My First Skyline's guide to changing your oil and oil filter in an R33.

[Sciby]

Greetings peoples.

Oil is very important in your car. It makes things move nice and smoothly and stops things from getting too hot from naughty friction and it's also great for frying chips in.

I got my oil changed at 89,000km when the Scibyline was complianced. Unfortunately, thanks to being a lazy tart, I hadn't changed the oil for 11,000kms.

This is not good.

I decided to run out and change my oil, pronto. Hopefully it would resolve some small issues I've been having, such as an excessive amount of engine braking when doing it. Hard to explain, but trust me, it was Not Happy.

My assistant for this was Moshi Moshi. He took photos and his small weedy arms could get to the oil filter where mine got stuck.

First things first, jack up the car. I have a few things to say about jacking up the car.

First, make sure you're not an idiot like me and you put the jack on the RIGHT side of the car. It'll make it so much easier to get to the sump plug and the oil filter if you don't have a thin-armed Moshi Moshi around to grab things.

Also, don't trust the car jack to support the car. I mean, it'll hold it's weight, but never trust anything that looks that flimsy. I got a couple of 1,500kg car stands. I couldn't find anywhere to actually set them under safely, so I stood one under the chassis rail, in the hope that if the jack collapsed, it'd give me a second to frantically scrabble out of the way.

Also, make sure you chock the rear wheels with a couple of bricks.

Right, things you'll need:

• An oil tray. Get one that can hold 5 liters. Don't be a cheaparse like me and get 2l Glad Bake aluminium trays. You'll see why later.
  
• An oil wrench. Any will do, as long as it works.
  
• An oil filter. For Skyline's (and VL's if you care), you'll need a 145A type filter. I got a valvoline brand one, cost $8.95 from Supercheap.
  
• Oil. Get a decent synthetic, like Mobil 1. The stuff I got is like 5w40 or something. Cost $45 for 5l.
  
• A socket set with a 10mm and a 14mm sockets.
  
• Rags. Many, many rags.
  
• A cheapo $2 can of degreaser won't hurt either. And soap. Soap helps. Trust me.
  

Right, first thing to do is detact the plastic tray cover doovy under the engine bay with the 10mm socket. There's 6 screws: 3 at the front, 3 at the back. Get it off and fling it to the side for now. You can see how I've flung mine in the second photo.

Get on your back and wriggle under the car until your face is near the engine sump. On the driver's side, you will see a small plug, called "the oil sump plug". Don't touch it yet, unless you want to get messy.

I'll take a moment here to say that the engine shouldn't be hot. Don't go for 5 quarter mile runs then run off and change your oil. Bandaid's will only do so much.

Here's me checking the heat of the sump. It was warm, but not painful. Thank god. I would have cried like a girl otherwise.

Get the 14mm socket and the oil tray. Position the oil tray underneath the plug and undo it. When it gets to the end of the thread, the oil will spurt out and most likely whip the plug out of your hands and into the tray. Don't worry about it, you can get it later when you play with the warm, weird-feeling oil. (You know you will, don't deny it.)

[Gester]

Nice work Sciby thanks for the guide. Helps people like me who know pretty much nothing

[Sciby]

Okay, by now you should have oil pouring into the tray.

If you're an idiot like me, you'll have two trays sitting inside each other with oil in the top one. This will cause you to spill a drop or two of oil when you try to change them over:

God, I'm beautiful.

Anyway, let the oil finish draining, should take about 5-10 minutes. Do the filter in the meantime.

The filter is mounted in the driver's side of the engine block, pretty much in the dead center. To undo it, turn it counter-clockwise, and oil will spurt everywhere as well. Don't worry about it, you can't do much about it, just try to minimise the mess and make sure you have the oil tray ready underneath it. Unfortunately, we don't have photos of changing the filter, but you get that.

Give the filter mount point a bit of a wipe with a rag and get the new one. Screw the new filter in hand-tight, clockwise.

I've been told it should be hand-tight, and that's it, and I've heard that it should be hand-tight and a quarter turn with the oil wrench. We did handtight and my engine's internals haven't become externals, so I think handtight is fine.

Go back to the oil tray and look for that sump plug that went walkies. Make sure it's also got its washer still on it. If it doesn't, go looking again in the oil. It's nice and warm and sticky anyway, so it's not that much of a problem.

It does make you wanna pee though.

Clean up the sump plug and washer, put them back in, and give the engine bay a quick blast with the degreaser to get rid of any remaining old oil.

Oh, and old oil is a proven carcinogenic, so avoid putting your hands in it. *cough*

[Sciby]

Right. The old crap oil is out, the filter has been replaced, the sump plug is back in.

Time for the new oil.

MAKE SURE THE SUMP PLUG IS IN.

Get yourself a funnel (or make one like I did, mine's made from the backing cardboard of the oil wrench) and pour in 3.5-4l. From all reports, an RB25DET will hold 4.5l.

Once most of it is in, turn over the engine. The oil pressure light will freak out for a minute, but will then go out. Let it idle for 30 seconds or so, then turn it off and pour the remaining oil in. Check your level and don't overfill!

Put the plastic bottom engine cover thingy back on and close the bonnet.

Take your freshly lubricated baby for a spin, but don't fang it too hard for the first 5-10 minutes.

Then fang it hard.

And that's it. Coming soon from Sciby's Skyline Crap-o-rama Maintenance Stuff: How to change your suspension (gotta change mine soon).

[fwddriftking]

thats tops dude very funny and very informative

[dAVE]

good stuff. I know what im doing tomorrow. Did you forget the oil filter or am I going blind.

Do i just take it out when engine has been drained, then fill with oil before putting new one in?

dave

[predator]

Great guide - spot on. Did mine last weekend actually because mine was approaching black - it isn't hard and saves money.

Hey Sciby...you don't *have* to drop the plug in the oil and go fish it out you know It can incredibly be done without that step.

Dave: Most you can do the filter either way, w/ oil in or not.

Take your freshly lubricated baby for a spin, but don't fang it too hard for the first 5-10 minutes.  

Then fang it hard.  

Classic!

[Sciby]

Ah, forgot to say in the ... er... second draft (stupid bloody forum software freaked out about too many photos in the first one), that I forgot to get filter photos, but the instructions are there.

[Sciby]

Originally posted by predator666

Hey Sciby...you don't *have* to drop the plug in the oil and go fish it out you know It can incredibly be done without that step.  

Lies, all lies!

[macka]

Why didnt you tell me this a bloody year ago when i had no idea and went thru all the shite uv been thru!

good work

[Sciby]

Originally posted by dAVE

good stuff. I know what im doing tomorrow. Did you forget the oil filter or am I going blind.

Do i just take it out when engine has been drained, then fill with oil before putting new one in?

dave

Don't take it out until you've drained the engine and then put the new one in straight away. Don't put it on after you put the new oil in, because the new oil won't be in anymore.

And yes, you're going blind. :eek:

[Lenno]

11,000ks.... your mad, change mine every 5000 on the dot.

$8.95 for the filter.. see nissan they have the factory filter for $8.00, can't beat that !!

[skyline33]

Sciby,

That is one impressive guide, I need one for changing Gearbox Oil

[skyQUEST]

just a short addendum to the part on replacing the filter.

yes, do wipe the crap from the filter sealing face, there will be dirt etc there.

before fitting the filter, smear some fresh oil on the rubber 0-ring seal. this stops it from binding up as its being tightened. it also means that hand tightening is sufficiant.

nice story and workup Sciby, looking foward to the gearbox episode. i hope u r going to use synthetic there as well. also, u might want to try filling the box via a 10mm plastic hose from the engine bay. easier than doing it sideways direct to the filler hole.

cheers,

skyQUEST

[Sciby]

Gearbox episode? Who said I was doing a gearbox episode? I think you got confused with Skyline33's request.

[Sciby]

Originally posted by Lenno

11,000ks.... your mad, change mine every 5000 on the dot.

$8.95 for the filter.. see nissan they have the factory filter for $8.00, can't beat that !!

Unfortunately, I had a 5000km round trip to Syd and life had gotten in the road. It's all changed now, so it's all good.

[red17]

You might want to also mention that its best to leave the car sitting for 20 minutes before doing an oil change, even running it for 30 seconds will pump sufficent amount of oil to the top of the motor that it will take a while to drain down.

Also after starting it up with the new oil in the motor you will have to wait a fair while again to get a reliable dipstick check. Dont go pouring more oil in thinking it needs more only 30 seconds after youve shut the motor down.

Mobil 1 is a top choice however I would go out of my way to get hold of 10W/30. Most good workshops use this on everything from RB motors to SR's and CA's. You have to bear in mind that oil galleries, pumps, scrapers, oil squirters, lifters everything is designed around having specific thickness of oil running through it. I used to own an SR20DE that i once put 5W/50 mobil 1 into... it ran terrible compared to the same oil in a 10W/30 (The viscosity nissan actually recommend for the motor). Viscosity is a very important factor in how well it protects your motor.

Its very very hard to find off the shelf over here in Perth, not sure what its like over east. As a substitute you can try Pennzoil 10W/30 which i ran in my pulsar for 2 years, good stuff for a non synth.

Red17

[Xeron]

While it is a good idea to let the engine sit for a while so the oil can run down, you still want the oil hot. Not goto hospital cause u got 3rd degree burns hot, but hot. This makes sure any shit in ur oiling system is still suspended in the oil and will come out when you drain it instead of settling on the bottom.

And i havent worked on a skyline personally, but can you drain all the oil from the sump with the front jacked, most cars u really should put the rear on stands aswell.

[surreal]

Good job son!!

Will we get a gearbox episode?

[Sciby]

Originally posted by red17

You might want to also mention that its best to leave the car sitting for 20 minutes before doing an oil change, even running it for 30 seconds will pump sufficent amount of oil to the top of the motor that it will take a while to drain down.  

Well, I said not to do it when the engine is hot, so that's pretty much the same thing.

Also after starting it up with the new oil in the motor you will have to wait a fair while again to get a reliable dipstick check. Dont go pouring more oil in thinking it needs more only 30 seconds after youve shut the motor down.

Good advice, although since we know that an rb25 holds 4.5l, I think it's pretty safe to put that amount in and go. If you were changing it on an engine you were unfamiliar with, then yeah, let it settle, then check and top up.

Mobil 1 is a top choice however I would go out of my way to get hold of 10W/30. Most good workshops use this on everything from RB motors to SR's and CA's. You have to bear in mind that oil galleries, pumps, scrapers, oil squirters, lifters everything is designed around having specific thickness of oil running through it. I used to own an SR20DE that i once put 5W/50 mobil 1 into... it ran terrible compared to the same oil in a 10W/30 (The viscosity nissan actually recommend for the motor). Viscosity is a very important factor in how well it protects your motor.  

Its very very hard to find off the shelf over here in Perth, not sure what its like over east. As a substitute you can try Pennzoil 10W/30 which i ran in my pulsar for 2 years, good stuff for a non synth.

I actually made a mistake, the oil is/was 5w40, not 5w50, my bad, but it's the only grade of Motor 1 I could get, so... *shrugs* I did read an article once on oil grades, but promptly forgot it. If anyone wants to knock one up for in here, and tack it onto the end of the oil thing. Helpful for newbies, etc. All I remember is, thin fast oil for new engines, thicker oil for older engines.