I did the oil/filter for my daughter's '15 Impreza over the weekend and it was quite an eye opener for me.
I have only changed my Forester prior to this and it is pretty easy, I get plenty of clearance just by jacking up one side and then putting jack stands on both sides...hadn't touched my ramps in a while. I tried jacking up one side of the Impreza and didn't have nearly enough room to work, plus the other side didn't seem to come up that much and I wasn't very comfortable with how it looked (maybe my Forester is stiffer and the left/right stay more even?). I busted the ramps out and thought I could get it done then, but it was still quite tight and I was not able to operate my torque wrench very effectively as the drain plug sat at a pretty severe angle. I figured that I could get it off with a shorter wrench, but I really like to use a torque wrench for tightening the plug. To top it all off, I had assumed that the Impreza drain plug would be the same as mine and it wasn't, so I didn't have the right size of crush washer ready to go...I punted and decided to think about things before proceeding.
I was skiing the next day when it hit me that I had a darned oil extractor in the garage! I used it for the change later in the day with no issues.
The bad news is that the drain plug on the Impreza looked pretty bad when I checked to see if I had the right size of socket for it, rounded off somewhat and also gouged a bit. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to deal with that myself or let a dealer take care of it next time it's in for a major service.
Really didn't expect the little car to be such a hassle, guess I've been pretty fortunate with how easy it is to drop the plug on my car.
I have only changed my Forester prior to this and it is pretty easy, I get plenty of clearance just by jacking up one side and then putting jack stands on both sides...hadn't touched my ramps in a while. I tried jacking up one side of the Impreza and didn't have nearly enough room to work, plus the other side didn't seem to come up that much and I wasn't very comfortable with how it looked (maybe my Forester is stiffer and the left/right stay more even?). I busted the ramps out and thought I could get it done then, but it was still quite tight and I was not able to operate my torque wrench very effectively as the drain plug sat at a pretty severe angle. I figured that I could get it off with a shorter wrench, but I really like to use a torque wrench for tightening the plug. To top it all off, I had assumed that the Impreza drain plug would be the same as mine and it wasn't, so I didn't have the right size of crush washer ready to go...I punted and decided to think about things before proceeding.
I was skiing the next day when it hit me that I had a darned oil extractor in the garage! I used it for the change later in the day with no issues.
The bad news is that the drain plug on the Impreza looked pretty bad when I checked to see if I had the right size of socket for it, rounded off somewhat and also gouged a bit. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to deal with that myself or let a dealer take care of it next time it's in for a major service.
Really didn't expect the little car to be such a hassle, guess I've been pretty fortunate with how easy it is to drop the plug on my car.
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