O.K guys, I just got finished changing the oil in my new outlander xls. Here is what you should know.
1st, pop the hood
2nd, remove the oil filler cap, and dip-stick (same principle as taking off the vent cap ona gas jug.)
3rd. Jack the car up. (there is a front jacking point for the front, it is on the center support about halfway between the front axles, and about 10 inches in from the front bumper. (it has a little rise in it) )
4th. place jack stands under the car at the factory jack stand supports. (the front of the frame rails before they round off and turn up)
5th. get your drain pan, and slide it under the oil pan (big black pan on the right side of the motor)
6th, get a ratchet with a 7mm socket on it, and lossen the oil-pan drain bolt
note... (heres a tip, do an oil change with the oil warm, not hot, and not cold. this allows the oil to be thinner, and drain out better and faster)
7th, once all the oil is drained, clean the bolt off, and re-install it. get it good and tight, not to tight, but tight. (you dont want to strip it out)
8th, slide your drain pan, and yourself under the front of th motor, right below the left side of the front exhaust manifold you'll see the oil-filter. There isa funny lip that comes out from the under-dray and blocks your access to the filter, just use one hand and pull it out of the way.
9th. Dont even bother with the oil-filter wrench, The oil filter on our cars has a funny little piece of metal that helps any oil coming out of the old filter be drained and funnel down away from the starter. There will be some oil that drips down and on the starter, but the lower started protection plate has holes drilled in it so it'll drain out. To remove the oil filter, use a really large pair of channel locks to remove it. You could use on of the filter wrenches that slips over the end, kinda like a socket. But i dont know how you would ever get a ratchet on the end to remove that.
10th, once the oil filter is out, get your new one
note... (Mitsu says to use the same filter as is on the 3.0 liter v6 mivec eclipse. After getting your old one out, you will notice that any replacement you get is going to be the same length, but a diffrent overall diameter. This is not a problem, the filter gaskets are the same size so your good. One thing I would like to note here, is that the 3.8 liter mivec v-6 uses the smaller diameter filter like the one you just took off. I know because I checked them at the store that both filter gaskets on both the 3.0ltr, and the 3.8ltr are the same, so I dont know why you couldnt use the one from the 3.8, but i am going with mitsu on this one)
11th. open one quart of your new oil (I used mobil1 5-30) dip your finger in it, and lightly coat the oil filter gasket of the new filter. Then pour some oil into the filter slowly, and watch it get absorbed. This is to be sure that once you fill up the motor with new oil, that you dont get an improper reading once the filter fills up with oil.
12th. Take the filter and holding it vertically, pull the little underbody thingy out of the way. and slid the filter up and onto the oil filter threads (dont worry, its gonna take you a minute to get this right since you cant see it) Turn the filter until you feel it contact the engine block. then turn it one more full rotation, and then another quarter. (some people may say more, some will say less, but better tight than falling off)
13th, add 4 quarts of oil to the motor, down the oil filler hole
14th, lower the car down to the ground, and then add another half a quart (mitsu says 4.2 quarts, took me 5 to get it full)
15th, clean the floor under the car, and check for leaks
16th, start the car and let it idle for 8 seconds. no longer then turn it off
17th, start the car again and let it idle for 15 seconds, and turn it off for 30sec.
18th, re-check for leaks and your good to go.

good luck guys

 

oops, edit that, its a 17mm socket just didnt hit the right buttons

 

By the way good write up, I'm just getting ready to switch to synthetic, one question. When draining the old oil and putting in synthetic there is no need to run the engine for a few miles and the change oil again with more synthetic, I got in to an argument with a guy from work who strongly believed this. Please tell me this is not true, if so I will end up spending near $100 for a freaking switch to synthetic.

 

no, i have never heard this, and cant think of any reason why that would be neccessary
thats just throwing away money.
what little tiny bit of conventional oil is left in the motor will mix fine with the synthetic.
There is no way that i have ever found to remove ever single trace of old oil in the motor.

 

Sorry for digging up something old but was searching for a related topic and found this. Thought I'd share my experience.

I usually remove the drain plug first followed by the oil filter. Last thing to open up is the filler cap on top. Reasons is I want the vacum to slow the flow when I first open the drain plug so I don't get a big surge soon as the plug is loose.

Good write up though, especially about where things are hidden from sight. The Outtie sure makes it hard to DIY.

 

For an import, I findit not too bad for DIY. But its nothing like my dad's old 77 Ltd wagon - you could literally crawl under the hood!

 

Anybody know the part number for the oil filter? And perhaps an estimate of how much an oil change will cost (filter, oil)? and how much oil to buy? I just might try doing the thing myself after I use up all the discount tickets the dealer gave me.

 

I bought 5 quarts of syn moble 1 and pureone oil filter for 34.44$ total. It took 4 full quarts and about 1/4 of the last quart. It for some reason is extrememly hard to read the dip stick. Everytime you put it back down both sides get covered with oil. I waited about a hour to check it again. I also had the drain plug gasket leak on me after 3 weeks. The gasket on there is a metal one. Its directional as well. But that wasnt my problem. I got back under there and tighted it some more and it still leaked.I found the leak at 530 after all the dealers were closed for the day and had to go to napa auto parts and buy a teflon like material gasket (Never rubber). That did the job and its still on there now. Its been on there for a week now. I do have 4 more metal replacement gaskets sitting on my computer desk in front of me for next time. My GFs dad is a mechanic and got 20 and a drain plug through the shop and game me the plug and gaskets for free. Im thinking the metal ones are one time use only because mine was really crushed after tightening it more to stop the leak. Dont go nuts with the drain plug Im pretty sure the pan is aluminum and you can probly strip out the threads.

 

My 04 lancer RAhadthe samemetal gasket as well, it lasted me well over 30,000 miles, they are NOT a one time use. I've changed the oil on my outy 4 times since I bought it, as long as you wipe it clean and install it back the same way you removed it, you should be fine for a long time.

 

I never took it off the drain plug and when I took it off to see why it was leaking I checked to make sure it was on the right way and it was. It might have been bad from the start or was tightened too much when they put it together in the plant. I did clean the pan off and the bolt. Oh well I got it fixed and a new metal one will go on when I change the oil for the winter months.