This page is one I have been asked for a few times- it is simple, but it is good to have some hints to follow. You will need a 17mm socket, about 5 quarts of oil, a pan for the used oil, a new crush washer for the drain pan nut, an oil filter wrench, and an oil filter. If you plan on being messy, shop towels and gloves will come in handy as well. If you should have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me.
The first thing I would recommend doing is to drive the car. This will heat up the oil and make the draining process much quicker. You need only run the car about 10 minutes to build enough heat to make the old oil flow well, and yet not make it dangerously hot in case you spill some on you. With the "fun run" over, it is time to start. There is a large 17mm nut on the oil pan that needs to be undone to drain the old oil out, as shown in the photo. This is rather tight from the factory, dealership, or quick change place, so I recommend a 1/2" drive socket be used for leverage. The "righty tighty, lefty loosy" rule applies to this nut.
An alternative to the large 17mm nut is the Fumoto Oil Drain Valve. It replaces the oil pan drain nut with a levered valve, and can be had in the "normal" version which I have (part F105) or with a nipple to attach a drain tube (part F105N). You can see it in the photo. Either way, you need to drain the old oil out.
This is what I use to drain the old oil into, though a shallow open pan will work just as well. The benefit of something of this nature is that you can more easily pour the old oil into the bottles from the new oil or another container for transport to the oil recycling center. I picked this up for about $10 at Walmart.
This is the oil drain nut. There is a "crush washer" that is slipped over this nut before it is tightened onto the oil pan. Make sure that the crush washer is removed from this nut (it could be stuck to the oil pan as well) before proceeding. Also, ensure the threads are clean of dirt and debris at this point, as you do not want to damage the threads or introduce any grit into the oil pan.
This is a new crush washer, which you place over the drain nut. Conventional wisdom says to place the "flat" side of the washer on the flat shoulder of the drain nut. Place the washer on the nut, and tighten it snugly back into the oil pan.
This is an oil filter wrench, this one being specifically sized to the Bosch filters I generally use in the winter (in the summer, I run an oil cooler with a huge K and N oil filter). Most of the time, the old oil filter will come off by hand, but if not, this is certainly cleaner than the "last resort" method of driving a screwdriver through the oil filter and turning it. Also fairly cheap- about $4.
And here we have the oil filter, located on the passenger side of the engine on my 2000 RS (most Subaru models place the filter here as well). Place your drain pan below the filter, and spin the old one off. This is guaranteed to be a bit messy, so have some shop towels handy. If you have an old plastic grocery bag handy, you can put it over the filter and spin it off through the bag; the bag will catch most of the mess. Now, place the old oil filter upside down on your drain pan so it will empty out.
From here, it's basically just the reverse of what you have done. I use Mobil 1 synthetic and the Bosch filter as personal preference. If you choose to use a Subaru filter, 4 cylinder naturally aspirated models get a 15208AA060, 4 cylinder turbo models get a 15208AA100, and 6 cylinder models get a SOA5165109, though any of the three filters will actually fit any engine just fine. Whatever fluids and filter you use, open your filter and one bottle of oil. There is a rubber seal on the base of your oil filter- dip your finger in the new oil and pre-lubricate this rubber O ring seal. Spin the new oil filter on hand tight, then give about 1/4 turn more to snug it down.
Things are fairly simple from here. Ensuring your oil filter is tight and your drain pan bolt is secure, open the oil filler cap located next to your dipstick and fill it to the capacity listed in your owner's manual (almost every Subaru I have ever worked on takes between 4 and 5 quarts). Try to keep from knocking any debris into the filler neck, as you do not need to make the oil filter's job any harder than it already is.
Pouring the oil out while holding the bottles like this prevents the "glugs" or "burps" of air that make it hard to control the flow of the oil. I do not use a funnel because it is not necessary if you are careful, and that would just be one more thing to clean up.
Before replacing the filler cap, make sure it is also free of dirt like you did for the drain pan bolt. Grit in the oil makes the engine unhappy!
At this point, you need to drive the car again. You need to circulate the oil and fill up the oil filter in order to get an accurate reading of the amount of oil in the pan. There are three marks on your dipstick- two holes and one notch. the bottom hole is the "low" mark, the top hole is the "full" mark, and the notch should be the maximum height of oil when the engine is hot. Too much oil can be frothed up by the crankshaft, which is just as bad as running with too little oil. If you have overfilled a bit, it is not too much of a worry. If you have overfilled by a great deal, gently back off the drain pan nut until it dribbles out for a bit, then recheck it. It is much harder to remove oil than it is to add it, so just be mindful when you are adding your new oil. You are now done- all that is left is to recycle your old oil or dispose of it properly. In some states, any place that sells oil is required to take back old oil. In some cases, the town/city takes care of this at a collection center or the town dump/recycling center.
Standard Disclaimer: Modification of your car involves risks and may void your warranty. I can not be held responsible for the modifications you consciously decide to undertake nor for the results of doing so.
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