Change Your Own Oil

[jomarfl]

So I need to learn how to change the oil myself in the coach and I'm going to get some training soon. Along with the oil change comes grease fittings as well, I understand.

[garykd]

Hi John,

In addition to what was mentioned in your OP, there is a fuel filter. If your coach is diesel powered there will also be a fuel/water separator. If you have air suspension, there is also an air dryer.

[tbutler]

And in our Cummins 400, we also have a coolant filter that contains additives to maintain the chemical balance of the engine coolant. Don't forget to check the air cleaner filter as well!

I voted no! This is a job that I will gladly pay someone else to do. I know it is expensive but I really don't need the hassle. The rest of the maintenance keeps me plenty busy.

[ClayL]

You have the Ford chassis.

My friend Bud has the same chassis and I have helped him change his oil and do a lube job.

There is a cross member right under the drain plug and I had to put the drain pan on the cross member to catch the oil. Be careful when you move the pan off the member to empty it or you will get a lot of dirty oil on yourself. Guess how I know?

If I had that chassis I would get a Fumoto drain valve with the tube option. That would make it much easier to drain the oil.

I use a plastic bag on the filter when I remove it to keep the oil from running down my arm. I have never been able to keep the filter perfectly level when taking it off.

I use a pistol grip grease gun and find that a flexible hose on it is a necessity.

A picture of the lube points for the chassis is below:

[jomarfl]

Clay,

Thanks for the words of wisdom! Sorry you had to learn about that oil drain pan. I've been there, done that on many projects over the years ... keeps me humble Happy Camping.

[stanhillard@bellsouth.net]

I have been doing mine for a long time, but I am sure it must be a whole lot easier on my little Gasser. I do the Jeep, generator and engine oil all at the same time whether they all need it or not. I only get dirty once.

Bugs53

P.S. I have always used synthetic oil.

[Jackhal49]

Big No on this one! I have a 350 hp Cat diesel, large oil capacity so have a shop do it. I do all types of other work on the MH but engines and transmissions I leave up to the professionals. I believe there was a thread earlier on this topic. Happy RVing, all!

[Guest Wayne77590]

No! and No!

That is for MH and Car. I gave up doing that a long time ago. If the mechanics are getting $90 an hour, or more, then my time is worth a lot more that that. I can't change the oil as fast as they can.

[pdhardin@gmail.com]

No. I also leave this to the pros. As my DW says, "Take it to the man; it's cheaper and you'll end up taking it to them anyway."

I have a Freightliner chassis and I take it to Gaffney, S.C., once a year for service. That's where it was built.

Road Dog

[xctraveler]

I keep thinking about doing it, but never have changed oil on any engine except my lawnmowers and now the generator. It seems they want more to change the generator oil than the coach ('04 Southwind on W22 chassis) and I can do that change without lying on my back and crawling under the coach.

I'll probably keep thinking about it and then paying someone else who is already dirty to do it.

[dcrane6767@aol.com]

Yes, I plan to change my own oil as I did on my last rig (Chevy 454). My brother mentioned that he had read that using pure synthetic oil might be hard on the engine seals. Does anyone have a thought about this for a Ford V-10 engine?

[wolfe10]

Yes, I plan to change my own oil as I did on my last rig (Chevy 454). My brother mentioned that he had read that using pure synthetic oil might be hard on the engine seals. Does anyone have a thought about this for a Ford V-10 engine?

David,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

Synthetic oil is just fine for your engine.

Give your brother a homework assignment: Find documentation to support his claim.

BTW, I have used "pure synthetic" oil in my gasoline powered vehicles for the last 40 years.

Brett Wolfe

[Guest 2driftrs]

We've always changed the oil ourselves, but then we've been back to our home quite often. Once we go full-time (hopefully, soon) we'll let someone else do it. I don't think the folks at Wal-Mart will appreciate you draining your oil in their parking lot!

[hermanmullins]

72 years not 22.

25 gallons of oil to dispose of.

Three filters to dispose of.

Laying on the ground for quite a long time to drain the oil.

Laying on the ground to check for leaks.

Crawling on the ground to grease all of the fittings.

Being hard to start because I forgot to fill the Fuel filters before I mounted them.

Take it to the local Cummins dealer, leave it, come back later and the job is done.

Wife not mad because I tracked in oil on my shoes and clothes.

Hmmm, let me think about that for a nano second.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!!!!!!!!!

[mikev]

Yes, I have changed my own oils and filters this year. I'm in my early 50s so I'm still sort of flexible ... I have also twisted wrenches on helicopters since '75, so I'm interested and have some expertise. Money is an issue as well. 22 quarts of Shell Rotella T and a Fleetguard filter for my Cummings 315 ISC is a total of $105.. The last oil change was done by the previous owner during the safety inspection in June when we bought this coach and the truck repair centre charged $320 for parts and labour. My wife and I are doing ok financially, but I have many other things to spend $200 on. As many of you have written, an RV makes many demands on the wallet.

Besides the money, I wanted to do at least this round of maintenance myself. First to see how and where, second to ensure it was done right before starting our adventures with this house on wheels. Sure enough, I discovered several issues while looking around. The worst of these was finding original filters on the coach that were only changed on paper by a service centre.

The coolant filter/additive spin-on cartridge was original, 6 years old. I could tell because the undercoating was still covering the filter. The service documentation said it was changed three years ago. Fortunately the coolant itself was in pretty good shape, but I changed it out to the Cummins approved ELC coolant with the non-additive filter. Should be good for the rated 500,000 miles or three years before adding the coolant additive ...

I found a grease fitting that was not greased in the spring, same truck depot that did the oil change. If I have someone do it for me in the future I intend to use Brett Wolfe's idea of giving a throw away copy of the service guide locations. I already printed some copies for this purpose.

The truck depot in the spring did not tighten the engine oil filter properly. When I removed it, it took around 50 inch/pounds to spin off. To put it in perspective, my wife could have removed it with a twist of her wrist. I was startled. To put the new one on to the proper torque or one full turn after contact was a two handed affair by me. It was close to coming loose and leaking with the horror show that would entail on an interstate ...

My fuel filters, both primary and secondary, were the same Wix part number. The service centre that changed them last must have run out of the proper type and stuck on anything that would fit. Fortunately they were both 10 micron filters and there had been no issue with the fuel system, so there was no damage to the injectors and such. There should have been a 30 micron primary and a 2 micron secondary. However, I also discovered that the water sensor wire connection to the one filter was not connected and was tucked up behind the starter. The filter they put on had a drain but no water sensor. I bought two sets of filters and got everything back to the proper setup. By the way, we went on our first trip before I discovered the fuel filters were incorrect and received my first indication something was wrong when the "water in fuel" light came on in a rain storm!

Lastly the air dryer desiccant filter was also supposedly changed/inspected a few years ago; I found undercoating on it as well.

The service centers where the errors were made are all over the map. This spring the depot was in Toronto; the other errors were made by centers in Florida and Tennessee a few years ago.

The point I'm making is we need to verify when someone is doing work for us, at least as much as possible. Filters and oil are easy to check, or you could have someone do it for you. Get the depot to show you what they putting on your coach and read your literature for the proper part numbers or oil specifications. I will request the Fleetguard filters first(Cummins) or an appropriate alternative. Using the Internet, I found the Wix, Baldwin and Fleetguard cross referenced numbers. Better yet, buy the filters yourself and hand them over to the service center. That will eliminate them scrambling around trying to find a part when they have aready dumped your oil.

I have also marked the oil filters in the past to ensure they were actually changed, after I discovered at a car dealership that I was charged but the filter had not been changed.

Sorry to sound paranoid, but I have experienced the same sort of stories I have read here on the FMCA forums of poor work being done.

By the way, one tip I have about spin on filters; after installing it properly and checking for leaks, take a permanent marker and draw an arrow on the bottom pointing to the front of the coach. You could scratch the paint the same way. This way you can look at it quick and see if for some odd reason it is coming loose.

Another little identifying scratch somewhere on the paint of the filter will tell if it was replaced after service.

Cheers

[donhoward49@hotmail.com]

Yes, I have changed my own oils and filters this year. I'm in my early 50s so I'm still sort of flexible ... I have also twisted wrenches on helicopters since '75, so I'm interested and have some expertise. Money is an issue as well. 22 quarts of Shell Rotella T and a Fleetguard filter for my Cummings 315 ISC is a total of $105.. The last oil change was done by the previous owner during the safety inspection in June when we bought this coach and the truck repair centre charged $320 for parts and labour. My wife and I are doing ok financially, but I have many other things to spend $200 on. As many of you have written, an RV makes many demands on the wallet.

Besides the money, I wanted to do at least this round of maintenance myself. First to see how and where, second to ensure it was done right before starting our adventures with this house on wheels. Sure enough, I discovered several issues while looking around. The worst of these was finding original filters on the coach that were only changed on paper by a service centre.

The coolant filter/additive spin-on cartridge was original, 6 years old. I could tell because the undercoating was still covering the filter. The service documentation said it was changed three years ago. Fortunately the coolant itself was in pretty good shape, but I changed it out to the Cummins approved ELC coolant with the non-additive filter. Should be good for the rated 500,000 miles or three years before adding the coolant additive ...

I found a grease fitting that was not greased in the spring, same truck depot that did the oil change. If I have someone do it for me in the future I intend to use Brett Wolfe's idea of giving a throw away copy of the service guide locations. I already printed some copies for this purpose.

The truck depot in the spring did not tighten the engine oil filter properly. When I removed it, it took around 50 inch/pounds to spin off. To put it in perspective, my wife could have removed it with a twist of her wrist. I was startled. To put the new one on to the proper torque or one full turn after contact was a two handed affair by me. It was close to coming loose and leaking with the horror show that would entail on an interstate ...

My fuel filters, both primary and secondary, were the same Wix part number. The service centre that changed them last must have run out of the proper type and stuck on anything that would fit. Fortunately they were both 10 micron filters and there had been no issue with the fuel system, so there was no damage to the injectors and such. There should have been a 30 micron primary and a 2 micron secondary. However, I also discovered that the water sensor wire connection to the one filter was not connected and was tucked up behind the starter. The filter they put on had a drain but no water sensor. I bought two sets of filters and got everything back to the proper setup. By the way, we went on our first trip before I discovered the fuel filters were incorrect and received my first indication something was wrong when the "water in fuel" light came on in a rain storm!

Lastly the air dryer desiccant filter was also supposedly changed/inspected a few years ago; I found undercoating on it as well.

The service centers where the errors were made are all over the map. This spring the depot was in Toronto; the other errors were made by centers in Florida and Tennessee a few years ago.

The point I'm making is we need to verify when someone is doing work for us, at least as much as possible. Filters and oil are easy to check, or you could have someone do it for you. Get the depot to show you what they putting on your coach and read your literature for the proper part numbers or oil specifications. I will request the Fleetguard filters first(Cummins) or an appropriate alternative. Using the Internet, I found the Wix, Baldwin and Fleetguard cross referenced numbers. Better yet, buy the filters yourself and hand them over to the service center. That will eliminate them scrambling around trying to find a part when they have aready dumped your oil.

I have also marked the oil filters in the past to ensure they were actually changed, after I discovered at a car dealership that I was charged but the filter had not been changed.

Sorry to sound paranoid, but I have experienced the same sort of stories I have read here on the FMCA forums of poor work being done.

By the way, one tip I have about spin on filters; after installing it properly and checking for leaks, take a permanent marker and draw an arrow on the bottom pointing to the front of the coach. You could scratch the paint the same way. This way you can look at it quick and see if for some odd reason it is coming loose.

Another little identifying scratch somewhere on the paint of the filter will tell if it was replaced after service.

Cheers

[donhoward49@hotmail.com]

I love all the commits on changing the oil. On my Ford V10 I found my oil filter on so tight i needed to borrow a Jaws Of life just to loosen it. I broke a plastic filter wrench, then bent the filter with a strap wrench. With the borrowed wrench i turned it a full turn using all the strength i had . I think they used an impact wrench to put it on. I will also buy a after market drain plug to keep the oil off the cross member. I wonder why Ford would design this into the chassis?

Also thanks for the grease point locations but do not forget to check the U-joints for grease.

This site is great for a newbie like me.

Don

[skyking8]

Some of the reasoning for not doing one's own work might be like my grandkids eating habits. Even tho they have never tasted a particular food, they still won't try it.

It doesn't take a professional with special tools to change oil or do other simple maintenance, and to validate that point, the shop person doing the job may not even be a certified RV technician.

The difference in cost between a shop done and DITY oil, fuel, and air filter change and a recently replaced water heater anode rod was enough money to fill up a 100 gallon fuel tank. That's a third way across the US or a weeks worth of campsites for me. It's the difference of a couple hours work or sitting in a shop for half day reading 6 month old magazines if an appointment were available this decade.

I suspect that very few would pay a shop to have someone change a fuse, air up the tires, put water in the radiator or batteries, winterize a rig, replace a burnt out running light bulb or a fuse. Performing typical fluid and filter maintenance isn't anymore technical than those. Sometimes dirty, but not technical.

[hvziegler]

]I have always changed my own oil on any of the gasoline powered vehicles that I have owned and that includes the 2 different RV's that we have had.

It will be a new learing experience next summer changing the RV oil as we have moved up to a new to us previous loved diesel coach. Collecting and disposing of 25 quarts of oil will be a challange as well as the 5 or 6 filters that need to be replaced. We are new to FMCA as well even though we have had a motorhome for the last 25 plus years.

Harvey

[wolfe10]

]I have always changed my own oil on any of the gasoline powered vehicles that I have owned and that includes the 2 different RV's that we have had.

It will be a new learning experience next summer changing the RV oil as we have moved up to a new to us previous loved diesel coach. Collecting and disposing of 25 quarts of oil will be a challenge as well as the 5 or 6 filters that need to be replaced. We are new to FMCA as well even though we have had a motorhome for the last 25 plus years.

Harvey

Harvey,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

A couple of suggestions.

Drive the rear wheels up on boards to give a little extra clearance. Put safety blocks under the frame (if at home, a couple of logs cut the right dimension work well).

Measure your vertical clearance under the engine. Buy Rubbermade container large enough to easily hold the oil capacity with "reserve room" at the top that will fit under the engine. I usually put it on an old cardboard box to make it easier to pull out from under the coach.

After refilling the crankcase, use a coffee can and large funnel to pour the used oil from the container into the gallon jugs for recycling. Put the gallon jugs back in the case they came in for easy handling.

Be sure to verify the proper fuel filters (do NOT ASSUME the ones on there are necessarily correct) and check SCA level in coolant with the little test strips before determining what coolant filter (if yours has one) to use, as they come with different quantities of SCA.

Brett Wolfe

[hvziegler]

Thanks Brett for the recomendations.

I will be crossreferencing the Cummins to Amsoil/Donaldson filters before ordering any filters etc.

I am finding some interesing information form brousing the forums.

[MAGOWAN]

I have changed the oil on all my vehicles since high school (over 50 years ago). It wasn't just the money. When a spout had to be stuck in the top of the oil can I watched attendants take a dirt covered can, insert spout and pour oil plus dirt from top of can into engine. I saw the same thing in FBO's when I had an airplane.

I also wipe around hte plug and filler before removing the plug or cap to keep dirt out.

I usually drive a vehicle until it is finished so I can not pass on the cost of little errors to the next owner.

Jim Magowan

[F277870]

I have been changing my own oil since I was old enough to drive. I do all the service on my coach. Oil,Oil Filter,Fuel Filter,Water seperator Fuel Filter, Air Dryer, Generator Oil, and all Filters Fuel,oil,and air. I lubricate all grease fittings also.

[pianodan]

I've been changing the oil in all of my many and varied vehicles since I bought my first car (a 64 MG 1100). My coach is a FRED, made before they coined the name. It has a 5.9 Cummins so it only requires a 2 1/2 gallon container to hold the oil from the pan and filter, and I have only one fuel/water seperator filter to change. My engine requires that the oil be changed every 5k miles, so I have to do it more often than the larger engines. The shops would still charge me the same for an oil change as the larger class A's so it never goes to a shop for maintenance. I replaced my tranny last year (myself) with an Allison reman AT 545 (upgraded from the 542), this year due to a timing problem on my original 5.9 I had to either overhaul it or put in a new one, so I replaced it (myself) with another upgrade, went from the 160HP engine to the 230HP engine with a wastegated turbo and I also installed an intercooler which it didn't have. I had cranked up the fuel delivery and installed propane injection on the old engine, and was pushing around 220 HP with it, but I had to watch the EGT like a hawk to keep it away from 1250 deg. F.

Anyway, I'm not afraide of doing my own work, and I've saved several thousand dollars doing it.

[zoso.chas@yahoo.com]

I have a 32qt. (6 gal) MBE920 engine. Just a thought. Why not use a portable oil pump (JC Whitney sells one) to drain the crankcase. You slide a stiff nylon tube attached to the pump down the dip stick pipe. You can use 5 gallon paint pails and not have to catch all the oil in one big container. You can verify that the correct amount (all oil) has been drained by measurement of the 5 gallon pails. This is generally how they drain the oil from large engines on marine vessels.