Good write up glad there is a access panel as my Mazda Speed 6 you had to take the whole panel off under the engine bay

 

Great write up. Used it tonight for my first 1K mile oil change. $35 total.
Thanks!

 

What is the recommended oil for the EVO X.
The car is modified and is subject to great efforts.
What recommendation can you do?

 

80mm is the size of the filter wrench cap.

It's $5.49 at autozone. My local Walmart and Sears do not carry this size independently. They sell kits for $35-40.00 with five different sizes.

I bought the 74-76mm size as stated in above posts, but this is too small for the factory filter on a 2011 evo x.

An m14 sized washer, is your everyday normal washer...not a crush washer. The factory crush washer has a flat side and a crushable side. The flat size sits flush against the oil drain plug.

You don't need a hammer to get the crush washer off. Flat head jewelers screwdriver worked fine.

off to go return my 74-76mm filter wrench cap.

Lastly, (this was my first oil change on this car) when you take the oil filter off it's going to leak a fair amount of oil. I'm glad I laid some cardboard boxes under the car. I would highly recommend doing the same.

 

I know this in an OLD post but, Thanks man! Awesome job. Its nice to see other people take the time to do such a thorough write-up. Pictures & all! Sweet. I wasn't sure which plastic sections to take off to get @ my drain plug & filter. Saved me alot of time! 

 

Take a look at the attached oil filter wrench. Worked like a charm. Plenty of space to get it in there. Plenty of leverage to undo the "amazing feat of strength" demonstrated by the factory/dealer in installing the filter in the first place. I've seen these at just about every auto parts store, Walmart, etc., and they are an inexpensive "one-size-fits-(almost)-all" tool.

 

I had to use the above "vice grip" style filter wrench as well. 3 trips total to Oreilly's. Anyone reading this don't bother with anything less. Also, the filter is the smaller filter, so get the "small" 2-3.5 inch range wrench like the one pictured above. Now that I have done it once, I will never pay to have it done again.

 

Thanks for the write up1 lol I've done bunch of installs in
my car and never did one oil change myself..just because
I got the first few oil changes for free lol

 

good info!!

 

Just picked-up an end cap filter wrench, Lisle part number 54720 (80mm X 15 flutes). It fits MZ690116 perfectly!

 

sorry if it has been answered but i didn't want to read all the way though all the pages. I skimmed like 5 of them. Why do you fill the filter with oil? Is it this model car? I just ask as I have never done that to all my cars i have owned. I have put oil on the seal to lube it up and provide a great seal (something i do with almost any seal) but never filled the filter with oil.

 

When the oil pump first fires up after a change, you want it pushing oil, not air. For old guys or the guys taught by old guys, filters used to install sideways conventionally, so it wasn't really done often. But even the boys on "Wheelers Dealers" rehab car show recommend the technique. If you can prime the oil system, do it to reduce wear and increase your longevity (and car value of course).

 

 

Something I recently started doing to cut down on the mess: Take a zip lock bag and put that over the filter before you take it off. So the filter is basically sitting in the bottom of the bag with plenty of slack up top. Every single time I take the filter off it leaks all over. So now I get a zip lock bag in there and there is no mess at all. Make sure you loosen the filter before you get the bag on it. Its tough to get a grip once the bag is there.

 

Thanks guys for all of these information!! Did my first DIY oil change today. Used 5 qts and ran the engine for few minutes and checked the oil level. Its almost at full. Do I have to check the oil level before I start the engine tomorrow to see if its still at the full mark? Also, I reset the maintenance reminder and saw 8500 - 5mos. The current mileage right now is 6500 so is it 2 miles or 5mos before next change? Lastly do you guys follow mileage or months, I don't think I'll ever reach 3k in 5 mos. Thanks!!