This video shows a home oil change of a 2012 Jeep Wrangler fitted with the 3.6-liter V6 engine—the only engine offered in the JK Wrangler generation from 2012 through 2018. It’s a good engine, and maintenance is fairly straightforward. It’s especially easy to change the oil yourself. This engine employs a cartridge-style oil filter that goes in from the top. It’s very simple to remove and reinstall one of these filters, and there’s virtually no mess.

NOTE: The 2012 JK Wrangler V6, which this is, requires six quarts of 5w30 oil. But from 2013 onwards the recommended oil changes to 5w20. Check your manual to be certain, but it's usually safe to go by the recommendation that's molded into the filler cap. Interestingly, the recommended change interval also changed from 8,000 miles for the 2012 to 10,000 miles (as much as 10,000 miles, to be more accurate) for the 2013+ models. Why that change? 2013+ models have an oil life monitoring system that monitors driving style and engine load in order to adjust the oil change interval to suit. The 2012 doesn't have such a system, and since it can not monitor driving aggression it plays it safe by stipulating an fixed 8,000-mile interval.

The basics of this oil change procedure also apply to the newer 2018–2020 Jeep Wrangler JL, the 2014–2020 Ram 1500 pickup and the 2014–2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee because they all use the same engine and top-mounted cartridge-style filter. It's not the only engine these vehicles can have, so please make sure you have the Pentastar 3.6-liter gasoline V6. The actual filter part number and the amount and viscosity of oil may differ over time and by model, so always confirm those with your owner's manual.