DIY: Camaro Oil Change
 

So I just did my first oil change this past weekend and I figured I would do a writeup since many members seem to have questions on the process. This will also have a bit of a review in it of the FilterMag and magnetic drain plug I bought for the oil system. If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me and if I miss anything, just let me know and I'll add it to the writeup. I take no responsibility for anyone damaging their vehicle. If you are uncomfortable performing something like this, do yourself a favor and take it to someone who is. I also would like this thread updated with the change on the V6 since it is a bit different so if someone did it and has documented it, feel free to post. I am also in no way affiliated with Gold Plug or FilterMag. Now onto the DIY.

1. Crack open a beer and gather up everything you will need. I used Mobil 1 5W-30 (like GM recommends) and a Mobil 1 filter (part number M1-113). Be sure to have plenty of towels, an oil tub, a torque wrench (if you have one), 15mm socket, an oil canister wrench (more on this later), and a funnel.

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2. Warm up the car a bit to help the oil flow into the drain pan a bit better. My warm up came when I moved the car to the spot I changed the oil in and put it up on the ramps. 5-10 minutes should be plenty and dont get it too hot or you may burn yourself if oil splashes on you (which for me happens a least once every oil change).

3. Jack up the car. I used car ramps that I built out of wood and they worked great for this application. This is probably the hardest part of this and please be safe about it. If you are using a floor jack, please use jack stands (NEVER GET UNDER A CAR SUPPORTED BY A FLOOR JACK ALONE) and always use your parking brake and block your rear wheels.

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3. Remove oil cap and dip stick then locate your drain plug and oil canister and start the draining process.

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4. Start draining the oil into the tub. Once it is at a drip, drain the filter. Here is a tip: drain the filter by punching a hole into the bottom of it using a small nail and a hammer. I neglected to do this and it turned into a big mess. It will be a much cleaner removal of the filter with all of the oil out of the canister. Also, do not use the wrench that I used to remove the filter. Use a filter top tool that can be put on a socket wrench. It goes over the top of the filter and makes it easy to unscrew with the wrench. The one you see in my first picture that I used is very cumbersome underneath the car and is hard to use due to the placement of the cats. Once the oil was completely drained, I actually ran another quart of clean oil through to get the last of the dirty oil out. I noticed a huge change in the color of the oil once the new stuff got to the bottom of the pan. Doing this for sure cleaned out the rest of the crud that may have been stuck in there.

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5. Once oil is completely drained, clean filter and drain plug areas (be sure to clean off seal remnants from the old filter as these can get hot and will stay on the engine and cause problems). Then, re-insert drain plug and filter. I would suggest lubing the filter seal with oil and filling the filter partially with oil so it is not as much of a shock to the engine on startup. The 15mm drain plug should be torqued to 18 lb/ft and I screwed the filter in a turn past hand tight. I don't know exact torque specs for the filter, but you don't want to screw it down so tight as to pinch the seal on the filter. Now, a note on the plug I installed and the FilterMag. The plug is from Tim at Gold Plug and it is an AP-04. He wanted me to try it out as he knew it fit the Corvette, but wasn't sure if it fit the Camaro. I can confirm that the stock plug is NOT magnetic and that his plug fits perfectly. The magnetic plug is supposed to pull small metallic debris out of the oil so it doesn't recirculate through the engine. I figured this would be good for the initial break-in since there is a lot of debris generated on a new engine. Just to give you an idea of the strength of this thing, below is a picture I took of it holding my torque wrench. I couldn't believe that it could hold my wrench, but it makes me feel pretty good about the product I used.

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comparison shot (stock on left, gold plug on right):

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The FilterMag attaches to your oil canister and will pull and hold metallic debris inside of the oil filter. Below is a picture of it on the car's filter. I will do a follow up on both of these at my next oil change and show pics of the plug and pics of the filter cut in half to see what is inside. Both of these are good insurance and were praised by car enthusiasts alike on a lot of different forums. I believe the plug is $10 from Tim and the FilterMag was $37 from Jeggs.

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6. Fill car with oil (8 qts), check level with dip stick, and take car down from jacks/ramps. Next, start car up and check for leaks. If there are any, kill the engine and tighten up anything lose. Lastly, take old oil to autozone/pep-boys and dispose of it there. It is free and the environment will love you for it.

You are now done, so go have another beer!

Alright guys, here is the long awaited follow up on my findings from my catch can, my filter plug, and my magnetic drain plug. You can see that the drain plug is covered with a lot of nasty crap in the picture below. Not as much as I thought would be there, but I am still glad I'm running with it. Check it out:

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Next up, I checked out the Elite Engineering Catch Can I had just installed 2 weeks earlier and I was surprised to say the least. For those that dont know, a catch can catches the oil vapors that get transfered between your crankcase and your intake plenum. The oil gets thrown in there for environmental purposes (thanks EPA) and can really gum up your intake tract. I dont drive the car a ton and it was amazing how much the can caught in such a short amount of time. I'm very glad I am running it:

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And lastly, we have the filtermag. I cut it in half using a dremel tool and a metal cut off wheel. I am going to assume that some metal particles were thrown in the filter through the act of cutting it in half, but not to the extent that I found debris. There were no large chunks, but you can definitely see all of the fine particles that got stuck inside of the filter. I neglected to grab pictures of the filter itself, but it was coated in fine metal flakes, both on the top and bottom of it. I think my fingers tell the story here.

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All in all, I think the filtermag, catch can, and drain plug were all a very good investment and will do nothing but add to the longevity of the engine. I am very pleased with their performance (especially the catch can) and give all 3 parts my seal of approval. I am very happy to see the metal debris on the drain plug tip and in the filter and not running through my engine's oil system.

Nice write up!

Good post. Very handy to encourage the do-it-yourselfers so they can save $140 at the dealership. Thanks.

Yikes! $140???? I just paid $70 for my first oil change, that was bad enough! LOL

Good write up. Thanks a bunch.

always about the beer with you isn't it??? :drinking: did you do butterfingers abl yet again more beer:drinking: :wave:

Yeah, we finished up his abl this weekend, but only drank dr. Pepper. It was an easy install and turned out great. I save beer for the dirty jobs like oil changes and spark plug changes ;-)

What model is the filtermag?

Thanks,
Rob

It is the SS 300. It felt super strong on the filter and im pretty confident that when i saw apart my filter I'll find some nasty junk in it.

nice writeup. this will be added to the list

Thank You

Yes, great job. Can you please post URLs or numbers on where to get the oil plug and filter magnet?

Thanks!

Edit: Founds Jeggs :) Just need the filter plug - thanks!
Edit: I think I found the filter plug also: http://www.amazon.com/Chevy-Pontiac-...9094243&sr=1-5

:)

here are the links for the two products:

Gold Plug: http://www.magneticdrainplug.com/Aut...lugs/AP04.html

FilterMag: http://www.jegs.com/i/FilterMAG/384/SS300/10002/-1

sorry for not including them originally. glad you guys are liking the thread...