Prep for the oil change

So I've rolled the Subaru up on to my DIY 2x10 ramps that give me about four and a half inches of lift. I'm using a Royal Purple 5w30 full synthetic. And then really you only need a 17 mm socket to remove the oil drain plug. And I've got this strap wrench that we're going to use to remove the old filter and tighten the new one. 

To allow the oil to drain easier I've started the car up and I ran it for a few minutes to get the oil warm and then I'm gonna remove the oil cap in the engine bay.

Removing the oil filter

So I'm using this strap wrench. It’s like a rubber strap that threads around. I can't really get my traditional oil filter wrench around the filter. There's something mechanically blocking it so this is the tool to have to remove this. And it's tight right now, so we're gonna slowly work it off there, should be able to get it by hand after another minute here.

It's probably enough with that guy (strap wrench) and at this point I can probably yep, I'm able to loosen it by hand. Let's see, we got a little oil dripping already. I'll let that drain for just a tiny bit before I actually remove it all the way - that way we get most of that oil that's down in the filter area out before I remove the old filter.

Replacing the oil filter

The new filter is a Bosch. It's their distance plus high performance filter. So while we're waiting for the rest of the oil to drain out of the old oil filter after it's been removed, we're gonna get our new oil filter ready and we're just gonna put a little bit of oil into the filter - that way when we start the car up it doesn't take so long to fill the whole system and bring the car up to pressure. And then we're just going to put a little bit of oil on the gasket so that its nice and moist and makes a good seal.

So we're still dripping a little bit of oil, just a tiny bit - let it go a little longer but then I'm gonna take my my blue shop towel rag and and wipe sort of the whole perimeter of where that filter seals so if there's any dirt or debris on there we've cleaned that surface for the new filter to seal and not leak. Right I've got the new filter in place. Tightened it by hand as much as I could. Now I'm going to use that rubber strap wrench to tighten it about another quarter turn and it should be good. OK we're all snug. Now you can see the part number there.

Draining oil from the drain pan 

But now we're ready to drain the oil pan and then put in new oil. So we've just loosened the oil drain plug with our 17 millimeter socket. Now I'm going to carefully remove this. Trying to get as little on my fingers as possible. I'm out of gloves at the moment.

So the best way to do this is wear some rubber gloves. We've got our drain plug there and we'll let this oil drain for a little while. You take your car down to a speedy lube place or to the dealer, they're going to change your oil as fast as they possibly can and you're not going to get all of the dirty oil out of the car. I'm in no particular hurry. I've got a little bit of time I can let it drain and we'll get everything out and you know that's that's the point of doing this. You want to start with fresh clean oil and get as much of the dirt out of there as possible. 

About 25 minutes in we still got a pretty slow but constant drip of oil coming out, we'll let it go another 10 or 15 minutes just get all that dirty oil out. 

Adding fresh oil

We finished letting the oil drain. I've just put the oil drain plug back in snugged it up with the ratchet and 17 millimeter socket and we're ready to fill some oil. 

Got this giant funnel that I picked up from Walmart. Provides us a big target so we're not spilling oil in the engine compartment. One of the nice things about this funnel is it actually fits the large five quart container. There's like a notch in there that helps keep it stable and like with draining the old oil.l I'll let this drain out of there for at least a good few minutes because I want to get as much of that in there as possible.

Finishing up

All right so to finish it off we're going to just put our single quarts in there just to end up with seven quarts of new motor oil. We're just putting the final quart of oil in. You can check the links in my description for the oil and filter I used, some of the tools that I mentioned, and then subscribe to my channel if you want access to more Subaru Outback DIY videos.