On the journey of learning how to work on my van myself, I figured out how to change my oil and oil filter! Yay!
It’s pretty easy. You need a 13 mm socket wrench, an oil pan that can hold close to 3 gallons of oil, rubber gloves, paper towels or shop towels, a new oil filter, 12 quarts of oil, and an oil filter wrench.
First Step! Loosen the oil plug bolt with the 13mm socket wrench and place the oil pan underneath to collect the oil. I didn’t have a big enough oil pan so I just used a bucket.
Little Oil Plug Buddy!
While that’s happening you can place the oil filter wrench on the oil filter, which is located here. Use the socket wrench to loosen it up and pull out the old oil filter. I was about 12,000 in to that filter, which is about 2000 over the recommended limit.
The next step is take off the old oil filter, and the three little ‘O’ rings, and swap them for the shiny new ones.
12,000 miles of fun
Don't stab yourself with the knife
Tada!
Put the filter back in and tighten it down. I tightened it by hand first and then went back with a socket wrench to make sure it was on there good. THEN go back and put the oil plug in. Make sure it’s TIGHT.
Then refill your oil! And don’t over fill. I accidentally overfilled it and had to drain some oil out. Whoops.
I think the van takes about 2.5 gallons of oil, so buy three gallons and then you have a little bit left over for when you need to top it off!
Mark on your dash the next 10,000 miles and good luck!
This was a super easy fix! I would recommend it over going to the mechanic any day, it's cheaper and also fun to work on your van. The hardest part was finding a place to empty the oil afterwards. I ended up going to an O'Reilly's and having them dump it. Please discard of your oil safely!
