An engine is a vital part of your vehicle. It is also known as the heart of the vehicle. The proper maintenance and repair of the engine are very important for the proper operation of the vehicle. The proper supply of oil is very important for the proper operation of the engine. Therefore, you must change your car engine oil according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Are you thinking about how to change the engine oil in your car?
Don’t worry, this article properly explains the steps to change engine oil and when you should change it.
What is Engine Oil?
The engine lubricant or engine oil is a combination of different additives and base oils used for the lubrication of moving engine parts. It helps to ensure the proper operation of the engine.
The oil properly lubricates the engine moving parts and ensures their proper operation. It reduces the wear and tear of the moving parts. It helps to lower the engine temperature and prevents it from overheating.
Why Is Engine Oil Important?
The proper supply of engine oil is important because of the following reasons:
- This oil properly lubricates the moving parts of the engine.
- It reduces the friction, wear, and tear between the moving parts of the engine. It makes a thin layer between the moving parts of the engine, stops the full contact between the metal parts, and extends the engine life. If your engine doesn’t have oil, the metal-on-metal contact will destroy your engine.
- It prevents the engine from overheating. It extracts the engine heat and transfers this heat to the radiator from where it sends to the heating system.
- The engine oil also helps to remove the contamination from the engine.
Signs of Low Engine Oil
Following are the signs of low engine oil in your vehicle:
- Engine overheating: The main purpose of the engine oil is to prevent the engine from overheating. As your vehicle doesn’t have oil or has a very low level, the engine temperature starts going up, and it overheats.
- Reduction in engine performance: As the oil level goes down, the engine performance starts going down. This is a clear symptom of low engine oil.
- Low oil warning light on the car dashboard: Your car dashboard has a gauge that represents the oil level. When the engine oil becomes lower than a specified limit, the oil warning light starts to illuminate on your vehicle dashboard.
- Strange noises: The oil reduces the wear and tear of the moving parts. It prevents the full metal-on-metal connection. Due to insufficient oil, the moving parts start making contact with each other and generate noises.
- Engine parts damage: The oil prevents the engine parts from damage. As your parts start damaging, it means your vehicle has an insufficient amount of oil.
- Excessive Mileage: In case of low oil, the vehicle engine travels up to a low distance than normal.
- Engine knocking: There are multiple reasons for engine knocking. The low level of oil may also cause of engine knocking.
- Smoke from exhaust pipe: As the oil leaks into the combustor of the engine, it starts burning with an air-fuel mixture. Due to oil burning, your car emits smoke from the exhaust pipe.
- Poor Fuel Economy: As your vehicle doesn’t have sufficient oil, it starts consuming more fuel than usual. This is a clear sign of low oil.
- Burning oil smell: If you notice a burning oil smell, immediately stop the car and inspect the system. This means your oil is leaked into the combustion chamber. This oil burns with the air-fuel mixture, which generates an unpleasant smell.
- Engine stalling: The oil prevents the engine from stalling issues. As your oil level or oil pressure goes down than the designed level, the engine starts stalling, which may completely destroy the engine.
How to Change the Oil in Your Car?
Oil changing is not a tough job. If you hire labor for this work, they may charge a high amount. Therefore, you must change the oil on your own.
Follow the below-given steps to change the engine oil:
- Gather Necessary Tools
- Selection of Oil
- Remove the old Oil
- Tight the drain Plug
- Replace the Oil Filter
- Add Fresh Oil
- Oil collection
1) Gather Necessary Tools
Before starting maintenance or service work, you must have the necessary supplies. As you will have all the necessary supplies, you can perform your job comfortably.
To change the oil of your car, you must have the following equipment:
- To remove the drain plug, you must have a properly sized box-end wrench, usually metric.
- Oil filter wrench to remove the oil filter
- A funnel to add oil to the car.
- Oil drain pan to collect the waste or old oil.
- A jack and jack stand for lifting more.
- New oil
- New oil filter
- Gloves
2) Selection of Oil
You must choose the best suitable oil according to the nature of your car. Your oil must have good viscosity. For more information about oil, follow the instructions written in your car manufacturer’s manual.
3) Remove the old Oil
You shouldn’t change the oil of your engine when it is hot. If your engine is hot, wait for a few minutes and let it cool. Before starting the process, you need to make sure the exhaust is cool as well.
As the engine cools, start the process and trace the oil drain plug. Sometimes, you need to lift the car through a jack and place it on a jack stand for easy access. If your car has a splash guard, you must remove it.
Now place the drain pan below the drain plug and remove the oil filter cap for an easy drain. Wear gloves, remove the drain plug, and put it into the drain pan.
4) Tight the drain Plug
After full removal of the old oil, it’s time to close the drain plug tightly. Before tightening the plug, clean the drain plug to ensure a tight closure. Install the drain plug to the correct specifications, but you can’t easily find torque requirements in the manufacturer’s manual.
A 3/8″ ratchet is most commonly used to tighten the plug. If you use a larger one, you may over-tight your drain plug.
5) Replace the Oil Filter
Remove the oil filter by using a special wrench. You may do this process over a drain pan because this is a confusing job due to that oil may remain in the filters.
Apply a small amount of new oil to the O-ring of the new filter. To change the filter, follow the below steps:
- First, rotate the filter.
- As the O-ring gets in touch, the filter should be three-quarters tight.
- You shouldn’t overtight the filter. Overtightening may prevent the filter from being removed at the next oil change.
Some vehicle engines have oil filters on the top. In this case, you should replace the filter before draining the old oil. This makes easy drainage of the oil and allows more oil to drain into the oil pan.
6) Add Fresh Oil
After the installation of a new oil filter and drain plug, it’s time to add new oil to the engine. Follow the instruction manual to ensure you are using the correct type and amount of oil.
Use a funnel to introduce fresh oil into the engine oil filter. The funnel makes an easy oil-pouring process.
After adding an appropriate amount of oil, reinstall the cap back in its original position and turn on the engine for a few minutes to allow full circulation of the oil.
Turn off the engine and recheck the oil level. If the oil level is lower than the desired level, add more oil. If the car is on a jack, you need to lower the car first to level the floor.
7) Oil Collection
Collect the used oil into a large saucepan and place it in a safe place if you want to reuse it.
Important Tips for Car Oil Change
Follow the below given important tips while you change the oil of your car engine.
- Don’t change the engine oil at a very high temperature of the engine. If the engine is very hot, wait at least 15 to 20 minutes to avoid burns. As the engine cools as normal then start the oil-changing process.
- If your engine is more cold than normal, run the engine for just 4 to 6 minutes to warm up the oil.
- Tight the filters by hand. Don’t employ a filter wrench to tighten the oil filter.
- Take a correct-size box-end wrench (usually metric) to remove the drain plug. Don’t use a socket or adjustable wrench to remove the plug.
- Always use a jack and jack stand to lift the car. You should not work under a vehicle that is lifted solely by a jack.
- Place the oil bottles in a line required for filling so that no volume is lost on the way.
- Apply new oil to the new oil filter gasket before turning it.
How much does it cost to change engine oil?
The car engine oil replacement cost depends on many factors, such as the area where you live and the labor cost.
The average cost of car engine oil and filter change is from $30 to $70. If your car uses synthetic oil, then you may need to pay a high. The cost of the synthetic oil change is from $55 to $135.
If you change the oil yourself, you may need to pay only $20 to $55 for the supplies.
| Synthetic oil cost | $55 to $135 |
| Average cost | $30 to $70 |
| Supply cost | $20 to $55 |
FAQ Section
What is the Function of the Engine oil?
The car engine oil is utilized to lubricate the various moving parts of the engine. The main function of engine oil is to reduce wear and friction of the rotating parts, remove the contamination from the engine and prevent the engine from overheating.
How to Change Oil Filter?
Follow the below-given steps to remove and replace the oil filter of your car:
- First of all, remove the old oil from the drain plug to the drain pan.
- After full removal of the old oil, use a wrench to remove the oil filter.
- Use a piece of clean cloth or rag to remove the contamination and split oil from the engine mounting surface.
- Take a new filter and properly lubricate the O-ring of the filter with new oil.
- Now, tight the filter by hand but no more than another½ or ¼ turn. Don’t use a filter wrench to tighten the filter.
- Don’t overtight the filter. Overtightening may prevent the filter from being removed at the next oil change.
What are the symptoms of low Engine Oil?
- Engine stalling
- Engine overheating
- Burning oil smell
- Reduction in engine performance
- High consumption of fuel
- Low oil warning light on the car dashboard
- Smoke from the exhaust pipe
- Strange noises
- Engine knocking
- Engine parts damage
- Excessive oil mileage
- Oil pressure warning light
How Long Does a Car Oil Change Take?
If you don’t change the oil yourself and take your car to a workshop, you may have to wait for at least 15 minutes for the oil to be changed. However, these specialists change the oil on a daily basis. Therefore, they will change your car engine oil very quickly. In fact, they can change the oil of your car in their sleeping condition.
If you change the oil yourself, it may take longer. If you are changing it the first time, it may take about an hour to learn the details of the process.
As you learn the process, you will perform this process very quickly next time. In general, the oil change process of maximum vehicles doesn’t take more than 30 minutes.
Can you drive your car with the oil warning light on?
It is not advisable to continue driving with the oil warning light. When you see the illuminated oil light, it’s crucial to immediately pull over and switch off the engine. Operating the engine without sufficient oil can lead to engine seizure and failure to restart. Sudden vehicle stalling during driving can also indicate potential problems and should be addressed promptly.
Why is my oil light on but the oil level is fine?
If the oil level is low and you’ve confirmed that it’s actually at an adequate level, a malfunctioning oil sensor could be the cause. In the case of low oil pressure, it’s essential to address the problem before continuing to drive to prevent the complete failure of your engine.
What are the 10 steps to an oil change?
- Lift your car
- Put the catch pan under your and remove the oil plug
- Inspect your car after draining all oil
- Reinstall drain plug
- Detach the old oil filter
- Ensure cleaning of your engine mount
- Install new filter
- Remove the oil filter cap and add fresh oil
- Replace the oil filter cap if needed
- Lower down your car and check the engine oil level by using the dipstick