The Disclaimer: This is just a general story for people who are curious on what it takes to do an oil change. If you don’t know what you are doing and the car falls on you and you die that’s pretty much Gods will and your family cant sue me cuz im just telling a story and not giving you instructions. So if you try to do it you do so at your own risk.

Sheeyet you will probably want to have:
Floor jack/jackstands or rhino type drive up ramps
Mobil 1 5w30 oil (5$ a quart, you will need at least 5)
Mobil 1 M110 oil filter (10$)
Copper crush washer (.74 from nissan)
Oil filter spout (1.60)
Oil catch pan (I got the reusuable one for 8$, it holds ten quarts)
Oil filter wrench (I got the one that fits on a socket set for about 4$)
Socket set with ten mm and 14mm sockets
Newspaper cuz you are going to make a mess
Gloves
If you are going to buy this stuff, you might check out autozone first as they are a bit cheaper than pep boys.

First block the rear wheels and raise the car up with a floor jack. Put jackstands under the car and lower the floor jack, I always put the floor jack a bit under where I’m working in case for some reason the car falls off the stand the floor jack will keep the car from falling on your head. Nows the time to have religion come back into your life as you pray to god to keep the car from killing you.

You don’t need to take the lower aero cover off completely, just undo the four ten mm bolts that are nearest the back of the car. This will let the faring sag down so you can work on it. There is a cutout for the oil filter and the oil pan bolt but its kind of small to work in. On the passanger side of the car you will see a one foot piece of plastic that is held down with three plastic snap bolts, this piece of crap sits vertically. I unsnapped the bolts and took that piece off, most likely I will leave it off from now on cuz it’s a pain in the *** to take off.

Put some newspaper under the oil pan and filter, depending on your lameness you will either have a lot of oil on the paper or just a little bit.

I had to use a torque wrench to take off the oil pan bolt because it was wrenched on so hard. Once you get the bolt almost all the way off place an oil catch under the bolt and remove the bolt. Make sure the copper crush washer is on the bolt and not somewhere else. BE CAREFUL IF YOU WARMED UP YOUR CAR, OTHERWISE HOT OIL IS GOING TO COOK YOUR ***. Engine oil has a neat trick, it will come out on one angle and as the oil reservoir decreases it will drastically change this angle. So watch the oil for a few minutes beforey ou leave, otherwise your garage floor is going to be covered with oil and its impossible to get off. How do I know this? Ummm nevermind…

Let the oil drain out completely, this will take about fifteen minutes or so. Then remove the oil filter. It was pretty scary, mine just came off by hand, it was kind of loose. Replace oil bolt with new crush washer, some people reuse theirs. Infinti recommends that you tighten the bolt about 20-24 pounds with a torque wrench.

Btw I just ordered the Fumoto oil drain valve, its kick *** and if you want to check it out its at http://www.fumotousa.com/main.htm. And no I don’t work there, I heard about it online at another ifiniti site. Once you do this you wont have to worry about using the crush washer anymore or using any torque wrench to take that bolt off. For the time being I was too lazy to pick up a new crush washer so I used the old one, if you get a new one it’s a whopping .74 cents at the nissan dealer, stay away from infiniti. It’s the exact same one there and they charge like two bucks.

MAKE SURE THE OLD OIL FILTER STILL HAS THE GASKET ON, SOMETIMES IT STICKS ONTO THE ENGINE. If you leave it on and install the new oil filter with its new gasket you will have a serious leak and if you go around hauling *** you will cook your engine. Wipe some new oil on the gasket on the new oil filter, and then install it on the vehicle. It has been recommended to fill the oil filter about half way with oil but I don’t do this because I’m lame and it spills out when I screw it back on. Hand tighten and then turn it 1/4 turn with a oil wrench.

Fill the car with at least 4 quarts of oil. Trust me on this one it is A LOT easier if you buy an oil filter spout or funnel, I didn’t even spill one drop using the spout. Make sure you get the big spout though if you use mobil 1 cuz the diameter of the opening is bigger than a standard oil quart. Turn the engine on for a few mintues and let the oil cycle. Turn the vehicle off and wait five mintues to check the oil level. Get the useless dip stickout while cursing as it dribbles oil onto your engine cover. Get super annoyed that you paid about 38g’s for a car that has a dip stick that has more angles than a octogon. You will have to let the car set for about five mintues before you can check the level again and most likely you will have to add more oil up to five quarts total, mine took 4.5 quarts.

Check the car for leaks. If it looks good you are set to go, you just spent about 36$ for synthetic oil where as the dealer would have charged you about the same for crappy oil. Depending on who you listen to you may run the oil for about 5-7.5k miles without changing the synthetic oil, especially if you change out the oil filter in between. Check all the posts in the archives to find out what works best for you. Smile and have a good day, this project only took me an hour to complete and im pretty sure I can do it even quicker next time since I left that plastic side panel off.

 

Great write up! A simple reminder when filling engine with new oil. If the car was on jackstands, remember to lower car onto a level surface before checking the dipstick, not while it's still on jackstands. If the car was on rhino ramps or something similar, put in 4 quarts, put the engine oil cap back, and drive off the ramps before checking the oil level, then add more as necessary.

 

Mine took 4.5qts also.