JNT Handyman

I followed the "@Home Oil Change 101" instructions to do my first oil change, and I had two questions & one observation.

Question 1: When jacking up the vehicle from the jack point behind the front passenger-side wheel, should the rear passenger-side wheel come up off the floor as well? I had to jack it up to about 12 inches or so off the floor to give me enough room to get under the vehicle. When I looked over and saw the rear wheel off the floor, I was quite alarmed. It seems like it would torque the frame pretty hard. When I drove around after the oil change, I didn't notice anything abnormal though.

Question 2: When jacking up the vehicle, is there any jack point that can be used which won't do any "damage" to the vehicle? The lip that goes down the underside of each side of the car gets a little bit bent when it has to bear the weight of the vehicle on the edge of the jack.

Observation: Since the oil drains out sideways, it's pretty easy to miss your drain pan if you're not careful. The old oil shoots out a good 8-10 inches to the side of the drain hole. On my other vehicle, it shoots straight down. Unfortunately for me, I have a nice new oil stain on my garage floor to prove that I wasn't careful enough.

Fortunately, I installed a Fumoto valve, so I won't be jacking up the vehicle on the next oil change. Everything can be done from above now!

Thanks,
JNT Handyman

Ludedude

It's actually a testament to how stiff the chassis is that you can jack it up in front and lift the rear as well. You're not going to hurt anything by doing this but think about how "loose" other cars are when they don't exhibit this trait.

If you jack from the jacking points, you shouldn't do any damage to the vehicle. If you jack from the middle of the doors, then you risk bending that lip permanently as it's not reinforced as the front and rear jacking points are.

You haven't lived until you get about 2 quarts of oil down your shirt

xviper

Lifting both tires on one side up when jacking from either of the side jacking points is perfectly normal. You need not be alarmed. The frame is stiff and can take it. I'd be more worried if the frame was soft and you jacked up one tire only to see the other tire still on the ground. Then you know the whole car is flexing and bending a lot.

As for the oil stain on the floor, consider this a "badge of honour". You have been duly initiated into the "DIY car guy".
Incidentally, if you wish to remove the stain, soak up the oil as best you can with rags. Then get a bottle of Methy Hydrate, pour some on the stain and use a rag to rub it around and mop it up. The bad part is, this will give you a spot that will end up cleaner than the rest of your floor. A "clean spot" looks weird, too.

CoralDoc

Regarding 2), notice that there are specially reinforced areas of the rocker panel lip that are designed to work with a jack. Using a padded saddle or slotted piece of wood in that area to better support the car will help decrease damage possibilities.

Also, there are front and rear-center lift points. The front is located in the corssover for the front sub-frame, and the rear is the bottom of the differential. It's difficult to reach the front point without a special, low jack, but many jacks can reach the differential point.

Alfredo

What is a Fumoto valve? Where did you get it?

JNT Handyman

Fumoto Valve Link

A fumoto valve is the best investment for an oil change that you can buy, as far as making the oil change easy. I ordered it directly from the Fumoto Valve Homepage. It's a drain valve that you can open & close with a little lever, instead of taking the plug out. It replaces your factory drain plug. Since you can reach down and touch the oil drain plug from above, you can drain your oil without getting under your vehicle. Just put a pan under there & turn the valve. Check out the website for all the details. They do a pretty good job of addressing concerns like "will it come open by itself", and "will there be enough clearance". By the way, since it sticks out sideways from the oilpan, it doesn't extend any farther down towards the ground than the factory drain plug.

I found out about it because I have a Ford Diesel truck, and a TON of those truck guys swear by these valves. And believe me, the Ford Diesel owners are as obsessed with their vehicles as the S2K owners are!

If you search the forums here, I think you'll get some hits, too.

JNT Handyman

124Spider

I changed my oil yesterday and installed a Fumoto valve. However, I'm not sure how that will save me from having to jack up my car, since my arms are somewhat shorter that those of an orangutang, so I don't know that I will be able to reach the valve without jacking up the car? Am I just wrong, and it actually is pretty simple to reach from some direction or other?

Thanks.

--Mark

alexf20c

Jack it up from the lower control arm and be done with it.

And like JP and Dave said, the true measure of a man is the size of the grease stains on his driveway.

I've found it easier to do tranny swaps with the several layers of grease (mainly ATF) on the driveway. They make it easier to slide the transmission out from under the car/truck, especially when it's on an old cardboard box that has been soaked with ATF several times already. I can drop the transmission on my truck, put in another and have it ready to drive in just under 2 hours. And that's by myself, with no lift, no air tools (too lazy to unwind the hose) and only 1 floor jack. I attribute the speed of the swap to the ATF-prepped cardboard box and grease-stained driveway. I wouldn't have it any other way.

r_duff

a clean spot makes u an " UBER DIY guy!"

JNT Handyman

[QUOTE=124Spider,Aug 31 2004, 12:27 PM] I changed my oil yesterday and installed a Fumoto valve.