17 of 25: Changing my Oil with Corey

Corey is simply put  – a ‘go to guy.’  He is always there to lend a hand, a tool or even a guitar. He is one of the friendliest and easiest to be around people we know. He also harbours a ridiculous amount of practical knowledge.  I’ll bet that Corey alone could have taught me 25 different things for my New Year’s resolution! We are so lucky to be friends with someone so talented and generous with his time and expertise(s), not to mention, he is married to my favourite Scottish Country Dancer, and son-in-law to an expert tomato sauce maker.

Corey and I enjoying his pre oil change ritual of Timmy’s on the front porch.

After tossing a few ideas around, we decided that he would teach me to change the oil in my car! This is something I’ve always wanted to learn, and I knew Corey would be an awesome teacher. So early one Saturday we drove to Canadian Tire so that Corey could show me what I needed to buy before I could do my oil change.

Canadian Tire was our first stop. So many different types of oil…

Corey taught me that there are 3 types of oil – conventional, semi-synthetic and synthetic. He recommends using synthetic oil because it is less viscous and doesn’t break down as easily. It is important he said to ensure your oil doesn’t get too think (especially in the winter) because you want it moving quickly through your engine. Most of your engine wear happens when you first turn your car on, and the quicker you can get your oil moving, the less wear there is on your engine. We got some great synthetic oil that was on sale, next stop was filters!

There is a great chart at Canadian tire that tells you what oil filter model to buy based on your car’s age and make. This is me looking up our 2006 Corolla.

After a quick stop at Timmy’s we headed back to Corey’s place, thankfully he already owns all of the other things needed for an oil change.

Oil pan, ratchet, gloves, ramps, plastic bag for garbage, and paper towels.

We lined the ramps up with the car tires, and although I was bit nervous to drive up on them (didn’t want to drive off the end of them!), I got up on them just fine.  Then Corey got his dolly out and I wheeled under to take a look!

I loved looking under the car. I’d never actually done that before, and found it totally fascinating! Corey explained to me what was what and how it all connected together.

Next step was to empty the used oil out of the car into the oil pan. We had used my car to drive to Canadian Tire, so it was still warm when we were emptying it. I was scared the oil would burn me, but Corey assured me I would be okay, the (scary, black, murderer) gloves I had on would protect my hands. He was right, I was all good, but the oil did feel pretty warm still!

Here is the old oil pouring out of the oil pan after I took the stopper out.

One thing Corey kept emphasizing was to always clean up any little bit of oil that spills on your hands, the tarp or your clothes. I’m not always good at being ‘neat’ so it was a helpful reminder, and once I started doing the oil change, it became clear how easy it would be to accidentally smear it all over the place.

Here is Corey ensuring I got the bolt properly tightened so I wouldn’t leak oil when we poured the new oil in. He also helped me get the old oil filter off – it was screwed on preeeeety tightly!

We put the new filter in, and then poured the fresh oil in. After double checking the oil level was good, we cleaned up the old oil into an empty container to drop back off at Canadian Tire. They are happy to take it and recycle it for you for free! Who knew!?! (well, Corey did of course!)

Corey carefully pouring the old oil into a container to be recycled. Note the scary, black, murderer gloves.

Then Corey wouldn’t let me leave until we (but mostly he) washed my car. James nor I make the time to wash our car very often, so you can imagine it gets pretty dirty. Well Corey is a car washing aficionado, so he got all of his stuff out and we washed that car until it shined!

 

 

Thanks so much Corey for teaching me to change my own oil, and for washing my car!

 

I am on the home stretch! Only 8 more things to learn and 3 months to do it! I’ve got one allllllmost done, and three scheduled in the calendar. If you have something you’d like to teach me for my resolution this year – let me know soon so I can make sure it happens! I’ve got 4 openings between now and December 31st – what can you teach me?