Those of you who change your own oil. . .

[checkedout]

Save first. just can't see paying 65 bucks for jiffy lube to change my Mobil1. It's to easy to do. And you can look at everything else and stay on top of things.

 

[xmodster3o3]

The mess is half the fun. Warm motor oil on the hands just cries out to all the ladies....yeah? You want this? Women like real men who can change their own oil and work on cars.

Yup same here I like doing my oil change the old school way, I just like to have the piece of mind that the oil change was done right. I don't trust these places where kids just out of high school do the changes.

 

[X~FACTOR]

Every time I change my oil it only cost me less than 10 bucks and I know it was done right. I even check my own tranny oil, water level, brake fluid, washer fluid, brake pads, all for free.

 

[stubborn1]

1. I've never seen a quick change place use a torque wrench when putting the drain plug back in. Usually, they will over tighten it.

2. My oil change averages about $15. Since I don't need ramps to get under the vehicle, its quick and painless.

3. I put my drain oil in 5 gal buckets with lids. Once a year, i'll take them to the municiple dump in our city and get rid of it for free.

 

[wingnutkev]

I do it my self just for the convenience. I never have to go in and wait for someone to get to me. The next reason would be to save money.

Quick and simple. No jacks, only wrench is for the drain plug and I usually take my oil to auto zone to get rid of it. I think all the Murray's and auto zones take oil.

 

[kenr74]

I think you get what you pay for. I've had a couple $20 oil changes done and it never fails that the oil cap isn't on right or the plug is stripped out. I end up checking their work anyway so it's just easier to do it myself.

 

[Maniak]

My time is valuble, and I don't trust other people to work on my truck.

I can change the oil in the truck in 15 minutes, and the only reason it takes that long is that I let the oil drain until it stops. I don't even lift the truck..

I just pull up to the house, put the drain pan under the truck, open the top of the pan, pull the drain plug.. and let it drain... While its draining I look around under the truck for anything that I may need to get worked on later...
If it isn't done draining, I check around under the hood for anything that will need attention later.

Once the oil is almost done draining I pull the filter... and let that drain for a few minutes...

Put in the new drain plug and prefill the filter and install.. Then pour the rest of the oil in the truck..

I use Mobile 1 (I pay <$20 for 5 quarts from walmart, in the 5 quart container)..

We have cats and I buy the kitty litter in buckets with lids... Once I have done the oil twice I pourt the oil from the drain pan into the bucket, and when I have a few buckets (and I'm heading into town) I drop them off.

I can change the oil on our neon in almost the same amount of time.. The only difference is that I park the neon on ramps before I drain the oil (its shorter than the x)

BTW.. as for "my time is valuble".. I'm not going to drive somewhere and wait 30 minutes to get something done (that might not be done right...e.g. strip drain plug, too much/too little oil)... when I can do with some evening (or weekend) an so little time..

~Mark

 

[Iowa Hick]

Between me and my dad, we change alot of oil around home, we have five drivers in my family and both of my parents make their living driving, we currently have two cars, my explorer, to pickups with gas engines, two pickups with diesel engines, a dump truck with a gas engine, and a skid loader with a diesel engine

We change our own oil because
1) The closes oil change place is about 30 miles away and when you have that many vehicles to change oil in you would spend days driving them all back and forth
2) Oil change places usually charge a fortune to change the oil in a Diesel
3) We usually run 10w-40 in all the gas engines and 15w-40 in the diesels, most oil change places charge extra for anything over 5w-30
4) Generally we don't have much time to get this kind of stuff done during business hours

On my explorer I always use Tropartic 10w-40 which you can get at walmart for around $0.88 a quart, Fram PH8A filter from walmart for around $3-4 (Fram filters are nice becaust the end is coated with rubber so you can get a better grip on it), walmart generic STP oil treatment for $0.88, every 10,000 miles a quart of Slick 50 for around $15, everytime we go to walmart we pick up extra of everything so we have it on hand

Total cost: $8.40

 

[TheJMan]

I like to change my own oil because a) it is far cheaper to do it myself b) I don't trust those people at quick-lube places.

Think of it this way:

Oil change at a quick lube near my house:
$29.99 for Conventional (plus tax $32.30)
$49.99 for Synthetic (plus tax $53.84)

If you want conventional oil:
$6.99 for a 5 quart jug of say, Castrol GTX
$2.78 for a Motorcraft FL1A at Wal-Mart
Total: $9.77 + 7.7% AZ sales tax: $10.52
$32.30 - $10.52 = $21.78 savings every oil change

If you want synthetic oil:
$3.62/ quart for Mobil 1 at Target $3.62 x 5 = $18.10
$5.99 for a Napa Gold 1515 filter
Total: $24.09 + 7.7% AZ sales tax = $25.94
$53.84 - 25.94 = $27.90 savings every oil change

How about a transmission pan gasket and filter change?
Places around here charge about $54.99 plus tax for it

$21.99 for a Fram trans filter kit
$1.09 / quart of ATF x 4 = $4.36
$21.99 + $4.36 = $26.35 + 7.7% = $28.38
$59.22 - $28.38 = $30.84 every filter change

See, doing the work yourself can add up very quickly, and that extra money you save could be put to better use, especially those like me who are on a tight budget!

 

[Opera House]

I was at a friends last week when his wife returned from getting their free $50 value oil change on their Land Rover. She said she spent 4 1/2 hours there.

A poster on another board had his transmission flushed at a quickee place. They used Dexron III with a bottle of aditive to make it Mercon V. He felt bad about that and 10K later went to a Ford dealer to have it flushed. The bill gave Fords part number for Mercon and the lower price. Service manager told him they probably used the right fluid. He is very anxious over this and is going to get it flushed again in a month.

To me, that is the real cost of having someone else change fluids.

 

[huskyfan23]

I change my own oil because I can. It takes no time, I know I'll do it right, and I'm saving a lot of money in the long run. If you change your oil regularly, that $10+ savings ends up saving you some good money.

 

[aldive]

I don't want someone with an IQ equal to his pants length even touvhing my truck.

 

[Hokie]

I don't want someone with an IQ equal to his pants length even touvhing my truck.

No offense Al, but you really should proof read your posts when making comments about other people's IQ's

 

[beau]

Thanks, good posts. When you consider that (once you get it down) it can be done in 15 minutes or so - and you generally have to wait around for at least 30 minutes when you take it in - I guess you are right about not saving any time. If you can save $20 a change on each of two cars... say 4x year... well that's 160.00. Guess it's worth it.

Interceptor - I'm in Grand Rapids (Ada Area). Where's the Crystal Flash drop off?

 

[EBInterceptor]

The one that I go to is in Lowell. Off of Lincoln Lake. If you're heading into Lowell from Lincoln Lake, there is a branch in the road. The road curves left, but if you go straight, you go down like a block and on the right side there is a Chrystal Flash place. Looks like a garage/gas station, and out back there is a "shed". In there you dump your oil.

 

[dalefanatic38]

i work at advance auto and we take used oil for free.

 

[bmxking5]

I like working on my x and knowing what is going in there.

 

[mabulok]

I like spending the time in my garage, drinkin' a beer, or 6!, and doin' it right. Too many times I've had min wage monkey-wrenchers install oil weight I didn't specify, over-torque the bolts, forget the washer, put the old filter back on (yep, I caught one of the *******s because I marked the old one when I did the previous change), and get their dirty-greasy hands all over my nice clean truck. In times, seems like long ago, the shops would cover your steering wheel and put a nice paper mat over your carpet to keep it clean. Now they just don't give a damn...It's all about that 10 minute time limit. No thanks. We've got drive thru restaurants, drive thru banks, drive thru pharmacies, but I don't need no drive thru mechanic working on my $30k vehicle. Oh yeh, and the wife likes it when I'm all dirty and greasy