LB7 Oil Change Guide

The first thing to do in the process is to drain the old oil out of the engine. The drain plug on the bottom of the oil pan is a 5/8ths head bolt, so any socket or wrench in that size should work. Make sure that you have at least a 3 gallon drain pan under the plug before you remove it.

When you drain the oil; remove the filler cap while draining, The oil will drain a little faster and more completely.

On LB7 Duramax trucks there is a drain plug on the bottom of the oil filter housing that should be removed to allow the lines leading to the filter to drain as well while you check out other fluids. This will keep you from getting covered in oil when you remove the filter. It also reduces the amount of drain time for the whole job while getting more of the dirty oil out of the system.

While the oil is draining, it is time to check your other fluids. Including, in no specific order, the power steering fluid, windshield washer fluid, coolant level, brake fluid, Transmission/ Clutch fluid in the engine compartment.



This particular truck has a manual transmission. To check the fluid look behind the brake master cylinder and you will see the clutch fluid reservoir.

With an automatic transmission, the filler/dipstick tube will be to the rear of left side of the engine...



Continued below...

 

You will want to check to make sure that all of the fluids are filled to the recommended levels, and that they look good.(Checking that they do not have debris or excessive discoloration due to over use or abuse of the systems) and change them or add to them as needed.

Once this is done, it is a good idea to check the grease fittings in the suspension and steering linkages. You should fill them until grease just starts to come out of the edges of the fittings. This should be done at every oil change. There are several under the front end of the vehicle and a couple of them can be hard to see and reach. It is a good idea to have a grease gun with a flexible end so that you can get to those hard to reach fittings.

It is also a good idea to clean these fittings with a wire brush before you add grease to them. This will insure that you also do not get dirt in the bushings that may cause premature wear. Once you have done these other steps, it is time to go ahead and refill the oil.
Start by removing the old filter and installing the new filter.
If you want to better protect your oil and engine it is a good idea to pay the little extra cost involved with purchasing a good filter by a company that offers good synthetic oils, such as Amzoil, Mobile 1, etc. Yes, they cost a little more, but they filter better, and provide protection against smaller dirt particles, so that you can maximize the effectiveness of the Synthetic oil that you are using.
(Myth: Synthetic Oil does not function well under extreme loads and should not be used in heavy duty applications. This is False. These oils have been engineered to perform as well if not better than conventional oils in all applications.)

Now that you have your filter ready to install, go ahead and get some fresh oil on you finger
and soak the ring seal of the filter. This will insure a good seal with the filter housing during installation. After doing this, go ahead and thread the filter back onto the filter housing and tighten it to finger tight position.
Now, this is very important, you do not want to OVER tighten the filter. Take your filter wrench and tighten the filter just past the point of finger tight. Over tightening the filter can not only damage your filter, it can also damage your housing.
Once the filter is installed, and the other fluids in your truck have been checked; it is time to add the oil.

These trucks call for ten quarts of oil.

http://www.thesuperiorsynthetic.com/
Once you have poured about eight quarts in,
At this point, add about 1/2 quart at a time to insure accuracy. And work your way up to the proper level. You do not want to overfill the oil This may cause you problems down the road.

I Sincerely Hope this helps those who have never changed their own oil before...
Let us know how it goes for you!!!
Good Luck!

 

Nice right up

 

I could ad some pics of the AMZOIL oil I used if you wanted me to...

 

Appreciate that. I suppose one could just click on my website link and go to the diesel owner's page

 

if you want, I will make the pic a link to your site...

Here goes...




Okay, done...

 

Good write up, bud. Thank you.