Changing times

O.K. for those of you who get squeamish or just plain bored looking at the inside of an automobile, you can skip this one. I had made a commitment to myself to get the oil changed in our new Hyundai Sonata yesterday since it had been driven to Utah and back this past summer, about 3000 miles, and I had not changed the oil since then. I was debating whether to do it myself, or pay $29.95 at a local garage we have been patronizing, since I was busy and not looking forward with anticipation to crawling under a car. I decided to go out a see how hard it would be to get the oil filter off. I could not find the oil filter anywhere, so I figured it wasn't going to be easy and just drove to the garage. After they got my car in the bay, the repairman came in to the waiting area to inform me that it would be about $6 extra since my vehicle has an internal oil filter. I decided to to go out to see what an internal oil filter is. I found this picture on line but it doesn't show how it goes in and I don't want to go out and have to replace the O rings to take one so I will attempt a description.

They had removed the top cover off the engine and there was about a 7" round cylinder molded into the engine block on the top side near the fuel injectors. He had removed the cover of that cylinder with an oil filter wrench. Attached to the top was a long cylindrical projection with large rectangular openings in the sides all around. Over that slides a filter element similar to an air filter element. There is a large O ring at the top where the cover contacts the engine block and a small one at the bottom where the end of the thing seals. Both O rings have to be replaced each time the filter is changed. It's a good thing I decided to be lazy and have someone else do it. I would have searched forever for that oil filter, probably after having drained the oil. Maybe I will try it next time.