OIL CHANGE

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">It's as easy as any other car once you get it up a bit. Drive the front wheels up onto 1 x 3's then 2 x 12's to get the clearance for a normal jack or use the spare tire jack. A thick towel or rubber pad in the jack saddle will help prevent damage to the "C" jack locator on the frame. The plug is on the passenger side as I remember. I pull the plug and then lower the car for a more complete drain. Remember that it's an aluminum pan when you retorque the plug. I'd suggest Mobil 1 filters as many question the quality of the Mopar filters. You might want to prefill the filter about 1/2 it's capacity to minimize the dry runtime on restart. Also, since some oil will stay in the cooler, underfill by a quart, run for a minute or two and after a 15 minute draindown recheck the level and top off. I find it takes about 1/2 quart less than the manual states.

Don't forget to use jack stands or lower the tire onto a block as you don't want to be under there with just a small rubber o-ring between you and the afterlife. I'm sure there are low profile ramps available, but I prefer to drain the oil while the car is level.</FONT f>

 

[Jack B]

I bought the ramps from Sporty's catalog. They do work, however, you need a spotter when using them. It is easier to use a hydraulic floor jack and a single jack stand. Sears sells a floor jack for $60. It comes in a black plastic carrying case and has a 4.5" height when all the way down. It just makes it under the front lift pad. I bought a rubber traction pad from Sears at the same time. I cut a small piece off and used a silicone caulk to glue it to the jack pad. The stands are better for a long term project, the jack is better for a quick lift.

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Someone on this site mentioned punching a hole in the filter with an awl to drain it before removal. I did it last time and it worked out fine.</FONT f>

 

[Steve-Indy]

You are correct, Rob. Gen I cars are harder to get filter off...ESPECIALLY 92-95 with tubular " A " arms...I use a mid rise lift ( 30" ) and it's still a bear on the 95...I have to pass the filter way back towards thr rear to get the filter to clear...MESSY, and tubular A-arms harder to clean in my opinion. 96 not as tough with cast A-arms, and Gen II even easier.

Agree with Ron, I like to drain oil with Viper level, and use Mobil M1-204 filter. Good luck,

Steve

 

[Janni]

Wrap a ziploc bag around the oil filter when you have just loosened it. The bag will catch the errant oil, then when you get it out, just seal and there's no mess.....

Hope this helps.

 

[venemous]

A pain in the rear !!!! No other words desridbe it. I couldnt get the filter of with a filter wrench cause of the room you dont have it was so tight also . I had to use a screwdriver to remove it finally after 2 hours I got it !!! yea It still cost me 60.00 to do my self with mobil 1 . the dealer I heard charges 75.00 .....may be worth it next time for me!
John