[Noтorious]

How to change your own Oil and Oil Filter

I'll be running through and providing pictures to a basic tutorial on how to change your engine's oil and oil filter which is different for every car however the concept remains the same. Oil changes help to keep car engines clean and running smoothly. As an engine operates, microscopic wear and debris particles flake off from various internal engine parts and enter a car's oil. Regularly changing a car's oil eliminates these particles and ensures that an engine is bathed and lubricated with clean, quality motor oil. Wear and friction are the two leading causes of engine wear and failure; regular oil changes reduce engine wear and result in a longer lasting car engine.

This was done on my 2011 MY12 MK6 GTI with 45,000kms on it. They say that oil changes can last 10,000km, however I prefer to do mine at 5,000-7,500km intervals. Convert that into miles for all of you across the ways from Australia. I am not an expert, however I've been doing basic maintenance and modification on my cars since I was 17 and it is a skill everybody should possess. When doing this, I retain my receipts for my Oil Filter / Oil and have my own booklet that I keep for added proof that oil changes have been done at 5000-7500km intervals.


You will need:


- Knowledge on where your oil pan and oil filter are.
- Knowledge on how to jack your car up and where your strong points / pinch welds are to safely jack the car up, which on my car I will also show you.
- Car Ramps or Hydraulic Trolley Jack within the weight class of your car, or you can do it like me because my mates never return my tools and use a regular jack which I don't usually recommend because it's a pain in the ass and you'll see why.
- Jack Stands with appropriate rating, I just have 3000KG for precaution. NEVER get under your car while it's being supported by a jack or is on an uneven surface. I have and it's not worth taking the risk.
- Oil Filter / Oil (Qt's or L's) suitable for your vehicle, all this information can be found online and how much you require and furthermore, when you buy your filter / oil it has specifications found on the back.
- Oil Drain Pain / Travel container for disposal ( Recycle your oil, most auto stores offer this service )
- General socket set, usually will be a 19mm hex head bolt, however mine was a T45 Torx.. so I would search it online before hand or take a look under, because that was a piss take.
- Oil Filter Wrench, I personally don't use this as mine are always hand tight and are able to be loosened with some force.
- Nitrile gloves if you don't like oil on your hands, I usually get it all over me regardless because my oil plug is terrible.
- Oil rag or paper towel for clean up.
- Funnel for pouring the oil into the engine.


This is what my car takes, Castrol Edge Fully Synthetic 5w-40 and I ordered a MANN Oil Filter W719/45 which is usually better than OEM for VW. Yours will be different, use the internet to find all the information. It is also a good idea to keep a note of the capacity of oil that your engine can take in qts or litres. Mine is 4.6L.

Spoiler (Click to View)

Let your car run for a few minutes or take it for a drive around the block to warm the oil up. This can be argued as people sometimes do coldies, however I prefer the engine to be lubricated and warm to get completely all grit and old oil into the drain pan more efficiently. DO NOT go cruising around for an hour and attempt to change oil your first time like this, oil in my car gets to 90-100 degrees Celsius, you will burn the crap out of yourself.

Step 1:

You will see from the below picture, I've used a regular jack on a piece of wood to jack the car up from my factory pinch welds for extra height (don't recommend this, but as I said my trolley jack was MIA) as for where I put my jack stands, they're under the curvature of my control arm mounts as this is a strong structural point on the MK6 GTI. Yours may be different, a lot of people use the control arms as a jack point for the front, do some research. Some people jack from different areas of the cars and put their stands under the pinch welds, it's all up to you. Just don't go putting them under something with no structural integrity. Google and the owners manual are your friends.

Spoiler (Click to View)

Step 2:

Assuming you know where your engine's oil pan and drain plug is by now, go ahead and roughly place your drain pan under the engine's oil pan and assume the oil will pour out once the bolt is removed so allow some space. Locate the bolt and start loosening it off enough to begin a drip, feel the temperature of the oil as you don't want to fully remove it and be scorched by it. If all is clear, begin to loosen off, get it to a stage you can do it by hand and be prepared for oil to pour out into the pan and try catch that plug! Below is what my ugly T45 Torx Head looked like and the oil beginning to get to a drip, if you've reached this stage you've successfully begun draining your old engine oil!

Spoiler (Click to View)

Spoiler (Click to View)

Step 3:

While the old oil is draining, I open my hood, remove the engine cover and I loosen off the oil filler cap on my engine to relieve any pressure within the system and begin to loosen off the oil filter and replace. If you can't understand the terminology, google your make and model and where these parts are and you'll understand.

This is the engine bay and me removing a hose to get better access to the oil filter, which is the big white canister, above my hand is the oil filler cap, that is where you put your new oil later on.

Spoiler (Click to View)

Next once everything is located, you can remove your oil filter by turning it anti-clockwise. Mine is usually able to be done by hand with some force, if yours is particularly tricky, use an oil filter wrench or filter claw.

Spoiler (Click to View)

After it is removed, hold it vertical so the oil doesn't come out and place it aside on some paper towel as you don't want oil spots everywhere. Now, the new filter is simply installed by rotating clockwise in the same place. I personally dip my finger in some oil and coat the rubber seals on the new filter with oil to ensure a nice contact and seal. I do these up hand tight and an attempt at a 1/4 turn.

Spoiler (Click to View)

Spoiler (Click to View)

Step 4:

Check back and see how your oil drain is going. Is it still a stream, a slow leak, done? I usually wait until it's just a slight drip, then I go and replace the plug in the oil pan. I always add a washer to ensure there's no drips. You usually would want a copper washer (crush washer) as they compact upon being tightened and ensure no drips. I only could find an aluminium based one around my garage, so I chose to use that as the revised plug VW uses is pretty decent. Wipe the area around the plug hole dry and free of any contaminants and replace the plug. Don't over tighten, it is usually done with a torque wrench and is measured in lbs torque or nm torque, however I use one hand and tighten all the way I can go with just the one hand, no more, no less. You don't want to strip the thread. With that being said, I didn't strip the thread but I stripped the hell out of the head of the bolt, so I'll need to order a proper one. Hahaha. If you look closely below, my stripped torx head back in the oil pan!

Spoiler (Click to View)

Step 5:

We're almost there! Double check everything, the oil filter is tight, the oil plug is tight but not overtight, we're ready to pour our new oil into the engine! My container of oil is 5L and your car will take a certain amount, my car is 4.6L from memory, I put in 4.6L as I used the other 400ml for top ups previously.

Spoiler (Click to View)

Step 6:

Once oil is poured into the car, start it up for a minute or two and turn it back off. Check your dipstick, it should be in between the min and max line, add or drain as necessary, however, if you've researched the capacity of your oil you shouldn't need to worry.

Spoiler (Click to View)

You're done! Pour the old oil from your drain pan into the container your new oil came in and recycle it.

Final Words

General maintenance on cars/bikes/boats or anything is a great skill to learn. By doing this, you've saved yourself probably 50-100 bucks for a mechanic to do it for you. Look how simple it is, i've done it with a few pictures and an explanation. There are plenty of videos out there too, don't be afraid to give it a go. Save yourself some money and learn a thing or two.

I hope this guide helped you or at least gave you some understanding of how the procedure is done. If you have any questions or additions, PM me or comment below. 🤝

[Magicmann]

Damn you. I was just working on a tutorial for this.

Looks good at a glance though.

[Noтorious]

Damn you. I was just working on a tutorial for this.

Looks good at a glance though.

Glad to see someone else knowing how to do it around here! Hahaha, thanks brother. 🤝 If you have anything to add or that i've missed, let me know.

[Magicmann]

Glad to see someone else knowing how to do it around here! Hahaha, thanks brother. 🤝 If you have anything to add or that i've missed, let me know.

For sure. I need to finish making dinner, otherwise I'd have read it in it's entirety.

And yea, I've done all of the maintenance for both of the vehicles I've had so far. Going to be changing my motor oil, trans oil, and flushing the coolant tomorrow in my 2001 Toyota Solara. New (to me) shocks and springs next weekend, and I'm debating on whether or not to put on a test pipe I've got for her. I don't want it to sound like a shitbox.

[Poseidon]

Good job on the tutorial Noto! I hope people learn from this and start saving money.

Don't forget while removing your old oil filter that your old rubber O-ring isn't stuck onto the base plate. Also, I like to write how much oil my car takes on the inside of my hood so I don't forget.

[Korvo]

Great tutorial man! This will def help a lot of people. It's always a good thing to know how to change your own oil, much cheaper!

Thanks for making this tutorial.

[SIM-82498]

That's a really detailed tutorial brother. I'm sure it'll be useful for a lot of members. This is why Hack Forums is such a resourceful forum lol, fools can come here to learn how to hack a Facebook account and change their oil at the same time. 5 stars. 🤝

[Mr. Robot]

Actually a really good tutorial mate, hopefully there are more for general maintenance in the future and are stickied.

[Noтorious]

Good job on the tutorial Noto! I hope people learn from this and start saving money.

Don't forget while removing your old oil filter that your old rubber O-ring isn't stuck onto the base plate. Also, I like to write how much oil my car takes on the inside of my hood so I don't forget.

Great tutorial man! This will def help a lot of people. It's always a good thing to know how to change your own oil, much cheaper!

Thanks for making this tutorial.

That's a really detailed tutorial brother. I'm sure it'll be useful for a lot of members. This is why Hack Forums is such a resourceful forum lol, fools can come here to learn how to hack a Facebook account and change their oil at the same time. 5 stars. 🤝

Actually a really good tutorial mate, hopefully there are more for general maintenance in the future and are stickied.

Thanks for the support brothers! Took about an hour to put it all together and type it up. This is something everyone should know how to do or how it is done, so it would be great if it was to be stickied. I'm hoping to do a few more in the future on more complex things, or even just simpler things like detailing, replacing wipers, how to properly wash a car to minimize swirls, etc.

Anyway, thanks again boys. Makes it all worth the effort!

[Archeery]

Now, this is what I call a tutorial. 5 stars, bravo.

[Noтorious]

Now, this is what I call a tutorial. 5 stars, bravo.

Thanks brother, trying to keep this up the top of page one!

[Night Fury]

Great job on this, Notorious. This is a skill most people never bother learning.

[Cameron]

Great tutorial mate, I'm sure many members could find this extremely helpful and save themselves a lot of money in the future by doing their own oil changes.

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Been reading through it trying to find something to add but it looks like you included literally everything. Well done!

[#Skyline]

Great tutorial, don't pay no mechanic.

In 100 years from now we'll be writing scripts to execute on our cars system to do our oil changes.

[rmr00t]

Good job on the tutorial.........