Oil change day.

[Brad B]

Time for my annual oil change on the Bimmer.



My official garage gear makes it look like I know what I`m doing.





Break out the dino oil (none of that high tech synthetic stuff for this old school ride.) and rubber gloves.





Flying BMW!







Crank down the A/C. Ahhhhhh. (hey, it`s like 95 degrees here, today.)





Get the paper towels and paper funnel ready. And keep the band aids close by, too. I`m a clutz.





Glug glug!





Ok, which oil filter wrench?





Man, that wasn`t easy!





Now in with the new juice. It`s so pretty!





Kitty litter containers are perfect for holding lots of old oil!





Good for another year, or 90,000 miles whichever comes first!





Happy car.

[manicrodder]

That is slick! How many miles on the old girl each year?

[Dan]

Nice. I love the lift, look like it makes things quite a bit easier.

[Brad B]

That is slick! How many miles on the old girl each year?

We probably only add a couple of thousand a year at most.

[Bill D]

It`s too hot for me this time of year to do it, even with AC in the garage. The humidity is a killer here. I do mine annually on all three cars in October. This year the Caddy is due for a coolant change. Great pics, Brad, you show how fun it is to change oil.

[C. Charles Hahn]

I`m a little surprised you can get away with annual change intervals with traditional dino oil, even with as few miles as you put on it. Do you ever get it tested at a lab like Blackstone?

[Brad B]

I`m a little surprised you can get away with annual change intervals with traditional dino oil, even with as few miles as you put on it. Do you ever get it tested at a lab like Blackstone?

I thought the generally accepted rule of thumb was yearly or at max recommended mileage. Been getting away with it for almost 20 years so far. Never had it tested though. I went so far as to order a test kit once but never used it. Maybe I should.

[David Fermani]

I think you are the only one I`ve seen do a Click n Brag of an oil change! Nice work Brad. I love your garage toys/tools too. The BMW looks weird next to that new Porsche!

[C. Charles Hahn]

I thought the generally accepted rule of thumb was yearly or at max recommended mileage. Been getting away with it for almost 20 years so far. Never had it tested though. I went so far as to order a test kit once but never used it. Maybe I should.

Could be; I had usually heard 6 months or max recommended mileage but I could be wrong.

[Brad B]

Could be; I had usually heard 6 months or max recommended mileage but I could be wrong.

Every 6 months! Holy smokes...with 5 cars and the price of oil I could go broke! Heck, just the Carrera eats 12 quarts of Mobil 1 each time!

[C. Charles Hahn]

Every 6 months! Holy smokes...with 5 cars and the price of oil I could go broke! Heck, just the Carrera eats 12 quarts of Mobil 1 each time!

Guess I should have clarified that was with dino oil; the synthetic stuff is another story altogether.

[Dan]

I don`t think there is a set time for oil, there are plenty of barn rescues that fire up and run great with oil very old oil. As long as you run your car up to temp and the engine is in tune, a year should be no problem. I`ve subject oil to all sorts of wrongs, did the whole analysis thing about half a dozen times and just realized that I was wasting my money on the analysis. About the only time I`d do it now is if I suspected something was going wrong in my motor and it was time to play hot potato with the car.

[LordTakuban]

I`m envious of your lift. Here`s a few questions I have:



1. How much clearance do you need to drive over it.

2. How much does it cost and where can I buy one?

3. Can you adjust the contact area in the event you have a short wheel base car?

4. Is it movable?



You have a nice setup with plenty of extra space. The space is something I wish my garage had more of. It makes quite a bit of difference when working on cars as I`m sure you are already aware and enjoy with your setup.



I would definitely recommend sending your oil kit into blackstone labs. It`s cheap and can tell you what`s going on inside your engine. I`ve done it with my MR2 and will do it starting with the factory fill and all subsequent oil changes on my FR-S. Their recommended procedure is to get the oil up to operating temperature 100*C or 212*F and then drain the oil, put the collector in the stream after some oil has started coming out to basically get the "middle" of the flow. Then just package it all up and mail it in with your check. I got a .pdf of my results really quickly in my email when I did it in the past.

[Brad B]

It`s a Bend Pak Midrise Pad Lift Scissors Type. It has a clearance of just a bit over 3". Low enough for even my lowered Carrera to easily drive over. We park over it every day. Yes, it`s moveable, it slides if you want to reposition it. Doesn`t need to be bolted down. You can search costs but I think about $1500 new. I got mine used very cheaply. As far as the wheelbase, it`s not adjustable but I have lifted everything from the original small Mini Cooper (see my album of pics) to many large cars and mid size trucks.

[LordTakuban]

Thanks for the info! I`ll be sure to keep an eye out for one to go on sale or come on craigslist. That`s good news about the wheel base tolerance. Great setup and it should work for my needs as well.



Thanks again for the post!