Do you change your own oil?

[scottmandue]

Please, lets not post the funny page long story of the guy changing his oil with the bottom line of a couple thousand dollars after the trip to the emergency room.

I like to change my own oil, I know it costs more but I have always justified it that I use syth. oil and you can't get the at Spiffy lube... however they are now offering syth.

So I pick up a 5 Gal. jug of Mobil one and a filter and toss the receipt to my wife when I get home (she does the budget)
Wife: "Ack! $45! Why does it cost so much?!?"
Not certain but I think Spiffy lube has a sign "$29 for syth."
Pretty sure they get a deal on oil seeing as they buy it by the truck load... and they make a lot of money off selling people crap they don't need (Wife took the 2010 Hyundai with 25K miles for a oil change... they told her it needed a transmission fluid change... she had no idea why I was furious and told to leave the place NOW before they could touch the trans.).
Add to that I am not too confident of the mechanical ability of the guys working in these places and I am worried about them striping or cross threading my oil pan ($$$).

On the other hand the lazy pig in me says "hey, you could save $20 and an hour rolling around on the cold cement garage floor for an hour."

Any of you gear heads pay for an oil change?

[Nostril Cheese]

Always do it myself.

I once changed an oil pan after a Jiffy Lube "tech" used an impact wrench to tighten the drain plug.

[JavaBrewer]

Wife's Infinity G37 - the dealer does it for now @ $24.95
Son's Ford Explorer - he does it with me watching
My '03 Carrera - I do it.

[gacook]

I do my own on 3 of the cars. The minivan gets taken to the dealer. I tell her it's because she has free maintenance as part of the buy; the reality is I hate that damn thing so much, I don't want to touch it.

[vash]

DIY,.

hell, i do about five people's cars. some of the elderly in my neighborhood start to hint at about 4999 miles into the oil change.

i buy fistfulls of toyota oil plug sealing washers. just once, i want someone to volunteer to take away the cat litter jug of dirty oil.

[vash]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Wife's Infinity G37 - the dealer does it for now @ $24.95
Son's Ford Explorer - he does it with me watching
My '03 Carrera - I do it.

i allllllmost dumped the tranny on my MIL's infinity I30. i was hungover, and really sleepy..to this day, i dont know what made me pause to take a second look.

[Noah930]

Change the oil myself. It justifies the purchase of tools, and it's a good chance to poke around the mechanicals of the car to make sure everything's safe. Plus then I know I only have myself to blame for any hamfisted wrenching. Every time I take a car in for an oil change, the next time I wind up having to resort to the screwdriver-thru-the-oil-filter method of removing the thing; I never have to do that when I hand tighten the oil filter myself. Wife's minivan has free oil changes for 2 years, but I'm halfway tempted to ditch that and do it myself, as every time I bring the van in they manage to screw up something else.

[TheMentat]

I do mine on the Porsche (I do everything on the Porsche). The remaining cars get taken to the shop. Many shops do it for ridiculously cheap just to get you in the door to be "up-sold". Be smart about it and take advantage!

[flipper35]

I do all but the new car. The new car has a lifetime warranty on the power train courtesy of the dealer. The catch you say? They have to do the maintenance on the car. Tire rotation every 6000 miles plus oil/filter and transmission fluids. What does that cost you ask? No extra charge the first 5 years. That said, I don't like it. I have to let them use whatever oil they carry that meets API spec for the car. Then again, they pay to replace the engine.

[mikester]

I do it on mine, 2012 Mazda 5, 2005 Prius, 2007 Cayman.

The Mazda and Prius are cheap to do. The Cayman requires more oil and Synthetic Mobile 1 though so...yeah...still taking it to the dealer or something?

Am I going to let Jiffy Lube touch my Porsche?

Nope.

Any I worked for Jiffy Lube for a while back in my very early 20s - I was good and am good at changing oil. I worked with guys there who really did put a lot of pride in their work - most of the time though they were not. There were usually 2 of those guys in a shop and the rest were not that bright and could kind of follow directions and turn a wrench. Then there were the guys that worked up top selling who often were not most honest folks in the world.

My driveway doesn't lie to me.

[craigster59]

Do it on mine. I get Mobil 1 at Wallyworld for $29.95 for 5 gal jug. I'm sure Jiffy Lube would do it for $29, but it ain't M1 and they tack all kinds of disposal fees and such where it will hit $45 by the time you are out the door.

[masraum]

I always have in the past, but with the new CPO Boxster, I think they want me to bring it to them. Besides, I've moved and no longer have a jack, stands, driveway, etc... I'm pretty sure the complex would be miffed if I was doing it in the parking garage.

[craigster59]

And those A-holes at JL convinced the wife to change the transmission fluid at 25k miles. Unfortunately it's a Toyota Tacoma with a sealed tranny and recommended change if any is at 85k. I know for a fact it almost cost me a transmission.

[futuresoptions]

Geez, where do you all live? It's runs $70. here for a Jiffy Lube type establishment to do a full synthetic oil change. A little cheaper for the synthetic blend and then the cheapest being the conventional oil.

[sand_man]

Always!

[Oh Haha]

I do all of our maintenance with the exception of alignments and tire mounting.

As one of the other posters stated-I like to check the underside out while I am doing the oil change. I will usually clean the MAF, throttle plate, and check the air filter while under the hood.

[Bill Douglas]

I do the 911 and two Corollas. I have oil change day GF thinks it takes all day whereas it's done in an hour or two

Now I've got the scissor lift it is even easier. For the first time ever I took the plate off the bottom of the SC engine where the oil pickup screen is. It was beautifully clean and zero crud sticking to it.

[onewhippedpuppy]

The only thing I pay to have done is tires. If I could afford a tire machine, I'd do those too! Very few people meet my standards, and the ones that do are typically very busy.

[McLovin]

I've never paid for an oil change or a car wash! Not even once in my 30+ years of car ownership.

At some point, it became a streak that I have to keep going.

[vash]

oh..i could pay for a car wash. easily..

but i dont. if this drought thing keeps up, i will.