Yup, that sums it up. This is my first car, I have owned trucks in the past. To do the oil change on my truck, you could almost literally walk under it. Things are now different.

Do you guys drive your cars up on those ramp/stands you can get at Autozone or jack the car up and use jack stands?

If you use ramps, are the ramps to steep (causing scrape on front bumper) and do you need the ramp extensions?

How hard is it to get at the oil filter on a 3.5?

Thanks!

 

I use jackstands because my car scrapes the ramps that my friend has (Ford F150 so not his promblem ). I got two, two-ton stands from Walmart for about 15 bucks...they don't quite give me the security to live under my car...but they do the job right.

IndyMax77

P.S. I have a 4th Gen so my clearance might be a tad different than yours.

 

You shouldnt need ramps.

Park the car with the wheels turned all the way to the right. Reach into the right front wheel well and remove tht plastic liner between you and the engine. Right there are your filter and drain plug.

This is for the 3.0, I dont know if the 3.5 is different...

 

my car is lowered 2 inches.. i have basically no wheel gap.. and i still don't have to jack my car up to change the oil..

turn the wheel all the way to the right.. go to the front of the wheel.. slip the oil pan under and use my trusty 9/16 sockect and wrench pull the drain plug.. (even though my cousin tells me it shouldn't be 9/16 because the car is Japanese and everything is metric.. and i know you are reading this you lurker )

here is a pick of the wheel gap.. unless your car is lower than this.. you shouldn't need to jack the car up..

 

No sprint you've got it all wrong, you have to do it like this!



Now just crawl under there and do what you got to do.

 

i rememer that pic

 

I just pull mine over the pit in my shop and walk underneath it. Everything is pretty accessable from there.

 

Well the only time (new car) was an experience. What ever japanesse sumo wreastler put on my oil filter needs a good smackin' cause I couldnt get that thing off by hand to save my life. It wasn't from lack of grip either, it just wouldnt turn. I've NEVER been unable to remove a filter by hand. Guess I need to go back to the gym.
Anyways, back to the post, I just put one brick under each of the front tires and hop up on those and that is enough room for me. It's a quick simple cure for the fatboy blues.

 

Not being able to get it off easily is normal, its on there pretty tight.

 

well here are a few things you should do.. oil the rim of the filter before you put it back on.. and always hand tighten it.. that way its easy to get off later on

 

Cool! Thanks guys!

Is the filter relatively easy to get at if you turn the wheels to the right and raise the car or is it buried up in the engine like most foreign cars?

 

I changed my own oil for the 1st time this past weekend. I put the car up on jackstands. I originally bought the jackstands for the RSB install. I'm not sure how comfortable changing the oil woulda been without the car being raised. Man, getting that filter off by hand was a biatch..but it did come off. What type of oil are you going to use? Psst...Mobil 1

 

The guys have said wait until 10k to change to Mobil 1, so the first change gets Valvoline 5w30 and a Nissan filter...then

Where exactly is the oil filter? My F-150 had a remote filter in the bumper...I'm guessing I won't be that lucky this time.

 

on my 4th gen is right inline with the right wheel.. you can look down the right hand side of the car and see it..

i use Mobil 1 and Nissan filters

 

I went ahead and changed to mobile 1 on the first time. It was around 5k though. I know I know that was bad, but I was out on business and my decided to drive it all week. Go see her parents etc. etc. etc...
Sorry I cant help on the 2002 oil filter, I dont that motor.

Anyway, where you every on F150online or world? I traded an f150 also. Oh well Later.

 

me too and that's what i will do at 2k miles on my new one. change it over to mobil 1 and redline MTF.

 

PhantonR,

I was Triton46 on F150online. Had my 97 for 4 years, best truck I have ever owned.