So I got to use my new cool Sears floor jack this weekend and perform the 30k service on my Evo8.

First off, the floor jack is awesome. My old $20 walmart special needed a full pump to move the car even a bit. But with this one on the rear diff, I only had a couple inches of movement. No problem. It took about 20 really short pumps, but was easy and smooth.

The front was a bit more difficult. I understand why so many of you hate that undercarriage panel. Took me forever to get it off. First, finding the right screws to take out. Second, one of them was just uber-stubborn. So it got to meet mr Xacto knife. I left the cover off temporarily while I either A) build a flap for easy access to that jack point or B) cut a hole exactly the size of a hockey puck under that jack point. Once it was off, though, the car jacked up very easily.

I have four jack stands, but did not have a chance to modify the hockey pucks to fit the frame rails. Not to worry, though. By placing the rear ones carfully, the weight of the car sort of double-taco'd the puck around the jackstand and frame. It was stable and worked, but I will cut the kerf for next time.

For the front, I just put the car on jackstands under the middle frame rail (towards the center of the car). It worked fine -- but is impossible to do in the back becasue the rail there is not reinforced like up front.

There are a lot of how-to's on the rest of the maintenance, so I'll just hit the highlights of what worked and went wrong.

Oil Change: Nothing special here except that I installed a Fumoto valve for the drain plug. I haven't used it yet, but I like the design. Tool-less oil changes will definitely save me some time (and no more burning hands getting the drain plug off )

Transmission oil change: Easy drain, a little metal on the magnetic drain plug. For the refill I got a special funnel from Advance. It holds a quart with a snap on lid. There's a valve that rotates on the bottom to let the funnel flow. It also has a screen so if a bug decides to die in your oil before you send it down, the screen will catch it. The bottom of the funnel is a 1/2" nipple and it comes with some tubing (not nearly enough) and another nipple with a cap. This other end is very important!

It takes the 1/2" tubing and then is slightly smaller on the cap side. This plastic piece fits perfectly into the fill holes of the tranny, center diff, and rear diff. It's not a perfect fit, but it allows some clearance for extra oil to leak out (which is how you find out when the units are full).

So I got some 1/2" tubing at home depot (clear so you can see the flow) and cut a 5' piece (roughly). Put one end in the fill hole and just start pouring in the tranny oil. I used the Amsoil 75w90. There was a little leakage as it filled (a drop here and there), but the pan caught that.

Differentials: Drained both diffs. Center diff was in good shape, very little metal on the drain plug. Rear had a bit more and was a bit more sludgy. Drained and filled as above. The nice thing about the funnel I described is the measuring cup on the side. For the diffs, I just put 600 ml of fluid (0.6 L) in the funnel and let it go. That way I know I am putting enough in.

For the rear diff, I bought a hand pump to fill it, but I did not need it. I had enough hose to hook the funnel to my fuel fill door (made an S hook from a hanger). Then I just routed the hose through the wheel well and into the rear diff fill hole. Worked like a charm. I got to take a little nap under the car while I waited for the molasses, I mean Diaqueen, to seep into the diff.

Air filter: follow the instruction on the K&N cleaning kit and you will be fine.

Spark Plugs: still haven't done this yet because my spark plug socket was too small. Apparently spark plug sockets come in different sizes. I found one in my old socket set that would work, but it got dark. Will do that today.

Radiator drain/refill: still TODO. I only have one pan.

I have some more reflections on this, but this post is long enough now and work beckons!

 

evo 8 spark plug socket=21mm

 

I thought it was a 13/16"

I am wrong?

 

The 21mm is correct it is a Japanese car wich uses metric sizes, to be technical. So use a 21mm if you have one.

 

Good info, I'm doing mine this week

 

Good luck with that tranny fluid

 

Ah, back to the boards -- stupid work taking up my whole day.

The socket I have that works is 13/16, I think. The one that came with my socket kit is smaller and definitely did not fit. The 13/16 has a little play, but since we're not talking about massive torque here, it will work fine.

I have had Amsoil transmission oil in my car for 15k now with no problems. I am also on my stock clutch, transfer case, and syncros. I use diaqueen in the diffs.

Some other items for the 30k service:
Tire rotation. I rotated in the X pattern (still on my all-seasons). While the tires were off, I checked my brakes for wear. Interesting find: the right rear is only 0.022" from the wear tab. Everything else has like 1/8" left. I have never heard of a rear wheel needing brakes before a front. My only guess is that the e-brake is hanging on that side, but I did not see any sign of that. I will check again next week.

Checked the CV joints and boots. No leakage, everything looked fine. Brake lines looked fine, as did fluid levels. I would have bled them, but I'm probably going to do a full brake job late summer.

Well, that's all for now -- my best advice is to get that funnel!
http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...rtnumber=10704

AC

 

Your all season tires aren't directional? I have the continental extreme contacts......and they are directional.

 

some aren't, i run the BFG G-force TA KDWS and they aren't directional. and yes 13/16 is close enough to 21mm to work. the spark plug socket i have is labled both ways as a matter of fact!

 

Good post!

 

I've got 29,500 on the clock - so I'm due for the same. I was going to buy all the fluids and let the dealer do the change for an hour or two of labor - or maybe 3 or 4 . How long do you figure it took you? It'd be easier for me to pay for the labor at the dealer for the fluid changes. I just don't have a half-day or more to give, as much as I'd love to do it.

Where'd you get your fluids from, how much did they cost, and can you list exactly what you used per diff / tranny? Where'd you get that trick oil change valve too? Any pics?

 

Ya, but if you had any warranty left, poof, it's gone now!

 

Hence why I want the dealer to do the labor.

 

So the 30K service requires all this work? Wow! Did not know that. Well considering the amount of stress most of us EVO guys put on this poor car, it's probably a good thing to take care of that expensive AWD.

Thx for the post!

 

The 30k service is a SERIOUS service - it's the most involved of any car I've ever owned - probably mostly due to the AWD (2 diffs and a transfer case!) etc. I think the local dealer had some outrageous price to do all of it. Most of it was full of crap - like the inspections, etc. Why the heck would I pay a dealer to inspect a car UNDER WARRANTY. I'll wait for it to break and then have them fix it for free.