Squeaky Clean Oil Change

[Blackjack]

I want to give a huge thanks to this forum! I did some searching and reading about how to do an oil change on an S550 without my neighbors needing to call in a hazmat team, nor did I have to audition to star in a Dawn dish soap commercial! I literally spilled one drop of oil because I laid the screwdriver that I used to punch a hole in the oil filter on the driveway, missing my cardboard mat. I was pissed, because it would have been clinical otherwise.

The two key pieces of information. First - do not just pop the drain plug out. First time I did an oil change, it was a catastrophe! Those 10 quarts rocketed right past the drain pan, hitting the back of the pan and shooting up and over the pan making it a miserable, cat litter, scrub brush, Dawn laden experience. Then, a true genius on the forum said, "hey dude, don't pop it out. Pull it about half way out and hold it there until it's drained." Perfect call! The oil drains straight down, does't deep fry your hand and arm , and it's super easy to control the flow. Every last drop straight into the pan. I do care about recycling my oil, so I felt really good that I kept all of the oil in the pan and easily transported to Oreilly's.

Next, the oil filter. Tired of soaking your electric power steering cables in oil, and having oil drip from your belly tray for 2 weeks. Me too! Another scion on the forum said to take a straight screwdriver and a hammer, pop a hole in the end of the filter and let it drain straight down into the pan. Once it becomes a drip, screw that sucker off. Little to no clean up! Give the filter housing a nice wipe down, spin the new filter on, viola!

My confidence is restored! I loathe the idea of shops changing my oil. Dealers and most shops have no f's to give. Time is money, and they can't do an oil change fast enough. I had the dealer do it once and the puddle of oil on my garage floor the next morning made it my last. If you're like me, and have had a traumatic experience doing your own oil change on your trusty steed, use these two methods and then thank this forum for giving us all a place to share this kind of knowledge!

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[Brokestang]

I use a zip lock bag cut down both sides & drape it over those wires so if any oil from the filter hit there it just runs down into the pan.

 

[BombZombie]

For the filter, I use a piece of cardboard to direct the oil past the cables and straight into the pan. Bend and fold it to form a little half circle around the funnel, and place it around the filter once it's loose enough to fully remove, before the oil flows.

That trick was taught to me by a Ford Master Mechanic when I bought the oil spill mess issue up to him

 

[thompsje]

I just have a roll of heavy duty aluminum foil in the garage. I put that over the power cables and it can be formed into a pseudo funnel into the pan. Works on the control arm on the wife's Pilot too.

 

[Hoofer]

I just have a roll of heavy duty aluminum foil in the garage. I put that over the power cables and it can be formed into a pseudo funnel into the pan. Works on the control arm on the wife's Pilot too.

^This.

I also purchased/installed the Ronin plug during the first oil change at 1k miles.

 

[ICU812]

As for drain pan, splash back, I have used for decades A pvc 4" pipe 12" tall, as long as you get the oil flowing out the drain hole into the pipe, it can't really splash back other than inside the pipe and then into the drain pan, it works like a large diameter funnel tube. Started using pvc pipes this way when I started owning diesel trucks with Enough ground clearance that you didn't need to jack up the truck to do the oil change service. For those I have a 4" pipe piece and a 5" that the 4" slides into so the height of different trucks isn't an issue.
No mess, Stone simple and cheap.

 

[barron64]

I don’t use an oil drain pan for oil changes as I know from past experience that the volume and flow is beyond the intended design. I found that an empty 5 gallon laundry detergent pail from Sam’s is perfect for this job. Plenty of capacity, and 12” deep works like a charm.

 

[ArgentumS550]

There is a product called "Form-a-Funnel" that works well. I have to use it on my 4Runner so I don't have an oily undercarriage. Bend it into required shape and wipe when done.

 

[Blackjack]

The thing I found with popping a hole in the filter is that I didn’t need a funnel, zip lock bags, aluminum foil, etc. but, that is the beauty of information. We have all found a way to keep an oil change tidy.

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