Change your own oil?

[woyster_h3]

I changed the oil in my H3 about a week ago. It wasn't as difficult as you might think. You do have to remove both skid plates (the front one with the H3 and the one under the engine). I believe those were a 13mm socket. Once removed, the oil pan drain is easily accessible and is a 15mm. The oil squirts out a good bit so make sure you have a large pan. When I changed mine the oil hit part of the crossmember and dispursed oil even further. The oil filter is located in the front passenger side of the engine, right over the front suspension. GM put a nifty little funnel type thing under the filter to catch the oil that comes out of the filter when removed. Just loosen the filter and let the oil drain. After it drains for awhile unscrew and remove it. When removing the filter does tilt quite a bit and oil does get dumped out. (Next time I think I'm going to punch a hole in the bottom of the filter before removing so that the inside of the filter drains out as well.) Then just reassemble everything and you are good to go.

I decided to go ahead and change my oil for the first time at 1500 miles. That should have allowed the engine some time to break in and then I cleaned out anything that might have been in the bottom of the pan. I went ahead and put Mobil 1 5W-30 CONVENTIONAL motor oil in it for the first oil change. My plan is to switch to Mobil 1 5W-30 synthetic at 5000 miles and change it out every 5000 after that.

I definately think it is easier to remove the filter from the bottom. I don't even think it would be possible to remove it from above.