What's up everyone. I'm broke as a joke, so I bought a 1996 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera (wagon version) as my daily beater; and now I need the most basic of car advice such as what tools do I need in order to do an oil change meself, and how much torque to apply on the plugs—whether they be an oil drain plug or a transmission drain plug. I bought ALLDATAdiy, and it was ALL for nothing. It would have been easier trying to decipher ancient egyptian hieroglyphics using nothing but the Bible and an abacus than trying to decipher anything with their sparse 'instructions'. I requested a refund, so let's see how that turns out. Are Haynes manuals useful? What's your experience? What wrenches and sockets do I need? Thank you very much.

 

Go on ebay and buy yourself a factory service manual. It is the bible for your car and will be the best money you spend on the car. It will give you everything you are looking for and lots more. DO NOT get the CD version or the reprint version. Here is what you are looking for:

1996 Buick Century Olds Cutlass Ciera Factory Shop Service Repair Manual Set | eBay

 

You will need a wrench to remove / reinstall the oil drain plug. I do not know what size your car has - I mostly use an adjustable wrench.
You will need a drain pan to catch the old oil. I use one that holds 8 quarts and has a pour spout to empty the oil.
Depending upon the oil fill on the engine and the type of oil containers you purchase, you may need a funnel.
All of these are available from local auto parts stores, WalMart, online, etc.

Unfortunately, most vehicles do not have a drain plug on the transmission and you have to remove the pan bolts, let the pan hang down on one end, and drain into your catch pan.

 

Are you sure? I am bit hesitant to be honest. I see the part concerning maintenance is only a third of the chapter under general information. The rest of the chapters are probably above my current level. Thank you, however. Perhaps if you have one such manual you can share sample pages of your 'Maintenance and lubrication' section? Thank you again.

 

Dang really? Just an adjustable wrench. I have one of those, but the Youtube guys used a socket wrench. I thought that might have been the proper way of doing things. Nice.
And about the drain plug on the transmission... uh that was um.. a test... yea, I knew that. I just wanted to know if you knew that, congratulations you passed. I'll gladly accept whatever advice you deign to offer.

 

Be aware that Chilton, Haynes, Motor Manual, etc get their information from the manufacturers, so getting the factory manual is the original source with no errors.

 

Ahh that makes sense now that I think about it.

 

Thanks for the acknowledgement. I’ve been a do it yourselfer since the early 1980s and have rebuilt or replaced everything on my car except the steering gear box, including engine, transmission, suspension, differential, paint and body, interior and convertible top replacement. Driveway fluid changes are a given in my world.




a thing or two.

 

If all you intend to do is oil changes, you do not need the factory service manual. And yes, I am damn sure.

 

Oil change, transmission fluid change, new spark plugs and wires and some other basic maintenance. I had bad luck with ALLDATAdiy, so I guess that is erring my judgement. Forgive me. I also wanted to know what the torque specs were so that I didn't foolishly overtightened something.

 

I have three torque wrenches that cover a span of values but do not use them on drain plugs. I tighten the plugs by feel, getting them tight by feel without over tightening them.

You will feel how tight the drain plug is and can stop well before stripping it.

 

Tighten drain plug just a bit after it touches seal, say noon to 2 o'clock, run it and if it leaks tighten a bit more.

 

If Snopes were to evaluate that, it would be "Mostly True." Errors do exist in factory documentation. Not many, and far and few between, but errors do exist. Sometimes it's error by omission, as well. It's what they don't tell you sometimes can get you.

I do agree, though, for whatever literature is out there, your best bet is getting the factory-authorized chassis service manual specific to your car.

 

Welcome to the site.
Learn as you go and purchase tools as you grow. Watch Craigs List and FB market place for good used inexpensive tools.

 

Yeah, I agree. I shoulda said the factory manual would have fewer errors than the other sources.

 

While I certainly agree with this, I will put in a good word for the Chilton, Haynes, etc. manuals of the world. I have all of these for my cars, and the reason is that they will often have figures or diagrams or exploded-view diagrams of this or that that are not in the factory manual. For example, I just replaced the disk brake rotors on my '73 Delta 88. As we all know, to remove the rotor requires removing the axle nut, and then the whole shebang, wheel bearings and all, comes off. So you're doing wheel bearing maintenance as well. Not a bad thing, but I had not done it before. Having an exploded view diagram of the entire front axle showing all of the bearings and seals and the rotor and the nut and even the cotter pin was very helpful to this newbie. Such a diagram is not in the chassis manual but is in my Peterson's Big Book of Auto Repair.

I picked this up for a couple of dollars at a garage sale many years ago. It has paid for itself several times over.






And this was indispensable when I rebuilt the carburetor on the '67 Delta 88 I once owned. Excellent, step-by-step instructions with lots of good photos. There is nothing like that in the factory service manual. Well worth the few dollars I spent on it because it's written for the backyard mechanic, not the factory-trained service technicians that the factory service manuals were targeted to.

It is a Haynes manual.






I have also found this to be very helpful when working on my '77 and '78 Toronados. The benefit is mostly in the diagrams and photographs of whatever component is being discussed. Found this at a swap meet, if I remember correctly.

 

That is good to know. Not all cars require the removal of the hub to replace the rotor. My wife's 1995 Cutlass Supreme and the 2010 Ford Flex and the 2012 Expedition I own do not require that. The rotor simply slides off and on. I am guessing that was some that changed along the way. It makes a lot more sense and saves money and time.

 

The same is true for my '77 and '78 Toronados, when I replaced the rotors on those cars. They just slide off once the wheel is removed, just like the brake drums do. I assumed it would be the same for the '73, and it threw me for a loop for a while until I realized that the entire thing had to come apart.

Of course, I could have just looked at the new rotors and noticed that the lug bolts were attached to it and not to the plate behind the rotor. But I didn't have the new rotors yet when I started to try to remove the old ones. Live and learn!


Here's a photo of the left front disk brake on the '78. Note that the wheel lugs protrude through the rotor and the rotor itself fits over the axle where the cotter pin, castle nut, etc. holding the wheel bearing on are located. No need to touch the wheel bearings to fully service the brakes on this car






Here's the new rotor on the left front of the '73. The lug bolts are attached to the rotor. The castle nut, outer wheel bearing, etc. are under the dust cap, and all of that has to be removed to get the rotor off.

 

I had a Chilton's guide for my 96 98. It was a good resource. I also had digital and print versions of the Factory Service Manual. I've mentioned before on our site that the 96 FSM pales in comparison to the FSM and Chassis Service Manual of my 71 98 (outsourcing parts, manufacturing and documentation).

If you want a set of tools to do basic maintenance get a metric set at your local Horrible Freight.