OK, while people have been debating back and forth about what mileage to do the first oil change, whether to DIY, Jiffy Lube, Dealer, etc. I just went and changed my oil. The car has 988 miles on it, I used a Purolator filter, and Castrol GTX 5w20 oil.

The old oil looked to be in fairly good condition, but I could see that it was darkened from contaminants (normal I think), not the clean fresh look it had on the dipstick at around 500 miles. I'm going to check the oil more closely later to determine how much contaminants it had and if it had a significant amount of metallic particles from the break-in period. The refill took only about 3.5-3.7 quarts and it was just a tick above the H mark on the dipstick. I think I could have done a better job draining the old oil by jacking the right side up since my driveway has a very slight slope (down right-to-left), but I was lazy and didn't feel like moving the jack around to the other side of the car.

All in all everthing went pretty smooth and I was done in 30 minutes or so. No trouble getting the filter off at all. Didn't punch any holes in the filter and very little came out when I removed it. I did loosen the filter before removing the drain plug and let it sit for about 20 minutes like that. I'll have to post a picture of the oil filter wrench that I borrowed from a buddy - it's awesome!

So here are the questions:

1. I'm figuring being just a tick high on the oil level will not hurt and don't plan on doing anything about it. It will be down to the H after a bit of driving anyways, right?

2. When I removed the oil plug it did not have a crush washer on it! I was very careful removing the plug because I knew there is supposed to be a washer and I was planning on reusing it. I noticed right away that I could not feel a washer there. And my drain pan has a screen over it so it couldn't have fallen into the pan either. So what gives? Do I need one or not? I checked after filling the oil and there were no leaks and I will keep an eye on it, but I'm not planning on draining the fresh oil just to put a washer on. Plus, I plan on changing again at around 3750 miles, at which point I will install a new one (before I take it to the dealer for the 7500 mile change).

And before anyone says it, I WILL be looking into this Fumoto valve for the next change. I had a valve on my old Escort and oil changes literally only took me 10 minutes on that thing!

 

Bueller? Anyone?

Here's a pic of the oil filter wrench - $7.22:

http://thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/TTW57.html

 

Hey -

Just a bet, but I think that the crush gasket is there it's just that they painted the oil pan as an assmebly with the plug and gasket already installed. What I am saying is that the crush gasket does not have a normal seam because it is painted over. I popped it off with a pocket knife. Also the crush gasket is an aluminum crush gasket and not copper. Probably another reason that you missed it.