This is the largest oil change I have ever done. It took 42 quarts of oil. To put it in perspective, most cars take about five quarts of oil.
I got lucky this year with "coupon stacking." Tractor Supply Company was having a sale on Delvac 1300 15W40, a dinosaur-based oil and ExxonMobil was giving a rebate. I stacked the two to make what is $165.00 worth of oil cost me only $38.50. This will probably be the lowest price I will ever pay for an oil change on the bus.
At the normal price I feel like I am putting at least one ExxonMobil employee's children through college. ;) Hi Tom...
Draining out that much oil was going to be a challenge, but luckily for me, a previous owner installed a Femco oil drain valve on the oil pan. Here is the manufacturer's video to show you how it works.
The only downside I see to the Femco valve is it lowers the ground clearance of the drain valve by about one inch. On our bus this is not a problem as its location is such that I doubt it would ever come in contact with anything while driving. Here it is with the dust cover installed.
Our bus has an air ride system that I can air up to raise the bus about five inches (I have never measured it) so it is like putting the entire bus up on a set of ramps. This allows me enough clearance to wiggle underneath the bus and change the oil.
Now where to put the used oil... This past year we winterized the bus (hopefully for the last time) and I saved the empty antifreeze jugs. I was able to drain the oil one gallon at a time thanks to the Femco drain valve. NICE.
Here is the new oil and filter ready to go into the bus. the extra gallon in the photo below will be going into the generator when I get to change its life blood.
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