07 XL7 Oil Capacity and Location

p01ntb1ank · 07-02-2008, 08:13 PM

What's the capacity of oil needed? Where is the drain plug located? Where is the oil filter located? Size of bolt? Pics would be helpful.

Goaterguy · 07-03-2008, 10:44 AM

What's the capacity of oil needed? 5 US quarts

Where is the drain plug located? oil pan, rear

Where is the oil filter located? Front of the engine, over the frame. Somewhat difficult to get to, especially if its the first oil change. The factory tightens it too much.

Size of bolt? I think it's 13mm

Now, it looks like you want to do the oil change by yourself, correct me if I'm wrong but your questions are very basic so I will presume you don't have much knoledge related to vehicle maintenance.

I would suggest you to take it to a mechanic on the first oil change and tell him/her to tighten the oil filter by hand (the way it is supposed to be done) and to show you how he does it. You can do the next oil change with confidence.

An oil change is very cheap at most jiffylube like places, hell it cost me more to do an oil change myself than to pay someone else to do it. I do it because I know it's being done right, with the proper synthetic oil and I'm old school with preventive maintenance.

If you decide to change the oil yourself, always loosen and/or remove the oil filter before draining the oil from the engine (be careful not to tear a hole in the filter), this way if you cant remove the filter, you can still drive to a mechanic.

p01ntb1ank · 07-03-2008, 12:34 PM

thanks for the info. i'm still a little confused where the oil pan is. a picture would help. for the oil filter, do you take it out from under the car or under the hood? i have a oil filter wrench so i should be able to take it out. do you replace the crush washer on the drain plug or just reuse it? are they using synthetic or dino oil at jiffylube or places like this? i've changed oil on my subaru wrx and even modded it so i don't think this should be too much of a trouble.

p01ntb1ank · 07-05-2008, 06:04 PM

bump. i think i'll just take it to lupeexpress and watch them do it so i'll know how next time but for 19.99, i dont think they're putting synthetic. i heard horror stories about these guys overfilling though

Goaterguy · 07-07-2008, 08:24 AM

Just check the oil level when they are done. You can ask them to put synthetic oil, they will charge you extra.

p01ntb1ank · 07-07-2008, 10:20 PM

ended up just doing it on my own. didn't have time to change the oil filter though. it's pretty hard to get to. 5 quarts came out and i put 5 quarts in. i will replace the oil filter tomorrow. i drove a little and hopefully no oil will come out of the filter. it's pretty tight

Sofa King Cool · 07-21-2008, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p01ntb1ank

ended up just doing it on my own. didn't have time to change the oil filter though. it's pretty hard to get to. 5 quarts came out and i put 5 quarts in. i will replace the oil filter tomorrow. i drove a little and hopefully no oil will come out of the filter. it's pretty tight

That doesn't make much sense at all. The .5 quart of dirty oil still in the filter contaminated the new oil that you just put in. Always change the filter when you change the oil.

Sofa King Cool · 07-21-2008, 05:24 PM

[quote=Goaterguy;132189]What's the capacity of oil needed? 5 US quarts]

According to the Suzuki repair manual, it's 5.5 qts. US when replacing oil and filter.

Also be very careful tightening the drain plug-the torque spec is 18 ft/lbs. which is not very much more than hand tight (the 3.6 uses an aluminum oil pan). Overtightening it will strip the bolt or threads on the pan and then you're screwed.

Phil

Goaterguy · 07-23-2008, 09:43 AM

[quote=Sofa King Cool;133664]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goaterguy

What's the capacity of oil needed? 5 US quarts]

According to the Suzuki repair manual, it's 5.5 qts. US when replacing oil and filter.

Also be very careful tightening the drain plug-the torque spec is 18 ft/lbs. which is not very much more than hand tight (the 3.6 uses an aluminum oil pan). Overtightening it will strip the bolt or threads on the pan and then you're screwed.

Phil

Great find!
Is that manual available to the public? I looked in the owners manual and I couldn't find the capacity anywhere.
I even found that on pages 5-8 and 6-16, it specifies 5w30 synthetic oil but could not find the capacity.
I just used the fill and check the stick method and it was full with 5 qts.

p01ntb1ank · 07-24-2008, 04:14 AM

the oil filter is a real PITA to get to so i think im just going to take it to a place. when i was filling up the oil bottles to put the old oil, they were completely full with some to spare and did not change the oil filter. so either the place i went to last time overfilled it or it really is 5.5 quarts. i already put 2k on the oil from the passed 2-3 weeks because i went on vacation. should i just get another oil change now?