Nissan Altima 3.5 DIY Oil Change Procedure

This tutorial will help guide you to change your oil on a 3.5 Altima.You will need the following items to accomplish this task:

5 quarts of oil
1 oil filter
1 new washer
2 floor jacks and/or ramps
14mm socket
Oil filter wrench
Oil drip tray
Rags
Funnel

Step 1:Line your car up and drive it onto the ramps (or lift up both sides of the front end with floor jacks) – I opted for the ramps.

I also put bricks behind the rear wheels, as well as put the car in park and set the parking brake.

Open up the hood!

Now you want to remove the oil cap from on top of the engine.

Have all of your supplies next to you and ready to work with…

Now you are going to drain the oil from the oil pan, located underneath of the front of the vehicle. This is what the pan looks like, and the bolt that you have to remove is at the top of the picture…

Have your oil drip tray located underneath of this bolt, and ready to catch the stream that will come out. Take your 14mm socket wrench, loosen the bolt by turning it counter clockwise, and undo the rest of it with your hand, taking care in the fact that oil is about to flow out once the bolt is far enough away…

Wooo flowing oil!

Once the flow of oil has ceased, and its basically only dripping out now, remove the old copper washer from the bolt. This is what the old will look like…

Put the new washer on, placing the side with a larger surface area touching the head of the bolt…

Screw this back into the hole you removed it from (this will crush the washer, which is what is supposed to happen) and tighten it good – the manual states to use 22-29 lb/ft of torque, but if you don’t have a torque wrench handy, just tighten it up well, but don’t do it so hard that you can’t get it off again.

Now you are going to remove the oil filter – it is located near the passenger’s side front wheel, a couple of inches up from where the oil pan was…

Take the oil wrench and loosen the oil filter, turning in a counter-clockwise direction. Once you’ve broken it free, use your hand to unscrew it – there will be oil still in the filter, and some oil might leak out again, so have your drip tray and a rag ready to clean it up. Now you have this:

Get your new oil filter.

Open up a bottle of fresh oil, and take your finger, dab it in, and then rub a light glaze over the top of the rubber seal on the new oil filter. Screw the new oil filter on as tight as you can with your hand, and then take the wrench and tighten it another 2/3 or so of a turn, ensuring its tight.

Your final step!

Grab a funnel and put it in the oil entrance at the top of the engine, like so:

Pour in 4 and 7/8 quarts of new oil.Put the cap back on, close the hood, and presto! You’ve put new oil in!At this point, let your car run for a few minutes, just so you can double check to make sure everything is sealed up and good to go. Turn the car off, wait 10 min, and then check the oil level with the dipstick – add oil as necessary!

Originally posted by marlin29311