both oil and air. Head out to the garage to drain the oil and replace the oil filter.

Find the oil plug and start the drain step.

Huh......can't find the oil filter cover. On the MINI Cooper is was on the back of the engine. Look back there. Nope. It's not there. Into the house, log onto the this site. Ah hah. It's under that black cover in the front. Sweet! Haven't even got my hands dirty yet. Replace the oil filter, put the drain plug back in, pour in the 5 qts of Pennzoil Platinum. Done in 15 minutes and that includes logging on to the site! I'm liking this.

Now, the air filter.

Mmmmm...I know it's in there somewheres. Gotta be in the big black "thing" sitting on top of the engine. Sheesh......well....how in tarnation are you supposed to get the old one out and the new one in.

Back into the house....log back onto the site.

What's this? It's a 13 step process just to get it off the engine and opened up?????

Undo this......pull off that........unscrew this.....and then pull the whole thing up first this way and then that way. Seven torx screws off then back on. Push the big black "thing" back on this way then that way and connect/screw all back together.

Well....for goodness sakes.......start to finish for the air filter was 30 minutes!!! Sure it was my first time. But golly folks......30 minutes? Probably will be able to do it in about 15 next time.

Interesting thing tho......hands are still clean.

Huh? What's that you ask? Oh, you ask how long it takes to change the air filter on my wifes 4Runner? Hmmmm....about 15 seconds. But it does take about 20 minutes to do the oil what with the skidplate and location of the oil filter.

So I did the HHR first, then had a cup of coffee before doing the 4Runner.

Hands got real dirty this time.

Then I had breakfast.

 

I did the same thing brother. Looked at it and decided to consult " The ones that came before me " to tackle both air and oil. After the how-to review, I did the K&N A/F replacement in about 15 minutes. The oil change w/Mobil 1 took 20 minutes and thats w/cleaning up too. I used a crescent wrench to remove the oil filter cap. What I liked is no dripping on ground at all. Way Cool.

 

Sweet, makes me sound hopeful for doing my own oil changes.

It's a pain with my Marquis. Two oil drain plugs, oil filter is tucked in the middle of the engine. Took me over an hour to do my first oil change on it. My 12 quart oil pan didn't even fit underneath the car. I was filthy afterwards.

I'll need about an oil change a month, so if I can do it myself that quick, it'll help out a lot!

 

How far are you planning on driving in a month?

I replaced my air filter at 50,000 miles. It was actually still quite clean and the only reason why I didn't leave it in was because I had gone to so much trouble taking the box apart. I think the felt-lined intake tube really cuts down on the larger particulates.

On the amount of trouble it takes to get to the element, that's a consequence of NVH engineering. When you're trying to quiet down an engine that everyone says is "thrashy", whatever that means, you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

Wait till you change spark plugs!