Accomplished
I DID IT!!!
I actually did something today. Yesturday I did something too, but there were no results. Okay, lets start there.
On Tuesday I was sitting around after work being awesome. My buddy Will calls me and is like "Wanna play Catan?" I was thinking "Yeah," but instead I reminded myself that I shouldn't drive until I do an oil change on my car. Since I don't know of an oil change place in the city, I decided that my next oil change (which was now 3 months overdue) would be done BY ME!
After I got off the phone with Will I thought, "well lets just do it now and then I'll drive out there to play Catan with Will and Dale." So I went to Murray's and bought an oil pan, 4 quarts of oil, a new oil filter and a funnel.
I then used a ghetto carjack (I drove half my car up on the curb) and crawled underneath. I found the oil plug right away and I was stoked because this looked like it would be easy. The oil filter was right next to it and easily reachable. Instead of changing my oil I wrestled with the plug for about an hour. Today my arms are still in pain from how hard I tried to get that thing loose. Granted I don't have much arm strengths and the way I jacked up my car didn't give me much room to move around underneath. Bottom line though, my arms fucking hurt over 24 hours later.
Today for some reason it wasn't raining when I got home from work and was much drier than I expected. After eating dinner and crying from the testimony given at the Winter Soldier Hearings I drove my car back up and the curb and crawled underneath. This time, I got that plug loose. I got it all the way off and the oil took forever to drain out. Probably because I didn't let the car warm up enough. The good thing is that I didn't get burnt by hot oil. Also I didn't get much oil on me taking the plug out. I was so stoked.
After that drained, I went to take the oil filter off with my bare hands. I didn't know if this would work, but I didn't want to buy the special wrench to get it off cause I'm cheap. Luckily, it started turning. When I got it almost off oil started draining everywhere. All over my hands, but the filter wasn't off yet, so I had to keep twisting this oil covered filter off. When I got it off I just put it in the oil pan cause it was already covered in oil, I figured it wouldn't matter.
Getting the new filter on was easy enough and I put the plug back in praying that I had tightened it enough to stay on, but not over tightening to make it a problem for next time. I don't think I have the ability to over tighten it cause I'm weak, but who knows.
I then double checked my owners manual. The car takes 4.6 quarts of oil. I only had 4 quarts. Oh well. I think it will be okay. Does anyone know? I'll probably just buy another quart and have it on hand to pour it in. Putting oil in is way easier than taking it out, so I wasn't too worried.
I poured the oil in, put the cap back on and let my car run for 20 seconds or so. I looked under the car and nothing seemed to be dripping so I was pretty excited about that.
So in the end, I changed my own oil! And for the most part I didn't spill much, but my hands do smell like a car now which isn't fun, maybe next time I'll wear gloves. I need another job where I can steal latex gloves again. Sure I still have a bunch from the last time I did it, but I know I'll need more eventually.
Anyway, after I changed the oil in my car I came inside and took a dump that was made entirely of bacteria and lentils. It was so good. I need to eat something real soon, I haven't been eating much this week. That is bad.
Yeah, DIY car repair! Total cost: $19.43 and since I won't need to buy the oil pan or funnel next time, it will be even cheaper! Yea!
I actually did something today. Yesturday I did something too, but there were no results. Okay, lets start there.
On Tuesday I was sitting around after work being awesome. My buddy Will calls me and is like "Wanna play Catan?" I was thinking "Yeah," but instead I reminded myself that I shouldn't drive until I do an oil change on my car. Since I don't know of an oil change place in the city, I decided that my next oil change (which was now 3 months overdue) would be done BY ME!
After I got off the phone with Will I thought, "well lets just do it now and then I'll drive out there to play Catan with Will and Dale." So I went to Murray's and bought an oil pan, 4 quarts of oil, a new oil filter and a funnel.
I then used a ghetto carjack (I drove half my car up on the curb) and crawled underneath. I found the oil plug right away and I was stoked because this looked like it would be easy. The oil filter was right next to it and easily reachable. Instead of changing my oil I wrestled with the plug for about an hour. Today my arms are still in pain from how hard I tried to get that thing loose. Granted I don't have much arm strengths and the way I jacked up my car didn't give me much room to move around underneath. Bottom line though, my arms fucking hurt over 24 hours later.
Today for some reason it wasn't raining when I got home from work and was much drier than I expected. After eating dinner and crying from the testimony given at the Winter Soldier Hearings I drove my car back up and the curb and crawled underneath. This time, I got that plug loose. I got it all the way off and the oil took forever to drain out. Probably because I didn't let the car warm up enough. The good thing is that I didn't get burnt by hot oil. Also I didn't get much oil on me taking the plug out. I was so stoked.
After that drained, I went to take the oil filter off with my bare hands. I didn't know if this would work, but I didn't want to buy the special wrench to get it off cause I'm cheap. Luckily, it started turning. When I got it almost off oil started draining everywhere. All over my hands, but the filter wasn't off yet, so I had to keep twisting this oil covered filter off. When I got it off I just put it in the oil pan cause it was already covered in oil, I figured it wouldn't matter.
Getting the new filter on was easy enough and I put the plug back in praying that I had tightened it enough to stay on, but not over tightening to make it a problem for next time. I don't think I have the ability to over tighten it cause I'm weak, but who knows.
I then double checked my owners manual. The car takes 4.6 quarts of oil. I only had 4 quarts. Oh well. I think it will be okay. Does anyone know? I'll probably just buy another quart and have it on hand to pour it in. Putting oil in is way easier than taking it out, so I wasn't too worried.
I poured the oil in, put the cap back on and let my car run for 20 seconds or so. I looked under the car and nothing seemed to be dripping so I was pretty excited about that.
So in the end, I changed my own oil! And for the most part I didn't spill much, but my hands do smell like a car now which isn't fun, maybe next time I'll wear gloves. I need another job where I can steal latex gloves again. Sure I still have a bunch from the last time I did it, but I know I'll need more eventually.
Anyway, after I changed the oil in my car I came inside and took a dump that was made entirely of bacteria and lentils. It was so good. I need to eat something real soon, I haven't been eating much this week. That is bad.
Yeah, DIY car repair! Total cost: $19.43 and since I won't need to buy the oil pan or funnel next time, it will be even cheaper! Yea!