Oil Change ?
11-15-2009, 10:12 AM
#11
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: California
Posts: 43
Just on this car.
I tried this, but I couldn't get the car high enough to get the jack stands (even at the lowest position) under the control arm.
Well, unfortunately I am a ****in' fatass. On top of that, I'm not very limber and, on a good day, very ham fisted.
Obviously you don't live in earthquake country. The ground is shaking all the time. Thanks, but I'm not going to take that risk. Not worth it. I would rather take my car to a service station.
It's really pretty easy. Just put the jack under something that looks sturdy. The k member, control arms, or fram rail work well. Just use some common sense. Obviously the floor board would be a bad spot, as would be oil pan.
You should be able to get in there enough even just jacking it in the front like you were saying. You don't need to get your whole body under there, just enough to reach the drain plug with a wrench, and to get at the filter. Unless you're a really big guy (like a ****in' fatass) you should be able to get at those two things without much lifting (on a stock height car, of course). Just put an old tire (on a rim) under the car where you're laying if the jack stands don't fit just to be safe. You shouldn't be under there for more than 5 minutes anyway, and if for some reason the jack fails, the tire should give the car enough room for you to not be crushed (again, unless you're ****in' fat). Just have an extra person in the room to jack the car back up real quick or something.
I'm sure people are gonna see this and say this is really bad advice, but doing an oil change should take all of 5 minutes, so the chances of anything happening are slim to none. It's like putting your seat belt on to move your car around in the driveway. Sure a wandering truck can come flying over your front lawn and cause a 4 car pile up that ends in a fiery blaze, but what are the chances? Really? Just make sure the pressure relief screw on the jack is nice and tight and you'll be fine. I've been under cars with just a jack holding them plenty of times for way more than it takes to do an oil change and haven't had anything happen. Just make sure it's not some POS Walmart jack and you'll be fine.
11-15-2009, 03:54 PM
#12
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: California
Posts: 43
Update:
I went to Sears this morning and picked up a set of Rhino ramps. I was suspicious of the strength because they are made of plastic, but the low angle (17 degrees) looked promising. I got them home and immediately tried them out on my epoxied garage floor.
I have to say that I didn't have the same experience I had with my front wheel drive car. Instead, the car kept pushing the ramps forward. O.K., I used duct tape attaching the low end of the ramp to the floor. Amazingly, I broke both sections of tape. They were still attached to the ramp and the floor, but the tape itself ripped apart in tension failure. O.K., I used two strips of duct tape. Bingo! Did I say I am new to a manual transmission? This was a real white knuckler but I got it up on the ramp.
The ramp provided enough lift for even this ****in' <ham-fisted> fatass to get far enough under to change the oil and filter. I must say I was surprised to find a SAE drain plug. My 1998 Taurus had a metric plug.
The inaugural oil change episode is now concluded.
Thanks for all the advice.
I went to Sears this morning and picked up a set of Rhino ramps. I was suspicious of the strength because they are made of plastic, but the low angle (17 degrees) looked promising. I got them home and immediately tried them out on my epoxied garage floor.
I have to say that I didn't have the same experience I had with my front wheel drive car. Instead, the car kept pushing the ramps forward. O.K., I used duct tape attaching the low end of the ramp to the floor. Amazingly, I broke both sections of tape. They were still attached to the ramp and the floor, but the tape itself ripped apart in tension failure. O.K., I used two strips of duct tape. Bingo! Did I say I am new to a manual transmission? This was a real white knuckler but I got it up on the ramp.
The ramp provided enough lift for even this ****in' <ham-fisted> fatass to get far enough under to change the oil and filter. I must say I was surprised to find a SAE drain plug. My 1998 Taurus had a metric plug.
The inaugural oil change episode is now concluded.
Thanks for all the advice.
11-15-2009, 05:45 PM
#14
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: California
Posts: 43
11-15-2009, 07:11 PM
#15
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Who is the administrator here?
11-15-2009, 07:40 PM
#16
Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: The Great White North
Posts: 3,514
Well you had asked for -->
I offered many tips that the non-professional doesn't know, which would have been beneficial to all of the forum members, yet they were deleted. That seems to be a dis-service to the forum. If someone doesn't want the tips or suggestions, no one is forcing them to read them. They can just skip to the next post, but in my humble opinion deleting tips and suggestions in answer to a request for tips and suggestions, is just simply wrong and not of benefit to the forum.
Who is the administrator here?
I offered many tips that the non-professional doesn't know, which would have been beneficial to all of the forum members, yet they were deleted. That seems to be a dis-service to the forum. If someone doesn't want the tips or suggestions, no one is forcing them to read them. They can just skip to the next post, but in my humble opinion deleting tips and suggestions in answer to a request for tips and suggestions, is just simply wrong and not of benefit to the forum.
Who is the administrator here?
11-15-2009, 09:32 PM
#17
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: California
Posts: 43
Well you had asked for -->
I offered many tips that the non-professional doesn't know, which would have been beneficial to all of the forum members, yet they were deleted. That seems to be a dis-service to the forum. If someone doesn't want the tips or suggestions, no one is forcing them to read them. They can just skip to the next post
I offered many tips that the non-professional doesn't know, which would have been beneficial to all of the forum members, yet they were deleted. That seems to be a dis-service to the forum. If someone doesn't want the tips or suggestions, no one is forcing them to read them. They can just skip to the next post
