OK.....I'm not a complete dumbarse, and know how to change oil. However, this is only the second oil change on my S2000, and the first one was free from the dealer. I have read several posts and seen everything from low profile ramps, to jacking up, to leaving on the ground and reaching through the engine compartment. I don't have low profile ramps. I have a great floor jack, but I'm not sure that once it is under the S2000 that there is enough clearance to do any jacking.

If it is reasonable to do thru the engine compartment, I'm all for that. The filter is reached relatively easily through the engine compartment? How tough is it to reach the drain plug without jacking the car? How wide of a mouth is needed for an oil catching receptacle? How easy is it to get the filter off without dumping oil everywhere?

Thanks!

 

Find yourself some pieces of wood,strap them together and build your own ramps....worked for me.

 

yes what Flyin Wedge said. drive your car onto some 2x4s and then you can slip the floor jack under the front lift point.

the oil change from the top is pretty tough unless you have installed a CAI (opens up a lot of room)

 

When you say "strap together some 2X4s"......do you mean two horizontally, and the 2" should make it high enough? Or when you refer to making ramps out of the 2X4s, do you need to step them up (i.e. 1, next to 2 stacked, etc.)?

How big of a receptable opening is necessary in order to not spill oil from the oil pan or from the oil filter?

Thanks.

 

I use about a 12"x16" pan. I can drain the oil and remove the filter at the same time and all the oil is caught in the pan.

I was thinking about using ramps last time but I wanted to have the car level to drain the oil properly. I used the car jack to get under and remove the drain plug. Then lowered the car and removed the oil filter and let everything drain. Then jack it up, put the drain plug and filter back. Lower it one last time and fill. Start and check for leaks and you're good to go.

I would check the oil level again first thing the next day.

 

To answer your specific questions:
1. It's pretty tough to reach the drain bolt without lifting the car, but with enough extensions you could do it with a ratchet. The bolt is pretty tight though, and you'll want to be careful not to strip it if you do it this way. I'm pretty sure you can't get to from the top unless you're shaped like Gollum.
2. Just use one of those 12 or 15 qt oil catches you can buy from your local auto parts store. I think mine is about 20 inches in diameter. Try and get the thinnest one you can because there's only like 5 inches of clearance, oil pan to ground.
3. Removing the filter will coat the side of the engine from the filter boss down to the oil pan. Some oil will also end up on the cross members under the car. A bit of a mess and next to impossible to remove, if you change the oil without jacking the car. To minimize the spill you need to unscrew the filter as fast as possible when it starts leaking at the boss, and then invert it as soon as it comes off the boss.

This is what I do.
Remove the dipstick and oil fill cap. This is a reminder to me that the oil level is/will be compromised and that my drain plug is/will be removed. It may also aid the drain by venting the system while it's being drained. Place some clean rags over the openings to prevent foreign material entry.

Using a floor jack under the front passenger side jacking point I jack the car up about a foot, ~enough to remove the front passenger wheel. You don't need to remove the front wheel, although doing so will give you more access to the oil drain bolt, and give you room to wipe up oil from the filter removal. You need a jack with 5.5 inches minimum height or less, I took the removable dohicky off mine to get it to fit under the front side jacking point. You could avoid this step if:
you used a ratchet with enough extensions to get to the oil drain plug,
felt comfortable removing the plug that way, and
your oil drain pan fits under the unlifted car.
But if you've got a floor jack that fits, use it. If your floor jack won't fit, then you could drive your car up onto a coupla 2X10's to gain clearance.
From what I can tell there are two front jacking plates on each side. Place your floor jack so that you'll be able to place a safety stand under the other jacking point. Or you could use the rear tire jacking plate to jack the car high enough to get a safety stand under one of the front jacking plates. Please don't get under your car when it's only be held up by a floor jack.

You could use a scissors jack to raise the car also. It's just a lot easier with a floor jack. I wouldn't do this on ramps, because the car's not level, and you won't get complete draining. If you insist on using ramps and they won't clear the front lip, then use 2X10's in front of the ramps to gain clearance. Some owners have just positioned their cars over curbs to gain access with great success. I don't have curbs in my neighborhood.

Assuming you have the car up on the jack/safety stand. Position your drain catch appropriately. The oil will shoot out a foot or so at the start, and then end up as a drip right under the drain hole. Remove the drain bolt, to start the drain. Make sure the crush washer comes off with the bolt. Put your front wheel back on snug, make sure your drain pan has clearance to the lowered car, remove the safety stand, and lower the car. Some owners have reported only adding 5 qts of oil on an oil change. I attribute this to incomplete oil drains, or oil drains done on ramps with the car not level.

Go have a cold one, listen to some music, watch the game, or get XXX. In any event it would be good to wait 45 minutes to an hour for a complete drain. You could even pour a little of your next batch of oil in the fill hole to ensure some "flushing" of the bottom of the oil pan.

Move your drain pan under the oil filter and remove the filter. This is very easy to do from the top, I've never done it from underneath, you just have to be careful snaking it up passed the VTEC solenoid, and be careful to hold it so you don't make a bigger mess than necessary. Make sure the filter gasket/'O' ring is NOT still stuck to the engine filter boss. The filter should come off by hand (some owners use rubber gloves or sand paper to increase available hand torque), but you may need to resort to a filter wrench for removal. There are several different filter wrenches out there. You might want to verify you have one that will work, before you start the process. Kinda of tough to go to the store when your oil's been drained.

Clean off the engine filter boss with a lint free rag, avoid paper products. You don't want lint in your engine any more than you want dirt in there. Clean off the side of the engine where the oil drained from the old filter while you were removing it. Fill your new filter (Mobil 1 MI-104 or K&N HP-1004 recommended by me) about 2/3 full with new oil. This may seem like it'll spill out on installation, but some of it will soak into the filter media, and yeah you may get a little spillage, but better that than to starve your engine of oil any longer than necessary. Use a little of that oil to lubricate the filter gasket/'O' ring. I've heard of using silicone grease for this to keep the filter from sticking to the boss, but I've always used the new oil. Install your filter being careful not to cross-thread and minimizing spilling the new oil that's in there. Take note of when the gasket contacts the boss, you want to tighten the filter about 3/4 to one more turn from there, or as the Germans say "GuT-N-Tite. Don't use anything but your hands to tighten the filter. Wipe up any oil that may have spilled from your partially filled filter.

OK, now raise your car back up, so that you can get back to the drain bolt. (Remember to use the safety stand.) Remove the wheel again. Clean the drain bolt and the drain bolt flange off with your lint free rag. You did get a new crush washer right?? (About 25 cents at your local dealer or buy a gross from site sponsor HandA.) Put your new crush washer on the bolt and being careful not to cross-thread, install the drain bolt. Torque the drain bolt to 29 ft-lbs. Use some rags to clean off the cross member and any other place where the oil from the filter removal ended up.

Re-install the front wheel snug up the lug nuts, remove the safety stand, and lower the car. Retorque the wheel lug nuts to 80 ft-lbs. Add 5 qts of oil. Remember you added probably 3/10's of oil to the filter earlier. Install the fill cap gently. Check the oil level, if you're in the band that's good enough. Start your engine, wait a few seconds and rev it a little, certainly no more than 3000 rpm. Check for leaks at the filter and drain bolt. Stop the engine. Let the oil level settle out for a few minutes. Check the oil level, and adjust level to just below the first X below the H mark. This can be tough to see with new oil, so use a flashlight if necessary. I say slightly below the H mark because your fresh oil is cold, and when it heats up it expands a little, so you want to leave a little room for this expansion. It's easier to add oil than it is to have to drain some out because you're above the H mark. Install and tighten up the oil fill cap. Be careful here, you want to make sure it's tight enough to NOT come loose during VTEC, yet loose enough to remove for adding oil. If the oil cap comes off, sometimes it gets wedged down between the engine/tranny and the firewall and can be a real bear to remove. So be careful with your oil fill cap any time it's removed (don't accidently knock it off the back of the engine). Throw what remains of your sixth bottle of oil in the trunk, to use for final level adjustment at your next gas stop. You should end up using between 5 1/2 and 5 3/4 qts of oil for the refill.

Sorry this was so long, and I'm sure I missed something, I'm also sure you could re-sequence some of this, to each their own. xviper had a similar better post with pictures and everything, do a search, you might be able to find it still. Found xviper's post https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...ge%20userid1612
Like I said better and with pictures.

 

Thanks for the great post, gloffer. I don't know if I would have taken that much time to reply to a post here!

I changed the oil on my old Accord for 10 years, so I'm familiar with the process on a Honda. What I am not familiar with is how to deal with the limited clearance under the S! So thanks for the great tips. I assume the jack points are right behind the front wheels and in front of the rear wheels? It is usually obvious; just haven't had the need to look yet. I may need to get some shorter jack stands. Those that I use for my Grand Cherokee are pretty tall at their shortest level.

Do you really use a torque wrench to put the drain plug back in? I have always used the "tighten by hand til snug-but don't crank down too hard" approach. What should the torque be on the lug nuts if I remove the wheel?

Thanks again

 

When I removed the oil filter, I didn't get any spillage on the side of the engine. Here's what I did. While the oil was draining, I lowered the car back down. When the oil is mostly emptied, I started to remove the oil filter. When the oil starts to drip out, I just left it there until it stopped dripping. Then when it stops, remove the filter and no mess. There's a straight shot down to the floor where the oil filter meets the filter boss.

One more thing, with the new crush washer, make sure you have it oriented the proper way. I think xviper stated this in another post. If you look on the outside circumference of the washer, you'll see a smooth half and a rough half. The rough part should be towards the oil pan. This is the part that gets crushed and creates a good seal. You can look at the old crush washer and see it.

 

You can look in the owners manual for a picture of where the jacking plates are. My owner's manual says that there's an arrow imprinted on the sheet metal underneath that points to them, but my car doesn't have any such arrows. And you're right they're right behind the front wheel opening and right in front of the rear wheel opening. If you look under there you'll see a ridge that runs the length between the wheel openings, at the locations mentioned above you'll see about a six inch long "plate" that's about 3/8 inch wide. These are the jacking points. Like I said it appears that there are two real close to each other at the front, but there's only one at the rear.

No I don't use a torque wrench, but I try to calibrate what the proper torque feels like on a lug nut. I learned somewhere in my sordid past that the length of regular old combination wrenches is sized to provide the proper torque for the size bolt/nut they're meant to fit using "reasonable" force. Of course it would be best to use a torque wrench.

Correct wheel lug nut torque on an S2000 is 80 ft-lbs, seems light to me, but that's the number.

As far as crush washers I think xviper said that the rounded edge should be on the bolt head side and the sharper edge of the crush washer should be oriented towards the oil pan. I think that's more clear than rough and smooth. I edited the post above on a few things: added lug nut torque and xviper's thread.

 

Man Gloffer,after reading that post about how to change oil I'd hate to think what one of your posts would look like if someone ask a real technical question.