Well I'm sure this topic has been covered before, but I couldn't resist putting my spin on this 
I got home quite late (11:30PM) but decided I had to drain the oil out while the engine was properly warm, in readiness for putting in the Selenia 20K I bought a week ago (when the service interval was reset).
So I ventured out with a floodlight and a few tools...
The first thing was that undertray, so loved by our regular forum techs. All the clips were missing, so one Phillips screw and it fell down, two more screws and it was off.
Too little ground clearance to reach the sump plug, so I used a trolley jack near the left-front control arm where obviously a jack had been used before.
Sump plug needs an 8mm allen key, not the 12mm used previously on FIATs. It also needs an extension bar as in my case it was very tight. When it broke free I banged my head on the tyre :bang: and the allen key flew a metre or two. I have a lovely bruise next to my eye...
With the oil draining nicely, I looked around for the oil filter. Back of the engine? no... I thought this is a FIRE, it must be near the front. Could only see the air conditioning compressor and a very hot catalytic convertor. Finally from the top I caught a glimpse of ominous black-painted tin somewhere below the alternator...
...and what a joke! I've changed a huge variety of oil filters (well, 20 or so) and until now, the trickiest were my Alfa 164 (wheel and wheelarch liner had to come off) and my Lancia Thema's PRV V6 (5cm gap between engine and subframe to work through). Here with the Stilo Abarth we have a heat shield, a massive alloy bracket that cradles the filter, and the air conditioning compressor pipes.
There was no room to get a claw-type wrench on the end, and no room to get a ratchet handle on the fabric strap wrench, so the metal strap/handle wrench came out. I threaded the strap around the filter and spent a while trying to get the handle to reattach to it. I reached down the front of the engine and got my arm stuck between the engine cover and the front crossmember (took five minutes to get myself out, arm has large red marks). Tried to remove the engine cover, but wished I'd bought that 'Ribe' spline bit since the screws were too tight for a flathead screwdriver.
So from under the car, I fiddled for about 15 minutes and managed to get the strap on while engaged with the handle. From there, it was easy enough to undo 1/16th of a turn at a time before repositioning the handle (see pic) and oil ran out everywhere of course, a fresh resurgence from the sump and a sheet of oil off the alloy bracket with the wiring clip carefully placed to act as a sprinkler. Oil all over the driveway. Fortunately the wind wasn't blowing or it would have been over me as well.
Even now (an hour later) I couldn't get the filter to actually come out of its little nest - I've turned it over a few times (and poured oil into the catalytic convertor heat shield) and will return to it in the morning
If anyone here has done this simple job (and I'm sure you have), you have my congratulations. If anyone here is about to attempt a quick oil change, take my advice and allow an hour or two.
-Alex
I got home quite late (11:30PM) but decided I had to drain the oil out while the engine was properly warm, in readiness for putting in the Selenia 20K I bought a week ago (when the service interval was reset).
So I ventured out with a floodlight and a few tools...
The first thing was that undertray, so loved by our regular forum techs. All the clips were missing, so one Phillips screw and it fell down, two more screws and it was off.
Too little ground clearance to reach the sump plug, so I used a trolley jack near the left-front control arm where obviously a jack had been used before.
Sump plug needs an 8mm allen key, not the 12mm used previously on FIATs. It also needs an extension bar as in my case it was very tight. When it broke free I banged my head on the tyre :bang: and the allen key flew a metre or two. I have a lovely bruise next to my eye...
With the oil draining nicely, I looked around for the oil filter. Back of the engine? no... I thought this is a FIRE, it must be near the front. Could only see the air conditioning compressor and a very hot catalytic convertor. Finally from the top I caught a glimpse of ominous black-painted tin somewhere below the alternator...
...and what a joke! I've changed a huge variety of oil filters (well, 20 or so) and until now, the trickiest were my Alfa 164 (wheel and wheelarch liner had to come off) and my Lancia Thema's PRV V6 (5cm gap between engine and subframe to work through). Here with the Stilo Abarth we have a heat shield, a massive alloy bracket that cradles the filter, and the air conditioning compressor pipes.
There was no room to get a claw-type wrench on the end, and no room to get a ratchet handle on the fabric strap wrench, so the metal strap/handle wrench came out. I threaded the strap around the filter and spent a while trying to get the handle to reattach to it. I reached down the front of the engine and got my arm stuck between the engine cover and the front crossmember (took five minutes to get myself out, arm has large red marks). Tried to remove the engine cover, but wished I'd bought that 'Ribe' spline bit since the screws were too tight for a flathead screwdriver.
So from under the car, I fiddled for about 15 minutes and managed to get the strap on while engaged with the handle. From there, it was easy enough to undo 1/16th of a turn at a time before repositioning the handle (see pic) and oil ran out everywhere of course, a fresh resurgence from the sump and a sheet of oil off the alloy bracket with the wiring clip carefully placed to act as a sprinkler. Oil all over the driveway. Fortunately the wind wasn't blowing or it would have been over me as well.
Even now (an hour later) I couldn't get the filter to actually come out of its little nest - I've turned it over a few times (and poured oil into the catalytic convertor heat shield) and will return to it in the morning
If anyone here has done this simple job (and I'm sure you have), you have my congratulations. If anyone here is about to attempt a quick oil change, take my advice and allow an hour or two.
-Alex
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