well my husband did the oil change for the 81 vette he just bought off ebay.....what a pain in the butt!
he is religious in changing the oil in all our cars. every 3000 miles he is out there in the driveway....and right now we have 5 cars...so he is dedicated! but this was the first time he did it for the vette. it really sucked.
he put the car on ramps and got all his stuff together.
now, my husband is a big guy and he had to squeeze under this freaking thing. and the filter and plug were all the way at the back, towards the windshield. of course i was getting all nervous that the car was going to fall on him. i shoved a little cooler on the side of the car just in case the thing fell on him. he just laughed at me saying the car was going nowhere, and if it did, that stupid cooler would not hold it up and stop the vette from crushing him!
anyway...it was a struggle to get the plug out...we were trying to find the right ratchet size...but we finally found it. then it was time to unscrew the oil filter! what a bitch and a half! but he always does the same thing everytime he has to do this.....he takes a screwdriver and puts it on the side of the filter and hammers it in so he can use it as a turning arm to unscrew the filter. this time, though, i had to do the hammering because he didn't have enough room to maneuver it himself. so as the two of us laid in the driveway i said "ok great!! we are both going to be crushed to death!!" well....it all worked out....but yuck!! it sucked!
does anybody else use that method with the screwdriver? just curious.
i told him, next time, just go to freakin jiffy lube!!!![:p]

jiffy lube sucks... doing it yourself gives better satisfaction..lol yes, they are a pain in the ass, just like the focus. with my old explorer, no jacking was needed, and with the focus, you have to jack, crawl, and wiggle...lol he should invest in a car lift if he is going to be soing oil changes on 5 cars, and it helps when you rotate the tires too...

Jiffy lube isnt THAT bad. Well, ok, they are, but I din't say it.[paranoid] Ssssshhhh! Jiffy Lube is watching you.

I just did the changr for my car, which was a pain in the ass, cuz I had trouble using the damn ramps. And I had to do it in an EXTREMELY NARROW driveway. Even then, it only took about 25 minutes.

he has a hydraulic jack...but he was too freakin lazy to go downstairs to get it!!! so instead we spent 2 hours laying on cement!!! yay!! fun!!
it never takes him that long....not ever...but this was the first time with the vette, and whoever put the filter in put it in waaay too tight...........my honey knows just how far to screw it in without it posing a leak....................................holy hell!!! that sounds so dirty!!![:I]

hahaha....i never thought of hammering a screwdriver in and unscrewing it that way. thats awesome. sometimes i have trouble gettin the damn filter cause its up so high. i just destroy the damn thing with my filter wrench cause i know im not usin that one again.

hey, does anyone know what kind of filters are best for Duratecs? For my 5k oilchange, I actually had Jiffy Lube do it. But what filters do they use?

i used a fram i want to say when i changed mine last, but i'm not sure

let me tell you daniel, hammering the screwdriver into the filter is a very efficient way to deal with it........i've seen my husband do it many times. and he just cranks it like he is using a open ended wrench or a enormous ratchet........it works everytime.[:)]
i was just wondering if anybody else did it that way....
but your method of destroying the damn thing is also good........you can get a lot of aggressions out that way!! yay![:p]

I'm never doing my car again...me and my friend go to do the change...well we jack the car up and go to start. First we can't get the damn filter off so we go to autozone to get a part to take it off, BUT we get back and it DOESN'T FIT!! Arg...so we go back to frickin autozone with the top and filter cause I knew one was wrong...so we get there and BOTH were wrong and some guys helped me also...I was pissed so I was like f it I'm returning them both and the guy got all pissy. Well this has been about 40 min so far dicking around with autozone and back. So I go to advanced autoparts across the street and low and behold they have the correct filter AND thing to get the filter off. Yah I'm happy now!! (Just to note autozone doesn't destinguish between SVT and ZX3 they have both engines under one tad diff name and I have no idea what it is....aap has it under SVT and only one filter will pull up and it's correct...I also figured that out...) So we get back and I take off the filter woot woot almost there!! Get out the sockets and NONE and I mean NONE fit....We had a 13 14 anything you could think of. I guess my friends tools suck or somethin....so this is about an hr or more into the change and f this I'm bringing the oil and shit to some place to change it...So I put some oil into the new filter just so they wouldn't have to put that on the car also and I left the top open cause I had both hands full making sure to get enough oil on it then put the oil on the ground. I give it to my friend and go to put the cap on and he KICKS the oil over.....omg....I'm enfuriated at this point cause NOTHING went right. So I tell him to check everything and he says ok...I turn the damn car on and go to get the change done by a place. I get there and tell em what happened and to check for a plug thats size 14 cause I couldn't find the right socket. He does the change 45 min later cause there was a line...first off the guy looks pissed as hell so I'm like what's up....
My friend never took off the old seal from the old filter....so when they pulled my car up onto the life there was no and I mean NO oil in the car. after I paid I went outside and saw a line of oil going from my car to the lift and it was real wide also and tappered off toward the end. Not to mention my car smelled horribly for a few days while the oil burned off. I was soooooooo pissed....he then tells me the oil thing was a damn 13mm!!! I was like I tried like 5 13s!! literally and none worked!!! so that was the worst thing ever...never again will I try and change oil unless I can get the damn right socket....omg that was a pain in the ass!

sweetie...bring your car over to my house....my husband is a glutton for punishment!! he loves changing the freaking oil on all our cars..........i think it has become a fetish with him....
you definitely had a bad experience...and i feel for you....believe me, i do....
[:)]

haha thanks for the offer, but I dunno if it'd be efficient to drive about 4 or 5 states away for an oil change :D So how does the hubby like the car? Is it good condition unlike some of the other cars that guy sold?

...i truly believe it may be a pain in the butt to travel that long just for an oil change!![:p]

and thanks for remembering.........yes...the vette is great!! but i must tell you that it failed inspection!!

but not for anything big...............it passed on everything...but it failed because the prior owner put a tint strip across the top of the front windshield and it was about an inch too low on the driver's side...........what can i say???...i live in jersey!!...they are freaks here!!
so all my husband has to do, is to remove it and he will pass.
other than that, this car is so cool. i love it!!!! yay!![:)]

To answer your question Cassa daaaahlin, there are several tools you can purchase which will help with changing oil. There are two sizes of oil filter wrenches which are basically metal bands with a handle that tightens the band on the filter as you turn it. There are also oil filter sockets, which are big sockets that fit on the end of the filter so you can screw it off. These don't work as well as the wrenches IMO, but I keep the right sizes around just in case (when I was working on lots of cars) I got into a situation where the wrench couldn't be fitted. To find the right socket size, don't rely on the parts sales person, simply go get the filter you'd need anyway, and fit one of the available sockets to it to be sure you have the right size. The 3rd and final tool I know of, is the chain wrench. It works in a similar fashion to the banded filter wrenches, but fits all sizes. The only difficulty with the chain wrench is that sometimes the chain is too thick to fit between the filter and the motor or other parts around it.

The best thing to do, since your hubby is "high tech" is to get him an oil filter relocation kit for his birthday. This is simply an attachment that goes where the filter does, and a hose comes off from the attatchment so you can relocate the filter to somewhere easy to reach in the engine compartment. The best idea is to put the filter turned upside down somewhere within easy access from under the hood. Also, with the filter being upside down, the oil will drain out of the filter when the engine is not running- meaning no messy spills [thumb]

Another great idea, is for your hubby to use Amsoil which is a high tech synthetic oil that only needs to be changed once every 25k miles or once per year. If I'm not mistaken, Mercedes use this oil as standard equipment. You can check it out at www.amsoil.com.

I hope that helps Cassa... sorry for the long post, but you know me[:D]

my honey knows just how far to screw it in without it posing a leak

[rofl] [thumb]

^[rofl] back attcha!

and thanks for the info whynot. the only problem is, he knows about all those gadgets but i think it does something to his machismo to do it the old fashioned way.....he can be a very stubborn man, and he is quite set in his ways!

Sticking a screwdriver through the filter to get it off scares me (I think I only had to do it once when one was stuck - 25 years ago).
If you've got a stuck filter, at least you have a filter. If you've got a stuck filter with a screwdriver stuck through it you're screwed, your next call is for a tow truck.
One old trick, especially if you have a hard to get at filter, is to take an old leather belt (the kind you wear), and bend the belt back through the buckle (so it leverages just like the chain filter removers), the length of the belt gives you lots of room to work some leverage

i know what you're saying about having a stuck filter AND a screwdriver stuck through it as well!! not a pretty predicament! but he has used this method for years and years...and it has always worked.
but i like that idea of yours with the belt.....i will definitely tell him about that one. you see, that would be more his style of dealing with it, rather than to go out and buy the proper tool for the job!!!

Buy the proper tool. It makes life so much easier! My dad had one of the old belt/chain style ones till get got one of the newer ones where its kinda like a vice-grip and you clam p it on and rotate. Works wonders.

The easiest way Ive found to change the focus filter (on a zetec that is) is to remove the front right tire. While sitting there facing the car with the tire out of the way, right behind the protective wheel well cover, the filter is right there. Easy access. Just use ur hands to feel around or lay on your back and look up. (This also gives you a reason to pull the front wheels and clean out the inside of the rims with rim cleaner hehehehe)

yet another interesting idea, bigred. and i appreciate it
and i also appreciate everyone's advice. i really do.
but you have to realize the person you are dealing with here........he is the most stubborn person i have ever known in my life!! he has certain ways of doing stuff and he will not change, and i think he especially won't change if a person gives him advice....even though that advice is terrific and would make his life easier!! he is a joy to live with!![8] (but i do love him so....[:X] )
i think he does it the hard way because it is like a challenge to him....he can battle against all odds and come to a crowning victory using the most primitive methods! it makes him feel like he has conquered the world......if only in his own mind!![:D]

wait, you are supposed to change the oil in cars? how often cause i have around 17k on mine and never done it. should i?

Can't ask for an easier filter location than on the 2.3L... I can get enough leverage to remove the filter just using hand grip, and I'm not a big guy...

^ uh oh, big trouble now sake... :)

man, i have used just about all of those methods of changing oil. on our school buses we use a punch and tap a hole in the bottom of the filter and let it run out. trust me when the filter is holding 5 quarts of oil it is alot easier to take off empty and not drown yourself in old dirty oil. they also hold anywhere from 13 to 29 quarts of oil....that's alot[wrenchin]

^so there is somebody else out there punching holes in the filter!! terrific![woot]

Originally posted by mvhudson
Can't ask for an easier filter location than on the 2.3L... I can get enough leverage to remove the filter just using hand grip, and I'm not a big guy...

Amen. No more dumping oil on the intermediate shaft for me!

Originally posted by cassa
i think it does something to his machismo to do it the old fashioned way

I can see the Village People now.... sing along: "Macho Macho man.. (dah dah dah dah something) the Macho man"

[thankyou] [doorpeek]

the dah dah dah part was...'i want to be" a macho man.[:p]
i just frightened myself that i knew that, alex!

I always used a long flat blade screwdriver for
filter changes.

Originally posted by Egz
Amen. No more dumping oil on the intermediate shaft for me!

Double Amen. I was pleasantly suprised when I looked underneath my car and saw the filter there. Coming from a owning Ranger, where the filter is in the worst place possible changing the oil for the first time on Saturday was a breeze.

they rip u off at the oil change places...i am thankful i know how to change my oil...that's just money in my pocket.

check this out......the first oil change for my SVT was in the back of a motel......me and my dad did it together....I found some pallets by a dumpster, and we used the wood as a ramp onto the curb, to the grass...my dad was under the car for a while and so was I trying to get the dang filter off......it was sooo ghetto......we got it done, and we drove home.....600 miles away.

We changed it halfway through our trip...I was over on my oil change, so we though we would just knock it out the next morning.....[hihi], yeah, that was F U N.........

talk about "bonding with Dad"......[hihi]

I dumped the oil in a bag and threw it in the dumpster.....sue me, but it had to go SOMEWHERE........