A few oil change questions

[TVR MAN]

About to perform my very first engine oil change on my mk2.5 in the next few days but I've got a few questions;

Does the car need to be flat when draining the engine oil or is it ok to have the front sitting on axle stands?

Do you need to fill the new oil filter before screwing it on?

How much oil is optimal? To the full mark or half way between marks?



Also going to be changing the diff oil and gearbox oil.

I've found the diff drain and fill plugs and it seems simple enough but what is the best way of getting oil in there? long tube and funnel? suction gun? hand pump on bottle?

I couldn't see the gearbox drain and fill plugs but that's mostly because I don't like going under the car when it's jacked up on stands. Do you need 4 axle stands to change the gearbox oil?

Oh, and do I need to put any kind of grease/sealant on the drain plugs?


Can you tell this is my first time?

[TVR MAN]

Thanks Lazza. Exactly the advice I needed.

I do indeed have a Sport. I actually now have two Sports to maintain as my Mum bought one after seeing mine So it's really worth me learning to service them and investing in any tools needed - treating myself to a Halfords 150pc socket set tomorrow! (Reduced to £100 http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/... )

Filling through the gearbox does seem a lot simpler although I'm a little bit nervous about dismantling the centre console! Think I'll remove it before draining for the same reason as the diff fill plug!

[TVR MAN]

Engine oil done!

Only thing is I can't really read the dipstick very clearly. I put in about 3.7 litres. The dipstick does seem to have a film of oil on it when I check it but there is no clear point I would say where it is filled up to.

Any tips?

[TVR MAN]

Yeah that's what I've been doing. Think you're probably right about it being clean oil - it's beautiful stuff!

Think I'll just need to trust my measurements

[TVR MAN]

Prawo Jazdy said:

What a coincidence! I've just changed the oil and filter on my Mk2.5 Sport for the first time as well. My drive slopes very slightly, so when jacked up at the front, the car was level. I managed to overfill it with new oil, which meant a painful procedure of emptying a bit of fresh, lovely oil into the drain pan with all the old crap to bring it back to the right level.

Similarly, my worry has changed from not being able to read the dipstick clearly to having too much oil. I put in 3.75 litres, it was draining at about a drip every 20 seconds when I put the sump plug back on so surely it should be ok. The book says 3.8 litres including filter.

Prawo Jazdy said:

I didn't fill the filter before attaching it, so i'll just drive it and refill as necessary. I was amazed how easy the filter was to get off. I looked at where it was, and thought I was never going to get it off in a month of Sundays. I managed to get a hand to it, twisted, and it turned! On my old car, every oil change meant destroying the old filter to try and undo it, and yes, I did grease the gasket.

I started off trying to get the filter off with gloves, then sandpaper then just my bare hands and it came off no bother. I poured some oil into the new filter, spun it around a bit until it was absorbed and then repeated about 4 times before fitting.

Prawo Jazdy said:

I also found jacking the thing up a faff, due to it being so low to the ground. I tried the box sections but the one I started on looked like it was deforming, so I got nervous and retreated. I had to scissor jack to begin with to give me enough room to get the trolley under the front cross-member (I think) and then jack from there.

Same here