This webpage shows how to change the oil in a Saab 9-5 or 9-3 (1999-2003), as well as NG900 series cars. The oil change is a simple Do It Yourself car task which doesn't require a great deal of experience or expensive tools. You may not even get dirty while changing the oil. If you have never changed your own car's oil, but would like to learn, this document and your owners manual may be sufficient instruction. For recommendations on oil choice, consult your owners manual and the community at The Saab Network.

Click on any photo for a more detailed image

Tools and Supplies:

Many of the tools you may already have or want anyways. Consumables in this example are roughly $25 (oil and filter). More expensive than a quick-lube-place with cheap oil, and less expensive than a dealership with synthetic oil. 1 piece of cardboard to protect the garage floor paper towels small plastic bag or latex glove oil filter (see a saabnet sponsor for Saab oil filters) ($5) oil (a minimum of 4 quarts of synthetic is recommended) ($5 per quart) wheel ramps ($40-100) or floor jack ($30-300) oil filter wrench ($10) a flat surface to park on drain plug washer and 6point socket for the drain plug (if you drain the oil) pump (if you pump out the oil instead of drain it) ($60) waste oil container

Procedure:
Warm the engine up with a two mile drive. It doesn't have to be fully warm. It's probably safer if it's not fully warmed up, so that you don't have to deal with extremely hot oil. Park on a flat smooth surface (such as a garage or flat driveway), shut the car off and engage the emergency brake. Open the hood.

	There are two car maintenance religions at play here, and which path is right depends on who you ask. Some people recommend always drain the oil via the oil drain plug. There is a magnet on some plugs which collects metal particles, so there is some merit to checking that on new engines. However, Saab does not have a magnet on the drain plug. My early experieces with changing oil were on big diesel boat engines where they don't make drain pans big enough, and if they did, there wouldn't be enough room in the bilge for the container or the person. We always pumped the old oil out with a battery powered pump. When I began to change the oil in my cars, I bought a hand pump from Griots Garage which is pictured here. A tube goes down the dipstick hole and the oil is pumped till the engine is dry. If you were draining the oil via the drain plug, you'd put a container under the car and catch the oil pouring out the drain. While the oil is emptying from the engine, you can do other things such as checking other fluids, checking tire pressure, etc..
	After the oil is drained, it is time to remove the old oil filter. The oil filter on these cars is a metal canister about the size of a coffee mug. It is the blue object to the left of the jack in the photos. It may be another color depending on who changed your oil last. Either drive the front of the car up onto the ramps, or jack the car up slightly to give a little more elbow room under the car. On the 9-5, there is a metal structural piece behind the bumper with a hole in the middle. This is a fine place to jack the car. Use a padded jack, or a thin piece of wood on a metal jack to avoid damaging the finish of the car's metal. If you jack the car in an improper spot, you will damage expensive parts, and that's not cool. Do not put your head or other part of your body that is bigger than the ground clearance of your car under the car when you are only using a jack to keep the car raised. (Some people would recommend not putting any body parts under the car that it jacked up). I use a jack instead of ramps because some of my cars don't have enough ground clearance to drive up onto ramps. For most cars, ramps would be easier, and safer. Put a container under the oil filter. Oil from the filter and its plumbing will drain when the oil filter is loosened. Use the oil filter wrench to loosen the filter. It will unscrew in a counter-clockwise direction. Depending on what I have on hand, I either put a plastic bag over the filter before removing it to catch the drippings, or I wear a disposable latex glove. I used a plastic bag here. Neither is necessary - it just keeps you cleaner; hot oil on your bare skin isn't good if it's really hot oil. On the 9-5, some oil will run onto the piece of plastic shown in the photo that hides the oil filter. I wipe this with a paper towel. Other people have devised a piece of plastic to catch the oil. You should be able to lay on the ground in front of the car, perpendicular to the car, and reach the filter and wrench with only your arm under the car. (If you wanted to put your body or head under the car, a ramp, jack stands, or a lift would be required.) Dispose of the old filter, the dripped or extracted oil, and your dirty paper towels in a safe manner. Many communities have containers for disposing of old oil. Some commercial garages have special oil burners for using old engine oil for heating.
	Get a new oil filter out and fill it with new oil. Make sure to get the rubber gasket at the top wet with oil. Screw this back onto the car by hand. I gently use the wrench to finish tightening it. It will get a little tighter on it's own over time. If you tighen it super tight, it will be stuck real good next time you or someone else wishes to remove it, and they will curse the person who installed it. If you pumped out the oil, skip this paragraph. If you drained the oil, now would be an appropriate time to replace the drain plug and gasket. Excessively tight can cause expensive damage. Lower the car and remove the jack if you used one. The engine holds approximately four quarts of oil. Pour the remainder of the quart you used to fill the oil filter into the engine through the dipstick hole. Then pour in three more quarts. After pouring each, let the container drain for 15-30 seconds to get all the oil out. Note how the spout side of the container is at the top, so that the oil pours smoothly. Air can get into the container smoothly as oil comes out, providing a neat and predictable flow of oil. After four quarts are in the engine, wipe the dipstick clean with a paper towel and put it back in it's place. Start the car and let it run for thirty seconds or so to get the oil distributed through the engine and plumbing. Stop the car. Pull the dipstick and wipe it clean, then insert it to take a reading of the oil level. In my opinion these cars have a very difficult to read dipstick compared to classic Saabs and many other cars. If the oil is in the right range, as it should be, you're done. If it's still low for some reason, top it off. Keep a written record of the date you changed the oil and the mileage.
	In the first photo you may have noticed I had five quarts of oil instead of four. It's good to check the oil once in a while, especially with the longer change intervals of new cars on synthetic oil. I keep a quart of oil in the trunk in case oil is needed at a later date.

Links:

• Saabnet.com (The Saab Network)
• Saab USA
• f64.nu - My personal website and gallery
• Midcoast.com - My ISP/Webhost/Employer