first oil change myself advice needed

[Seat Cupra Girl]

Well tomorrow I am going to attempt an oil and filter change on my little yellow seat leon myself don't that a woman is going to attempt an oil change. As today when they were doing the thermostat they noticed that my oil level is close to minimum so instead of just topping it up it is due a service any time now so I am going to change the filter at the same time. My question is what is the best oil to use? I have been searching the Internet and found several different ones My boyfriends uncle has said to use the Halfords own brand Halfords 5W40 Fully Synthetic Oil 4L @£12.00 but I am not sure due to the price so I found these Castrol Edge 5W30 Oil 4L @ £46.99 at Halfords or £32.00 at ASDA or Mobil Super 2000 X1 10W/40 Oil 5L @ £27.99 at Halfords, the car has done 167,000 miles give or take incase that makes a difference on what oil to use, One other question for the oil change is it 4L needed to fill it back up or is it 5L? Please could I have your opinions and past experiences from using the oil?

Thanks
Michelle

 

[Bert]

Hiya! I done an Oil change on mine last weekend, I used Comma Syner-G 5w 40 in mine! It suggests the sump will take 4.5l of oil, but I would put 3.75 - 4 litres in, run for 30 seconds, check dip stick, then top up accordingly hope this helps


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[Seat Cupra Girl]

Hiya! I done an Oil change on mine last weekend, I used Comma Syner-G 5w 40 in mine! It suggests the sump will take 4.5l of oil, but I would put 3.75 - 4 litres in, run for 30 seconds, check dip stick, then top up accordingly hope this helps


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hello Bert thanks for replying back so quick when draining the oil from the car can I get to the sump plug by jacking car up on drivers side? and would it still drain ok having car jacked up on one side or would I be better off jacking up take plug out and then lower car back down to drain oil.

Thanks
Michelle

 

[Bert]

I would say always best to drain level, if you have got a low enough can to drain oil in the let it down, if not axle stand it both sides but there should be enough room to reach the sump nut


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[Seat Cupra Girl]

Thanks for that Bert. I can borrow some ramps of a friend where I drive the front of the car on to them if that would be easier, but would that allow all the old oil to drain out properly? as I have been talking to a friend on the phone tonight and they have said if I use ramps I would need to put axel stands under the rear axels to level the car to drain the oil properly is that true cos that sounds like a big job for a woman with little car knowledge?

Thanks
Michelle

 

[Brick_Top]

Hi Michelle

I've not done an oil change on a 1.8T yet, but in my experience of lots of other cars, the sump plug is usually on the back of the sump towards the back of the car.

If you jack the front of the car up on 2 x axle stands, or use ramps, the oil will flow to the sump drain anyway.

It won't hurt to lower the car down a little to see if you can get anymore out though once you've done the bulk of it.

 

[andycupra]

sump plug is at read of sump. but not that far back from the front of the car really.

The tricky bit i suspect will be removing the old oil filter if its been put on too tight. having the right tool is very helpful here if its tight. It may even be worth checking to see if its too tight before draining oil as you dont want to drop the oil then find you cant undo the filter.

as for oil id go semi synthetic. 5w40
get 5 litres. depends how well you drain it, but its probably a little more than 4 litres, so get 5 and you have some too top up also.

when fitting new oil filter put a little oil on the rubber seal and dont do it up too tight.

oh and dont forget to put the oil cap back on. many people forget. one tip is any thing you take off put in one place, then at end its easy to check you have not forgotten anything

 

[Bert]

Yes these guys are right the sump but is at the back of the sump, do would in effect help a little with draining of oil


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[mty12345]

sump plug is at read of sump. but not that far back from the front of the car really.

The tricky bit i suspect will be removing the old oil filter if its been put on too tight. having the right tool is very helpful here if its tight. It may even be worth checking to see if its too tight before draining oil as you dont want to drop the oil then find you cant undo the filter.

as for oil id go semi synthetic. 5w40
get 5 litres. depends how well you drain it, but its probably a little more than 4 litres, so get 5 and you have some too top up also.

when fitting new oil filter put a little oil on the rubber seal and dont do it up too tight.

oh and dont forget to put the oil cap back on. many people forget. one tip is any thing you take off put in one place, then at end its easy to check you have not forgotten anything

+1, some great advice..... especially to check you can undo the filter first, sometimes they can be really tight, even though they are only meant to be tightened by hand

And as bert says, as long as the drain plug is at the lowest point of the sump, (it will be if you raise the front of the car) then it doesn't matter that the car isn't level.

 

[paulos44]

Semi synthetic 5w40 ??? I thought fully synthetic was the norm....

 

[Burnzybubbles]

Or use a peela oil extractor and do the change in 15 minutes without crawling on the floor, best thing I bought considering I get to look after about 4 cars.

Castrol edge is a good oil and so is Mobil, I think the Mobil is only semi synthetic though.

Oh and don't forget to get the engine up to normal operating temperature, the oil needs to be warm/hot to flow properly, and then also be careful as the engine and oil will be hot enough to burn you, oil filter will be quite hot too so I usually loosen off with filter wrench if it's not been done up by myself and then use a rag to take it off by hand, like said above it needs to be hand tight, to put it into perspective I can usually loosen filters I've put on by hand and they won't leak a drop during use, don't go mad otherwise you won't get it off next time

 

[mty12345]

Yeah soz, i missed that bit. I only use fully synthetic in mine too.

IMO semi-synthetic is ok for your average 1.4litre runaround, but the extreme temps (compared to what oil gets exposed to in NA engine) and the high "shearing" forces that the oil has to deal with while passing through the turbo bearings on our cars, would make anything less they fully synthetic a bit of a risk.
Obviously the fully syth is more expensive, but a lot cheaper than a new turbo.

 

[Seat Cupra Girl]

well a very productive day today. First off I get all the parts I need for the oil change I got 5LT of Castrol Edge Fully Synthetic 5W-30 @£42.00, An oil filter, Funnel and Filter Wrench which I did not need in the end @£12.48 and a Sump Plug @ £3.85 then Lewis Hamilton won the F1 race and I have now completed my first Oil change on my car. It has took me about 2 hours but most of that was waiting on the oil to drain out and stop dripping so not to bad I don't think. I did have trouble at getting the sump plug out I was trying to use a spanner at first but I could not get the right grip on it to move to undo it so I borrowed a socket set of a neighbour and then was able to undo it I was trying to do it the wrong way at first but after I worked that out I undid it and the oil drained out. I then took the filter off and let it all drain out. Put the new oil filter on and put the sump plug back in then replaced the dipstick and filled the oil back up. I put 4LT of oil in lowered the car back down and then started it left it running for about 10mins stopped car and checked dipstick, It had gone down a bit so I added a bit more oil checked again and it was back up to maximum and I am now leaving it for about 1/2 hour then I will check again and take for a test drive if the level has not dropped.

So 1 Happy girl here

I did try to post some pictures but it won't let me add any yet

Thanks everyone for all you help and advice I would not have been able to do it with out all your help
Michelle

 

[traumapat]

Just for you and Lewis....




Well Done!

 

[andycupra]

semi synthetic is spec'd by many dealers for MK1 cupras. (with full tending to be spec'd for LCRs)
It is also a high mileage car and so this is why i advised semi-synthetic.

I do find it surprising how many people go away from OEM specs, many advising people to go for even thinner oils which could potentially offer a decrease in protection as no consideration is made for pump rates etc.
In this case perhaps we should have enquired how much oil the car is consuming, but too late now anyway.

But anyhow, its great to read about a car thats clearly been looked after and going strong with such mileage