e46fanatic46

iTrader: (1)

i have done oil changed several times without replacing that copper washer, and still good.

Gobbler Man

I have been through one oil change cycle with my car. It was easy to do and pretty standard compared to other cars. A couple of items. First I wound up taking the shield all the way off. The oil got all over it when I removed the filter. I wanted to clean it off a bit. Also, I had a heck of a time getting the oil filter off. I had to buy a tool to go on my wrench to help with that. Anybody else have problems getting the filter off? Any suggestions for making this easier next time?

hispeed-lowdrag

iTrader: (7)

yeah sometimes the oil filter is a bit of a pain...you can use an oil filter wrench, or a breaker bar if you really got it on there...but an oil filter wrench usually works just fine

abice

good to know I still haven't changed mine yet i went on vacation for a couple days I'm back now so I think it is time to tackle it, because seriously I'm not buying 55 dollars in oil bringing it to Infiniti and then spending another 40 just to change the oil. honestly that is a waste of money, since my infiniti dealership doesn't have full synthetic oil I had to buy it myself and bring it to them

abice

Why do you guys say to start the car before i do the oil or have the oil be warm I thought that usually you want it to be cold so that all the oil is out of the engine, so that when the car sit it all returns to the oil pan. Wouldn't starting it cause the old oil to run through the engine and when i drain it, It wouldn't drain every bit of the old oil????

hispeed-lowdrag

iTrader: (7)

Unless you let the car sit for about a week without running it, you will NEVER get all the old oil out (and it's bad for the car anyways).

You want to let the car warm up the oil so that it is more viscous (more runny and not sludgy) and can drain out of the car easier. Think of trying to drain cold vs hot syrup. You'll get more syrup out of the same container when it's hot right?

SM_Shadowman

First of all, make sure you don't tighten it any more than you're supposed to. Either torque to spec or hand-tighten until there's resistance, than tighten another 2/3 turn (I think that's the right amount -- it says in the manual if you want to double-check).

But even then after driving a few thousand miles and building up all that pressure you probably won't be able to remove it with your hands. It's a normal occurrence for it to end up pretty tightly attached. Just use your oil filter wrench attachment for your socket wrench.

As for the plastic shield, what I do is unscrew the 4 bolts, fold the thing backwards, then use some kind of jug or something to prop the thing open and keep it held in place folded back so it's completely out of the way from draining oil.

abice

got ya got ya and I get it with the syrup example makes sense, I didnt mention it before but I got the awd model so i guess according the manual my oil filter is in a different spot

also how big is the oil filter the guy at NAPA gave me a wicked small oil filter it's tiny looking it was like 8 bucks and my oil was 9 bucks a quarts lol 65 dollars later I have my oil and tiny oil filter and little copper washer

Gobbler Man

I did another oil change over the weekend. It took some work but I was able to get the filter off by hand. No need for a wrench. I was hard to get off. Harder than on my Explorer or Prizm, but I got it.

As for the shield. I like to take it all the way off. Just give me more room to work. A lot more screws though.

abice

nah it wasnt bad really and yeah i used my hand too it wont be like that the next time though since i tightened it back on by hand. and yeah i took the whole shield off its no big deal

tradical1

iTrader: (1)

I recommend taking off the plastic shield entirely. The little door for the oil filter isn't big enough and the oil that falls out of the filter goes everywhere and makes a mess. I see this as a big design flaw from the boys at Nissan. I may even end up cutting off the door with a sawzall, and making the hole bigger.

soundmike

iTrader: (6)

^ That may have changed with y'all's cars.

On G35Driver, there was a thread that discussed the different variants of the shield. Some had no door, some had that little door you mention while others had and entire flap that folds over to the front, leaving a lot of space for the whole process (as you can see in the pic i posted earlier).

briann510

Here is what the copper crush washer looks like.

And I always pour some oil in a filter even if its mounted sideways. A dry filter fills quickly but to coat the elements with oil is better than a complete dry filter at start up. Probably dont matter a whole lot but no biggie to do it anyway.

If a filter can be taken off by hand it wasn't tight enough. Ive seen some filters blow out the rubber seal that weren't tight enough.

PascalT

I'm on their site reading about it now.. is it almost a must for those who want to DIY their oil changes? sounds like it'd make things a whole lot easier. Is it a great product?

I also notice on their site in Canada that they have an "N" version: http://www.ezoildrain.com/infoforfleets.cfm They say it allows the oil to be drained away from the engine..

PascalT

I found this on YT.. it's for the G35 but I assume its very similar on the 37.

YouTube - DIY: Changing the oil and filter on a 1st gen G35(part 1)