Oil Change in 3 litre 6 cylinder engine

[GaryLI]

My folks have an new '04 Outback with the 3.0 six cylinder engine. I'm going to their house to change the oil, so, since I've never been under the car, can you help me out?

 

(1) Where is the oil drain plug and can it be confused with any other plug under the car? The car is an automatic by the way.

 

(2) What size is the drain plug (i.e. 13mm, etc.)?

 

(3) Is the filter in plain view? Its currently has an OEM Subaru filter on it and I've sent OEM Subaru filters to their house via UPS from a vendor - are these the common width diameter or are they the narrow ones?

 

(4) Is the car high enough such that I don't have to jack it up?

 

(5) Is this a 6 quart sump? If not, how many quarts does it take?

 

I'm trying to avoid taking every wrench I have for a simple task. Thanks for any responses.

 

Gary

[MorganM]

1) Have to get the silly splash guard out of the way. Might have some turn and drop fasteners or small bolts (10mm) holding it to the body. If you can not get to it easily then you will have to jack it up. I'ld try w/o jacking it up first.

 

2) 14mm is what the Subaru tech said

 

3) Filter is right up front and easily noticed from below. Doubt you could miss it or mistake it for anything else. Same with the oil pan. It's dead center of the engine and the drain plug is on the bottom of it.

 

4) See #1

 

5) This is coverd in your owners manual under Capacities section I belive

 

Glad to see you opted for the H6 3.0 !_! That's quite a bit of NA power I bet. Also nice to see you doing this yourself and really enjoying every aspect of owning a tricked out Subaru.