Mechanic Monday: Nineties Chevrolet Suburban Oil Change DIY
Changing the oil on a large Chevrolet SUV with a 5.7-liter V8 will cost you less than $40.
If own a Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe, 1500 pickup or any of the comparable GMC vehicles from the GMT400 range and you want to cut back on automotive expenses, changing your own oil is an easy way to save a few bucks every 3,000 miles. If you aren’t sure that you have the mechanical know-how to change your own oil, you are in luck, as the Jonny DIY YouTube channel put together a great video showing just how easy it is to change the oil on all of these large GM trucks and SUVs.
The Introduction
The video begins with Jonny DIY explaining what he has in store for this video. His channel is chock full of interesting do-it-yourself projects of all sorts, not just automotive items, but in this video, he shows us how to change the oil on a Chevrolet Suburban with the 5.7-liter V8. He points out that due to the mechanical similarities between the Suburban, the Tahoe, the Chevy C/K trucks and all of the related GMC vehicles from 1988 through 1998, the basics of the oil change project are similar.
In most cases, all of these vehicles sit high enough off of the ground that you won’t need to jack the vehicle up or use ramps and the only tool that you are sure to need is a 15-millimeter wrench for the oil pan drain plug.
Step One – Warm Up the Engine
The first step in the instruction video is to warm up the engine of your Chevrolet or GMC, as this warmer oil does drain a bit better, but after warming up the engine, you want to make sure to let the engine sit at rest for 10 minutes to let the oil drain back down to the pan.
Step Two – Under the Hood
Next, you want to remove the oil fill cap, located on the driver’s side of the engine of your Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe or pickup. This cap will have the oil grade, which is 5w-30 in this case. You then want to stick your funnel in the fill spout as a reminder to put in the new oil.
Step Three – Out with the Old
As you head under the truck, you will want to locate your drain pan under the oil filter, on the driver’s side of the engine bay, above the front driveshaft on this four-wheel-drive Suburban. In most cases, you can loosen the filter with your hand, but if it is too tight, you can buy a filter wrench for a few dollars at any parts store.
Once you have unscrewed the filter, remove it from the undercarriage of your Chevrolet keeping it shiny side down, helping to prevent from dumping any hot oil in your face on the way out. Dump it in the drain pan and leave the pan there for a few minutes while the filter fitting drips out. Also, make sure that the gasket is on the old filter and not stuck to the engine, or you could run into a major headache later in the project.
In the case of this 5.7-liter-powered Suburban, the oil pan drain plug is in the same general area as the filter, so you should be able to have the drain pan under the dripping filter fitting while also draining the oil pan. You remove the oil pan plug with a 15-millimeter socket and after removing it, leave it out until the flow is down to an occasional drip. When removing the plug, try to remove it carefully with your fingers so that it doesn’t fall into the oil pan, lest you will have to fish it out of the dirty oil.
Step Four – In with the New
After a few minutes of draining, you can replace the oil plug and install the new oil filter. Before installing the filter, rub a bit of new oil on the gasket to help create a proper seal against the fitting on the engine. You only want to tighten it with your hand, as using a tool is unnecessary and can also create problems in the future.
At that point, you are done on the underside, and all that is left to do is all the new oil. Jonny is using 10w-30 even though the oil filler cap recommends 5w-30, but that won’t hurt anything. Once you have added the required amount of oil, you are done, but it is a good idea to start the engine, let it run for a minute and then check the oil level – making sure that it is in the cross-hatch area.
For those wondering, in doing a quick search online, we found that a good filter for one of these Chevrolet or GMC trucks and SUVs costs around $7 and five quarts of Mobil 1 10w-30 costs around $24. In other words, changing the oil yourself with a good filter and good oil will cost you less than $35 and with a little practice, the job will take you less than a half-hour.
