Do it yourself, oil change!

[CDsdad]

My problem with the quick lube place is that their bulk oil all comes from the same drum no matter what weight and brand you request. I started requesting the bottled oil and then figured I could do it myself for the extra money. I also can't do the "shop at walmart while they service the truck" thing. If they don't even know which aisle the diarrhea medicine is on, how can they be expected to service a vehicle.

And I don't miss grease fittings on the front end, either.

 

[suttonsuperduty]

I have the Fumato oil change valve on my pickup.I use the truck to plow snow and the Fumato makes oil draining a piece of cake! The truck sees some rough terrain and I have never had any type of a problem with the valve.

 

[Conservation]

I have a box of them in the garage. I ordered one, and got one box!
I would not trust them in a tractor, and in fact never decided to use them on any vehicle. All you would need is rock kicking up just right, and you would not notice all the oil coming out, until it was too late. They are pretty slick, but not worth the risk.

 

[RobJ]

I have a box of them in the garage. I ordered one, and got one box!
I would not trust them in a tractor, and in fact never decided to use them on any vehicle. All you would need is rock kicking up just right, and you would not notice all the oil coming out, until it was too late. They are pretty slick, but not worth the risk.

Agree...this just looks to inviting for something to knock off.

Rob

Also some people buy them, love them...and STILL don't trust them not to shake the valve open...

 

[mwb]

And I don't miss grease fittings on the front end, either.

Or blow up the doughnuts on tie rods, ball joints. I do all my own service except for exhaust and new tires. I must be getting good because an oil change is only about a three beer job now!

 

[Soundguy]

If there was a bolt on shroud covering it.. it might be a good idea.. but then that kills the 'EZ' part of the idea...

soundguy

 

[2458n]

On large truck oil filters a friend showed me how to poke a hole in the bottom with a ice pick. Filter is alot lighter and can be angled alittle when removing it. No more oil down the arm when removing it. Still when your truck is 1000miles past due a 20.00 oil change on a hot day looks good.

 

[evan price]

I do it myself because while I'm under the chassis and under the hood I can look for other problems, grease everything including the hood latch and hinges with the dregs from the oil bottle, and I know I'm not going to leave something messed up. I've got a Toyota I bought when a Goodyear left a double filter gasket and seized the engine.

Back when I was a mechanic we had a lady who was so proud of herself for adding a gallon of washer fluid when she ran out. She just looked for the cap with the picture of the can pouring liquid! But she was surprised when the washers still didn't work.
Her husband brought the car in with a gallon of washer fluid in the engine. Seems the oil cap has the picture of the can pouring liquid on an Audi!

We also had the lady that bought a quart of oil because her Monte Carlo needed some because she couldn't see any when she checked. Then she bought two more quarts. Then she bought another quart. Then she came in to buy more because she STILL couldn't see oil in the engine. That's when I went out to check myself.

Turns out she didn't know what a dipstick was, she thought if you couldn't see the engine full of oil through the filler cap she thought it needed oil...we drained 8 quarts out and put in 5.

 

[kebo]

Last oil change in truck,. Seven quarts Mobil One dumped in driveway while backing out, after oil change done. All leaking from filter. Reload put in 7 more Mobil One and new filter. Still leaking ? Take it to my friendly mechanic. He saves most of the oil and changes again. Seems the gasket from the original filter stayed behind on the first oil changes. Two gaskets on with new filter, no seal created. The mechanic said tolerances on new filters are not great. This was a Motorcraft filter for a Ford F-150. Happy to pay $150 for the oil change. Mobil One probably saved the engine. Done right, just not by me. Count your gaskets.

John

That happened to me once, while trying to change the oil on my parents car. The gasket on the old oil filter stayed on the block, and when I screwed in the new oil filter there was no seal, which let the new oil pump out right after I cranked it up. Fortunately no engine damaged occurred as I caught it right away.

 

[ametcalf]

My first problem with an oil filter gasket was at 16,000' climbing out of Minneapolis in a Beechcraft Duke in 1970. Lost oil pressure on the left engine and after shutting the engine down returned to MSP on one engine with the fire trucks standing by for the landing. Our mechanic was young and had changed the oil that morning. The FAA initially tried to say he didn't install the oil filter properly but I had watched him do it plus after a short flight from Flying Cloud Airport to MSP, I opened the cowling up and checked for any leaks while I was waiting for my passengers. It was before aircraft spin on oil filters had a place to safety wire them and what we found out was that the oil filter did not have a gasket in the box so the mechanic bought a gasket separately from the supply house. The gasket he bought was old and did not hold the filter tight and with no safety wiring it simply backed off.
In my career as a Boeing 727 pilot I had three different times that an oil cap got left off. It takes about an hour for the oil to come out of that vintage Pratt and Whitney engine. Aircraft have oil quantity, oil pressure and oil temp gauges so you can monitor the engines pretty closely. Twice we were on short flights so we just throttled that engine back and completed the flight normally. The third time was a longer flight so we shut the engine down and saved the oil in case we had another engine fail we could restart the offending engine and get the plane on the ground at the nearest available airport.
I use the Fumoto drain plug in my F250 diesel. It is nice to be rid of the mess of the drain plug but the main reason I went to it was I wondered about the threads in the oil pan lasting through a hopeful 100+ oil changes for the half million miles I hope to get out of it.
When I was young and worked at an old time gas/service station we did a lot of oil changes. Incidentally, Christmas was our busiest day for oil changes because at about 3 in the afternoon guys would get bored sitting around the house and figure it was a good time to get their oil changed. I was taught to wipe off the oil filter base where the filter screws onto the block with a rag. We also put a light coating of oil on the new gasket. That procedure should solve the gasket problems on an oil change. To make sure I remember to tighten the oil plug before putting the oil in I make it a two step procedure. I install the oil plug and torque it before I move the drain pan. (I have been known dump a quart in before I remembered the plug but thankfully the drain pan caught it and I didn't have the mess on the driveway or in the garage.) After I install the plug and move the pan I physically get out from under the car and do something else and then I go back and check the tightness of the plug before I put the oil in.