Another way is remove the wheel & reach in alongside the axle. But I usually get it from above.

Thanks for the help guys. I was able to drain the oil by using the jack stands on the frame and changing the filter from above under the hood.

Definitely feels like its running smoother now too :D

I noticed a little bit of rust underneath, should i do anything here?

Next, I have 65,000 miles now. When do you recommend changing some transmission fluid, 75k?

why is fram oil filters a bad idea?

also, would genuine honda motor oil make a big difference from using conventional motor oil of any other brands?

thanks!

Search the net for how Fram makes their oil filters, you'll see they're not of very good construction.

Honda Genuine Motor Oil = Mobil1, it's on the back of the bottle.

Honda Genuine/Mobil1 are 100% synthetic, conventional oil is not.

thanks for the info.
i still have a couple of fram filters... probably just gonna dump 'em

wow! good to know that honda genuine motor oil is actually fully synthetic?
does that imply honda requires, or at least highly recommend fully synthetic motor oil?

if i've been doing this wrong (been using conventional for 65k miles for my 01 accord 4-cyl.), i think i should change it back to either fully synthetic mobil 1 or simply its rebranded honda genuine.
but i heard that there are some risks during the process of going from conventional to synthetic, and some extra procedures might help to minimize the risks... i researched this for a little while, but still can't come to a confident conclusion :confused:

Yes, Honda oil is 100% synth. Honda does NOT require you use synthetic, but is is recommended, and it is what they fill it with at the factory. If you want to make the switch, I think the Honda oil is more expensive than a quart of Mobil1, it makes no sense to use the Honda stuff and pay more money since it's exactly the same thing.

The biggest concern from switching is the possibility of leaks. All of the molecules in synthetic oil are small and uniform in size. Conventional oil molecules vary in size. So, where a big conventional molecule would get trapped by a seal or gasket, a smaller synthetic molecule may slip by and this is where the majority of leaks stem from. You should be fine if you have fairly low miles on the car (under 150k).

thanks finch13!

i see the light now.
i've been wondering why is synthetic a devil since it "causes" leaks in some people's experiences... now, i see that your analysis makes perfect sense and it's really not synthetic oil's fault.
but i really wish i knew that the oil they put in my car when i first bought it was the mobile1 fully synthetic! then i wouldn't need to worry about this transition at all now.

yea, i'd assume that honda genuine motor oil, which is rebranded from mobil1 anyway, would be much expensive... everything from any dealer is more expensive than its equivalent, right? ;)

so, i guess i'll start using mobil1 fully synthetic... i think i might use both an oil extractor pump and the drain plug to try to get as much old conventional oil out as possible for this transition

a couple more questions about the transition:

1) would it be a good idea to drain and refill again after i already refilled with new synthetic oil for this transition and had the engine run at idle for a couple of minutes?
this way will probably leave very minimal conventional oil in and the cost is just about 4 qts of mobile1 fully synthetic... probably $25 bux

2) i've read somewhere that for the transition, the new synthetic oil must be of the same viscosity as the old conventional oil in the car, is that so?
oh, is that because we want to have the molecules in about the same size?

thx again for any inputs :)

1) You can mix the oils with no problems, they won't interfere with each other. That single oil change is going to get real expensive, real fast where it wouldn't be worth it. Just refill the oil with synthetic and use a good filter (pretty much anything except Fram).

2) The oils will probably be the same viscosity, I've used only 5W-30 on my car for I dunno how long... ages. This would be different if you do the winter/summer oil thing.

I'm going to try it
 

Looks good to me!!

Automatic? I'd change it a lot more often than 65k.

Manual? Yeah, change it. I changed the oil in my 2003 5-speed at about 60k miles. It was a little dirty, so maybe I'll go 50k instead.