I was wondering how many of you guys actually change the oil yourself? I was looking at the oil filter and it has this hole in the middle... never seen that before. I looked at the repair manual online and there is a tool called "sst"? I dont think im gonna need that.

 

I do 'em myself. 5K miles and I already have 5 oil changes done. I can now do them w/o having to jack up my box. Easy Breezy.

If you have never seen the hole in a filter before, you may want to consider jiffy lube. The hole is threaded and is used to press the filter gasket aganist the block. I have never seen a filter w/o one myself, excpt in cannister filters, which I think are outdated.

No idea what an sst is. Filter wrench, oil pan, and a socket wrench is all I need to drop that used oil.

 

SST=Special Service Tool
In this case, probably an oil filter wrench.

 

have done all but one myself...

the hole in the filter has two purposes....one is to let the oil pass through it. the other is to hold the filter to the motor (did you notice the threads like a screw???)

the 'sst' means it is a service tool...if you look it will have a number to the sst...
in the front of the service manual is a cross ref for the number to a tool.

in this case it is a filter wrench.

if you have never done an oil change by yourself, you might want to have somebody watch you do it so you don't do something wrong....

 

this should give you a good guide...

a few things should be restated, but it is a good guide...

 

I have changed the oil many times before. I havent actually looked at the filter. I saw the hole in the manual online. I guess im used to the canister filters that look just like a regular car. thanks for the help. I guess it was the sst that threw me off.

 

well somethings just don't click...
the 'regular car' does not use a canister filter anymore.
if you did it before, you should have known about the hole because you had to orintate it, to screw it on...and to do it properly, you should have spread oil on the seal. this would have had you staring right at the hole...

canister filters have not been used on autos for many many many years (30-40 years).... so if you changed your oil many times, you should have seen this type of filter.

i can understand about the sst...if it was only mentioned as text, it would seem confusing.

i didn't want anybody to read your post and get any wrong info from it....
everybody has to learn somehow and i didn't want them thinking these cars had a canister filter, or there was something wierd about doing an oil change on these cars...

i am glad you asked about things you did not understand.

 

just remember to screw in the drain plug after you drain the oil that'll also save you a mess of clean oil

then again thats just a givin

 

ok now i understand. i got thrown off by the "canister" name too. so basically everything is that same as all the cars. i guess the confusion started with the sst. Thanks for all the info. I feel retarded now because its not that I didnt know what i was doing it was all the names.

 

ok, i too got confused by all the 'proper' names of things when i got into the auto scene.

just so you know what it is, this is a canister type...

notice the filter element. when this filter is installed onto a car, all you would do is remove the lid and swap out the filter element. replace the lid.
there are many reasons this style went away...one being that if there were metal shavings that got into the filter canister, when doing the fitler change these could be knocked off an work there way back into the motor. in the other style, the shavings are trapped and thrown out in the changing process..

this other type is what modern cars are equiped with...a spin-on type

the big canister has been replace with the stamped tin can.
you replace the whole spin-on not just the filter element.

 

also read the directions about tightening the filter. they will tell you to turn it a certain amount after contact with the rubber gasket. i usually just hand tight it. Dont go crazy with the filter wrench tightening it