Oil change questions
 

Should I idle the engine for a certain amount of time to warm the oil before I drain it?

What's the amount of time I should let the motor drain before refilling it?

Randall, yes, warmed oil will drain better, and take more stuff with it. The drain time is at least 20 minutes.

Yes. Warm oil will drain faster. Just be careful it's not hot oil. Don't want to burn youself.

You warm the oil not only to aid in draining it, but also to get the maximum amount of dirt to drain with it.

With the engine running, the oil holds alot of the accumulated dirt and combustion by-products in suspension.

When the engine is stopped, the oil stops flowing, cools, and allows much of this dirt and gunk to settle out of suspension.

The main purpose of an oil change is to remove the dirt. So, running the engine normally (not idling as this produces even more combustion by-products) allows the oil to pick-up most of this dirt. The sooner you can stand draining it, the less gunk will have dropped out of suspension and be left behind. Wear gloves or such, but change it as soon as you are able after shutting the warm engine off.

The first time I changed my oil I let it drain until it all but stopped. Then lost my enthusiasm for finishing and decided I needed an adult beverage.

So I stuck an empty beer can under the slowly dripping drain and retired from the garage.

Next day I could not believe how much oil had overrun the 12 oz can. Half a bag of kitty liter and some choice expletives :mad: later the mess was pretty well contained.

Second lesson learned - you need to grind the kitty litter in (with sole of shoe in my case) to really get the oil up.

Oh by the way - - I run my engine temp to 180 and let it cool to the point where I can barely stand to touch the drain plug with my fingers.

I like to leave the car draining and come back later. I had no idea I should REALLY leave it for a while. Very cool. Will do!