Celica Forums General Discussion General quick question

i usually take my car to a place to get its oil changed but i want to do it myself this time. So what kind of oil/filter do i need? and any help locating the nut to drain the oil would be great as well.

congrats on doing it on your own. i'm too lazy, which is why i sat around and drank coffee this morning while the poor shlubs at Toyota changed mine for me i'd imagine you'll need a Toyota oil filter so buy one at your stealership...cough. i mean dealership and maybe have someone with you who has a bit 'o experience if this is your first time..not cause changing your oil is really hard but i've heard changing the oil in "our" cars can be a beatch.

yeah go buy the 6 dollar OEM toyota oil filter, and 5 quarts of 10W-30 full synthetic Mobil 1 motor oil, depending on how many miles you have (55,000 or more for Synthetic oil.)

If you have less than 55,000 miles, use regular oil. If you live in a hot state, use a higher weight number.

u can get a genuine toyota oil filter from the dealership, or an aftermarket like fram and other brands from auto parts stores. you tell them the car, year, engine size and theyll find out in their database.
so it basically depends how much you wanna take care of the car. if you just wanna do a normal oil change then get a filter and these black bottled engine oils from pep boys. all together will barely come to 8$
im sure you can search google and find how to do an oil change but i still tell you how with some tips.

u need a stand, after you raise the car with a jack put a stand, its safer.
1- open ur hood and take off the oil cap
2- raise the car and go under the car and locate the oil pan. the oil pan is right under the engine basically, it looks like a metal container with a bolt on it that you can unscrew. unbolt it and let the oil drain completely. the reason you open the oil cap on the top from the beginning is for flow. imagine when you drink a coke from a can with a straw and you squeeze the tip. whenever you squeezing it, most of the drink from the straw drips but some stay in. same thing with the engine.
3- once you have the bolt off the oil pan, look around there, the oil filter should be close there. take off the oil filter and let some oil drain from there too.
4- its time to put the new oil filter in. before you do so, make sure that the rubber seal from the old oil filter isnt stuck to the place where the new filter gonna go. if it is, then move it. there should be no black rubber on the car, the black rubber should be around the oil filter. if you leave that black seal on the car, and you put the new filter on ull have huge oil leak and ull damage ur engine if you dont notice the oil leak. now, before putting the new oil filter in the place, dip ur finger in some oil and then go with ur oily finger over the surface of the oil filter where its gonna attach to the car. basically ur lubricating the oil filter.
5- put the bolt back to the oil pan.
6- drop the car and add some oil. check the level to see if its enough.

i think thats all, its pretty late and im tired, so if anything is wrong, someone correct me

^^Oil pan is more on the passanger side...

Since you have a Celica GT, get the FRAM oil filter, the number is 4967. I recommend using Valvoline oil. Get 4 quarts and your set

5W-30 is what's recommended for a Celica. You should always use 5W-30 unless you live in a very very hot state, then use 10W-30 after 55k. And the Celica GT uses 3.9 but 4 quarts of oil can be used safely. For the Celica GTS, buy 5 quarts, but only put in 4.5 quarts

well i live in Utah and my car has 74k miles on it. Should i go 5w-30 or 10w-30?

Personally, I would stick with 5W-30 and just regularly change your oil every 3,000 miles. That's what I do. I did it on my previous vehicle, sold it to my g/f, and the thing is still runnning like a top with 181,000 miles on it.

aaaah, its really easy. took no time at all.

Castrol 5W30 full synthetic & get your oil filter from the Toyota dealer.

cost me 12 bucks including filter. So much nicer than the 25 i used to pay to get it done by someone else