Hello and thanks to everyone who pitched in to help me, I changed the oil a few weeks and about 500 miles ago, however I was quite busy lately and haven't had a chance to post an update.
This is especially to provide some of the information that I looked for on the Internet but couldn't find (I guess it's simple stuff but for a meticulous newbie like myself it's stuff I would have liked to know beforehand).
I have no affiliation to these people, it's just what I used and in all fairness, seems to work.
Alright, first things first, I find oil filters to be some sort of black magic, but I went out on a limb with "Wix WL7252 Oil Filter" and it works fine.
Motor oil I had set off to buy online but then I noticed that supermarkets sell the stuff and actually have decent prices. You'll want 10-w40 oil and I found a sale for fully synthetic Castrol Magnatec for £8 for 2l, so I snatched two bottles of that.
Every source I found says that it's extremely overkill for the car, but at this price you're only really saving a couple of quids so why not.
I got "Draper 77584 Filter Wrench" and it works fine, but it feels like it's designed for tightening, which can get confusing when your head is underneath your car. I actually ended up tightening the filter a little bit because I got confused, before getting back to my senses.
Talking about the filter on the car, holy crap that thing was old, it had started to rust away at the open end and I was afraid that the body would break off when I was twisting it. Fortunately it came off cleanly, but both the oil and the oil filter looked filthy.
I ended up buying a big ratchet wrench and a set of hex bits from a local hardware store when amazon sent me a 12.0mm Hex Key that was actually 1/2'' (12.7mm) and it didn't fit. They refunded me and allowed me to keep the key though so I now have a 1/2'' hex key that I'll probably never use.
My sump nut also exhibited signs of having not been twisted in a long time. I ended up having to spray it with WD-40 (not sure if it did anything) and using the wheel nut key to extend the ratchet (which is quite big, 1/2'' drive) to be able to finally unscrew the sump nut. I'll be honest with you folks, I'm a strong guy, I had to put so much force into it I was afraid I'd rip off the sump, it was moving quite a bit.
Lesson: REPLACE OIL OFTEN! Mine was so dark and nasty!
One last piece of advice, I bought a fancy oil drain pan but getting it delivered took so long that I ended up deciding to use a big 3l lunchbox which I bought for £1 to catch the drained oil and it worked wonderfully. (side note: warm motor oil has such a pleasant viscosity).
I also bought a 50p plastic measuring jug as a middle way between the lunchbox and the empty oil bottles. It worked a treat and I have no doubt that it's easier to use than a funnel.
If you're like me and have VERY LITTLE storage space, having disposable drain pan and measuring jug worked quite nicely. I'm happy to spend £1.50 each oil change to avoid having to store stuff in my small room.
Paper kitchen towel is SO USEFUL if trying to keep things clean. Also, you'll see "heavy duty mechanical gloves" advertised in stores. Overkill, get the yellow dish washing gloves for 70p and you're set. (I ended up throwing these away as well, plus used about half a 50p kitchen roll, so an extra £1.20 in ancillary costs). I literally spilled no oil anywhere and did no mess. Super easy.
For the location of the oil change, you can do it anywhere that's relatively quiet. I agree with Ziggy that you CAN do it without lifting the car, but I ended up driving it on a kerb. I was lucky to find a road 2 minutes walk from my place that was quiet and had a decent sized kerb with the road camber being really pronounced, to the point where the car was pretty much level when it was sitting on the kerb.
Ideally, do get yourself a jack and some axle stands, but it can definitely be done without them, I'm not going to buy stands anytime soon.
As a last point, changing the oil made the car so much smoother, especially on a cold start it used to be quite noisy until it warmed up a little and vibrate, which has all but disappeared now. So if your oil is looking worse for wear, do it a favour and change it.
All in all, I probably spent £20-25 on the oil change, but it's not really cheaper than going to the mechanic. I spent over £30 on tools, but it was a very satisfying process and if you enjoy a bit of DIY therapy, why not treat yourself? I love buying tools so it was just another excuse to buy some cool toys!
This is especially to provide some of the information that I looked for on the Internet but couldn't find (I guess it's simple stuff but for a meticulous newbie like myself it's stuff I would have liked to know beforehand).
I have no affiliation to these people, it's just what I used and in all fairness, seems to work.
Alright, first things first, I find oil filters to be some sort of black magic, but I went out on a limb with "Wix WL7252 Oil Filter" and it works fine.
Motor oil I had set off to buy online but then I noticed that supermarkets sell the stuff and actually have decent prices. You'll want 10-w40 oil and I found a sale for fully synthetic Castrol Magnatec for £8 for 2l, so I snatched two bottles of that.
Every source I found says that it's extremely overkill for the car, but at this price you're only really saving a couple of quids so why not.
I got "Draper 77584 Filter Wrench" and it works fine, but it feels like it's designed for tightening, which can get confusing when your head is underneath your car. I actually ended up tightening the filter a little bit because I got confused, before getting back to my senses.
Talking about the filter on the car, holy crap that thing was old, it had started to rust away at the open end and I was afraid that the body would break off when I was twisting it. Fortunately it came off cleanly, but both the oil and the oil filter looked filthy.
I ended up buying a big ratchet wrench and a set of hex bits from a local hardware store when amazon sent me a 12.0mm Hex Key that was actually 1/2'' (12.7mm) and it didn't fit. They refunded me and allowed me to keep the key though so I now have a 1/2'' hex key that I'll probably never use.
My sump nut also exhibited signs of having not been twisted in a long time. I ended up having to spray it with WD-40 (not sure if it did anything) and using the wheel nut key to extend the ratchet (which is quite big, 1/2'' drive) to be able to finally unscrew the sump nut. I'll be honest with you folks, I'm a strong guy, I had to put so much force into it I was afraid I'd rip off the sump, it was moving quite a bit.
Lesson: REPLACE OIL OFTEN! Mine was so dark and nasty!
One last piece of advice, I bought a fancy oil drain pan but getting it delivered took so long that I ended up deciding to use a big 3l lunchbox which I bought for £1 to catch the drained oil and it worked wonderfully. (side note: warm motor oil has such a pleasant viscosity).
I also bought a 50p plastic measuring jug as a middle way between the lunchbox and the empty oil bottles. It worked a treat and I have no doubt that it's easier to use than a funnel.
If you're like me and have VERY LITTLE storage space, having disposable drain pan and measuring jug worked quite nicely. I'm happy to spend £1.50 each oil change to avoid having to store stuff in my small room.
Paper kitchen towel is SO USEFUL if trying to keep things clean. Also, you'll see "heavy duty mechanical gloves" advertised in stores. Overkill, get the yellow dish washing gloves for 70p and you're set. (I ended up throwing these away as well, plus used about half a 50p kitchen roll, so an extra £1.20 in ancillary costs). I literally spilled no oil anywhere and did no mess. Super easy.
For the location of the oil change, you can do it anywhere that's relatively quiet. I agree with Ziggy that you CAN do it without lifting the car, but I ended up driving it on a kerb. I was lucky to find a road 2 minutes walk from my place that was quiet and had a decent sized kerb with the road camber being really pronounced, to the point where the car was pretty much level when it was sitting on the kerb.
Ideally, do get yourself a jack and some axle stands, but it can definitely be done without them, I'm not going to buy stands anytime soon.
As a last point, changing the oil made the car so much smoother, especially on a cold start it used to be quite noisy until it warmed up a little and vibrate, which has all but disappeared now. So if your oil is looking worse for wear, do it a favour and change it.
All in all, I probably spent £20-25 on the oil change, but it's not really cheaper than going to the mechanic. I spent over £30 on tools, but it was a very satisfying process and if you enjoy a bit of DIY therapy, why not treat yourself? I love buying tools so it was just another excuse to buy some cool toys!
