[shootist]

I changed the oil in my Tribeca today. It has 950 miles on it. I know the manual says I don't hae to change it so soon. I wanted to change it for two reasons:

1. I'm going on a week long trip soon and

2. The car was over filled from the factory. The dipstick showed what I would consider to be about 1/2 quart too much.

Anyway I read Peaty's oil change tutorial ( http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6167 ). I found it very enlightening. This is my first Subaru. Trying to find a place to jack the car was harder than on most other cars. For those of you that haven't purchased the Fumoto oil drain valve yet, don't wait. I stuffed rags in the shroud area to try and avoid the mess that Peaty described. That didn't work. Oil was coming out from everywhere. Made a nice mess in the driveway. The Fumoto valve will hopefully prevent that in the future. Other than that it wasn't too bad. Just very messy.

 

[Peaty]

I've done my third oil change on the B9 now. The valve makes it much easier, almost a snap now. If it weren't for the filter being sideways, I hate that compared to the H4's being upside-down and you can prefill it with oil.

 

[shootist]

I've got a drip somewhere. I cant tell if its the old oil that went everywhere still dripping from the shroud or if its the new drain plug. Its a slow drip. I tried to clean the shroud best I could this morning. I'll keep an eye on it. I'm afraid the soundproofing soaked up some of the oil. I just can't believe how messy this was.

Does the valve stop the oil from running everywhere? I didn't get the one with the nipple. Now I wonder if I should have.

 

[Peaty]

I've had the valve with the nipple but on the OB I had at the time I felt it stuck down too far and ended up hacking it off. Since then I've only gotten the valves w/o the nipple. The B9 may be a different story though. I haven't had any issues with oil splashing all over with my current setup though.

My first oil change almost ended up in disaster. I tried to not over tighten the oil filter as always. Well apparently I didn't go tight enough. The filter ended up spinning itself loose. I've never had that happen in all my years of changing the oil and this is my second H6 motor too. My wife went about 60 miles to the airport and then drove home. I smelled oil and looked under the car and it was all over the place. I of course panicked not knowing what was leaking at first (only 2K on the car ) I pulled off the cover and saw the filter about 1/4" from the oil cooler mating surface. Then not only was I panicking I was swearing a lot too. It ended up luckily that it must have come loose only in the last few 100 feet of her stopping. A little oil goes a long way to making a mess let me tell you. I checked and it was only a 1/2 quart down. I was extremely lucky. After that I was checking every day. I did power wash the under side to get as much of the oil off as possible, but like you say it did drip a little for a bit having soaked into the padding right under the filter itself. I've changed the oil 2 more times since then and have not had a problem. I do tend to tighten it quite a bit now though.

 

[shootist]

I've got a drip somewhere.

Apparently the drip was old oil dripping from the shroud. What really makes me mad is that the soundproofing got soaked. Anyway to clean it up at all?

 

[Peaty]

I took the pastic off and soaked up as much as I could with shop towels.

 

[Bill_S]

I have done a couple of oil changes. The manual says 5.5 Liters (5.8 US quarts). However I find that with 6.25 Liters in just a little under the high mark.

Do you find that it takes more to fill than indicated in the shop manual ??

Bill

 

[Bill_S]

Do you count the numbers on the filter to go ahead 6. So it it shows 2 for example when it makes contact you advance to 8 as shown on the filter - A bit of a bugger with such small numbers hidden under that undercover - good for a mechanic who puts it up on a lift. However managed to get my head underneath to watch the numbers advance. I use one of those metal filter sockers that I can clip on my socket wrench - makes all quite easy.

Bill

Billl

 

[Huskylord]

I found the most dangerous thing about changing my own oil is the rubber gasket on the old oil filter sometimes sticks to the housing, and when you put the new one on not knowing it now has two sandwiched gaskets....well..I found out the hard way when I lost most of my oil on the highway.....but life is good..no damage...just a hard lesson learned.

 

[Bill_S]

I always use some grease on the the gasket before installing the filter. Always check to make sure that the gasket comes off with the filter and visually check the mount which I wipe clean before installing the filter.

 

[immortal_suby]

I just stick my finger in the oil after filling the new filter with clean oil and wipe a thin coat around the rubber gasket. Never had one stick.

 

[Bill_S]

I was taught by a mechanic that grease was better. I never have trouble taking the filter off and the filter seal never is pulled off the filter this way. Oil from the outstretched finger is good. Gease is better !!