OT: Do you change your own car oil?

There are a few problems with changing one's own oil. Disposal of the spent oil is one of them. Many years ago, we just poured it in the ground in a gravel area. This was never a good idea, but is certainly a bigger issue these days. The other is having a place to do this. You need a way to elevate the car, it at least takes some ramps, etc. I grew up in a rural area in the 60's and 70's. Everybody changed their own oil. I don't know one person who changes their own oil today.

I do it myself.

Only on the Lotus. The Acuras and the Honda go to the dealer or Jiffy Lube.

Having someone else do it is only a few dollars more. It is faster. I don't have to clean up or get rid of the oil.

I do maintenance on my cars, such as changing brakes, rotors, batteries, light bulbs. Heck I recently changed a blower motor in one of my cars. It's amazing what you can learn on Youtube, and how easy some of this stuff is to do.

When it comes to oil changing, I take it to a shop. Number of reasons: I don't really like to lift my car up and get under it when I am alone, disposal of oil, it can be a mess and lastly, when I take my car into the shop for an oil change they lube and check all the other seals. Take note that I take my cars to a garage that I have to make an appointment at, not just one of those 5 minute oil change places. They too are supposed to check seals, etc. but I know they often just skip that stuff to get you in and out quickly. I'll take my company car to those quickie places and I often have to complain to get them to check the tire pressure and refill the wiper fluid, two things that should be automatic at these places.

I change my own oil when my wife has a headache.

@shailynn: Same with me on the Lotus. It's a 1972 so it's simple compared to today's cars. I've replaced/repaired everything except the engine. It's a DOHC interference type so I threw money at that when I got a rebuild. I've done the master cylinder, starter, heater valve, fuel line, alternator, water pump, front suspension, throttle cable, brake boosters, ignition, distributor, more carb rebuilds and balancing than I can count, replaced the carpeting, blinker cancel, replaced the headers, shift linkage...and I bet I forgot a bunch.

It's been reliable between breakdowns. I bought it in 2001 and I've put 15,000 miles on it so yes, it does get used.

I do most all maintenance and repairs on my personal truck and bike. As for my company vehicle, putting gas in it is as far as I go.

Only 15,000 miles in 15 years... You still have breakdowns and call it reliable? You are a customer relationship manager's dream.

No. You need a technician to do the maintenance, and anyway the maintenance is typically included for the first 4 years. My new BMW does not even have a dipstick. You check your oil on the computer display in the car.

I'm too old for that shit. The ford dealer takes care of my Mustang.

No. I take it in for that. I'm too old and lazy to change my own oil. When I was young - I did the maintenance on my Camaro. Now I bring it in - and drink coffee and eat donuts while waiting for it to be done!

I change my oil, I replaced a clutch, a timing chain (in a snowbank), It's easy, there are plenty of legal places to dispose of used oil. If I want convenience, I'll take it in.

Good for everyone if you enjoy that type of thing.

For me, it's worth it to take 30 minutes on a weekend and go to Jiffy Lube.

I used to take mine in but I got tired of the constant up-sell for other services and waiting (at some places).

Since I have an SUV, it sits high enough off of the ground and I'm small enough to fit under it. So I can change it no mess / no fuss / quickly. I also check my own 4x4 gear oil, transmission fluid and coolant - all easy to change without having to raise / jack it up.

Truthfully, if I had to jack it up. . . my opinion would change.

I buy those 15 QT plastic jugs and take them to the City Service Garage every 2 years. After 2 years I typically have 3 full jugs (4 oil changes @ 6 quarts each, one coolant drain) and some computer equipment - which I recycle in one trip.

Easy. Peasy.

flagooner: I do all my own work as I can fuck up my car for a lot less money than my ex-mechanic! LOL So I'm only Pep Boy's dream. Most proprietary parts are on fLeaBay and are not expensive.

I rarely drive it in the winter and neither my golf clubs or guitars fit in it, so it's a warm sunny day car for sure. I do some car shows with it, or go fishing with it. It's fun to have a toy car.

BTW Jiffy Lube and the like have to take your used oil for free, by law. When I change the oil in the Honda or Acuras, I bring any jugs along with me. They also take my brake fluid when I bleed or change i, which I do both before and after any autocross event. Brake fluid takes a beating!

@ rockstar: I agree it is much cheaper. And I wish I had a car that I could use for just fun. I thought I may have read your earlier post wrong and you meant to write 150,000 miles.

I used to do a lot of my own work, including oil changes. But nowadays I have neither the time nor the inclination when I can pay someone else short money to do things like change the oil and, more importantly, dispose of spent fluids. Maybe that will change when I retire as I really used to like doing my own work, but I am a long way from retirement now. My older car goes to a quick serve place, which has done a fine job even with the upsells, and the car that is still under warranty goes to the dealership.

The car had 48,000 documented miles when I bought it, but on a Lotus of that era it might as well have been 150,000! But the fiberglass body and paint were excellent, and I knew I could fix the rest. The bady is a sea of compound curves so for any repairs to look right, you need a real expert. Painting the car would cost $10,000 if done to show quality. I like the original paint because it looks right for a car from 1972. I hate modern paint on vintage cars.

I donit myself. I take the oil to the auto parts store and dump it on the counter.. jk. They have a tank on th3 back i dump it in

It depends. I find it a nice escape, so sometimes I'll take an afternoon and a few beers and do various maintenance type things on the truck, wash/wax/oil change/etc. Other times, I've just got other shit I'd rather do and just have it done. The dealership charges a bit more than I'd spend on just oil and takes forever, but they also wash it. The thing that usually tips the scale in the dealers favor is the fact that they're pretty close to a strip club & they'll either give me a loaner or a ride over there & back.

During the summer, its almost a no brainier for having it done. A couple weeks ago the weather was nice and I figured a few hours outside would be nice, so I did it myself.

I have done a lot of stuff myself over the years. Oil, brakes, starter, alternator, radiator, plugs, wiring, etc, etc... Me and a couple friends even put the lift kit on my new jeep 2 years ago. But frankly, i'll pay a few extra dollars to have a local shop do the maintenance stuff. I take it to the local shop for an oil change, brakes, tire rotation, etc... I can pull in and they have it done in 15 minutes and i'm on my way. My time is extremely limited

I use to do it occasionally but now my free time is more valuable.

I used to go to valvoline and have all my cars oil changed there (full synthetic) just for the convienence of it.

Lately though, I've been doing myself. I can change the filter and oil with synthetic oil and it'll cost me $30-$35 total (plus my time).

Every time I take it in for an oil change, seems I can't get out of there for less than $75, it's usually closer to $100 for the same thing. So I've decided to save a few bucks and do it myself now on my cars and trucks.

But I like wrenching on cars. It's a hobby of mine so I don't mind doing it and I have the equipment to do it easily with a hoist.

Hey this isn't a stripper related question...LOL! but answer it no. It's too cheap to just take it into meinke or car ex.

How did a thread with a title like this get so many responses? :-)

@flagooner: Lots of men are car guys. We love talking about cars!

Yes, I fix everything on cars, from the very simple to the highly complex.

SJG

Cameron Carpenter: Rachmaninoff's Paganini Rhapsody for Organ & Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F79Bgeqy…
This guy and his M and O modernized organ are out of this world!

sc,

Treat them ( ford dealer) well. You will need them as the Mustang is a FORD. Found On Road Dead. Failure On Race Day... :)

Others?

flag,

"How did a thread with a title like this get so many responses?"

Really???

Cars and girls are two of a man's favorite things! Sometimes in that order.

As an example, I met friends of mine at a local carnival AFTER I had taken my car to the drag strip. There I met my future wife who was with one of my friends.

@Clubber: That's a great story! In 15 years my wife has been in the Lotus once. She hates it more than any dancer I might have fucked. Glad your wife shares your passion!

rock,

That was back in '66. Lot's of water under the bridge since then. She doesn't remember that meeting at all. The first meeting she remembers was about a year later when she came to sit with a friend of hers I was going to start dating.

We've been together since that night.

w/ each generation it seems there are a lot more people into white-collar office/desk type jobs and people become less apt w/ tools and fixing stuff.

Also, IMO as the standard of living has progressed over the decades many people rather enjoy their free-time doing recreational things vs chores.

I’ve never been good at fixing stuff, more of a book-nerd, and thus have always had my cars worked on by others.

@papi I'm more of a book nerd too. But even bill gates loves cars.I'd take a whole afternoon fixing up my car vs going to a strip club if that were the options.

FORD
=
Flipped Over Rebuilt Dodge.

I always knew the other one as:
FORD
=
Fix On Race Day.

As long as I've got money for parts and tools, and so long as the situation is conducive to getting dirty and then getting cleaned back up, I love working on cars. I also love books. And I love sex with women.

Not sure if I really love women though, as I like to limit the scope of the relationship.

SJG

Revolutionary Organist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xVruuES…

Cameron Carpenter: Rachmaninoff's Paganini Rhapsody for Organ & Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F79Bgeqy…
This guy and his M and O modernized organ are out of this world!

Cameron Carpenter Bad Boy of the Organ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XECkSZvv…

Cameron Carpenter- Killing Me Loudly: On the Abdication of the "King" of Instruments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeOvWB8T…

The Sound of Tomorrow: Cameron Carpenter in Conversation with Michael Eisner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m836JSYQ…

For most people it is cheaper to do the repairs themselves, for me it costs more for the mechanic to fix what I fuck up. I have finally learned my lesson.

FORD Fix or Repair Daily.

I've talked with new car salesman and they always say, no maintenance needed, and then that you can't fix it yourself.

I always explain that for some of us it is just pride of ownership. So we learn to fix it. And if you keep it long enough, all of it will need maintenance.

SJG

I did it myself before but if you don't have all the proper tools, it's more difficult and time consuming. I drop my car off and let the professionals work on my car while I do my own work. Time is a more valuable resource to me now that always seems limited. I know a 20 something guy who moved to New York. He sold his car and doesn't have one. At that age I thought it would be nice to get rid of car maintenance and ownership expenses of a personal vehicle. I read recently about someone thinking along the same line of thought. Now, I like having my own car in good shape and ready to go whenever I want to use it. I'm not interested in the rent a ride concept anymore where you never need to own a car. In rural areas, it might be more difficult to pick up a car at late hours. You guys probably have no idea what I'm talking about. I like having my own car and not dealing with the rent a ride concept where you deal with whatever crap of a vehicle you got left with.

If you enjoy doing it yourself, kudos to you. I like letting someone else do it. They find other stuff wrong on occassion I would have missed. I never have enough time to do everything else I want to do.

FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily

Yeah it's generally more convenient to just do it yourself. Except some car makers do fucked up shit like put the filter behind the engine. I just save it up and bring it to be recycled every couple years or so.

FORD = Fart Out Read Door

FORD = Fart Out Rear Door

LOTUS: Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious

When I owned a Transam and took it to the shop every month. One word described the action for the dealer. Kaching!

And then there's Fiat,

Fix It Again Tony

I used to do my own work. I did tune-ups, exhaust replacement, brake work, etc. Since about 1984, however, my cars have become increasingly complex. Computers have made all routine maintenance simpler for the pros and harder for the DIYer. At the same time, tune-up intervals have gone up to 100,000 miles.

My 2006 Charger R/T with a Hemi has 16 platinum tipped spark plugs, half of which can only be accessed from underneath with the car on a lift. Even replacing the battery is tough on this car. It's huge to turn a big engine and to make life even more interesting, it's mounted in the trunk to help provide a 50/50 weight distribution. All things considered, I leave most jobs to the pros in a local shop these days.

I never change my own oil. It's relatively cheap and the oil magically disappears. More importantly, I get a chance to see the underside of the vehicle when it's up on the lift.

@ATACdawg how do you get to see the underside of your car if you don't change your oil?

One thing you do not want me to do is changing oil. When I had my Saturn, it went to the local repair shop, but since I got my Elantra, it goes straight to the Hyundai dealer.

For 2+ years from the time I graduated HS and joined the USAF, I was a member of a car club. The club project was building a dragster to race at the local drag strip. It was unclear to me at the time who the driver would be but we didn't take our cars to any one to do maintenance. We also had some pretty wild parties.

Simple, Esta. I walk in with the owner's permission and take a look.

Many years ago when I had a VW Beetle, I'd change my own oil. Easy to do without jacking up car (rear mounted engine.) Living and workplace circumstances made oil disposal a non issue. Now, I take it to dealer, or service center like most other posters.

Some real funny acronyms fellas, thanks for posting. Agree with A-dawg that having car up on a lift is a good opportunity to keep tabs on car condition and potential issues down the road.