DIY--Changing 2002 Accord oil

Is this a huge PITA?

 

Not at all. Just make sure you have some 5W-20 oil and the appropriate
filter. A 5 minute job if you've got ramps or access to a lift.

Cheers,

C

 

5 minutes?
I was told that I'd have to remove the left front wheel to get to the
filter, and that a special oil filter wrench was needed.
I do have ramps, but this is strictly a "driveway job".

Was I mis-lead?

Thanks for your response Chris!

 

If you're a little handy, have the time, and enjoy being able to maintain your
own car, it's not at all a PITA.

Do you have the owner's manual for the car? Honda owner's manuals have
step-by-step instructions for changing the oil, with the one exception that I
don't think they give a detailed description of removing the oil filter. Maybe
someone here will post the instructions from his/er owner's manual.

I found that the first oil change I have done on the three cars I have owned in
my life always took much longer than subsequent oil changes. This is mostly due
to the time needed to figure out the best way to get at the oil filter.
Sometimes one can get at it from the top. More often with Hondas, one has to
crawl underneath.

I take a casual 40 minutes to change my car's oil. I use ramps (Rhinos, which
are plastic and easier to move around). I let the oil drip for fifteen minutes
or so after removing the plug and oil filter. (That's probably way overkill, but
I use the time to inspect the car's CV boots while I'm underneath; refill my
windshield washer reservoir; clean off the battery terminals; check the radiator
coolant level; do a general look-around, and get my tools and parts in order for
the next steps.) After re-filling the engine with oil, I do the careful checks
(for leaks) the owner's manual recommends. I always use a new washer for the
plug.

The only delays I encounter these days are the rare times the old oil filter is
so tight it has to be removed with a "crusher" wrench. Three extra minutes.

After you get all your tools (ramps, metric ratchet wrench set, oil filter
wrench or wrenches, rags, milk jug to store old oil in, oil pan to put under car
to drain oil into) and parts (oil, oil filter, oil plug washer) together, I
expect the only serious problems you'll have are (1) figuring out how to get at
the oil filter; and (2) figuring out what oil filter wrench(es) to use.

I stopped trusting shops to change my oil after Sears left the old oil filter
gasket on the car. Five miles down the road, my low oil pressure light came on.
I was a kid but I knew enough to pull over and lucked out. Sears towed it and
replaced the oil but had no other apologies. I have the time so I change my own
oil and I think do a better job of it than any shop. The other common drawback
of having a shop change the oil is the shops seem to frequently overfill. This
is not good for the engine.

G'luck.

 

If you're a little handy, have the time, and enjoy being able to maintain your
own car, it's not at all a PITA.[/QUOTE]

"have the time..." What happened to this being a 5 minute job?

 

minutes.
<snip>

I never have this problem. When I put a new filter on, I tighten it by hand
(as per a wise mechanic's instructions). Unfortunately, most people think
they have to get on the filter with a wrench and tighten it up very tight,
then wonder why it's a b*tch to get off.

On my '02 Accord LX, I use the pliers-type filter wrench for the rare
occasion that I can't get the filter off by hand (if it's covered w/ oil or
something). I've tightened all of my filters by hand for the last 400,000
miles or so, with never a problem.

 

You don't use a wrench to tighten the filter, you need to use a torque
wrench.

 

The shop manual for my 2003 Civic specifies 8.7 lbf-ft (not quite sure
what a lbf is ;-) but if you have a filter with marks on it, they want
to tighen 3/4 turn. They also say that I have to remove 6 clilps, which I
presume look a lot like clips.

 

Pounds force. But that's a pretty persnickety technical writer who wrote this
shop manual, assuming the manual is for ordinary people.

"Pounds" without a subscript in U.S. engineering notation can be either a unit
of force or a unit of mass.

I use a Wal-Mart cap wrench and follow the instructions on the filter for
tightening 3/4 of a turn or whatever beyond when the gasket contacts the filter
holder base.

Maybe one out of 12 filters I replace this way subsequently end up
over-tightened and require "the crusher." I figure it's environmental
effects/driving conditions.

 

The few times I've met a "stuck" filter, I assumed that it didn't get any
oil applied to the gasket, and was fried into place.

The worst one was on a Plymouth slant six. The filter is on the down side
of the engine, too close to the motor mount to get a decent grip on it. I
wound up tearing the can off, then driving the base loose with a punch.
I couldn't unbolt the whole assembly because of the positioning relative to
the motor mount.

 

Piece of cake compared to the old Firebird Turbo.

 

Toyota loves to put them behind/under the exhaust manifold on 4-bangers.
Always a treat when you're forced to work on a hot engine....

C