The Automotive Oil Change, a Saturday afternoon tradition for many people. Why spend the money at a quick lube shop, only to drive off worrying if they tightened your drain plug! You can buy your oil and filter and a few cheap tools, and save some money doing your own automotive oil change.

Let’s look first at a list of tools you will need to change your own oil.

1. Automotive Jack and Jack Stands, or a set of ramps. If you have a large truck or SUV, you may be able to fit under the vehicle without raising it.

2. Set of wrenches or adjustable wrench to remove drain plug. Most cars today use metric fasteners, so a metric wrench set will be best. An adjustable wrench will work, but not as well as a properly sized wrench.

3. Drain pan. There are some cool designs out there which allow you to seal up the pan after draining the oil, and haul it to your local oil recycling place. I do a lot of oil changes, so my pan has a spout where I can pour the oil into a larger container. I take my oil to my local garage where they burn it in their heater during the winter months.

4. Oil filter wrench. The style you buy will be determined by your car. If the engineers were kind to you and gave you room to get to the filter, an adjustable band type will work well. If you have little room, the style which fits over the end of the filter may work better. Take a look under your car and see what will work best for you.

5. Shop rags or towels. It can be a messy job, make sure you have something to clean up with.

Now it’s off to the automotive store to buy your supplies. You will need oil, filter and a drain plug gasket. You may not need to replace the drain plug gasket every oil change, but have one around just in case. I won’t go into what brand of oil to buy, regular or synthetic, or what brand of filter. I will include some links at the bottom of this article to other sections of this website which cover all that.

So now you are back to the house with your supplies and tools, let’s get on with your automotive oil change.

1. Raise the vehicle with your jack and secure with jack stands… never leave the vehicle resting on the jack, always use the jack stands to support the vehicle. If you have ramps, make sure they can not slip when driving onto them, and no matter how you raise your vehicle chock the rear wheels so the vehicle can not move.

2. Position your drain pan under the drain plug and remove the plug. Try not to get too much oil all over yourself and make sure the majority of the oil gets into the pan. Some people recommend draining the oil when it’s hot… I am not one of them. Todays multi-weight oils are thinner when cold and when changing oil burn a lot less ! Let the oil drain for a few minutes.

3. Inspect drain plug and remove any debris from the end. Most drain plugs have a magnet in the end to catch metal shavings floating around in the oil. Also check the gasket if your car has one (not all do) and replace if damaged.

3. Locate the oil filter and loosen it. Move the drain pan under the filter to catch any oil which may run down.

4. Clean the gasket mating area where the filter meets the engine block. This is important for a good seal with the new filter.

5. Take you new filter and put some fresh oil around the rubber gasket at the face. You can prefill the filter with oil if your filter mounts vertically, but if it’s horizontal, I would not prefill.

6. Tighten the oil filter. Thread the filter on finger tight then tighten 1/4 turn. Anymore and you will not be able to remove it at the next oil change, any less and you will have oil leaking out as you start your engine.

7. Bring your car back down to the ground and open the hood.

8. Fill engine with oil. Your owners manual should give you the recommended amount of oil for your engine. Once you have put that amount it, check the level with the dip stick to verify.

9. Start the engine, while watching your instrument panel. If you have an oil pressure gauge, make sure you have oil pressure after the first few seconds. If you have an idiot light, make sure it goes out after a few second.

10. With the engine running, look under the front of the vehicle and inspect for any leaking oil. If you tightened the drain plug and the oil filter properly, you should not see any oil slicks under the vehicle.

11. Turn off the engine, wait a few minutes and check the oil level again. Add if needed. It’s a good idea to take a permanent marker and write the total amount of oil you put in the engine on the engine sticker which is located under the hood. This way, the next time you attempt your automotive oil change, you will know exactly how much oil to put in the first time.

12. Celebrate the fact that you saved some money, and got a little grease under your finger nails.

Some good links related to this article….

Everything you wanted to know about oil
https://sparkcharge.lol/autoshop101/oil-change.htm

Tools
https://sparkcharge.lol/autoshop101/diytools.htm

Kevin Schappell

My parents had a conversion van when I was a kid, and we had the best family trips. We drove cross country from Pennsylvania to Idaho with 4 of us in our Ford conversion van.

When my parents bought their van, the only option was to buy a stripped down van, and take it to a shop specializing in conversion vans. This allowed you to get the features and colors you wanted. Today there are a couple of excellent conversion van shops out there like…

http://www.explorervan.com/

and

http://www.scomfort.com/

You can find some Ford and Chevrolet dealers which carry conversion vans already customized from the top customizers in the country. The Big 3 currently do not offer factory conversion vans, but then I guess they would not be a “conversion” van then, would they ???

No matter who you chose to convert your van, you can be assured you will have many happy family trips ahead.

Kevin Schappell

Everywhere you turn, you hear about the pain at the pump, and who to blame for your troubles. What is missing from most news reports is how you personally can help to save gas and keep a little of that green in your wallet. Today I would like to focus on the mechanical aspects of your car and making sure it’s in tip-top shape.

Your engine is just like a big air pump, it’s job is to pump air. In the process your engine adds in some gasoline and lights it on fire. You need to make sure that the air is moving in and out of the engine with little to no restriction, and you need to make sure that all the gas that goes in gets burned. If you can do this, your engine will be as efficient as possible.

Air enters your engine through an air filter. The filter is designed to keep dirt and other contaminants out of your engine, which prevents premature wear. Most stock air filters are a compromise between their ability to filter and a longer service interval. New cotton filters from companies like K&N perform much better than your stock filter and can last the lifetime of your vehicle. There is one trade-off, you have to clean and oil the filter at a set interval. It’s best to do this at every oil change to keep your filter operating at peak efficiency. This process can be done with a hose and the special oil provided with the filter.

Once the air has entered your engine, it travels through the throttle body and into the intake. Overtime your throttle body accumulates carbon buildup and needs to be cleaned. If your engine has over 50,000 miles, I would get a can of throttle body cleaner and clean it. This can help how your engine idles and keep your engine operating at peak efficiency.

Your engine cannot run on air alone, and this is where the gas comes in. Just before entering the cylinder, the air gets a shot of gas from the fuel injectors. If your fuel injectors are clogged or stuck, too much or too little fuel will be injected. Regular use of a fuel injector cleaner added to a tank of fuel, can keep your injectors operating like new. If you have over 100,000 miles and have not used a fuel injector cleaner in the past, your mechanic can clean the injectors and most likely get them back to as-new condition.

Now that the air and gas is in your cylinder, the engine fires a spark plug to light the volatile mixture. This happens many times per second and in order for it to happen properly, your ignition system needs to be in good condition. If your spark plug wires are cracked or damaged, they can leak voltage to the engine block and prevent the spark plug from firing completely, or not at all. This can allow unburned gas to exit the engine and reduce the efficiency of your engine. Inspect your spark plug wires for signs of cracking or arcing and replace if you see any damage. Your engine’s spark plugs lead a tough life. They have to endure super high temperatures and very high voltages. The spark plug has an electrode and ground strap, which is separated by a specific distance. This distance is called the plug gap, and can widen with time as the two parts wear. As with air filters, auto manufactures compromise on spark plugs and make them last a long time but lose some efficiency. Most newer spark plug electrodes are made from Platinum, which wears like iron, but does not conduct electricity as well as copper. Older style copper plugs work better, but do not last as long since copper is soft compared to Platinum. I do not suggest you switch to copper plugs, but I would suggest changing plugs sooner than the recommended interval just to be safe. If your service manual suggests changing spark plugs at 75,000 miles, I would change them at 60,000 miles just to be safe.
In the next article I will discuss how your driving style can increase your gas mileage and save you even more money.

Kevin Schappell runs www.AutoEducation.com where he gives advice on auto repair, maintenance and car care. If you would like to comment or ask a question you can email him at Kevin@AutoEducation.com

As with any hot topic there are tons of myths about gas and your car’s mileage. Let’s take a look at a few of the more common myths circulating today.

Myth #1: Buy gas in the morning when the gas is cooler, thus denser.

Gasoline is stored in underground tanks, which remain at a fairly constant temperature. I have personally reviewed the tank readings at my local gas station to confirm this fact. It’s like a cave, which stays at a constant temperature all year long due to it’s distance from the surface of the earth. The only factor that comes into play, is when the gasoline is delivered to the tank. When gasoline is transported in trucks, it will expand with heat. If you buy your gas right after the tank is filled, you will receive warmer gas, but I would not stake out your local gas station to find out when the gas truck delivers.

Myth #2: Driving with the windows down at highway speeds without A/C is better than windows up with the A/C on.

When at highway speeds, keep your windows up. On most vehicles, having the windows open at highway speeds will create extra drag and cost you gas. If it’s a hot day, running the A/C is a necessary evil, and will cost you gas mileage, but the loss is about equal to keeping the windows down on most cars. When driving under 45mph, keeping the windows open and A/C off will be more economical because drag from having the windows is not in effect at the lower speeds.

Myth #3: Keep your engine running if you are making a quick stop at the store, it takes more gas to start your engine than to leave it running for a few minutes.

This myth is not true, starting an engine takes very little extra fuel, and it is always better to turn the engine off.

Like anything in life, cheaper is not always better. When it comes to buying gas there are a few things to remember.

Name brand gasonline generally has more detergents, which help your engine run cleaner and more efficiently. I personally use Texaco due to some personal experiences and the fact that I used to work at a Texaco station in high school and college. At the time, the regular gasoline did not have the same additives as the plus and supreme grade. I switched from regular to plus grade, and got better gas mileage. I was driving a 1979 Mustang at the time with a 4 cyl. engine and went from 18 to 20 mpg just by switching grades of gas.

To find the lowest prices, there are websites online, which post almost real-time gas prices across the country. I would also shop at gas stations, which have competition, which will drive prices down. So the more gas stations in the area, the better the price.

When you are at the gas pump, start the pump and then take a walk around your vehicle. You should check all 4 tires for any signs of low air pressure. In all but the higher performance tires, you can see the sidewall of the tire bulge when air pressure drops. Once per month I would check the tires with a quality tire gauge to be safe. Low tire pressure can create more rolling resistance and will hurt your gas mileage. If you are not a good judge of tire pressure by looking at the tires, consider a cool new product on the market that replaces your valve stem cap. It shows green when your tires are at the proper pressure, and red when they are low on air.

Safe Driving,

Kevin Schappell

We all like to race stoplight to stoplight, it’s a guy thing. But, did you know that nothing can affect your gas mileage more than your driving style? Studies have shown that you can save up to 33% on gas by altering your driving style.

Before we get into how you should drive for the best gas mileage, let’s talk about what you should do before you leave the driveway. The first thing you should do, if it’s hot outside, is turn off you’re A/C and roll down the windows. This will reduce the load on your engine, and clear out the super heated air that has built up in your vehicle. Once you are above 45 mph, roll up the windows and turn on the A/C.

We can now start our discussion on driving style and discover how you can save up to 33% on gas. The first thing to think about when driving is conservation of momentum. Consider the following two scenarios…

1. You are driving along at 45 mph and see a red light ahead. You wait until the last second and slam on the brakes, then accelerate away when the light turns green.
2. You are driving along at 45 mph and see a red light ahead. You let off the gas pedal, and coast into the light, while anticipating when it will turn green. If you time it right, you never stop and continue on your way, ahead of where you would have been in scenario #1

This type of thinking in scenario #2 will put money back into your pocket. Your brake pedal is your enemy when trying to get better gas mileage. If you can anticipate traffic ahead of you, and avoid having to push on the gas pedal hard, you will save gas. Any time you use the brakes, you are losing momentum and wasting energy.

I had a friend in high school, whose dad put a vacuum gauge in all of his vehicles. A vacuum gauge in simple terms, measures the load on an engine. It served to remind my friend’s dad how he was driving, and forced him to go easy on the gas pedal to save gas. Consider having your mechanic install one of these gauges, the cost is minimal, and you may learn a little about how you are driving. If you have a newer car with an advance engine computer, it may tell you your instant and average mileage. Use the instant gas mileage readout instead of a vacuum gauge, it’s just as good.

You want to accelerate as mildly and evenly as possible to get to your desired speed. If you have a tachometer in your car, you can watch engine RPM and try to keep it under 3,000. You should be able to get to your destination in a safe and speedy manner, using these techniques and save some gas in the process.

There has been a lot of debate about what is the best speed to drive on the highway. Politics and safety issues have clouded the issue even further. The fact is that every car has it’s own speed where peak efficiency occurs. I had a Corvette that got the best gas mileage at 70 mph. It’s not practical to drive this fast everywhere, so I compromised and kept it legal as often as possible. Depending on your engine, transmission and gear ratio in the axle of your car, you ideal speed will be higher or lower than my car. The most important fact to remember is to keep your speed steady and avoid abrupt stops and starts.

I have heard various automotive journalist report better gas mileage by not using the cruise control. There reasoning was that they were focused on driving for efficiency and could make better decisions that the cars cruise control computer. This theory is valid, if you are on a highway with a lot of elevation changes. If you are not using cruise control, you can allow your vehicle to coast down long hills and build up some extra speed, which will help you climb the next hill. Of course you need to use some common sense here and not allow your car to go too fast to avoid speeding tickets or dangerous driving conditions.

The last tip I can offer on driving, is make your vehicle as light as possible. The lighter your vehicle, the less you engine has to work to move you around. Remove any unnecessary items from the trunk and car to help keep your car as light as possible.