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My 1st oil change

('14-'18) 
18K views 18 replies 8 participants last post by  quietride 
#1 ·
Did the 1st 6 month oil change today on 2017 Subaru Forester Premium 2.5 engine.
Driving it up on ramps, actually too much height.
There is a small oval shape plastic cover that says "Engine oil drain" which is held on by 5 plastic clips.
You need a Philips screwdriver to unloosen the clip, but you need to hold the outside circular head with your fingers, or else it will just spin.
After removing it, you could see that rectangular insert on the oval actually comes off .
So you don't really need to pull the plastic oval shaped piece off, but I would imagine you get more room this way.
You should remove the oval piece just to se how the rectangular piece clips on. I guess you could pry it loose with a small regular screwdriver.

The drain plug seems to be 14mm, and boy was it on there! I used the 3/8" breaker bar that was probably 12".
It was hard to detect, but the factory drain plug washer came off attached to the drain plug. The drain plug seemed to have a thick coat of black paint on it.
I used a razor to go around the washer and it came off.

Warning! When I removed the drain plug, I got quite a gush of oil coming out. Luckily I had rectangular drain pan faced sideways under the car instead of front to back
I also use large flattened cardboard box under the drain pan. Perhaps its too high on the car ramps. Maybe I will try a couple of 2x6's instead and see what that clearance gives.

I could see how a Fumoto valve, used with a short hose would be a lot neater way to go.

I also found the factory oil filter was on very tight and had to resort to my very large channel lock pliers to loosen it.
I need to go out and get a oil filter socket that fits the filter for next time.

I used Mobil 1 0W-20 synthetic oil, the 15208AA15A Subaru oil filter and the Subaru 803916010 drain plug gasket (washer).
Took photos of the parts and odometer for documentation/warranty purposes.

Plan to change the oil early October to get it on my 6 month car maintenance schedule. I do my car maintenance beginning of April, and beginning of October.
The weather is good then and 6 months apart.
 
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#6 ·
Congrats on your first oil change!

You definitely found all the "gotchas" - some may not need/want ramps to do the service (although I prefer it just to really get under and check things out); the drain plug is tightened at the factory by Thor's Impact Hammer (no way that's the 30.8 ft-lb spec from the manual); there is a firehose-effect when the oil is let loose; and the oil filter somehow is always tight enough to need a tool of some sort even when it's put on hand-tight.

Oh, and all hail Fumoto :)
 
#10 · (Edited)
I ordered a Fumoto Valve (F108S) short nipple w/hose kit but when it arrived, the hose was not in the package. Just called the Fumoto Company and they will ship hose today. Seems as though they have good customer service. My first oil change was free from the dealer but I'll do all normal maintenance from now on, probably every 5000 miles, 5W30 Royal Purple, OEM Subaru filter.:wink2:
 
#11 ·
Thanks RCW and tree man for the Fumoto valve info.
RCW seems to have the same model year Forester I have, so I would be inclined to order the long nipple version, he says it does not interfere with the plastic cover.
I feel the longer nipple would hold onto the hose better.

RCW, I actually spent some time in NM a long, long time ago:
Land of Enchantment
First time experiencing a "drive up liquor store"
99% of pickups had long guns hanging up by rear window
Hot air ballon festivals
Sandia mountains
Mesa
Dirt bike heaven
Most gas stations displayed three signs, Beer, Guns, Gas (in that order)
No lack of Mexican food restaurants
Impossible to find a decent bagel shop or pizza joint
If you did not specify what beer, you were served a Coors
 
#13 ·
For RCW

After you installed the F108N Fumoto, you said it did not interfere with putting back the plastic engine oil drain cover.

Are you able to access the Fumoto valve by removing the rectangular shaped cover that is part of the larger oval shaped cover, or do you need to remove the oval shaped cover when doing an oil change?
 
#14 ·
All I touched was the smaller cover. I had the first oil change at the closest dealer in El Paso, TX, so they could arm wrestle with the oil pan drain plug and factory oil filter. The dealer tech. left off two fasteners for the cover off making it easy to swivel the cover out of the way to access the oil pan drain plug.
CAUTION: The factory drain plug was very hard to remove even after the dealer oil change. I think they used an air wrench to tighten it. So glad I had the Futomo valve waiting to install as I ruined the factory drain plug trying to remove it for the second oil change performed by myself.
This might help: 2016 Subaru Forester 2.5i Touring (FB25) Oil Change 101 - DIY
RCW
 
#15 ·
Just performed my first oil change ever in my life ... on my '17 Forester 6MT premium(its first oil change and @ 3150 miles).
It went extremely well, Im grateful for your guide and a few other tips I found bout quirks of oil changes on these beasts =P
Happy to report I had absolutely 0 spills, no oil got on my hands and in total only a few drops were on cardboard ... yay =)

The hardest initial thing was figuring out that dumb oil hole cover on the '17+ , after figuring out how exactly the quarter turn pop out thingies actually worked, it came off w/ ease and Ill probably leave it on there between changes now that I know how easy it is to pop it off.

The oil plug was really tight, I did go buy a 17" breaker bar for it ... it came off w/ ease with that tool but my 8" ratchet and wrenches werent enough leverage(this shopping trip also allowed engine temp to rise up to normal right before doing oil change).
The oil filter was not as tight as some peoples say it is from factory, luckily ... I was able to remove it w/ one of those rubber strap type wrenches.
I *think* the crush washer stuck to the bolt , like it did for OP! yay!
I performed it on some ramps, gave great clearance =)
Even on ramps and the vehicle not being level as a result, I drained about 5.05qts and filled it up w/ 5.0qts.
Engine ran for bout 5mins on the ramps as I leak checked ... then I backed off the ramps onto level ground, turned off engine, let it sit for 5-10mins for oil to drain back into pan ... checked dipstick and its sitting just right under the full mark, Id say 1/6th a quart low. Im just gonna keep a spare quart for topping off as needed =)
Installed fumoto valve (leaving the cover off for a few days to verify the valve is not slow leaking)


Put old oil in new oil 5qt container, put filter in grocery bag ... took both to walmart, they recycle both no problem(this also doubled as my test drive w/ new oil).

Everything cleaned up easily and .. yeah! Totally thrilled it went as well as it did being my first time.
Took me a few good 2-3hrs as I went slow and double checked everything along the way and also had to figure out if everything would/could w/ the tools I have =P
 
#16 ·
The oil plug was really tight, I did go buy a 17" breaker bar for it ... it came off w/ ease with that tool but my 8" ratchet and wrenches werent enough leverage(this shopping trip also allowed engine temp to rise up to normal right before doing oil change).
Congrats on your first oil change! :Banane17: Needing a breaker bar to remove the drain plug is not uncommon, especially the first time you change your oil. This can still happen to me even if I've used a torque wrench to tighten the plug to spec. The heat from the engine causes it to "seal" more after its been run for a while.

StanF
 
#17 ·
At 3915 miles I did the first oil change on my 2017 2.5i today. Was going to wait until 5000 miles but having done a little light towing, I decided to go ahead and do it a bit early.

Like others have reported the plug seemed almost soldered in and I rounded it trying to get it out. That's the first time I've done that in almost 50 years of doing my own oil changes! Got a new plug at the dealer, along with an oil filter, and used vice-grips with a piece of pipe for an extension to extract the damaged plug. The filter was excessively 'torqued' too but finally budged using an end-cap style filter wrench.

With the (blue) filter it took all 5 quarts of the Pennzoil Platinum synthetic 0W-20 I picked up, just to bring the level up to the full mark on the 'top' side of the stick, a hair over 1/16 above the mark on the other side. This was after running a bit then letting it all settle of course.

Wonder what else is on too tight. Anyone check spark plug torque on the 2017's yet?
 
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