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Changing the oil in your car does not require you to have any special knowledge of how a vehicle works and by trying it out for yourself you can achieve some real self satisfaction while saving you some time and money.

The first thing you'll have to do in order to change your own oil is to find out what type of oil your vehicle takes, the standard is usually 10W-30 but you can easily find this out by looking in your car manufactures handbook or asking the person you are buying the oil from, they usually require you to know the make, model and year of your vehicle. The next thing you'll need is a oil pan, this oil pan is not the same type of pan you buy for your vehicle it is simple a 5 gallon holding tank to put your old oil into so it does not leak all over the ground, this would cause environmental contamination issues, next you need an oil filter for your vehicle, again you'll need to know your vehicles make, model, and year in order for you to find the right one, just supply this information to the person your buying your oil and oil filter from and they will give you the proper part.

Now that you've got all of the equipment needed, you may want to put on some old clothing for changing your oil because you can sometimes get a bit dirty in the process, when your ready the first thing you should do is run your vehicle for at least 10 minutes to get the oil nice and warm, this will make all of the oil come out of your vehicle and you wont be left with old oil still in your car or truck.

Once your vehicle has been running for about 10 minutes turn it off and make sure your parking break is on, then crawl under the front of your vehicle and about where your tire ends you should see a metal pan which slopes down and has a bolt in the end of it, find a wrench to fit this bolt and place your oil pan down under this bolt to catch the oil, now remove the bolt and be careful because the oil may be a bit hot to the touch, wait for all of the oil to drain out of your vehicle. While you are waiting you can open your hood and remove the oil cap from the top of your engine, it should clearly be labeled, this will help get out any air bubbles in your oil pan.

* Tip - When your oil starts to flow out of your oil pan, place your fingers in it for a quick second and then remove them and touch your fingers together almost like you were squishing the oil and feel for any grit's in the oil, and also look at it and see if you notice any shiny flakes, if you feel grits in your oil

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