Auto maintenance is starting to gain a lot of attention from people trying to save a little cash in these hard economic times.
At one time most people did there own maintenance including tune-ups, oil changes and many types of repairs, but due to the complexity of a lot of later model cars most people decided that it would be safer to just have it done so it is not as common today.
Cutting back on spending today has gotten a lot of people back into doing these more simple maintenance items like changing brake pads or changing oil.
Some thing that you can do in your own driveway or garage.
Because they are fairly easy tasks you still have to make sure that you do them safely.
Any time that you are going to be working under a car you should make sure that it is sitting on axle stands to prevent it from falling on you.
Before starting an oil change you need to get your supplies ready.
You will need the oil in the proper amount and weight and an oil filter and of course a drain pan to catch the oil in.
if you need to you can check in the service manual for the proper weight and type of oil to use along with what filter that you need.
If you don't have the service manual you can look these things up on line at some of the parts suppliers' sites.
If you are starting with the car cold you will probably want to start it and let it warm up for a few minutes to get the oil warm.
It can drain very slowly when it's cold.
Jack the car up and place the axle stands under the car to support it then lower the jack back down so that the stands are holding the weight of the car.
They should be more stable than just the jack.
Now place the drain pan under the engine and locate the drain plug.
Removing this will allow the oil to drain out, hopefully into the pan.
Replace the drain plug when it's finished.
Then remove the oil filter, if it is mounted vertically it will be full of oil when you unscrew it so be careful.
Before you put on the new oil filter be sure to spread a little clean oil around the rubber ring on the top of the new filter, this will help to seal it when you screw it on.
Be sure that you get it tight, usually just finger tight then a quarter turn more.
now you can let the car back down from the jack, and put the proper amount of oil in.
Start the car and look for leaks, let it run a few minutes to get the oil pressure up then shut it back off and wait a few minutes more for the oil to drain back and then check the oil level, adding more if you need to.