Guess it depends on how strong you are. If you hand tighten, You should have enough room to fit in a torque wrench. You'll find that 18 ftlbs is about a half a grunt with a 3/8 drive ratchet

 

The other thing I notice is it's difficult to find a 1/2" torque wrench that goes to such low setting (18 ft-lb) since I am only able to find 1/2" 36mm socket. Does anyone have advise? I don't believe dealer service department use torque wrench at all.

 

Most service departments seem to use trained gorillas or yoked oxen. We put a torque wrench on mine after the first service, and calculated well over 100 lb-ft was necessary to remove the filter. We had to get a breaker bar with a jack-handle to get it loose, and RedBaronf2001 got a seriously bloody knuckle for his efforts.

 

Its easy copy and paste to your word processing software

 

holy crap, i had no problems removing the filter housing, but the drain plug is on tight.

also the oil didn't drain so well from the canister when i removed it. there's a nice little puddle of old oil in the lower part of my filter housing. =(

man i hope i get my drain plug off soon.

 

wow the drain plug is a PITA to get off. my dad and i have been trying for a good hour and the damned thing isn't budging.

 

Could not resist this one...
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS....jsp?pn=169468

 

Any reason I should not just use these? (car ramps), versus jack + stands?

 

Not that I can think of. I used them when I changed my oil and filter.

 

Yep, s'what I use.

 

I use Rhino ramps to change oil in both my Mini and wife's CR-V. You can get them a lot cheaper than those shown. I got mine at AutoZone for less than $40.00. No reason to get the 8000 lb. jobs. The 4000 lb. are more than you need for the Mini and most any auto or light truck.

 

Someone over-tightened it the last time the oil was changed.... Hopefully it wasn't you.... There is a reason for using a torque wrench.

 

3/8" drive torque wrenches go down to about 10 ft/lbs. Also, check eBay for a 3/8" drive 36mm socket. There is a store that sells the 3/8" drive 36mm sockets.

 

36mm 3/8 drive socket that works well for this application

 

How do you reset the car's computer after you change the oil? I have to do mine soon & I'm just wondering. Or is that something that only the dealer can do?

 

So I will be under warranty for some time but an earlier poster mentioned $75 for the dealer to do an oil change. Is this true? My Chrysler dealer only charges $19 for our mini van.

If it is $75, how much does it roughly cost for synthetic oil and new oil filter? It sounds like I will have to start doing this myself as soon as the service contract runs out.

Dealer says every 5K for an oil change. Is this about right or should it be done more or less often?

Thanks ahead of time for any replies to this.

 

$75 is reasonable, but you can do it cheaper if you don't mind getting a little oily.

A case of Mobil 1 Synthetic--6 bottles runs about $35. you only need 5 of the bottles for the oil change.

Oil filter runs about $7 to $10

Richard

 

Local prices in Richmond, VA

6 pack 5W30 Mobil1 Fully Synthetic: $24.94 at Costco
MINI oil filter: $9.00 at the dealership

I do mine every 5K miles, but I'm kind of rough on my car. The local dealership says 15K miles, but they toe the company line. Many believe a far safer medium for responsible drivers is every 7.5 - 10K miles.

It is not fun to change your oil, but our local dealership charges $90 for the service, and they typically run the oil-filter housing back on with somewhere north of 100 lb-ft of torque. To me, it's worth burning my fingers and hunting around for the drain-plug gasket every few months to keep the (barely) trained gorillas away from my car.

As for the reset of the service indicator, I just did it 3 weeks ago, but can't remember for the life of me. I do remember that the key absolutely has to be in Position 1. It won't work in Position 2 (I got sent to a different diagnostic sub-system).

 

Prices at South Florida dealerships:
oil filter: $10.00
change oil+filter: $145.00 + taxes
Special change oil +filter: 99.00 + taxes

Is this a great country or what

 

Go to wally mart, buy a 5qts of 5w30 mobile 1 for $23, after tax.
Then Go to NAPA and get a Gold lable filter for $8 dollars....
While you are at it, buy a oil drain pan for $3 bucks if you don't have it.
Easy Easy Easy..

 

I changed my oil from Castrol to Redline yesterday. I turned my car on and the check oil light comes on... WTF?!? I checked for any leaks and oil level and it's all good. So I got my OBD device and tried a reset. Turned on the car, damn light is still on.

Does the car not recognize the oil at first? Will it just eventually turn off by it self?

Your input is much appreciated. Thanks!

Randy

 

I got one of those drain plugs with an operable valve from Moss MINI. When combined with a fairly shallow drain pan, I found that I didn't need to jack the car up to drain out the old oil.

http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewPro...31&SortOrder=1

When I had it installed at Schomp during a scheduled oil change, the MA pointed out that they have had to remove a couple due to leakage. I've been checking mine and it's fine so far.

 

I second that! Just as good as the hands on oil change lesson I got from Randy over a year ago. Trickiest part is still threading the filter housing back on.

 

All I can say it that isn't typical.
I've done at least5 DIY oil changes on my car and never seen that.

 

You can buy them with or without a nipple.
The nipples ones are easy to cap off and keeps raod grime out of the valve better.
Even better if you have a skid plate. Pop a hose on and crack the valve, no spills.