Do you change your own oil?
 

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?

Always do it myself.

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

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 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.

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. :)

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Always!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Yes I change the oil/filter on all my vehicles. I have a scissor lift so while the oil is draining I give each vehicle a once over just to be safe.

oil changes are basic and fun to do at least for me
I get the oil on sale and buy a few oil filters from our host
ends up being cheaper than s shop
plus I like working on my 911

For the wife's car the dealer does the oil change with synthetic and washes her car in 30 to 40 minutes for $30. It is a 2008 we bought new at the same dealership and the car just now has 24,000 miles on it. She has it changed every 12 months.

On the Elky and the 911 I run Brad Penn (different weights). Not available at any quick change place. I could bring my oil but I would rather do it myself. I can grease the front end on the Elky and not squirt a ton of extra grease on and around the grease zerks.

For the 911 I always do a full inspection of the S-hose, CV bolts, brake hoses, stabilizer bar bushings, shocks and so on.

Getting the oil filter off without making a mess in the engine compartment is a challenge for me and I know what I am doing. I can't imagine the mess some oil change place would make.

Talking about washers, I forgot to put my washer on the tank drain plug and luckily it does not leak.

911 - Yes.
Other car - No.
Lawn mower & snow blower - Yes.

Ian

Oh hell no. I use to do it to all my car and my folk's back in college. I have done enough oil changes to last me three life times. I take different car to different people for that. The 930 gets an oil change once a year or maybe two years. it does about 500 to 1000 miles per year, no more then that due to lack of time. S2000 goes to my honda guy. My regular wrench does the oil changes to my other cars.

I gotta live closer to Vash.

Changing the oil lets me look at stuff under the car. Ripped CV boots can get REALLY expensive if you don't catch them. And other fluid leaks make themselves known before you actually see drips in the driveway/garage.

Yeah, oil and filters can get expensive, when done at retail pricing. But being able to get the filter/drainplug off myself? And actually caring about the repair/maintenance? How much would you pay for that part?

Note to self, check Mobil 1 price at wally... I paid $37 at O'Riley :rolleyes:
However they (the guys on Miata.net) recommend 0-30W for the old lifters in the 1995 Miata, had a little trouble finding the 0W

Only on my 911.

IIRC the last time I bought M1 oil for my Honda at W-world it was on sale for under $25. I do it myself on all our cars even though crawling around on the concrete is getting lower and lower and lower on my list of things I like to do.

Always on every car I've ever owned.

Years ago I loaned my grandfather my Jetta with a 2L Audi block, big valve head and headers...great car, could beat a Mustang 5.0 to 60. He was being kind in taking the car to Sears to have the oil changed before he gave it back to me. Engine seized on the way home. They forgot to put oil in it.

I can't imagine having lowest common denominator people working on any part of any car I have.

It is settled then, wally world to pick up a dozen jugs of M1 and a case of beer they we are run up to Vash place!

love you man!! wife's family doesnt bring oil..hahahha..

in my MIL's defense..i used to come home to find cases of M1 stored in my garage. bummed she moved to taiwan..

i get the stuff at Costco on sale..i buy a lot!!

but you know i would help you if you ever find yourself here with a crankcase full of nasty oil..i helped a couple of Xcountry pelican guys before..one dude brought a hottie to distract me..he post here vary rarely now..hahahha..

Yep, I do it myself on all our cars. I do have a lift so it makes the job super easy though! :)

I do all my own. I use it as a chance to give the cars a once over as was mentioned by other posters. I have taken cars to Jiffy Lube or another local place. I have never been happy with their work, and I just don't trust them. It also takes more time than if I just swing by the store while running other errands and then do it myself. All my cars take me less than 20 minutes to do a simple oil change. Seems like it was always an hour wait if I took it in somewhere. Frankly, I don't have that kind of time to kill hanging out.

For the 912E

1 gal jug of rotella: $13
Mahle filter: $6.50

Don't have to jack the car up, all I need is a 19mm socket and a pan.

I don't see anywhere that can put 1000+ ppm zinc oil and an OEM filter on my Porsche for anywhere near $18.50.

I avoid mechanics like the plague so the only thing I don't do myself is tyre changes.
Even then they try to up sell you on new wheels or whatever.

I'm sure there are honest mechanics out there but I have yet to find one.

Oil changes are easy but a lot of people seem to just top up the oil on older cars.
Not a good idea but when the car is worth around $500 they tend to care less.

Do my own in the f150, syn only, so cheap at Walmart why not? Porsche, bmw, lexus as well. Good time to give the vehicle the once over for any other maintenance

When it's due in the middle of winter, I take it to a local indy shop.
If you do it yourself, make sure you know what you're doing. When I ran my shop (early '70s) I had more than one Saab 96 come in smoking like a chimney after a DIY oil change - no oil in the transmission and 8 quarts in the engine.

Never paid for an oil change, never will. Heck, bought a new car with the free oil changes deal and I still do them myself.