Ok, so I've owned my Mooney for three years but I have never changed the oil myself. The CB in me was NOT happy with this situation so, I thought, time to DIY! How hard could it be?
Draining the oil was a piece of cake thanks to the quick drain some considerate PO installed! I literally did not spill a drop...ANYWHERE!
Now, we get to the oil filter...clipped the safety wire at the filter, no problem. Stuffed a bunch of rags under the filter and unscrewed the filter...OMG! Oil down the back of the engine, down the shock discs, down the nose gear, onto the tire, puddle on the ground! SHEEESH!!! Cleaned up best I could, but lots of places my arm just couldn't get to.
What did I do wrong???
More whining: What was the designer thinking putting the safety wire tang at the BOTTOM of the filter adapter??? Good grief, why wouldn't the damn thing be at the TOP where you can see and easily thread the safety wire through? Must have taken me 15 minutes to blindly get the damn wire through the tang by feel. Part of the problem is that there was another safety wire going through the same tang. Does two wires through one tang sound right?
I've got better than 2 hours in the project and still need to do the run-up to check for leaks and put all the cowling back on, then cut open the old filter!
I may just pay the shop the next time!