Time to change oil

Used a 10 ft wood ramp I made to load my mule in trailer. It worked well to get front wheels off the ground enough I could slide under to change oil. I also lifted back end with jack to level thing out and used floor jacks for safety. Easy, fast and way cheaper than taking it to the Honda dealer. My one and only dealer oil change was when it was new and under warranty. It cost over $165. 2 qts of gear lub in rear end, 2 qts of engine oil and filter, and 1/2 qt in front axle. I change all oils at 75 hrs. Engine needed it, front trans-axle really needed it and the rear axle not so much. Oil is cheaper than parts for this girl.

I also changed the full synthetic oil in my terramite, 20 hp kohler. I put 90 hrs on oil and unlike regular oil the engine starts using oil after 60 hrs. Oil looked dark as you can see in pic. No build up under valve cover. I even show oil cap next to dirty oil. Engine hadn't started using oil either. Cost wise it's about the same. Only saving is the filter. Regular oil I would change it 3 times, synthetic 2 times. I buy brand name regular oil of $2 on sale and synthetic for $3 on sale. That's when I buy the limit and store it in the barn.

Say, that's a good idea...now head on over here and do mine while you are at it! :lol: Funny thing about this is that a few days ago, I was thinking back to when it seemed all the old farm houses had some railroad ties stacked with a ramp to drive up on them. I guess it made it easier to change the oil, as there probably weren't too many stations way out in the country to do this. I can't drive straight anyway...according to swmbo, so I would drive right off the end or side of such and then really have a mess.

Unless I have a free change coupon from my dealer (I change the oil/filter 3 or 4 times each year and save these for use in cold winter months), I change the oil in my car (as well as everything else) myself.

I do not jack it up but rather drive the front wheels onto two 12" pieces of 2X12 that I kept from the pole barn project. The thickness of the 2X12 is just enough to allow me to reach underneath and remove the drain plug and drain the oil into a pan. I have a couple of metal pans that were once drawers in a long since scrapped refrigerator but a plastic dish pan works just as well and is lighter.

While the oil is draining, I change the filter from above and rotate the tires front to back using a cordless impact wrench and a final torquing with a click type torque wrench. I position my floor jack such that I lift both wheels on a side at the same time.

I've gotten it down to a science and can do the entire process including getting everything out and putting everything away in less than an hour. I buy the oil and filters when on sale for around $20 - $25 total and keep everything on hand.

The most annoying aspect of the process is a trip to the dealer for a free reprogramming of the tire pressure monitors. The pressure monitors in my last car could be reprogrammed by the owner using a flashing light, horn chirp process but it was tedious, time consuming and frustrating. Such is no longer possible with the current car. Rather one must have a VERY expensive tire pressure monitor programming tool. Fortunately, I negotiated for free such reprogramming procedures for as long as I own my car before purchasing it.

Dean

The nice thing, I already had the ramps. I feel much safer using ramps than jacking both
ends up and using Jack stands, not to mention very fast doing what I did. I leveled it
to get all the oil to drain out.

While it was draining, I started draining the terramite. 2 jobs at the same time.

I recently started doing my car and truck and saving about half the dealer price and
used full synthetic and a delco filter because both are GM's.