DIY oil change

[JimD007]

I did an oil change at just over 1000 miles today on my Ram 1500 Classic Tradesman with the 3.6L. I thought I would post this with a couple tips and pictures after a search did not show up anything with this information. The drain plug is easy to reach from the passengers side, I did not lift the truck. You need a 13mm wrench or socket. It drains at an angle so pan placement isn't super easy and may need to change as the oil drains. The pan is fairly obvious once you get under there but it is tiny. Most of the oil must be up in the aluminum block (the pan is steel). The filter placement is up on top. You need a 24mm socket to remove the plastic cap and change out the paper element. I posted pictures of the old and new filter, the filter started into the engine and the cap after I tightened it. It is pretty much in the front center of the engine. If you have short arms you may have difficulty reaching it. There also isn't a ton of clearance to the air intake but there was enough. All in all I would say this is one of the easiest oil changes I I've done.

 

[Scrambler]

thank you so much for posting the picks and the process information. Did you drain the pan first and then change the filter? On filter removal, did it get messy with oil dripping or pouring down into the engine etc?

 

[JimD007]

I took out the drain plug and then went up top and took care of the filter while the oil was draining. My BMW convertible also has a canister filter on top and I do it this way because the filter cavity holds a significant amount of oil. I don't know for sure how much it would hold if you took the filter cap off after reinserting the drain plug but I think the filter cavity drains down on the 3.6. The filter was wet but didn't drip much, it was easy to wipe up. The messier part was refilling with oil. Due to the angle of the cap it was a little hard to hit the funnel and not let any leak out onto the engine. A bigger funnel or one where there is a short flexible hose or something would probably work better. But pouring the fresh oil slowly worked.

 

[Bluesurf]

My Range Rover has a very similar setup with the paper filter canister on top too. I purchased this tool to make my own oil changes. I never got to use it. After watching you-tube videos on it I was sold. I'm planning to use this on my Ram. With this I won't have to crawl under the truck.

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[JimD007]

I would get a little dirty and look at your drain plug first. I can reach it pretty easy without jacking up my truck. I plan to get an extractor something like that but I will use it only for my outboard boat motor. I don't have a trailer for the boat so the extractor is the only way to change the oil. A lot of people seem to like extractors but when I can I pull the plug. On my convertible that means jacking or driving up on ramps.

 

[Scrambler]

Thank you for the information

 

[Scrambler]

Just did the first oil change and it is pretty straight forward to the point where I will never pay anybody to change it as again. I did this at less than 3,300 miles and was unhappy and surprised to see how dirty the oil was.
In hindsight, I'd recommend doing your first oil change at approx. 1,500-2,000 miles.
For tools you simply need a 15/16" socket w/extension, a 13mm socket, a funnel, and a stable step stool.
I removed the filter cartridge housing first which is located under the hood, rear and center up against the firewall (basically). The cartridge is buried down behind the engine and that's why you'll need the step stool so you can get up high enough and extend out in order to reach it. I'm 6' 2" and still needed to lay out on the radiator deck.
Removal is simple because after unscrewing it you just pull it out of its hole. Removal is much simpler and cleaner than a traditional metal housing filter located under the engine. I would recommend you take the assembly to a bench before pulling out the filter and then take a rag or paper towel to wipe out the inside of the housing because I found particulates inside of the housing. I reinstalled this, and then removed the oil filler cap before going underneath for draining.
The drain plug is located on the passenger side of the aluminum die cast oil pan. The pan really doesn't look like a traditional pan at all versus an approx 8"x8" cube protruding down from the bottom of the engine. Although I didn't need to, I jacked up the driver side only (positioning the jack on the frame behind the rear wheel) so that the oil would flow downhill to the drain opening. This worked really well. As another poster accurately stated, the synthetic oil shoots out pretty quickly so use a large pan about 5" deep like I did. Again, this worked well with very little mess.
You can figure out the rest.

 

[JimD007]

I'm glad it went well for you. I did not jack up my truck and didn't need a step stool to do the filter. I am also 6'2" but I have really long arms. I don't know if that helped or the fact that it was on the ground. It is a pretty good reach to get in there to the filter in any event.

For the guy who wants to use an extractor I would say you need to be very patient. I used one on my pontoons motor, a 90hp Mercury, and it took a couple hours for it to get the oil out. It is 25/40W, so thicker, but I would think it would still take an hour for an extractor to remover the oil from one of our trucks. But it worked well on my outboard - which was in the lake or I would have done it conventionally too.

 

[Smerberj]

Awesome write up and I agree with you on the "easiest oil change" comment, spark plugs..... not so much. Just curious though, why did you change your oil at 1,000? I'm at 2,100 and plan on changing my oil at 5,000.

 

[Scrambler]

Smerberj, not sure if you were asking me the question about 1,000 mile oil change? Anyway, my oil was plenty dark and also had the "you waited too long" smell to it @ 3,300 miles. Having worked in the industry in my younger days, I do have a good background in this. So in hindsight I just wanted to throw a recommendation out to my fellow owners while also respecting others personal opinions . Regrets are the hardest load to carry.

 

[JimD007]

I changed at 1,000 miles based upon a now old theory that there could be metal particles from initial wear in in the oil. BMW used to recommend an oil change really early like this before they started covering the first few years maintenance in the price of the cars. It probably didn't do anything for me but it cost very little too. Maybe it got some break in particles out. The oil looked really good. I will do the next change at 5,000. I used synthetic so that is quick too but I find it easy to remember 5,000 mile intervals and I am confident they are often enough. Actually with my current driving pattern that could be most of a year. So maybe it isn't plenty quick.

 

[JimD007]

I switched to a wix 10010 filter for my second oil change a little over 5000 miles. resetting the oil quality indicator was easy.















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[MarkMine]

Purchased a new left over 2019 RAM 2 months ago with 3.6 and just did first oil change at 3,100 miles. I'm a little concerned because of the amount of metal I found in the filter. I worked on piston powered aircraft for years and it was standard procedure to inspect oil filters and send an oil analysis. Given that it's a new engine I expected to see metal but not this much and after checking with a magnet, it's not ferrous. I'm going to change the oil again around 2,500 miles and see if the filter is cleaner. The manual says first oil change at 5k miles , I don't know there appears to be a lot of break-in. Anyway, the truck runs great and no issues.

 

[Scrambler]

yep, like i said, in hindsight I would've changed mine at 1,000 miles if I could do it over again.

 

[Pocketfisherman]

Fumoto oil drain valve for the win.

 

[JP305R]

Just did my first oil change in my life thx to this thread. Thx OP! anyone know which is the correct Fumoto magnetic Oil drain plug to get for the v6?

 

[emwaybatani]

thank you so much for posting the picks and the process information. Did you drain the pan first and then change the filter? On filter removal, did it get messy with oil dripping or pouring down into the engine etc? omegletv cps

No, I also don't know about it.

 

[Bruceh]

I'm glad it went well for you. I did not jack up my truck and didn't need a step stool to do the filter. I am also 6'2" but I have really long arms. I don't know if that helped or the fact that it was on the ground. It is a pretty good reach to get in there to the filter in any event.

For the guy who wants to use an extractor I would say you need to be very patient. I used one on my pontoons motor, a 90hp Mercury, and it took a couple hours for it to get the oil out. It is 25/40W, so thicker, but I would think it would still take an hour for an extractor to remover the oil from one of our trucks. But it worked well on my outboard - which was in the lake or I would have done it conventionally too.

Ya need to get oil hot before extra tor

 

[rgberg]

Just did my first oil change in my life thx to this thread. Thx OP! anyone know which is the correct Fumoto magnetic Oil drain plug to get for the v6?

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[svtvs]

Just did my first oil change on mine. I didn't have a 1' extension, so I had to take the intake off to get at the cartridge cap. What a pain.

Had to laugh at myself standing on a milk crate the whole time though