How to Change Engine Oil 2003-11 Honda Element

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Hey, everyone. Sue here from one A Auto. Today on our 06 Honda Element, we're doing an oil change. If you need any parts for your car, click on the link below and head on over to 1aauto.com.

First thing I like to do is look at the oil cap. It says five W20, so I got the correct oil. I open the cap and I just place it. That tells me there's no oil in it, 'cause when I raise it and drain it I get to know that. And there's your dipstick, so I leave it propped up. Now I'm gonna raise it on a two post lift. You can use a jack or jack stand at home.

Drain plug is located on the oil pan in the back side of it, and it is a 17 millimeter wrench or socket. Break it free. I get my catch pan. Now I'm going take the oil filter out. The oil filter is located on the right side, passenger side, of the back of the engine block. You can see the filter, it's a blue filter, from here. I'm going to put my oil filter wrench on that then break it free.

There we go. Now I got my catch basin lined up below that because you will lose oil. This is where I take my new filter and I open the box and I place it down in, so it's stable and it doesn't wobble around, and I prime it. Priming means basically I'm gonna add. I'm gonna fill it up with the new oil. I'm gonna just let it soak right into the filter and I'll just let it settle down and I'll check it in one to two minutes, top it off again. It's called priming the filter. You still take account of how much oil add in there for the capacity of the car, it just stops a dry start. Anyone that works on engines ... this is just like a common practice.

Now before I put my new filter on, I take a rag and I'm going to clean the surface. I want this old oil off. I want to make sure there's no debris, and the other thing is you make sure that the old gasket is gone. Sometimes they stick there, and if you don't do this and you don't look, you put the new oil filter on--it's called double gasketing. Oil will come out like a shower when you start this up.

So now we're going to put the new filter in with the oil in the center, so some oil will come out when you tip it. I did dab my finger on the new oil, and I coated the gasket with the fresh oil so I don't have a dry gasket. That's pretty common practice. I actually have some people use dirty oil. I don't know about you, but that makes zero-point-zero sense to me. Okay, so I'm going by blind here. There we go. We're going to clean this area with some parts cleaner after. It's pretty common to make a mess. So it's snug. Now I'm going to get a clean rag, or a rag on my hand 'cause it's kinda slippery, and I'm gonna turn this, snug it down. Basically overall it's probably another quarter to a half a turn, that's it.

Now I'm going to clean that area. I'm gonna take a good look at the drain plug in the gasket. Looks in good shape, and I know that it was installed new on the last oil change, so I'm gonna keep it on there. There's no cuts in it and it's not crushed yet. So my oil is just dripping. I could be here for four hours, but I'm gonna close it off now 'cause it's not a stream, it's just dripping. Snug it then I grab my 17 millimeter wrench. Bottomed out right there and I'm literally going an eighth of a turn, that's it, quarter at the most. Wipe it clean, and we're ready to bring it down and add the oil.

So now we're going to add the oil. I'm using a full synthetic, not a synthetic blend: this car is high mileage like you would expect from an 06, but it's still running and it runs good, so I just wanna keep it that way. So it takes five quarts of oil with the new filter. So now that we've added all our oil, we're gonna take the funnel off and make sure you put the cover back on, snug it, and push that oil dipstick down. We're gonna start it, let it run for two minutes, shut her off, and then check our oil level.

Now I'm gonna grab the dipstick and I'm gonna pull it out. You're gonna clean it first before you check the oil 'cause it was running. Wipe it clean. Now with it clean you can see the actual indicator of where we want the oil to be. You've got the lower dot, that's one quart low, and the top dot is full. If it's somewhere in between that's perfect for the level. So drop it back down in. Make sure it sits all the way down. Bring it out. Let's see where our level is. We are right in the middle, that's pretty good. I'm gonna let it settle for a couple more minutes and re-check it.

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