Anniversary

I hope you all had a great memorial day weekend. Happy anniversary to me and my motorcycle, Saki :)

(2 years and 2 days to be exact)

I shall celebrate by ignoring her.

Changing Motor Oil

Here's a tutorial on how to change your motor oil. It should be done routinely, every 3,000-5,000 miles (check your owner's manual). It's the best thing you can do for your vehicle and a great way to save some mula. I also find it kinda fun.


First, gather your supplies:

1. New motor oil (my car takes just over 4 quarts, so I find 1 big 5 quart jug is perfect - again check your manual)
2. New oil filter (go to Pepboys or Auto Zone and there will be something hanging at eye level that resembles a phone book, use it to find your car's make, model and year to determine which oil filter to use)
3. Disposable gloves (this is optional, but used motor oil is thick stuff so this makes clean up much easier)
4. Oil drain pan (this technically is optional as well, you just need something with the capacity to catch the old oil, but I recommend investing in this they are about $10. If you plan on future self oil changes, it's a much cleaner process when you are pouring out the old oil - I have done it both ways and this is best)
5. Oil filter socket with corresponding wrench in correct size (after you find your oil filter, open it and test it on different oil filter sockets to see which fits best)
6. Socket and corresponding wrench to the size of the drain plug on your car (mine is 17 mm)

You should have plenty of rags on hand as well. This can be a messy project.


Now that you have your supplies ready, make sure your engine is not hot. Pop open your hood and locate the oil filler cap. When you are ready to drain the oil, removing this will allow air flow to help draining go a lot faster.



Here is a view from underneath my car, where you'll see the oil drain plug and the oil filter. If you don't know where it is located on your car, check the manual.


Loosen the drain plug with your socket wrench and have your drain pan close and ready to slide under once you remove the drain plug.


When it is loosened, make sure you hang onto the bolt. If you drop it in the pan it will be a giant pain to get out. If you drop it on the floor, it will be an annoying mess that will leave permanent stains. Once you remove the drain plug, also make sure you catch the gasket as well (it looks just like a metal washer).


It should drain out rather slowly into your drain pan. Make sure the little air cap on top of the drain pan is open to allow air flow so it can keep up with the oil draining so it won't bubble out.


Now slide out from underneath the car and remove that oil filler cap to speed things up. Hopefully your aim into the drain pan is better than mine...


Here is the drain plug. It will get covered in oil, just give it a wipe down. Same goes for the gasket (not pictured). Inspect both and see if they need to be replaced. Then put the gasket and drain plug back in once the old oil is completely drained.


Next, use your filter socket and place over the oil filter to remove. Have drain pan ready.


Next, open new oil filter. Lubricate the rubber gasket with new oil using your finger (I prematurely tossed my gloves). This will help form a tight seal. Then place new filter back where you removed the old filter. Hand tightened is great, don't need to over tighten with the wrench or else you'll have a hard time getting it off next time you do this.


I didn't mention a funnel in the list of materials but it will make this next step go faster. If you don't want to buy one or don't have one, just cut an old milk jug in half like I did. The spout happens to be the perfect size, and you can use the bottom half of the jug as a holder for the top half so you won't drip motor oil everywhere. If you are not using a funnel of any kind, just pour straight from the bottle. It will just take a steadier hand and a little bit more time.


It's easier to pour less than you think and check the level and add more, than it is to drain out the excess. Look at the the nice light color of fresh new oil...

How do you check? Well once you're done pouring, give it a second to settle in the crankcase. And pull out the oil level stick (also known as dip stick) and wipe the tip with a clean rag. Then reinsert the dip stick, wait a second, and pull out and see where the oil level is. It should be between the 2 notches. You can see from my photo above, that mine is on the high end but still falls between the notches (I have an old car that burns oil more than newer cars).

Put the oil lever check back. Close the hood. Take the car for a spin around the block and then check the level again, it should go down a tiny bit.

Tips:

• Do not attempt this unless you have the supplies. You don't want to be stuck without your supplies and a car with no oil. A good way to permanently kill your engine. Motor oil = car's lifeblood.
• I chose not to jack up my car because I'm small enough to slide under the car. Plus it's quicker that way. And less work. But from now on, I may just start jacking up the car. The visibility will be so much better. Remember to use stands and engage your emergency hand brake if you do this.
• Put a cardboard box down (or tarp) to catch any little drips and dribbles. I failed to do this.
• I prefer rubber or plastic oil filter wrenches to metal ones. I have a metal one because that's all that I could find at my auto parts store. If your metal filter wrench can't get a good grip on the filter, place a piece of sandpaper (grit side out) inside and insert over the filter for a better 'bite'
• Pour old oil back into empty oil containers.
• Old motor oil and old oil filters can be recycled. Check your local waste facilities for household hazardous waste collections (my city does it once a month) or check with local auto shops to see if they accept.
• Most oil grades are 5W/30 or 10W/30 depending on your climate. Since I live in a climate where it doesn't ever get really cold either will work. Ask your auto parts store guy about your climate.
• You can use regular or synthetic motor oil but do NOT mix the 2 types. And if use synthetic, use that for the remainder of that car's life. 

You're done! Now go wash your hands and pat yourself on the back!

Not Junk in Your Trunk

I'm a slight grease monkey, I enjoy working on cars and in the garage. It's just like house stuff but with cars, right?

Recently, I posted a tutorial series on replacing your own rotors in your car (part 1, 2, 3), and showed how I keep mine looking purdy as well. But here's something important and ridiculously easy that you could (and should) go out and do right now if not already!

Make sure you have a spare tire in your trunk. And be sure it's not flat!

Keep tools to change your flat tire, with your flat tire (in the pouch at far left). With them I also keep bungee cables and rope, and a pair of jumper cables (in the black case at right).

Here's a better look at said tools (jack, wrench)


Fluids (left to right): antifreeze (also known as coolant), motor oil, transmission oil

Some people keep windshield washer fluid in their trunk. I choose not to, since it just rolls around and isn't imperative. I also find blankets and water and flares a little unnecessary for my needs.

Do you keep extra car fluids in your trunk already?

No Skid Ro-tor (Part 3)

9. Reinsert cleaned (or new if you are replacing those as well) brake pads into the caliper

(there are 2 clips holding the brake pads, use a flat head screw driver to help get them in)

10. Reinsert caliper onto rotor so each brake pad flanks the rotor, and resecure bolt back into place behind the rotor and tighten with socket and socket wrench

11. Put wheel back on wheel bolts and screw lug nuts back on and tighten

12. Lower car back onto the ground and remove jack - you're almost done!

13. Set your torque wrench to recommended torque specs
(I set mine to 72 pounds)

14. Tighten each nut with one click* (and only one click, if you do it twice you are using twice the torque, ie. in my case it would have been 72 lbs x 2 clicks = 144 lbs).

*with my particular torque wrench, when releasing it makes a quiet click which could be confusing and alarming. Just pay attention to what you are doing and you'll be fine

15. Repeat all this with the other side. You should always replace all brake pads and rotors at the same time to keep even wear.

16. With engine still off, pump the brake pedal to set brake pads against the rotors

16. Disengage the emergency brake, turn on engine and take the car for a drive around the block. Roll your windows down and keep your radio off so you can hear any noises. You should hear nothing.

Silence is golden. Especially when it saves you about a hundred bucks.

Read part 1 here and part 2 here.

No Skid Ro-tor (Part 2)

Now that you have your materials, here's how to get started:

1. Make sure the car is in park and the engine off and for added safety, engage the emergency brake




2. Loosen lug nuts by turning counter clockwise
(because you can't remove the wheel without jacking the car up and you if you do this after jacking the car up, you'll just be spinning the wheel rather than loosening the nuts, make sense?)



3. Jack car up so that wheel is no longer touching the ground, and don't jack up higher than necessary
(place the jack near the wheel you are working on and be sure that you place the jack on the metal frame and not the plastic body. There are usually notches to indicate which you can see in the photo above and to the right of the jack. If you are still unsure, check the owner's manual - which you should keep in your glove compartment)


4. Remove lug nuts and remove wheel (you should be able to do this by hand since you should have broken the resistance to the nuts in step 2)



5. Remove bolt behind brake caliper* and rotor to release caliper assembly (mine was on too tight for me to loosen by hand so I lightly tapped with a mallet).

*do NOT allow the caliper to hang by the brake lines, have someone hold it or better yet, rig a holder using some wire to secure it. If you break the pressure seal on the brake fluid, you WILL get brake fluid everywhere. Your face, your clothes, the ground, tools - everywhere.

6. Remove brake pads from caliper, inspect*, and clean using brake cleaner
(warning: this is highly stinky stuff, spray over a bucket and have some rags nearby to wipe dry)

*if your brake pads appear worn, this is when you would replace them. At this point, just pop out the old ones, and insert the new ones.


7. Remove old rotor* off wheel bolts, (if the rotor doesn't come off easily, tap with mallet or gently with a hammer - it's ok since the rotor is metal)

*if they appear to be in decent condition, hang onto them and have them "turned" at a garage (where they grind the surface so the groove is gone) so you don't have to buy next time, or to have spare part on hand



8. Open new rotor, and place on wheel bolts



Left: new rotor on wheel bolts, right: old rotor (which actually isn't very old so that's why we hung onto it)

Read part 3 here.

No Skid Ro-tor (Part 1)

We're budget conscious people - as you can tell from some previous posts. So that includes car maintenance. I already posted about some cosmetic labor here, so here's a post on something more technical - how to replace your rotors.

How do you know when to replace your rotors? Well usually you replace your brake pads first (your brakes will start to feel like they suck or maybe they start screeching) and this should be routine, about 30,000 miles or so (for good ones). If you don't and they wear out, then your rotors will become damaged by the screws on the brake pads after those are worn out, so you'll have to replace that as well (this is usually marked by a grinding sound and feeling - which we felt/heard). However, my brake pads were rather new and my rotors were rather new, but one of the lug nuts was not on tight and with high speed driving and braking (ie. freeways), caused warping in the metal rotors. Lovely (and dangerous)!

So let's begin. It's really not as hard as it sounds (I'm a chick and I can do it)!

Here's what you'll need:

1. Sockets to remove brake caliper
(for our Mitsubishi it was a 17mm. Foreign cars use metric system and domestic cars use standard. I recommend getting a set with various sizes, we use these for the car and both motorcycles)


2. Socket wrench
(a ratcheting one is even better for tight spots)



3. Jack and corresponding wrench tools
(should be inside your trunk with the spare tire)


4. Rubber mallet
(if you don't have one, just use a hammer)


5. Parts cleaner, small bucket
(also called brake cleaner, but NOT brake fluid)


6. And of course, a new rotor*
(they can be ordered online or any auto parts store, I got mine at NAPA for $28 each for premium grade)

*rotors and brake pads are usually replaced in pairs for even wear. Tires are usually all 4 but at the very least a pair at a time)

Tools not required but handy to have around for this project:

1. Flat head screwdriver
2. Gloves
3. Rags or paper towels

4. Torque wrench
(this is not necessary but is an added insurance for securing your wheel. Digital torque wrenches are also available but tend to be more delicate but more accurate. Garage work is usually not delicate so we opted for the cheaper, more durable, analog kind)

5. Coffee inside insulating travel mug

This is not needed to do the job but came free with my purchase of rotors which was in October (breast cancer awareness month). See? Changing your own rotors are a good thing!

Read part 2 here and part 3 here.

A Long Way

A couple months ago when we went on our road trip, we missed all the scenery due to night time driving. But we caught it all during our drive back during the day:




And here is the view inside the car:

(Did you notice the PVC pipes on top of our luggage that we brought home, what is wrong with us?)

We were also accompanied by an old friend along the way:


Is there no escaping it?