this is one great example of why FWD sucks !

today i was going to change my own oil!

so i grabbed my "rhino ramps", put them infront of the tires, started the car and worked my way up the ramps slowly. at one point i reached a point where the max wouldnt wanna go up without the use of gas pedal. so i gave it a little gas, it went up, let the gas go and it rolled back down. then i slowly gave it gas again but it wasnt enough to drive the car up the ramp. i gave it a little more and gues what?!?!?! it was more than enough and the tires spun out and caused both the rhino ramps to fly away from under the tires, the max landed on the ground and jumped ahead, thats when i slammed on brakes and stopped it. this all happend in the garage, coulda been worse if i had hit the wall ! oh ya, after i got out, i saw the ramps were near the rear tires (one of them actually stuck under the rear tire. apparently the tires kinda "kicked" them towards the rear tires. it was the worst feeling ever, that land was hard, followed by a big jump!

a better way to do this is to have the handbrake up half the way and have one of ur feet on gas pedal and the other on brake, torque steer that bish up the ramps. works for auto

 

I had the same thing happen early in the morning...didn't need any coffee after that.

~THT

 

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the car's fault. Just buy a jack, it's more practical. As for the ramps, aren't they supposed to have rubber bottoms or something to prevent what happened to you?

 

Its your fault really. I mean I ve used Rhino ramps numerous times and if you take your time or just have someone guide you, then your gravy.

Dont blame the car.

As one of my instructors used to say, 95% of the time its not the machines fault but the operators fault. Hence known as Operators Error.

Proph

 

i just simply use my hydralic jack and lift the front passenger side up, then change my oil...

personally i perfer jack stands over ramp. i haven't done any of my mods on ramp yet...cuz jack stands are easier to work with.

 

I did something almost like that (had a problem with the ramp.) and I end up breaking the driver side fog light glass. (don't ask me how).
and I still haven't fixed.

 

wait so they didnt get stuck under the car when it came back down?

 

I change my oil this pass weekend and I needed my buddy to guide me up to the ramp. I have my left foot on the brake and right foot on the gas pedal. It will move back down if you don't have enough gas.

 

For $25, let the dealer do it if your not sure. The potential damage to you or the car/garage just ain't worth IMO.

 

I never going to change my oil again. My axle was ripped and I didnt take the time to inspect it. Then it started leaking and completely ripped without my knowing. Even though I wash my car erery week. Then my warranty wouldnt replace it because of neglagence on my part. When you go a store they check your car, so I will pay 12.99 for an oil change.

 

it didnt come back then, the tires spun and shoot them towards the rear tries and landed hard on grand. after that there was a big 1-2 feet jump. one of the ramps got stuck under rear tire.



i prefer ramps because i think they are safer, im scared of going under the car with a jack stand. if that thing brakes or goes loose, i dont wanna be under there !

 

You wouldn't have any problems if you spent $50 on a decent jack and stands. Don't waste a whole thread to tell us how dumb you are.

 

Um, if the max had 1/2 the power, it would still do this.

User error is what happened. I use ramps all the time. You gotta get a little bit of a running start and try not to goose the gas too much. There's a technique to it

 

I did something like this. I was on a couple of bricks so that I could get onto the ramps easier without scraping my new painted front bumper...well, I got up on the bricks, but didn't stop there....it flew up a little more and came down hard onto the ramp when the brick flew out from the tires. My front bumper hit the ramp at a very hard impace and spidered my new paint on my bumper that was not even two weeks old. It made me so sick....you can now see the primer. There is nothing I can do except paint the whole thing, that is what the paint guy said. It is in a position that it would not match up and look right if I just tried to touch it up. That really sucks.
Glad to see that you and your house and your max are okay.
Here is a pic of what it did:

 

Bricks? That's fairly unsmart of you. I usually use two 2x6 boards. Live and learn I guess

 

In your case, I think ramps are far more dangerous.

I think your confusing jack stands with a jack. The $20 jack stands you get from Sears/auto store are typically 6-ton stands which means they can hold ~12,000lbs. Seeing that two jack stands under your Maxima only have to support about 1000lb each, I'd say you're pretty safe. You use to the jack to lift the car and then place the jack stands under the body and then lower the jack so the weight is exerted on the stands and not the jack. I think ramps are pretty worthless when you can buy a 3-ton jack and jack stands for a total of $50. I can have my car lifted and supported on jack stands in ~2 minutes.

As for the ramps moving on you, you need to consider the surface you're working on. If you're working in a garage then chances are the concrete is smooth and slippery therefore the ramps have no grip on the floor. When you start accelerating up the ramp in 1st gear, you're putting about 400-500ft/lbs wheel of torque on those ramps. If you goose the gas you're sending a lot of torque quickly and those ramps will be easily displaced. If you're going to use ramps, you need to find an abrasive surface like a concrete driveway or something similiar.


Dave

 

i use a jack and jackstands for my oil changes.

 

^^^^same here. and in terms of dealer oil change: i say **** that if i can do it myself then i will why pay some idiot at the stealership to rape me in the *** for an oil change when im smart enough to do it my self and for less than half the price.

 

That what i did. Learn one thing at a time and not make the same mistake. Roll the front wheel on a piece of wood (2"x6"), than on the the ramp. As a result, the ramp kind of scrape my front bumper a bit. Now i'm trying to get some touch up paint and patch up the front and back bumper.

 

well that was going to be my 1st DIY oil change but after that happened, i decided to do it today. i think im going to get jackstands since it gives u more clearance and also im assuming you can turn the wheel while the car is in mid air. that gives u more room to access the oil filter. correct?

any brand of jack stands u would recommend??

also where do you place these stands under the car.....

 

I've used ramps too, to do oil changes, because it's usually faster than pumping on a jack, and then adjusting jack stands. Just do it slow, with finesse. Like jeff said, power had nothing to do with it. You could do that with a geo metro if you're stupid enough. The problem is that you were too fast on the pedal. If you can't control the car, just get the stands. You don't need a lot of room to access the filter. It's a 5 minute job, tops.

 

If you're good, you should be able to crank your wheels to the right and not even have to jack up the car for an oil change. With a Stillen body kit and H&Rs, I can change my oil without using any sort of jack. Turn the wheels, take off the splash guard, removed the drain plug, and remove the filter. My wife's Subaru Legacy is even easier.

Dave

 

on changing the oil with the car on the ground.. I do that all the time on my wifes car (Corolla) and on my maxima... its harder on a ramp - because you can't turn the wheel and I don't like to keep bending the splash guard out of the way - I don't want to break it...so I always remove it...

 

wow you have a long garage not to hit the wall

 

i drive up ramps all day everyday and never once have had a problem for the very first time till now, i think if u cant handle drivin up ramps u better spend more time drivin n get more skills thas jus me :/

story jus sounds retarded to me

 

when i used the ramps my friend tried driving it up and the tires spun and one of the ramps ended up underneath the car. Thanks god i didnt **** it up.

 

I guess I don't need to add my thoughts on this issue........

 

cmon take it easy on me. it was my 1st time working with a ramp. besides i didnt mean to push the gas pedal that hard, its something that happened. gas pedal is very loose and it suddenly went in more than i wanted it to, thats what caused the whole thing. LOL ! also the surface of my garage is very smooth. so the rubber under the ramp didnt help at all.

 

i did my oil change yesterday, without jacking it up. *shrug* i noticed some leaking last night though :| might have to jack it up and take a look...

 

I have H&Rs too and I dont need to jack the car up to change the oil.

 

+1 on the gound oil change. I remember putting ramps infront of my car and just laughing. There is no way my 225 are fitting on a silly little ramp. Not to mention the bumper hits the ramp.

 

I don't understand spending 20 minutes to change our oil. Have to take yoru oil to a disposiable place. Buy a filter and 5 quarts of oil. I rather do it for $12.99, sometimes $9.99.

 

I do all the work on my car so I know it's done right. 2/3 of the time someone else touches my car, they do it wrong or mess it up.

That gets old real quick.

 

Well, im auto, i have no problems getting on ramps, you gotta take your time. What I do is, I tap the gas pedal, i mean, just tap. Hit it and take the foot off, you might have to do a few quick taps to get it up, but it works for me. As far as the ramps swinging up and hitting the bumper, that happend to me the first time to, it cracked the paint. BUT, the key to that is to SLOWLY back off them when you finish, dont let it just roll off, use the brake. Ive found the ramps to be very useful, ive used them on 2 ypipe installs and im going to use them to do my oil this weekend. I feel safer with the ramps, jackstands make me a little more worried since its just one spot its holding, the ramps are much wider.

So all and all, DONT press the gas pedal, tap it, much less chance of overshooting. Im sure when I lower my car, ill need jackstands, but oh well, ill need them for the install anyways.

 

Any autoparts store is required to be a disposal facility. If you sell oil, you have to take it as long as it's quanities in gallon size or less containers. That's a federal law because the government wants to make it easy for you to dispose of your oil in a safe and environmentally friendly way.

The reason I do my oil is because I enjoy working on my car. I like to care for things I own and it gives a sense of accomplishment when doing the work. You can't learn unless you "do". It costs about $30 for an oil change because I use a Nissan oil filter and Mobil 1. Three oil changes, $90, and one hour out of my year isn't going to break me. I honestly don't know how people justify going to the lube places with all the stories I hear of overfilling/underfilling oil, cross threaded oil filters, cheap *** oil, forgotten oil caps, forcing people into work they don't need, etc.


Dave

 

Definitely dont need to jack the car up to change oil. Also helps tremendously if you have the Shur-drain valve or something similar. That way you dont have to replace the copper crush ring and you dont need any tools. One thing you should do if you use the shur-drain thing is to throw away that crappy orange tube. Also, dont over-tighten the oil filter and you should be able to twist it off by hand the next time. Seriously only takes 5~10min or so for everything and no tools. The part that takes the longest is filling the 4~5 quarts of oil.

 

do u guys take the panel off to access the filter when doing it on the ground? the splash guard thing or w/e u call it....

 

My boy did the jack and stand thing but it didnt go exactly as planned. he jacked one side of the car high enought so that th tires were about 1 to 1.5 inches off of the ground. he put the stand there and it was all good. Forgot to mention that the driveway is slightly uphill, nothing too much at all but still. Anyway, he did the same to the other and once he got it as high as he wanted it, somehow the damn thing sorda tipped and destoyed everything under the car. I think it was on the passenger side. I got there just in time to see it happen. After that, no stands for me... i just go to the shop, put her on the lift and do whatever needs to get done.

 

Unbelievable thread...I've never had to lift any car I've owned to change the oil. Also, ramps are absolutely the safest way to lift and hold a car up, it's impossible for it to fall off.

 

We'll again more people that lack any real common sense and shouldn't be working on anything mechanical. Only an idiot would attempt to lift a car on an uneven or sloping surface. When you jack up the car you should slide the stand directly to the correct supporting point on the chassis which is only about 1' in board. A jack will not collapse unless the operator tires use it on a uneven surface. The reason his jack collapsed is because he probably had the jack on one side of the car and the slight uphill grade quickly unloaded the chassis as the car was lifted. As the chassis weight shifted the narrow width of the jack was quickly overcome and the jack probably tipped in a downhill direction. A jack may fail (piston failure), but when that happens the jack will slowly fall, not collapse.


Dave