How to Do Your Own Oil Change

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As many of you know, my husband is a teacher. However, that has not always been his job. Troy started out his career in the automotive industry. He worked at different jobs such as a car dealership, changing tires and oil and at AutoZone for about 10 years.

I swear, you could ask him any question about a car and he would know the answer. A car can drive by really quick, I will say what car is that and he almost always knows the make and year of the car. Crazy!



When we have car issues, Troy can usually do the job himself which saves us a lot of money. I appreciate this so much! When it comes to changing our oil, Troy always does it himself. Although this particular job does not save that much money to do yourself, Troy takes a lot of pride in changing our oil himself.

Troy loves his car like it is his baby. When he does anything to our cars, it always has to be perfect. Washing a car takes 2 hours due to all the special products that "have" to be used. I had fun creating this little tutorial to show you how to change your oil yourself.

These are my husband's tips and steps for a DIY Oil Change:
1. Purchase correct oil and oil filter. Most oil supply stores can tell you what you oil capacity is. Be sure to purchase the correct amount as engines can vary how much they can take.


2. Raise your vehicle so that you can you can get under it easily. This can be done with jack stands or ramps. If using jacks and jack stands, be sure to identify proper lift points which should be listed in your owners manual. Take the oil cap off.


3. Identify oil drain plug and oil filter locations. Use the correct size socket wrench or box end wrench, do not adjustable wrenches which may lead to damage to drain plug.


4. Loosen oil drain plug so that it can be loosened by hand. Do not remove until oil drain pan is in proper position. Then, finish loosening the oil drain plug so that the oil can drain.

5. Once drain oil flow has reduced to a slow drip, reinstall oil drain plug. Make sure not to over-tighten.

6. Loosen oil filter. Oil filter wrenches may come in handy with stuck filters.

7. Re-position drain pan to catch oil from oil filter and remove oil filter. Check to make sure rubber seal on old oil filter is not stuck to housing which could lead to oil leaks.


8. Take new oil filter. Using new oil, take finger and lightly lubricate the new oil filter to help seal it. Install new oil filter. Do not use oil filter wrench to tighten.


9. Pour new oil in per your vehicle's capacity. A funnel may be used. Close the oil fill cap.



10. Run the car for about 10 seconds, turn vehicle off. Remove oil dipstick, wipe clean. Dip back in and pull out.

Oil should be between the two markings. This indicates that it is full. If under, add more. If over significantly, may have to drain.

11. Close hood. Remove from ramp or jack stands. Record date and mileage for next oil change.

And you are done!


For our oil change, we used Pennzoil Platinum full synthetic motor oil which we picked up at my husband's former employer: AutoZone. This is a high-quality oil that has been specially designed to give your engine complete protection. It can help keep your pistons 40% cleaner than other brands.


Buy it here.

You can drive an extra 550 miles per year with this. This oil is backed by a 10 year, 300,000 mile lubrication limited warranty.

Within the next couple of years, my husband is determined to get a Mustang of his own (his dream car) so I had to share this video of doing an oil change on this sick Mustang:


For tips and tricks to change your own oil, check out this Pennzoil site.

Please use standard safety procedures when changing your oil. You should always refer to your own car's manual before changing your oil.