Do it yourself Oil Change on Newmar class a gas motorhome

[donw1019]

I like doing small amounts of service work. Is there any reason I should not change to oil and filter on my motorhome??????

[willald]

I also change the oil myself on our Newmar (see signature). Am actually fixing to do that this week, as ours is due for one.

For putting new oil in, like a previous poster, I use a funnel on a long (about 3') hose, that I slide in the oil filler and run up over the 'hood', funnel usually sits close to windshield wipers when I'm refilling. Yes, you may need a step stool for this depending on your height. I'm just tall enough that its not necessary. Yes, you can use a 5 quart container of oil, I do.

Be very, very patient, when putting in the new oil. Oil goes down that long tube slowly, and very easy to pour too fast and spill it down the front. Done that more than once.

Getting old oil and filter out and replacing oil filter underneath is not much different than any other vehicle. Its a little tough to worm yourself under there, but once you get down there, there's plenty of room to move around. Yes, the front suspension bar going across right where oil comes out is annoying, but easy to work around.

I know this is a whole nother subject/debate, but I highly recommend you use full synthetic oil. Gasser motorhome engines work very hard all the time, and it is very expensive and labor intensive if the engine ever needs any major work, so I do all I can to insure it will last.

Resetting the oil life meter is a whole nother story. The manual Ford provided with ours is incorrect and out of date. It indicated a procedure involving turning ignition on, pressing gas pedal so many times, etc. to reset the monitor. That doesn't work anymore. Now, you do it via the menu, settings on the display. I believe it was under 'Driver aids', as I recall from the last time (took me a while to get that done first time, as I kept trying to use the procedure the manual provided, which wouldn't work).

[PastorCharlie]

I change oil and filter on my Newmar and the fill is on left, passenger, side up toward top beside the coolant fill. It has the word OIL on it. The check oil dipstick is on the right side. The filter is easy to R&R. Oil is no problem to drain and fill. I throw a small tarp under mine and lay on it, plenty room. 10 minute job.

[donw1019]

Thanks so much. I now know where the oil filler cap is and have reset the change engine oil warning on the instrument cluster. I have the oil and am ready to go.

Thanks everyone. This forum is great.

[Oldtymeflyr]

You can get a Ford F53 manual on line. My manual on page 115 shows the oil fill location.

Open the front service hood. There should be a fill spout on the right front of the engine. I have to use a long flexible neck funnel to get the oil in.

I change my oil. A Futomo type valve is a real help.

[donw1019]

Here is the latest. First I appreciate all the responses. Second I can get under from the drivers side on a creeper very easy. But I still can't find the oil filler place under the hood. I sort of remember seeing the dealer once messing from the ver ver very top of the open hood in front of the drivers seat but I still do not see a filler cap. I will call Newmar on Monday unless one of you can tell exactly hoow to find it. I do thank everyone.

[Alan_Hepburn]

donw1019 wrote:
It cost me 300.00 for 7 qts oil and filter. That is what got me wanting to do it my self. Last time I had it done it was 375.00 because of disposing the oil and everything else they could tag on.

Just recently did our motorhome - it's on a Workhorse chassis, with the 8.1L engine. it takes 6.4 quarts of 5w/30 oil at around $50 depending on sales, and an AC Delco PH454 filter at around $5 depending on sales. And about 30 minutes of my time.

[Grit_dog]

enblethen wrote:
donw1019: You got ripped off! Check around at some of the quickie lube type places and even some of the Walmarts do MHs.

He just got extra ripped off. The Jippo Lube places are still a pretty good ripoff. 7-8qt gasser pickup oil changes around here are in the $150 range. For what amounts to about $50 in materials (retail…) and $100 for saving me an hour of my own time. Which doesn’t actually save any time because it takes at least an hour to go get it done. $100 an hour being about what I make at work, I can make an extra hour of income or spend an hours worth of income in the same amount of time. So it’s actually worth $200 to do it myself.

A concept many people don’t understand.

[enblethen]

donw1019: You got ripped off! Check around at some of the quickie lube type places and even some of the Walmarts do MHs.

[donw1019]

It cost me 300.00 for 7 qts oil and filter. That is what got me wanting to do it my self. Last time I had it done it was 375.00 because of disposing the oil and everything else they could tag on.

[Grit_dog]

Chum lee wrote:
Depending on who installed the last oil filter and how long it's been there, you may need a special oil filter wrench to remove the existing filter. In the future, if you use the correct OEM oil filter (Motorcraft FL-820S) and install it correctly (coat gasket with oil and hand tighten only) you won't ever need the oil filter wrench again.

Chum lee

Can’t refute that, just never really seen a vehicle oil filter that would come back off by hand.
There’s been a couple out of the hundreds of thousand oil changes, but that tells me they weren’t tight enough or somehow loosened up.

Not great advice imo for someone who’s already afraid to change oil, to have them trying to get it “just” tight enough to save needing a tool to remove the next time.

[JRscooby]

I have several filter wrenches. Can get filter off of most anything. But after I had messed with band and clamp wrenches a few times decided I'm going to keep this the rest of my life, I'm going to buy the wrench designed for this filter
Makes it much easier.
And because I no longer have a place to store a dirty drain pan, I have started using a couple trash bags and boxes. Catch oil in bag lined box. Use the 2nd to catch miss when put little hole in bag of oil to put used back in bottle to take to recycler. Bags picked up by trash hauler.

[oldave]

I change the oil on my diesel which is really messy black used oil and lots of it, but all of that makes it cost a lot to have someone else do it.

Yours may not cost quite so much, have you checked?

[Rocky2]

JoeH wrote:
If you plan to continue to do it yourself, I recommend that you replace the drain plug with a fumoto valve with the nipple on it for attaching a hose. That way, when you drain the oil, you don't have the mess caused by splashing on the front axle.

Best add on I've made. Adding the Fumoto valve eliminated both the mess and any reluctance to get on the creeper and just do it.

[JoeH]

If you plan to continue to do it yourself, I recommend that you replace the drain plug with a fumoto valve with the nipple on it for attaching a hose. That way, when you drain the oil, you don't have the mess caused by splashing on the front axle.