I arranged with Stu to come up to Attleborough today to use the well equipped BigPower workshop to perform an overdue oil change as I thought that as I had not ventured near the dirty side of a car for many years (since my mini in fact) due to numerous company cars and a lack of interest in them that it was about time that I knew at least how to do some basics ie changing the bleeding oil !! ... after all how hard can it be ?
For those that dont know the myths and legends regarding subaru oil changes and subsequent engine blow ups, there are many people that will tell you to follow an extremely convuluted process to change the oil unless you want the engine to go bang on the way home
I had read and absorbed all of these and taken advice from resident experts but felt that I had to take the plunge and get that smell of old oil in my nostrils again.I had decided to proceed with caution and had got myself stocked up with some finest quality Motul 300V Chrono 10/40 competition oil from Alyn at ASP courtesy of his members offer on here and a new filter and washer for the sump plug.
Next job... onto the ramp.
Well first we had to move a car (wont say who's it was... but I can say that I put nice oily finger and hand prints all over its sparkling paintwork
.... only joking 
Having reversed the car onto the ramp and raised the car into the air, removed the undertray from the car as I dont have hands of geisha proportions to get into the access hatches in it.... the first job was to find the sump plug
That was easy... again how hard could it be
A big crack on the socket spanner and the bolt was free and oil started to drip at an ever increasing rate from it ... quickly Stu stepped forward with the Oil Catch Bucket whilst wearing his lovely new BigPower fleece.... well it was new but is now sort of spotty :pmsl:Oil was rapidly draining from the sump plug ... easy. A few drips missed the intended target but all was proceeding as planned.
Next job - The Oil Filter. Mr Subaru had kindly positioned this in what is a remarkably practical location and although it was as tight as a badger ar3e and I had forgotten my trusty filter removal tool, the good old fashioned screwdriver method worked (thanks for that Stu) .... except.... the front of the car was not far enough back on the ramp for the draining oil to miss the bar joining the two sides of the ramp and was it was getting progressively lubricated with old oil
.... schoolboy error ! If anything displayed my complete lack of experience with working on the car in that envirionment it was that. Huge apologies to Stu and the guys that use the unit for the mess.... honestly I will make it up to you :oops:Now that all of the old nasty black oil was removed - new filter was pre-filled with oil (biggest recommendation from the Subaru community, so as to avoid air pockets in the system on restart) and screwed back into place. Quickly followed by the sump plug and new washer and the undertray.
New oil was put into the car and the car started so as to idle slowly and pump the oil around, then stopped and topped up - it was good to go.
I know for some of you guys that do all of the work on your own cars that this is easy for you, but this is the first time that I had worked on an engine younger than me and it brought back great memories from my past.
I now vow to get stuck into a lot more tasks on the car to free up tuning, event budget for next year.
Thanks for the use of the facilities and for helping out Stuart and for not laughing too much at me :rotflol:
The next chapter in the idiots guide to basic car maintenance: Brake Bleeding
