How to Change the oil in your CX-7

[Raider]

here are 2 how to's. The first, a text.

Right below, a pictorial one, thanks to tdli...

1) Put the car on ramps or a lift. Let it cool off a little, as hot engines suck to work on.

2) Remove the big plastic shield underneath the engine. There is a plastic press clip to pry off-use a small flat bladed screwdriver to pop up and pull out towards the back of the shield, and a host of 10mm bolts

3)Using a 17mm socket, wrench, or other device, remove the oil drain plug, and let the oil drain out completely. You will need a big drain pan, 6 freakin quarts of oil!!

4) Once drained, reinstall drain plug.

5) Up on the bottom front of the engine, you will see the oil filter housing, with an allen socket keyed drain plug. Unscrew the plug, let the oil drain out.

6) Remove the base of the filter housing by unscrewing it. I had oil continue to drain out in spurts for every slight turn. It might be very tight, and require a lot of force to get it started, but it will eventually unscrew. I used a big adjustable oil filter wrench on my Speed3, I just was careful not to force it to much. It just needs help getting started.

7) Remove the oil filter. It is just the paper section. Match with new one for compliance. I received new rubber O Ring gaskets for the oil filter drain plug, and the filter housing base. Used a small flat blade to pry off and replace.

8) Wipe some a small amount of new oil on the O Rings for lubrication.

9) Install filter and housing base as you removed them.
Originally Posted by erhayes View Post
I will suggest one additional important step to this very nice procedure. LUBRICATE BOTH ENDS OF THE FILTER CARTRIDGE BEFORE INSTALLING. This extra step reduces the twisting friction when the canister cap is tightened down. The result is less twisting force on the cartridge and no or much less distortion. I have found this actually works. Ed Hayes

10) Reinstall drain plug, and tighten to the specs on the housing, or just do what you know is right.

11) Go to the top of the engine, remove the 2 push clips with small flat-bladed driver, pull up and out on cover. Oil Filler is on the back left of the valve cover. Remove cap, fill engine up with 6 quarts of synthetic 5 w 30.

12) Reinstall oil filler cap, cover, and start motor. let run for a minute or so, and check underneath for oil leaks. Turn off engine.

13) If no leaks, pat yourself on the back. If leaks, have friend kick you in the seat of the pants, let them fix the leaks.

14) Reinstall shield as you removed it. Try not to grab and exhaust parts, they will not feet good.

15) Remove from ramps, drive for 3,000-5,000 and repeat.

Here is the pictorial version...

Remove the under panel by removing these 8 bolts:


Remove the drain plug on the oil pan. The drain plug is on the opposite side of the oil pan, facing the rear of the car. There is also a crush washer on the plug and I think you are suppose to change the washer, too, but I did not.



Once drained, reinstall drain plug back on. I don’t have the torque specs, but I made sure it was tight.


A bit more towards the front of the car is the oil filter housing, use a 6 mm hex socket (aka allen key) to remove the plug and let the oil drain out.



Remove the base of the filter housing. Mine was pretty tight so I had to use an oil filter socket. I tried the one from my IS300 (motor code 2JZ) and it was the same size.




Remove the oil filter base and old filter. As you can see, my old filter was crushed (not sure which brand it was).
I cleaned out the base and pried the old green o-ring off using a flat head and installed the new one. I also coated some oil on the o-ring and pure some oil into the oil filter base.




Install filter and housing base as you removed them. Again, since I had no torque specs to follow, I made sure it was installed back on tightly.



Pry off the old o-ring on the drain plug and replace it with the new one. I also coated this o-ring with some oil.



Level the car, fill the motor up with your preferred brand of oil. I dumped 5 quarts first (because 5 quarts came out) and the level on the dipstick showed that oil level was in between the min and max so I stopped there.


Reinstall oil filler cap and start motor. Let run for a minute or so and check underneath for leaks. If there are no leaks, turn off engine and reinstall the under panel. Be careful as some parts may be hot.

Remember to keep an eye on the oil level for the next few days and add some more oil if the level drops.

****2010 people, read here!!! You got spin on, so no cartridge crap.
http://www.purolatorautofilters.net/...year=2010*****

[Alpha Wolf]

Just a note.

On my motorcycles that have this type of cartridge filter they usually come with the o-rings. However, be warned many of these "aftermarket O-rings" are not the right size or material and can cause leaks. If your original OEM o-rings are in good shape I would use them vs. FRAM etc... If they are not, then I would go to Mazda to get OEM ones if the FRAM ones leak. Just something to be cautious about..

[Raider]

Fram is crap anyway. The o-rings on the Purolator filters are a perfect fit. Used them for 90% of my changes for 75,000 miles without any leakage.

[Prodoco]

Hi guys

What type of oil filter on 2010 model (cartridge or spin on)?

thanks

[Raider]

Application Guide Results

2010 got the spin on style.

[Hectik1]

Nice write up!

I just get my filters in bulk from the dealer. OEM gaskets are going to fit LOL

You can skip the pulling the drain plug from the filter housing. I've found it easier and cleaner just to pull the cap off rather than doing it in two different steps.

[Raider]

Yeah, me too. I hacked out the area under the filters, so all I undo is the cap and I am done.

[Ascend]

I've got a service manual and the specs for torque read as follows:

Oil pan drain plug: 30-41 N.m [3.1-4.1 kgf.m, 23-30 ft.lbf]

Oil filter cover (the big cover): 30-35 N.m [3.1-3.5 kgf.m, 22.2-25.8 ft.lbf]

Oil filter cover drain plug (the hex head plug) 9-11 N.m [91.8-112.2 kgf.cm, 79.6-97.2 in.lbf]

[Raider]

Bet a $20 the dealer does not use a torque wrench.