Vehicle Oil changes

[paulsharvey]

Oh, so not to go Too far off topic; every mechanic shop/oil change (and many many other things) are Very short staffed; However, I really think the management/owners aren't wanting/trying to hire. I think many of these places have learned they make more profit, running low staffed, and if everyone is short staffed, the public just deals with it.

 

[ranchito]

I wonder which will do more damage to your car... OEM-spec oil in place of AMSOIL, or being a dick to your mechanic?

Short of our members who may be getting too old to crawl around on the ground under a car, or those otherwise injured/disabled, I have a lot of trouble understanding anyone handy enough and with the facilities to be into tractors... but somehow unable to change their own oil in their own car. Do they hire an electrician to change their lightbulbs, too?!?

It takes all of 20 minutes to change oil on a car, literally removing one bolt and unscrewing one can filter on most, then replace bolt and filter, and pour new oil in. If it's a pickup truck, you can even skip pulling out the ramps, and probably get the job done in under 15 minutes, if you hustle.


What do you recommend for low-mileage vehicles? Some of my sports cars see less than 3k miles per year, so it can be a decade before I hit the mileage recommendation for tranny or diff oil changes.

I do engine oil and coolant on a calendar schedule on low-mileage vehicles, yearly and six years respectively, but usually go just by mileage for other fluids. Not sure if that's best, but it has always felt logical.

With low annual mileage you present a unique problem. If the vehicle is drive 6 times on 500 mile trips, that would be different than a bunch of 5 mile trips where condensates do not boil off and tend to contaminate the engine oil. This was a worse case when my shop was in a location that served island residents. I would be selling 1500 mile oil changes to them.

The long trip guy is probably good with a 5k interval. Piece of mind comes with sending a sample to Blackstone for analysis, but with the cost about the same as a DIY oil change...

Coolant test strips are available to test the coolant on your low mileage sports cars. A low cost tester is also available that will test brake fluid for moisture content.

Due to a lack of combustion gasses in the transmission fluid or diff oil, condensation should not be present. The first change is the most important to remove traces of machining and break in materials. Years ago when I began servicing a fleet of police vehicles, that had a high incidence of transmission failures. I began servicing the fluid and filters at 30k on new and older cars and never replaced another tranny. I still recommend this service to this day although with FWD transaxles the internal filter cannot be serviced. I will disagree with the lifetime recommendations of BMW and others. Here again, if you have a Honda, you get Honda fluid, Toyota gets Toyota fluid, etc. Last thing I want is a new problem I created by experimenting with a "universal" fluid and now have a harsh shift or some other drivability issue. Engineers specify certain additives as friction modifiers or to increase life of seals. Not being an engineer, I defer to their knowledge and look for changes in service bulletins. Same goes for coolants and other fluids. Realize that just because the master cylinder cap on your GM says DOT 3 or DOT 4 that may not be the whole story. Like transmissions, some ABS systems have switched to a lower viscosity fluid.

Labor rates in my area are $100 on the low end and $300 for the MB, BMW and Lexus cars, probably even more at the Rolls and Bentley dealerships so a $25 labor charge is a loss leader or outright gift.

 

[Hay Dude]

It sounds like there are a lot of people that don't change their own oil. It makes me wonder if an electric vehicle would be suited for people that don't want to do maintenance. I guess their dealer could change the cabin air filter if they don't want to tackle that.

When I extended my Ram warranty, I bought into a deal where the dealer changes my oil at regular intervals for a discounted price. I get a Cummins branded filter and shell rotella synthetic oil. Same with fuel filters.
I really like this set up. Plus I get official service records. That will pay off to the buyer of my truck when they are done with it.

Plus, if theres a fuel or oil related issue, the blame goes straight to them. I’ve seen some warranty claims denied because the owner worked on it first situations where it took a lot of time & phone calls to resolve.


All the farm and property maintenance equipment is maintained by me, but I found the new truck deal oil/fuel filter offer to be too good to pass up. It runs out this year, and I’m going to see if it can be extended.

 

[WinterDeere]

When I extended my Ram warranty, I bought into a deal where the dealer changes my oil at regular intervals for a discounted price.

I was offered one of these on my 2005 Ram, and it worked out to something like $6 per oil change, cheaper than I could do it myself. The dealers offer these as a loss leader, essentially to ensure you continue bringing the vehicle to them for all service, and the also use it as an opportunity to sell you cabin air filters and other things. It's actually not a bad deal for those using the dealer for most service, anyway.

I didn't bother with it on my current truck, as I don't think I ever used even half the coupons in the book on the 2005 truck. I had bought that deal from one dealership, but then changed where I worked, so I was no longer passing the original dealership in my daily travels. It became quicker and easier to just do my own oil changes at home, even if a few dollars more expensive.

I also like doing my own, just to force myself to get under the vehicle and check on other things, which would almost never happen otherwise.

 

[Oaktree]

an old timer friend of mine ran a full service station here in town in the 60's. those were the days of plunge spouts for oil cans. he always had an empty can w/plunger installed. when he would check oil, mentioned it was a qt low, then invert the empty can in the crank case.
he bragged he made more money off that 1 can than gas or service. smart guy

A thief like that wouldn't have been a friend of mine at that point. And I wouldn't have an issue calling someone like that a thief.

Agree 100%. Not much different than squirting oil someplace random or deliberately slicing a belt or any of the other scams "full service" gas stations used to do, often to tourists or women. Smart guy? Hardly. Crook, plain and simple. And shame on you for (1) not calling him out at the time and (2) thinking it was a big joke even now.

 

[WinterDeere]

Agree 100%. Not much different than squirting oil someplace random or deliberately slicing a belt or any of the other scams "full service" gas stations used to do, often to tourists or women. Smart guy? Hardly. Crook, plain and simple. And shame on you for (1) not calling him out at the time and (2) thinking it was a big joke even now.

You're right, and I agree with you... as an adult.

Now, as a teenager, I'd probably be inclined to not disobey the guy who's both my boss and my girlfriend's father. I believe 5030 stated his case as such.

 

[Oaktree]

Short of our members who may be getting too old to crawl around on the ground under a car, or those otherwise injured/disabled, I have a lot of trouble understanding anyone handy enough and with the facilities to be into tractors... but somehow unable to change their own oil in their own car. Do they hire an electrician to change their lightbulbs, too?!?

While I still change oil in all my vehicles at 74, I think you're being a bit harsh here. Any tractor I've had has been a lot easier to work on, especially routine maintenance like oil changes than most modern passenger vehicles. Automakers seem to take delight in putting the drain plug and/or filter in rather hard to reach places. Intentional or just bad design? Not to mention how low to the ground many cars or pseudo-SUVs are today.

 

[Oaktree]

You're right, and I agree with you... as an adult.

Now, as a teenager, I'd probably be inclined to not disobey the guy who's both my boss and my girlfriend's father. I believe 5030 stated his case as such.

I was more calling out Big Bubba, who referred in his post to this guy as a friend.

 

[big bubba]

Agree 100%. Not much different than squirting oil someplace random or deliberately slicing a belt or any of the other scams "full service" gas stations used to do, often to tourists or women. Smart guy? Hardly. Crook, plain and simple. And shame on you for (1) not calling him out at the time and (2) thinking it was a big joke even now.

was being humorous, no, at face value, would never would promote fraud to an unsuspecting customer, bur we did remain friends till his passing, best regards

 

[Falco de Negro]

I used to say there were 26 things a quick lube place could screw up but today I can only come up with 23. The chances of those places not hitting as single one of these is impossible. I've only had experience with those places through friends and family, never had my vehicles there.
bang up the car driving it in
get your seats and floor dirty
mess up your hood prop
drop your oil cap on the floor
push dirt in the oil fill hole
round off your drain plug
lose the drain plug washer
put the wrong washer on your plug
strip out your oil pan drain hole
put the wrong filter on
forget to check for the old rubber seal stuck to the block
lose the new seal
overtighten the filter
under-tighten the filter
put in the wrong oil
put in too much oil
don't put in enough oil
forget to put the oil filler cap on
leave the filler cap loose
leave oily hand prints on the hood
oily handprints on the steering wheel
put too much air in your tires
overcharge you

My oil changes cost me about $35 and 10 minutes of my time. Most of that is spent getting down to the floor and getting back up again.