Who does their own Oil changes?

My husband does ours. He's very particular. He picks up big quantities of oil and whatnot on sale, usually in Michigan. It's not any cheaper. There's no savings, especially with synthetic oil. But, he's seriously OCD and keeps meticulous records on each vehicle. The times we've used free oil changes, he gets under there making sure they did everything right.

 

My local Ford quick lane does the works for $20 bucks. The only issue is there is nothing quick about it. I used to take my Raptor there when I needed to rotate the tires but they would never wipe down this little tray under the oil filter to direct the oil through the hole in the skid plate so I would have to clean it myself as well as the garage floor. So now I do it myself which takes about 30 minutes.
Mark

 

One of the reasons I change my own oil is because I'm afraid of the dealer stripping the threads on my oil pan / oil filter housing. My car came with 3 years of free maintenance, so I'd let them do it once a year when it was free. Every time I went to do my own oil change in between dealer changes, I found the drain plug to be impossibly tight.

Wal-Mart has been my go-to for synthetic oil. I used to run Castrol's European Formula, but have since switched to Mobil 1 as it's a superior product. You can get a 5 quart jug of Mobil 1 for $20 or less when it's on sale, plus they regularly run rebates so you can get another $12 back. $8 for 5 quarts of top notch oil is tough to beat.

Here's a rather lengthy blog on various oils...this guy tests new oil regularly and his methods seem to be quite thorough. It's kind of a pain to read and navigate, but I trust his findings. https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

 

Yeah, he's in the message boards and groups for each vehicle. He's all over that shit.

 

Oh, I get him to rotate my tires on the truck. It's a rwd w/4x4 with the trail/mud/snow/whatever that are going to make me cry when it's time to replace them. I have this Fantasy in my mind that if I keep them rotated and balanced and whatnot...that maybe I can put it off a bit... So he does that with each oil change.

 

Who still drives? I walk and uber for way less a month than a car payment plus insurance. And healthier in the two plus years I've been doing this.

 

I do my own oil changes after getting tired of high pressure sales and mystery oil at the quick lube places. It's been about 5 years running now. Costco sells 6 quarts of mobile 1 full synthetic for 29.99 on sale and the sale happens more often than the change! Waste management recycle pickup here in the Northwest picks up oil as part of their regular recycling service so that makes it easy to get rid of the used oil. Just needs to be in a capped, clear container. AKA a milk jug!

 

At the risk of being nonresponsive, I don't really even know how to drive at this point (I've never owned a car in my life and the last time I was behind a wheel was probably about 15 years ago), but were faced with the situation, I would almost certainly have a professional do it. Probably not a Jiffy Lube-esque cheap franchise, but I'd rather pay the extra money for someone who knew what they were doing, than inevitably break my hypothetical car.

 

I'm gearhead enough to have sent samples for analysis to https://www.blackstone-labs.com
But know my limits enough to have my trusted mechanic do the oil change for the (Usuallly found $1k more of work to do) once over he gives to the important bits.

I'd also add preventative maintenance of fluids per dealer manual interval is a good gamble.

 

...yep - the constant, nagging 'upsell' attempts at most oil-change places is one of the more annoying aspects of not doing it yourself... but I've become pretty good at deflecting it!
... and don't even get me started on dealership "service" departments! 100% guaranteed that, if you go there for an oil change, something (or several things) will be "found" that requires additional, immediate "service"...
PS - never, ever let a dealership change out your cabin filter! Biggest single rip-off ever! Literally anyone can do this themself and save 50% or more.

 

Never. But esp with the synthetic oil I definitely let the pro's handle it.

 

Drive through place on base by me. Took about 10-15 minutes and I never have to get out of the car.

 

I did it on my Porsche because it used 9.5 quarts of full synthetic which cost 15 to 20 bucks a quart at a service place usually, but other cars I find its not worth it. Usually you wont save more than 2 or 3 bucks and it's a pain in the ass, not to mention having to deal with the old oil and the potential mess.

 

Good idea for urban areas. A cousin lived in NYC for 20 years or so and never owned a car while there. He would rent a car for trips. For those of us who live in the more remote areas, this can't be done. There is no Uber/Lyft available where I live.

 

Used to back in the day. Now it's much easier to just take the van to Firestone.

 

My husband changes mine. He does most of the work on our vehicles. My car has 252,000 miles on it and runs like new.

 

Many years ago when I was younger I would change my own oil. Today I do not really see the point. There are so many oil change places around it so easy to let somebody else do it. I only drive about 5K miles a year so I get one oil change a year. An oil change is one of the cheapest and best maintenance you can do for your car.

 

while most are, not all are...you have to remember that all different car makes and models are just that, DIFFERENT...some cars have the cabin air filter and some dont while some are easily accessible under the hood with a slide out container, some are behind the glove box...some glove boxes simply pinch off but some unbolt...

I was working on a late 90s honda or toyota car, cant remember but to get the cabin air filter out, you had to unbolt the glovebox, unbolt and remove the glovebox metal frame, then several nuts to drop part of the A/C box, it was hinged so swung down and out, then you could access the filters, it used 2 filters side by side

 

Wal-Mart changes our oil, and we get our already paid for rotate and balance.

 

I believe that most people in the world are basically idiots. I've been proven right time and time again when it comes to work I've paid other people to do. For the most part, if I care about something and getting it done right then I do it myself. Most car maintenance I do myself out of financial necessity because they want to charge 5 or 10 times what it would cost me and I just can't live with that. For the stuff that isn't too expensive I do it myself because of the sheer number of times in my life I've been pissed off by the crappy job someone else did. This extends to home maintenance and just about everything else. I just got through paying to have an evaporator coil replaced because the idiots at the home warranty as well as the technician didn't replace it a year ago when they replaced the condenser and converted from R22 to 410a. He said the coil was compatible...it was not. Because it took a year for the failure to manifest itself and become noticeable they both refused to take responsibility. If I had the proper freon tools and copper sweating skills I'd probably do that myself also.

So short answer long...yes, I change my own oil. It really is among the easiest of the DIY jobs. Now laying tile....that sucks!!