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Written By: Gibson Hull
March 15, 2025
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A Quick Analogy:
Next time you wash your hands, before getting any soap or turning on the water, first put your hands together, and rub them together as fast as you can for as long as you can bear it. You’ll notice a ton of heat, and it may even start to hurt as the skin of one hand rubs and pulls at the skin of the other. Now, grab some soap, and turn on the water, rub your hands together under the running water for as long as you can. You will notice you can probably do it as long as you have the stamina to do so. The soap and water are the lubrication that keeps your hands from rubbing directly against each other, and keeps them cool so they can go forever.
Similar to the soap and water from the faucet, your engine pumps oil from the bottom of the engine to the top, coating everything inside with fresh oil to help reduce friction and heat. This keeps one metal surface from destroying the metal surface next to it. The oil drips through the engine back to the bottom, only to be pumped back to the top over and over.
Back to our hand washing experiment, did you notice that once the soap was all washed away, your hands were not quite as lubricated as with the soap? While water alone still works, the soap makes things even more cool and slick.
Just like the soap washing away from your hands, oil breaks down with hundreds of thousands of cycles of heating up, pumping through the engine, and cooling down. Your car may still run with old oil, but the longer that oil is broken down, the more it creates sludge, clogs the ports where oil is supposed to flow, and starves your engine of the oil it needs to operate, leading to premature damage and engine failure. And usually a huge mechanic’s bill to replace. Keeping your engine oil changed is one of the most important single maintenance jobs you can do to keep your car healthy and running for a very long time.
Today we want to keep the Helio the Defender’s engine nice and healthy. Your car's manufacturer will tell you how often to replace your oil and what type to use, and I suggest sticking with what they recommend as you get started.
Grab some friends and some tools, and throw an oil change party. It is a great way to hang out, learn about different cars, and how to work on them. Not to mention making a dreery messy job a lot more fun.
Step 02: Gather materials and parts. Check online or in your car’s owner’s manual to determine what kind and how much oil you need, and what kind of filter you need.
Step 03: Find drain plug. Today we are changing the oil on a 1993 Land Rover Defender 90 with a 200tdi engine. You may have to jack up your car with a car jack and jack stands to be able to access the engine oil drain plug, and place a big pan beneath to catch the oil as it drains. Luckily the Defender is tall enough that everything is accessible without needing to lift to access. Sometimes your car’s owners manual in the glove box will show you the oil drain plug location, but you can also use a thrid party manual like a Haynes Manual.
Step 01: Gather tools.
Step 02: Gather materials and parts.
Step 03: Find drain plug.
Step 05: Drain oil. This is a good chance to check on the health of your engine. Get a good look at the color, look for any sparkles indicating metallic shavings resulting from excessive wear, or gloopy lumps indicating sludge build up. You may also smell fuel, which can happen if the engine has been flooded with too much fuel. If it comes out looking like chocolate milk, or you just get water coming out and then finally oil, it could indicate that water is made its way in. It could be from the weather somehow, or more likely that you have a headgasket leak and coolant or water is leaking into the engine from the coolant passages into the cylinders.
Step 06: Find oil filer. Every engine has one. The oil filter catches any impurities and contaminants that could cause engine damage, and must be replaced at every oil change. They can be anywhere around the engine depending on how the manufacturer packaged everything into tight spaces. They all generally look the same: a large cup shaped canister. Ours is black as pictured way up in the engine bay.
Step 07: Remove engine oil filter. If you are lucky, it is perfectly sealed, not leaking, but can come off by hand. Most of the time I find myself needing oil filter pliers to get it off. You can also use the right size filter socket to remove.
Step 08: Inspect filter mount. Check the filter mount to ensure that the seal from the old filter is not stuck to the mount, and that everything is clean and tidy.
Step 03: Remove drain plug.
Step 04: Drain oil.
Step 05: Find oil filter.
Step 06: Remove engine oil filter.
Step 07: Inspect filter mount.
Step 10: Replace the engine oil drain plug, and refill the oil. Don’t forget the drain plug. Trust me, it is very annoying to fill your engine with oil, only to find you never replaced the plug, it is overflowing from the oil pan all over the floor, and you now don't have a car to use to go pick up more fresh oil…. Find your oil fill cap somehwere on top of the engine. You can use a funnel to start refilling the oil or pour it straight into the hole on top of your engine.
Step 11: Find the engine oil dip stick. These are in numerous places depending on the car and engine. Check online, or in your car’s handbook for its location.
Step 12: Check and set your oil level. I like to fill the engine with slightly less oil than what the manufacturer calls for first, then check the level with the dip stick. This will ensure that you can sneak up on the right amount of oil instead of overfilling it and having to remove the drain plug and quickly replacing it to ensure only just enough comes out. You can see here the engine is filled to “H” for “hot”. My engine is cold. So this is actually overfilled. I had to let just enough out to let it sit somewhere between “H” and “N”, which is what I like for my engine. Make sure it is not under filled or over filled.
Step 08: Fill the new filter with oil and reinstall.
Step 09: Replace the engine oil drain plug, and refill the oil.
Step 10: Find the engine oil dip stick.
Step 11: Check and set your oil level.
Step 14: Recycle your oil. Collect your oil and take it to any local auto parts store or even your local mechanic. They will almost always take your old oil for free. DO NOT pour it down the drain or in your yard. This is extremely harmful to the environment and it takes minimal effort to get it recycled. It is as simple as refilling the oil bottles you just used to fill up the engine with fresh oil. I got this jug that can hold a couple of oil changes worth of engine oil so I recycle it every few oil changes, or about once a year.
Step 13: Recycle your oil.
Step 14: Go for a drive!