How to Drain Engine Oil

Part of the Video Series Basic Car Tune Up

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Maintain the life of your car with regular maintenance and tune ups. Learn how to drain engine oil with expert auto maintenance tips in this important free car repair video.

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Tags: auto mechanics, car, car maintenance, maintenance, overhaul, vehicle
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Video Transcript

How to Drain Engine Oil
Hi! My name is Nate McCullough on behalf of expertvillage.com. In this clip we are going to talk about one of the steps involved in a major tune-up or vehicle overhaul. We are going to discuss one of the steps involved in the oil change. In this step we are going to get under the vehicle, pull the drain plug and drain the oil out of the engine and reinstall the drain plug. In this part of this step, what we’ve done is drove the vehicle up on a set of ramps. That is my suggested method for getting under the vehicle. If you don’t have a set of ramps, you are going to want to jack the vehicle up and then set it down on some sort of solid stationary object. What we are going to do is reach up and locate your vehicle’s drain plug. On this particular car, it happens to be right here and is a 17 millimeter. The sizes do vary as well as the location. I’ve got my drain pan right below the drain plug with the plug out of the center of it and the air release lever flipped. Once you locate your drain plug, it’s a simple matter of turning it counter clockwise. I like to impact it with a hand that tends to break it loose the easiest, just like so. Set my wrench down and make sure you get your face out of the way. If you’ve recently driven the vehicle, I suggest waiting 20 minutes before you pull this plug. That engine oil can be very hot and may splash and scald you. There you go. If you pull the plug in one solid motion, a lot of times you will get away without getting any oil on your hands at all. The advantage to changing the engine oil when your engine is still partially warm is that the viscosity of the oil is going to be a little lower. It is going to flow better and will drain faster for you. Once it gets down to the point to where it is just dripping it is okay to go ahead and put the plug back in. This car will actually sit here and drip for about a half an hour. It is not necessary to get all that oil out of it. What you are aiming to do is get the vast majority.

About the Expert

Expert: Nathan McCullough graduated from Nashville Auto-Diesel College with a Grade Point Average of 3.5 and received their craftsmanship award and honor seal. Read More