ayS

is there a DIY on a oil change for the xB?

jakedudeta

My girlfriend had a terrible experience with EZ-lube in Temple City, CA about a year ago.

First of all, its total BS that they try the hard sell for all of the "extra" garbage that you can get with an oil change. They were able to gloom and doom her into buying a fuel cleaning service on her Subaru RS (which has self cleaning fuel injectors) for this they charged her $30, which we all know is just a bottle of STP type crap. Then they BS'ed her into full synthetic oil, now not that its too bad, but, I honestly feel like I have to go with her to get her oil changed now (no pun intended) because them prey on the inexperienced.

Total Crap, I second the stay away from EZ lube sentiment

Lucky for me I live in Oklahoma now with a storm shelter in my garage that acts like a ghetto pit, so its wasy for me to get under my car for the oil change.

Due to the fact that most cars these days have sealed chassises I really think that one is better off doing the oil deal themselves, and if you notice anything you are going to be better off diagnosing it, rather than some Auto School drop out working at speed lube.

Just an opinion and its will save you a few bucks and you never have to worry about the idiots not tightening something

xBHAWK

AYS: All grease fittings are sealed from the factory, so there is no "LUBE" to be done, don't let anyone sell you a "LUBE". Just change oil every 5,000 miles.

See the maintenance section for detailed descriptions of how to do, and when to do, and what oil to use, many opinions.

IMHO, what I do is:

Reach under car, no need to lift XB. 14MM oil plug unscrews, oil drains into a basin.
Let it drain for a while, I let every drop of old oil drain out.

Reach and grab the oil filter, unscrew by hand. If dealer installed it, you may need a tool. Oil will spill onto your hand. Screw on the new filter by (clean) hand.

Screw on the oil plug, maybe use a new oil plug gasket. Fill with 3.8 Quarts of whatever you choose, use dip stick to measure.

Recycle oil at most any good garage, record oil change in your book, and that is it!

tC9o9

im a noob.. but i do do my own oil changes.

my dip stick always reads above F.. is that bad?

it looks like this: LxxxxxxxxxxxxxxF.. and it is always above F.. even when the dealer does it.

OldYeller

L=low
F=full

F is a good thing

jakedudeta

I will let yall in on an additional secret, and for the unknown you can act like a big timer.

Go to a JC whitney type of auto parts sale calogue and purchase the 50 dollar top end oil change pump. Its pumps out the old oil throught the dipstick tube and all you have to go under for is the old filter. You can seriously change your oil in 10 minutes with one of these. And they do in fact use them at higher end shops.

The oil nicely runs into a bucket (that you can later hide in your friends garage) and no kidding its simple.

I had one of these that I used to use on my Trans Am (because I was too fat to get under it).

Just an FYI

vintage42

It's sort of like this transmission oil change, except you don't need the extra 2x piece under the ramp, and don't need to remove the plastic pan, and it's easier to get the new oil in:
http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...0Oil%20Change/
But, it's a dirtier job, because removing the filter lets loose a cupful of dirty oil on your hand and the floor.