Help with oil change, please.

[duder4thgen]

Yeah, if the plug is on the back of the pan, you're gonna get all the old oil out.. sounds like the dealership was confused.

I'm assuming the canister faces up, where the cap you take off is on top? If so, you aren't going to have any more or less oil get on the engine either way. Next time you change it, here is what I would do. Get her on ramps, take out the drain plug, set it to the side and let it drain. While its draining, take that time to change out the filter, after that, check to make sure its done draining and put the plug back in.

[5thGenCamaroChick]

Okay, I'mma go do that now. Thanks for the info.

[BulletSS]

Not sure about the V6 and the placement of the oil filter, but I always drain and pull the filter before putting in any new oil.

If the plug is towards the back fo the pan, then putting the front on ramps would have allowed all the oil to drain. Sounds like you did that right.

[canadian ss]

Originally Posted by duder4thgen

Two questions. First- where is the drainplug on the oilpan? If its on the back of the pan, all of the oil is going to drain, no problem. If its on the side of the pan, you might need to only jack up the opposite side of the vehicle of the plug, so its pointing down.

Second, v6's have cansiter style filters. Did you change the filter before or after you put the drain plug back in? I could be wrong, but every time I've changed the oil with a cansiter style filter (even upright ones like on an Ecotech), the canister will hold around 1/2 to 1 quart of old oil, and won't drain to the pan until you break the seal.

You need to at the very least get her back up in the air and drain some oil out until its not overfilled. If that was her first oil change, I would change it again, that old oil is going to have metal shavings left from the break in. Or change it really soon, like another 2k-3k miles. Not counting any metal shavings, that old oil is going to have an effect on the additives in the new stuff, and its not going to last as long.

How would you know that? Wouldn't the oil drain back before you had enough time to see how much oil was in the canister?
How do you know if the light goes out on the fridge when you close the door?

There is nothing to worry about. If there isn't any oil loss, and you have enough oil in it, your fine. Going from a paper filter to another paper filter will do nothing. It filters air.
If it feels powerfull or "better", drive the car the way it wants to be driven. It sounds like its begging you.

[duder4thgen]

Originally Posted by canadian ss

How would you know that? Wouldn't the oil drain back before you had enough time to see how much oil was in the canister?
How do you know if the light goes out on the fridge when you close the door?

Like I said, no personal experience on the 3.6. I can tell you for certain that is how it works with every Ecotech motor I've had my hands on. Two ways to tell for certain the light goes out in the fridge. First, if I put the plug back in before I change the filter, I always end up overfilling it.

Second, I pull the plug and let all the oil drain out of the pan. Pull the cap off of the canister, look back under the car, and another quart of dirty oil starts pouring out of the pan all of the sudden.

My best guess, and I could be very wrong, is the canister has some sort of vacuum styled anti-drainback valve built into it because of the orientation of the canister. Once you break the seal, the oil drains back down into the pan.

[djsnoflake]

One thing that also helps make sure you get all the oil out is to make sure your oil filler cap is off while the oil is draining. The oil filler cap makes a tight seal and your oil can drain really slowly and/or get kind of air locked in the engine. I don't remember reading if you did or not, and I assume you did, but sometimes I forget that small detail, so I thought I would throw it out there....

[TiG3R]

After an oil change I always after about 50 miles in, I go ahead an let loose a couple times. Seams to loosen it up. Im not a mechanic or know if this helps at all, but i noticed that when i do that the car seems to run better.

Alot of cars ive owned after changing the oil, had that rough idle after a change and doing that for me atleast breaks in the new oil. (if there is such a thing)

Someone correct me if im wrong lol

[1320junkie]

lol..she sent to me in PM what happened and let's just say everyone here is waaaaaayyyyy off..I will let her tell the story when she comes back...lmao

[5thGenCamaroChick]

Here it is folks, in all its glory.

(This is the actual pm I sent to junkie).

Well first of all, I had help lol. My neighbor told me he'd help me change my oil for the first time ever. Long story short, the plug he had me remove was for the transmission fluid, but I didn't know that because I didn't watch it drain. So, drained that, changed the oil filter and put in 6 quarts of oil and added a K&N air filter. Checked for leaks, took her for a test drive and she had this funny vibration-thing. More like the engine rotations were stronger. Brought her home, still no leaks. Started her up this morning and she made a whirring noise from the engine. Shut her off, checked for leaks, checked the oil level and the oil was black, overfilled. I figured for some reason all of the oil didn't drain out the first time so I pulled back up on the ramps and repeated the procedure to drain the "oil". Hardly anything came out. I called a dealership and he told me I had drained the tranny fluid. Okay, so, now I find the real oil plug, drain out the 12 quarts, put the plug back in and add 6 fresh quarts. Have my hubby go grab some tranny fluid, get under the hood to look for a dipstick/fill cap and there wasn't one. Get out my book and it tells me I have to take it to a dealership for that. Kinda hard when I'm on ramps w/ no tranny fluid. So, I called a dealership and spoke with a lady in the service dept who emailed me the instructions for putting the fluid back in. It goes in the same hole it came out (which also happen to be the same hole where it's checked). At the dealership they use an adaptor to deliver the fluid into the hole and keep it from leaking back out, when they've finished putting all the fluid in they start the car to circulate the fluid so when they detach the adaptor the fluid doesn't leak out, then they replace the plug. But, the instructions said I could use a hand pump, so I figured I'd try it. No good. Because the car is on the ramps the angle causes the fluid to run back out. I can't roll it off the ramps and do it because I can't get to it under the car that way. Soooo I have to call a rollback in the morning to take it over to the dealership so they can put my tranny fluid in. Unbelieveable that it's going to cost a fortune to put in transmission fluid, something I've done myself on every car I've ever owned. So there you have it, you can make fun of me now as long as it isn't cruel. Here, I'll start:
My husband might be a redneck if there's a brokedown camaro on blocks in his driveway and his wife changes the oil.

end of pm


Seriously though, I'm not blaming my hubby, just a bit of humor. This one I can only blame myself for. I should have gone to a service center and let them show me the drain plug instead of relying on my neighbor. For the record: my husband is a very intelligent man... mechanically inclined he isn't. He knows his limitations so he doesn't go anywhere near the engine of a car.

I called the rollback this morning and had her taken to the dealership. The technician showed me a pop out plug on the top of the tranny pan where, if my car had been on level ground, I could have used the hand pump to put the fluid back in. If I had rolled her off the ramps I wouldn't have had enough clearance under the car to reach the plug.


So, in the end my car checked out fine, she's home in bed now and I'm glad she's okay. This has certainly been a learning experience for me. I now KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt how to change my oil lol. I think the worst of it was the cost. I'm pretty sure I just had the most expensive oil change in the history of the automobile (or at least the history of Camaro5). Lemme break it down...

Ramps $55
Chocks $10
12 q. Oil $60 (Mobil 1 5w-30 is on sale at wally-world, btw)
K&N Oil Filter $16
4 q. Dexron VI Tranny Fluid $40
Rollback $45
Service Charge $40

for a grand total of:
-------------------
$266




Let the ribbing commence... the funnier the better.

[SSOOCH]

Oh man...not funny, but you have to smile.

At least you had the huevos to change your own oil. I don't dare!

[FNKNSTN]

Originally Posted by 5thGenCamaroChick

Before I say all this, I want to ask that you experienced mechanics/gearheads don't make fun of me or give me a hard time, please. I like to tinker and fix things around the house, and I've assisted on a few tune ups & oil changes in my younger days (back when the coolest cars had holley 4-barrel carbs and mag wheels lol). Anyways, I set my mind to learning to do my own oil change on my 1LT. My neighbor helped. I drove it up on ramps and chocked it, put the drain pan under, took out the plug, let the oil drain, reinstalled the plug, replaced factory oil filter with K&N, put in 6 quarts of mobil 1 5w-30 and replaced air filter with K&N. I ordered the filters from Advance to make sure I got the right ones. Checked for leaks. Started her up and there's a kindof vibration. Actually, more like it's idling "stronger", smooth still, but stronger. Before I changed the oil/oil filter/air filter you could barely feel the engine rotations at idle, now you can feel clearly feel them. I took it for a test drive and it seems to run fine, just those vibrations are different (still no leaks either). Could that be the difference in the air filter? The only thing I can think that I could possibly have done wrong is the insertion of the oil filter. I put the male end of the filter cap into the female hole in the gasket and pushed the filter up snug to the cap (I didn't see it being taken out for reference, and my neighbor had to go take a call). Is that correct? Also, while typing this I remember having watched a video of an oil change and the guy lubed the oil filter gasket before insertion, and I forgot to do that. Is that okay or do I need to drain the oil, take it out and lube it? Any info would sooooo appreciated. I really want to learn to do this myself without killing my car.

p.s. Does anyone know the normal operating temp for the 1LT V6? I don't have gauges that shows whether the car is running hot, just the computer that tells me the coolant temp (yeah, I know it has a light that comes on if it overheats, but I'd like to know before it gets to that point). I also don't have an oil pressure gauge. I don't particularly care for the 4 pack gauges, but the oil pressure would come in handy right now.

p.p.s. sorry this is so long, I just wanted to try and include all the info I could. Thanks again... you guys are great!

Is this another case of New Camaro Owner Paranoia?

You DO have a gauge that tells you whether you're running hot or not. It's the small gauge that is at the bottom of your analog speedometer.

My advice to you is to just check the dip stick. If the oil level is sufficient, then you're fine.

If you have no leaks, then you're fine.

If you hear a noise and you're paranoid about it, take it to the dealer and let them tell you that you're fine.

[FNKNSTN]

Originally Posted by 5thGenCamaroChick

Ramps $55
Chocks $10
12 q. Oil $60 (Mobil 1 5w-30 is on sale at wally-world, btw)
K&N Oil Filter $16
4 q. Dexron VI Tranny Fluid $40
Rollback $45
Service Charge $40

for a grand total of:
-------------------
$266

Take the Ramps & Chocks outta the equation. They'll out-live your 2010 Camaro, and you'll use them over and over again.

[5thGenCamaroChick]

Originally Posted by FNKNSTN

Take the Ramps & Chocks outta the equation. They'll out-live your 2010 Camaro, and you'll use them over and over again.

True... still leaves it at $200 bucks though. And some of these guys on here get pissed at paying $85 lol.

[1320junkie]

lol..Girl you know we are cool..but you draining the tranny fluid and then filling the engine with more oil is funny...lol...now that its all better