivers and particals after a oil change, I need one !!!!!

I've been running the Race FilterMag on the full flow Amsoil filter side of my dual bypass oil filtration system. It sure helps. I also run the Mag-Hytec rear diff cover which uses a magnetic drain plug and a magnetic screw-in dipstick. I just checked the stick this morning after a trip and wiped the stick clean. It hasn't been checked in 5,000 miles so I was pleased that there was only just a little metal seen. Next addon will be the Mag-Hytec Allison transmission plan for extra capacity. With 53,000 miles it is time to replace the inner filter most people don't know about.