telltom

Should i bother with my own oil changes or is it a pain. I don't see the filter on my 2k ES. Is it behind the exhaust manifold? If i go to a quick lube i'm at their mercy to use a cheap filter. If i have to jack up the car i have to.

Esquire

The oil filter is a major pain in the *** to get to. It's behind the engine and is almost impossible to see from underneath. Just feel around for it. And also considering how low our cars sit then unless you take yoga you'll need a jack.

There's an independent oil change place around here that let's you bring your own oil /oil filter if you want and they'll do the work. It's just called Car Ready. That's where I go. Maybe it'd be good to look in your phone book at alternative oil change shops?

Protege52003

Jack the passenger side up, slide under the car from the front, look to the right (while looking up) of the cat converter and above the drive shaft/axle. It is up there and is difficult to see. There is also other things you have to go around (plastic molding and bars). Things are hot up in that area if the car was driven.......after doing it the first time, it is easy. '

-R

multipath

Just be sure to use jack stands before you go underneath the car. It's dangerous to crawl underneath with a jack supporting the car as it could collapse easily.

Or, do what a lot of others do, and use ramps for oil changes. I hear Rhino Ramps are supposed to be good.

toucci

the rhino ramps are freaking sweet as long as they dont skid. other ramps would scratch our porsche but these ones were PERFECT! they were like 20 bucks too


as for the oil filter, its on the intake side of the block and you have to get really far in to be able to see it. its almost not visible from below. its black so bring a flashlight. its sitting at like a 30-40 degree angle with the end of it facing UP!

MP5s Make Ready

Ha...yoga

bigbobster

You can get at the oil filter with very little trouble from above by using a 10mm wrench to remove the nuts for the cruise control servo. When you lift it up you can then undo the wire connector and then lift and turn it to get it out of the way. With that done you can now reach the oil filter which is down and under the intake, behind the alternator as seen from the passenger side of the engine compartment.

proman

i don't see why you can't bring your own filter and oil and they do it for you. i mean it's no loss for them. but what do i know? i never had a shop do my oil.

90210brandon

It's easy. Do it yourself and save the $40 bucks. It's in the back of the engine to the passenger side of the car.

trmptr4484

I know this has been asked a lot. Anyways, can somebody please post pictures of where the stupid oil filter is on a 2.0L P5. I'm about ready to change my oil and I'd like to do it on my own.

toucci

do a search, thats how I found the pic

somebody posted a thread with the pics in the first post its easy to find

meGrimlock

speaking of jacking, i finally bought a pair of 3ton jackstands so i can start doing my own oil changes. my old car had a much higher clearance, i literally did not need to jack it up. but my lazyness finally caught up with my wallet and decided to do it myself. my questions:
1.) my driveway is a hill, and my parents shove everything into the garage, its not really a parking space, but a large closet. what can i do about a level surface? i didnt think of this when i bought those jackstands. would it be any safer to use ramps on this incline or is that dumb thinking on my part.
2.) can the scissor jack that came with my car reliably & safely raise the car higher than the jackstands so i can lower it down onto the jackstands? or do i need to get bottlejack/floorjack for that?
3.) should i just keep taking it to the local mech'c and forget this delimma?
-meGrimlock

markmurray77

npt a good idea to jack it up on an unlevel surface. Just use the street. My diveway is a hill and I do my changes either in my garage or on the street.

meGrimlock

on the street i'm a little afraid of oncoming traffic. though i live in a suburban neighborhood that doesnt see much traffic, it still worries me a bit. plus, my street is also on a hill albeit not as steep as my driveway. but i'll give it a shot, i may just clean up the darn garage to make room for my car. thanks.
-meGrimlock

telltom

alright, i just bought a pair of Rhino ramps at Walmart. (Waited 20 minutes at customer service because the price couldn't be found. Finally they took my word for it at 29.95.) I also ordered a bunch of oil filters from Mazda stuff. com. So i'll be ready for those oil changes. When i get the filters, i'll match the back with a cap wrench.