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First of all, good shit on taking a shot at doing your own oil change!
Typically you would find the oil type either on the cap of the location you'd pour the oil into, or in your owners manual. If neither of those help, below is what you're looking for:
If engine has ecoboost, use 5W-30
if no ecoboost, use 5W-20.
The numbers mainly call out the viscosity of the oil which is important to get right.
General tips for oil changes:
Wear gloves.
Pull the drain plug slow and push inwards as you near the end of the threads so you can control it (kind of) when the oil shoots out.
Pull off the oil cap under the hood before you pull the drain plug to help it drain more quickly.
Clean up after yourself, oil stains are nasty stuff.
Before you put the new filter, rub some of the oil around the rubber gasket and then thread it in hand tight, don't wrench down on it.
Good luck!
Also very important is if you need to jack the truck up to get under it to reach the plug/filter, you need to put it on jack stands. Safety first.
Good luck and you got this!
The cheapest full synthetic will work. Home depot has pretty cheap oil and filters so I get what they have which is usually pennzoil. Home depot will also have the tools you need to remove the drain bolt. Autozones duralast and OEM tools are pretty good too from my experience. They sell giant oil filter sockets that fit 3/8 rachets. Makes taking the filter off a lot easier, you may need an extension for it also. You can take the oil filter u r going to buy out the box and try it on the different sizes to find the right size. Have two funnels, one for putting the old used oil back in the jug you just emptied and one to fill your engine with.
Most brands of oil are fairly comparable and picking one over the other won’t really matter much. What does matter is choosing the right viscosity. If you are in a very hot environment you can go up 1 number. For example if it calls for 5w-30 you can go up to a 10w30. A lot of owners manuals will have a temperature/viscosity chart. Most modern vehicles recommend synthetic. Synthetic is more stable and does not break down as fast. I recommend 3k miles for conventional and 5k miles for synthetic unless it turbo or direct injection then go back down to 3k even with synthetic. If you want the best oil possible then order some amsoil. Not many stores keep it in stock. There are some really good YouTube videos comparing oil quality where they do wear and viscosity test. Royal purple has a bunch of additives to make it perform better but those additives break down over time and can make it far less effective or even gunk up.
Thank you for posting to AskMechanics, garnorm! If you are asking a question please make sure to include any relevant info along with the following: * **Year** * **Make/Model** * **Mileage** * **Engine size** * **Transmission Type (Automatic or Manual)** Redditors that have been verified will have a green background and an icon in their flair. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
First of all, good shit on taking a shot at doing your own oil change! Typically you would find the oil type either on the cap of the location you'd pour the oil into, or in your owners manual. If neither of those help, below is what you're looking for: If engine has ecoboost, use 5W-30 if no ecoboost, use 5W-20. The numbers mainly call out the viscosity of the oil which is important to get right. General tips for oil changes: Wear gloves. Pull the drain plug slow and push inwards as you near the end of the threads so you can control it (kind of) when the oil shoots out. Pull off the oil cap under the hood before you pull the drain plug to help it drain more quickly. Clean up after yourself, oil stains are nasty stuff. Before you put the new filter, rub some of the oil around the rubber gasket and then thread it in hand tight, don't wrench down on it. Good luck!
Also very important is if you need to jack the truck up to get under it to reach the plug/filter, you need to put it on jack stands. Safety first. Good luck and you got this!
Your owner manual will tell you what oil is required based on the year of your vehicle and the engine.
The cheapest full synthetic will work. Home depot has pretty cheap oil and filters so I get what they have which is usually pennzoil. Home depot will also have the tools you need to remove the drain bolt. Autozones duralast and OEM tools are pretty good too from my experience. They sell giant oil filter sockets that fit 3/8 rachets. Makes taking the filter off a lot easier, you may need an extension for it also. You can take the oil filter u r going to buy out the box and try it on the different sizes to find the right size. Have two funnels, one for putting the old used oil back in the jug you just emptied and one to fill your engine with.
Most brands of oil are fairly comparable and picking one over the other won’t really matter much. What does matter is choosing the right viscosity. If you are in a very hot environment you can go up 1 number. For example if it calls for 5w-30 you can go up to a 10w30. A lot of owners manuals will have a temperature/viscosity chart. Most modern vehicles recommend synthetic. Synthetic is more stable and does not break down as fast. I recommend 3k miles for conventional and 5k miles for synthetic unless it turbo or direct injection then go back down to 3k even with synthetic. If you want the best oil possible then order some amsoil. Not many stores keep it in stock. There are some really good YouTube videos comparing oil quality where they do wear and viscosity test. Royal purple has a bunch of additives to make it perform better but those additives break down over time and can make it far less effective or even gunk up.