Grady1

Take it to a dealer! In 30 years of owning vehicles and changing my own oil, I have never dealt with a bigger PITA than this new Impala.

It is dam near impossible to jack up. The front has to be done one side at a time, which is not the safest way of doing things. The rear jacking point is completely covered up by the Y pipe. And last but not least the oil filter is at a "who is the &^%*n idiot that designed this" location. Other than that it's a piece of cake. Thoughts?

sledge.impy

I've always jacked one side at a time.

Haven't even looked underneath yet to attempt. But you're scaring me bro.

blueinterceptor

How difficult would it be to change a tire?

tech2

get the engine nice and hot so you can burn your hand on the manifold getting the filter off.
Don't know why anyone would want to risk losing powertrain warranty doing their own oil changes.

blue-impala

What is the risk ?

blue-impala

I don't know of any front wheel drive vehicles that can be jacked up from the center, it's always been from the side, one side at a time unless you have a hoist. It's no worse than any FWD Drive car to jack up. I have done oil changes on my 2014 Impala, the oil filter is not that hard to get at, it's not the greatest, but far from being the worst to get at.

If using a jack bothers you, why not get a set of ramps to use for your oil changes ?

Grady1

'09 Impala and quite a few more than I could list. Yeah ramps are great, 'cept you play he!! trying to rotate tires with ramps!


Really? You must have gotten a different manual than I did, because NO WHERE in mine did it say anything about me not being able to change my oil or risk the warranty.

blue-impala

I had an 01 Impala, much the same as the 09 underneath. You were probably lifting it on the engine cradle which is possable, but I would not recommend it, the cradle was not designed to support the weight of the car and I do not think it is a recommended lift point. The 01-05 had a aluminum engine cradle, I do not know if GM stayed with that through the last generation of the W-Body or went back to a stamped steel cradle.

Frank3

Jack it up? Not going to even try. I've been using ramps and they work on VERY nice on my Volt, Tahoe and Impala for oil/filter changes. For tire rotation, I let the dealer do the Volt and I go to the Tire Store where I bought the tires for the 2002 Tahoe. Free Rotation for life, how can you go wrong? I'm not bustin' my back trying to get it done. I usually double-check the lug torque when I get home.

tech2

lets say you have an oil related problem: engine failure, oil consumption, engine knock, camshaft actuator failure. Any manufacturer can ask for service records. if you do your own oil changes, how will you prove they were done at the correct interval and using the correct oil.
Your right, its not in the manual. You better believe it something that will be checked by a dealership before they do a warranty repair.


You saying you changed it with part receipts but no documentation showing a vin, date, mileage etc. won't cut it. Homemade repair order's
don't work either.
dealers even have to supply gm with photos of the ecm and tcm calibrations to warranty a engine or transmission. If they aren't correct... no warranty. That's not in the owner's manual either.


All my oil changes are documented properly through the shop until the powertrain coverage is over.