embarrassing oil change attempt - corolla sportivo

[losties]

hey guys

so my first attempt to change my oil failed miserably!!! i started off by jacking the car up with a hydraulic jack in the front where it is recommended to jacl up in the manual. Anyway that part is fine until i realise that i've jacked up all the way up to its limit and the jack stands wont even fit under the car to hold the chassis rail. i got so annoyed so i decided to jack the car on the side from the driver side. I jacked it up half way and i hear this loud clanking noise, so i quickly lower the car again and realise that i had a dent in the chassis rail by trying to jack it up from the side. these are my specs for my equipment:

1700kg hydraulic jack from autobarns

3000kg jack from supercheapauto

they are the same jack stands as the one in this thread, but just the 3000kg version.

http://au.toyotaowne...engine%20%20oil

anyway here are some pictures if they help, i wanted to get this oil change quickly and fast. I can get under the car without the stand but it's a very tight fit. i think that if i jack the car from behind it would raise the slump plug by 45 degree making it quite hard to drain the oil. also note that in the pictures the pins havent gone onto the car so even at the lowest point of the stand the car jack still wont fit. tell me how you jacked up and your car and where u put your stands i would be appreciated of your advice

Edited July 24, 2012 by losties

[95celica]

unfortunatly those smaller jacks are only pretty good for small jobs like changing tyres and stuff. You can put a small piece of wood on the jack to get a bit more height but ifs not advisable. You should put your stands on the bottom of the sill panel. there should be a cut out or marking for where you would put your scissor jack. Thats a fairly strong point. Another easy way to get under the car is to drive 1 side up on the gutter and the other side on the road. that should give you enough room under the car. Hope this helps

[123R-Prozak]

Book says jack it up from the seal, not there, that's weak, the seal! It has to bumps on the seal where to jack it from, it's just being the side skirts...

[losties]

unfortunatly those smaller jacks are only pretty good for small jobs like changing tyres and stuff. You can put a small piece of wood on the jack to get a bit more height but ifs not advisable. You should put your stands on the bottom of the sill panel. there should be a cut out or marking for where you would put your scissor jack. Thats a fairly strong point. Another easy way to get under the car is to drive 1 side up on the gutter and the other side on the road. that should give you enough room under the car. Hope this helps

Book says jack it up from the seal, not there, that's weak, the seal! It has to bumps on the seal where to jack it from, it's just being the side skirts...

5celica and 123R-Prozak in the link that i had provided in the first post, if u go onto it and scroll down to where rollarollin post about jack safety stand you can see that he has provided 2 images of what seems to be the consequences of putting the jack stand or jacking up from the seal (first picture, where he recommends not jacking up from that area). 5celica can u tell me why my stands or hydraulic jack arent good? sorry i dont get that part since the car was well within the specification, the hydraulic jack and stands that i got arent the OEM one that comes wiht the car like tools that came with changing tyres.

thanks for replying and i hope to hear from you soon thanks :D

[123R-Prozak]

Chillax bro seems like ur upset using bold? Don't use bold.. Seeing this is your first, I can roughly say I do, or did, jack up 5 cars a day maybe more, going on 5 years

[SuperDave]

Even if you just jack it up and put a brick under the wheel, it will probably sit high enough to slide under. The old drive up the gutter trick mentioned by 95celica is a good ghetto way of getting underneath if you lack a big jack.

For future reference I'd recommend a block of wood on top of that style jack, the 4 knobs tend to put excess pressure on the jack point and cause the damage you have shown.

When I'm working under the car I can need 2-3 jacks at times depending on what I'm trying to line up. I use that jack you have for lighter things like suspension and the engine. To get more height I have a wood sleeper cut to the shape of the jack. It fits between the front and rear wheels and gains me an extra 50mm. Plus it is fairly wide so is pretty stable also.

Hope that helps you out of the bind.

[95celica]

sorry dude if you found my post offensive, Theres nothing wrong with your jack and stands. Yes your jack is rated fine for the weight of your car, It just lacks the height you need thats all. I used to have the same problem, I finally had enough and bought a bigger jack, But I do use it nearly every weekend being a mechanic myself so it payed for itself straight away. For you who uses it every once and a while yours is perfectly fine, and good for you trying to do it yourself. should be more of it.

[GHOSTIVO]

first time i jack it up from the sill panel,i notice the teeth section( cut/marking spot) was abit damage. but i know it wasn't me that did it.must of been the old owner.

[CHA54]

dont jack the car up from the sill panel unless you're using the supplied scissor jack or purchase a poly block to fit the rail properly so it doesn't get damaged by your trolley jack. I see so many cars with flattened sill sections from people using trolley jacks on the scissor jack sections it's not funny.

Jack the car up from the jack point on the north-south subframe under the engine, that tiny little jack wont lift it very high, but it will be enough to get something under the wheels so you can get at the sump plug.

[rollaurion]

Maybe just buy some ramps if you are planning regular oil changes. You can buy the longer, less graduated ones which work for heavily lowered cars like mine. Makes life pretty easy comparer to fecking around with jacks....

[aznjack26]

Don't buy ramps their not stable and might not give you clearance on the front bar, buy a garage jack for about $300 or something and do it properly.

You can jack from the chassis rails or sub frame, I jack it from the center of the sub frame & then place 2 jack stands on each side