Learning To Change My Oil

So, I’ve always wanted to learn how to change my own oil. I know that might not seem like something exciting to most people, especially women, but growing up with a dad who loves cars and did all of his own maintenance, I inherited his love of them as well. I just never had anyone to show me how and I wasn’t about to teach myself.

My van was in serious need of an oil change and he sent me out to get the oil and oil filter. Thankfully the day we chose to change it was beautiful! lol It would’ve seriously stunk if it had been miserable winter weather. =)

We headed out on Saturday and got underneath my van.

Ok, the worst part was riding it up onto the ramps. Thankfully dad was there to tell me when to stop. lol I probably would’ve rolled right over the front! Even still, the thought of my van falling was always in the back of my mind!

Now, I’ve always known how to check my oil, where it’s located so I could fill as necessary, etc. I’d just never had the opportunity to actually change it. In fact, I was about 1000+ miles overdue!

I’ve heard about people having issues with getting their oil changed at certain places and their plug not being put on tight enough or losing their plug. At least now I know where to find mine!

My dad was so great teaching me how to do all of this. He would either get something started, like undoing the oil plug and letting me finish or he’d point out what I needed to do and then let me have at it!

I can’t even begin to tell you how black my oil was! It was horrible. My van has 240K+ miles on it and leaks oil. It was nasty! What I didn’t realize was, the oil filter has a lot of oil in it as well even when the vehicle isn’t running so after we emptied the oil from the van, we had to loosen the filter so it could empty and then it came all the way off.

I had asked my boys to come out and take photos of me and my dad working together, but they were too busy watching cartoons and playing pool. I was really bummed because this was the first time since I was a kid learning to drive a stick shift that my dad’s taught me anything and done something like this with me. It was extremely meaningful. I know it’s just changing oil, but I won’t forget the time we spent together doing it.

Thanks dad!