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Article ID : Eng/OIL-1/0509
Produced By : Yetep
Date Published : 05/05/09
Oil + Filter Change
Needed Tools / What I Used :
1x Pela Pump (search internet)
1x 5w-30 Fully Synthetic Engine Oil (also 0w-30/40 or 10w-30/40 can be used)
1x Replacement Oil Filter
1x Oil Filter Housing Seal Ring (usually comes with filter)
Step 1 : Removing the oil
This step takes ages depending on how you do it. If you do it cold (like me) it could take up to half an hour.
If you do it warm/hot it'll probably take more like 15-20 minutes. To get the oil warm run the engine till it says 80-90 degrees on your temp gauge! If you don't have a temp gauge, take the car for a 10 minute drive.
What you essentially do is put the Pela pump together and feed the long tube down into the dipstick hole. A lot of people still can't believe this is how the smart's oil is removed but trust me – it is.
Once you start to pump the oil out using the handle on your Pela pump, you'll slowly see the oil go through the tube as pictured
As it slowly comes out of the car, you'll see your Pela fill up slowly. The lines are there for a reason – each one equals one more litre so you know exactly how much you've removed and therefore, how much to put back in.
See the black line? That's the oil.
Once finished remove the tube from the dipstick and put to one side.
Step Two : Filter Removal
You now want to remove the filter which is under the car. You need a 27mm socket/spanner. I opted for the adjustable spanner that goes up to 30mm as I need to use it for other things. Sorry about the low quality picture here :
Loosen VERY slowly, after your first little jerk, put a container below as there is quite a fair amount of oil that comes out from here. At a guess its maybe 100ml but this spreads like nothing on earth and unfortunately I forgot to put something under here – messy messy (I'm STILL cleaning this up).
You'll need a replacement filter and seal, they should both come together. I got mine for about £3 from Smart-Parts-Direct and it came as follows :
You'll need to unclip the existing one – use gloves cause it's messy (I didn't but I'd advise it).
Here's a quick comparison – old and new :
No points to who can guess which is newer!
You now need to remove the O ring from around the filter housing and replace with the new one you got with the filter.
Final Stage : Put Oil In, Wait, Heat It Up!
The Roadster manual says put in 3.25 litres of oil. On MOST oil containers there's a measure guide. These aren't the most reliable but a good point to look at. Mines had a 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 0.5 measure guide. I poured in so that the left over oil went to the middle between 1 and 0.5 so there'd be roughly 3.25 litres in.
Needless to say the oil pours into the oil access hole, not the dipstick!
IMPORTANT : Leave the oil to sit for about 10 minutes. This gives it time to coat everything and get through the filter. Once you've done so – run the car till it's all nice and warm (80-90 degrees). Done.
Subject: Change Engine Oil - PDF DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE 
Thu Apr 23, 2009 4:42 pm
