Do you change your own oil?

[pcgeek11]

Yea some filters come with the plug for BMWs. Another great german engineering design.

I know right. Plastic drain plug. When a metal one would last the life of the engine and then some....

 

[compcons]

I used to change my own oil and also did a bunch of bolt on mods to a couple of Galant VR-4s. Now I don't bother (though I did change the plugs and thermostat on the SHO). I sometimes swap wheels for the seaon and do brakes occasionally. My mechanic is a 5 minute drive and I can work from the waiting area. It's good to have a mechanic go over everything once in a while too. It certainly cost more money, but the 30-45 minutes feels well worth it.

 

[desy]

I like to do an oil change as I feel more connected to the car and like to know what's actually under the hood

 

[Ken g6]

I tried changing my own oil once. Got the front of the car up on metal supports. But then I didn't have a metric socket, and even with a wrench on the nut I couldn't get it to turn at all. Somebody at a shop said I needed a power driver or something, which I never got.

 

[UsandThem]

I tried changing my own oil once. Got the front of the car up on metal supports. But then I didn't have a metric socket, and even with a wrench on the nut I couldn't get it to turn at all. Somebody at a shop said I needed a power driver or something, which I never got.

If people get their oil changes from shops, they are notorious for over-torquing the drain plug and oil filters. When I do mine, I torque to OEM specifications, and it is not hard at all to remove those once you stop taking it to shops where the newest employee is usually tasked with being down in the "pit" only changing oil all day long.

On my Toyota Rav4, I ended up having to buy a new filter housing because I couldn't remove the drain plug on the housing (Toyota doesn't use typical spin-on canister filters). Even when I had it totally off of the vehicle and in a vice, it would not budge at all.

 

[zinfamous]

I know right. Plastic drain plug. When a metal one would last the life of the engine and then some....

well, it's a plastic oil pan, too. A metal plug would be a really bad idea. It's all the pencil pushers. slashing little pieces of trim, here and there, every year.

You should see the forum boys rioting over how the Mk8 Golfs lost the hydraulic strut for the hood. Sure, it's a Volkswagen, but who they think we are with these damn prop bars, peasants?????

 

[lxskllr]

I change mine cause I get paid to, and I know it's being done right.

I disagree with the "it gets neater with experience" argument. Depends on the vehicle. Mine has a crossmember that's close to the drain hole. Makes getting the plug off a real pita, especially since mine's stripped, and I have to use vicegrips. When you get the plug off, it overshoots the crossmember, and if you estimated right, it goes into the drainpan. Great! While you're laying under the truck admiring your handiwork, and congratulating yourself on what an awesome oil change specialist you are, pressure starts dropping on the oil stream...

Hopefully your pan's big enough to account for that. Mine is as long as I positioned it well in the first place, but there's a surprise waiting! Oh boy, I love surprises!

It hits the crossmember, then fans out in a wide spray that covers everything in a 2' radius under the truck, including you if you foolishly stayed under the truck to watch...

So, you get out from under the truck, and dig up a rag you didn't think to get out before you started, and try not to touch too much stuff. Get cleaned up a little, cool down a minute, then go to the front to take the oil filter out. This one's pretty easy. It sits right up front, and is easy to remove...

Bet you thought this story had a happy ending, didn't you? It's easy to remove alright, but to get it removed from the engine compartment, it has to be tipped spilling more oil down your arm, and on the cooling hoses that are in the way...

I'd love to find the engineer that set all this up, and beat him with a pick handle...

 

[Torn Mind]

I change mine cause I get paid to, and I know it's being done right.

I disagree with the "it gets neater with experience" argument. Depends on the vehicle. Mine has a crossmember that's close to the drain hole. Makes getting the plug off a real pita, especially since mine's stripped, and I have to use vicegrips. When you get the plug off, it overshoots the crossmember, and if you estimated right, it goes into the drainpan. Great! While you're laying under the truck admiring your handiwork, and congratulating yourself on what an awesome oil change specialist you are, pressure starts dropping on the oil stream...

Hopefully your pan's big enough to account for that. Mine is as long as I positioned it well in the first place, but there's a surprise waiting! Oh boy, I love surprises!

It hits the crossmember, then fans out in a wide spray that covers everything in a 2' radius under the truck, including you if you foolishly stayed under the truck to watch...

So, you get out from under the truck, and dig up a rag you didn't think to get out before you started, and try not to touch too much stuff. Get cleaned up a little, cool down a minute, then go to the front to take the oil filter out. This one's pretty easy. It sits right up front, and is easy to remove...

Bet you thought this story had a happy ending, didn't you? It's easy to remove alright, but to get it removed from the engine compartment, it has to be tipped spilling more oil down your arm, and on the cooling hoses that are in the way...

I'd love to find the engineer that set all this up, and beat him with a pick handle...

Sounds like Ford is in the building.

(Did I guess right?)

 

[lxskllr]

Sounds like Ford is in the building.

(Did I guess right?)

Nope! It's a 2005 Dakota. What's really galling, is a couple of modest changes would make it one the easiest vehicles I've dealt with. I change the oil on a dirt farm drive, so the ground splatter isn't the worst thing in the world, but no splatter would be even better, and it would be nice to get the job done without having oil up to my elbows.

 

[pcgeek11]

On my Toyota Rav4, I ended up having to buy a new filter housing because I couldn't remove the drain plug on the housing (Toyota doesn't use typical spin-on canister filters). Even when I had it totally off of the vehicle and in a vice, it would not budge at all.

Well not entirely true. Some engines do and some don't. My Tacoma uses a traditional spin on filter. My wifes 2010 Highlander uses the cartridge filter as you describe.

 

[UsandThem]

Well not entirely true. Some engines do and some don't. My Tacoma uses a traditional spin on filter. My wifes 2010 Highlander uses the cartridge filter as you describe.

I meant it as my Toyota doesn't use spin on filters.

I'm not a mechanic, so I don't work on or see all their various makes and models they have offered over the years.

 

[IronWing]

Nope! It's a 2005 Dakota. What's really galling, is a couple of modest changes would make it one the easiest vehicles I've dealt with. I change the oil on a dirt farm drive, so the ground splatter isn't the worst thing in the world, but no splatter would be even better, and it would be nice to get the job done without having oil up to my elbows.

It's just a cross member; all it does is sit there. Put a cutoff wheel on the angle grinder and get to work.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Nope. First, I have no driveway to work in; second, I'm lazy; and third, it only costs ~$30 to have my local mechanic do it.

You must not have a newer car that takes synthetic.
My GMC truck takes 8 quarts of it. You can barely buy the oil for 30 bucks, much less the filter and pay someone to do it.

I do it myself. I know more about the vehicle than some fast lube jockey at the dealership, and certainly more than anyone at a lube shop, so I just save the time and money and do it myself.

I used to say that even though dealerships used kids to do oil changes, they had certified techs nearby that could check it out if you have something questionable. That's really not the case at a lot of stores now. They have separate "quick lube" shops, where the guys there aren't really certified in anything, and other than using factory filters, it's really not a lot better than a lube shop. Probably a little better, since a lot of them are training to be a real mechanic at some point, but experience-wise....not really a lot better in many cases.

If they were all in the same shop, maybe I'd feel different.

 

[skyking]

I always have. We tended to drive cars to destruction, and any time I get under there and look around is a good thing. You find shit that is loose, needs fixing, etc.
As far as "it gets neater as you do it more often", yes that is the case for me.
The 98 Camry we had, the filter angles up off the front of the block and just rains oil down across everything. Truly a fucking mess!
I figured out if you stabbed the filter with an icepick or small phillips and go have a cup of coffee, every last drop drains back to the pan. DOH!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I just bought my first synthetic oil car and was shocked that the price of an oil change doubled. Most places near me charge $70. I looked around at what it would cost me to do my own change and figure the following:

$25 5QT 0W-20 Oil
$5 filter
$0-$4 oil plug (if needed to replace)

So I'm thinking it would be around $30-$35 not including any fixed costs (jack, oil pan, etc.). Plus then you have to take the used oil to an auto parts store when you're done and you may pay some nominal fee to recycle it. In any case seems like I'm basically paying a mechanic $35 for the labor to do the change. Or I could do it myself and save $35. Is it really worth it to change the oil myself? Seems like a messy job just to save a few dollars every 4-6 months.

Maybe someone else can answer, but "What is a 'synthetic oil car'?" I was using synthetic Castrol in my 1979 fleet of Honda Civics back in 1993. Those cars were "old" even then . . . .

Haven't read through all the posts here, and I suppose it could seem impolite that I didn't. But I use a drain-valve, similar in function to the Fumoto drain valves. With 2 minutes actual work, you can change your oil while wearing your evening tuxedo. If you have a waste-oil container at the ready, you'd just insert the plastic tube you first connect to the drain valve, walk away, come back 20 minutes later, remove the tube, turn off the drain-valve, cap the waste-container, and put it in the car to deliver for recycling the next time you have to make a trip to the grocery store . . .

The only time there's a risk for a little mess arises when you wish to change the filter. You'd do this AFTER the oil is drained from the crank-case, or after you've shut off the valve. So . . . . have a small plastic kitchen storage bag handy -- which is new and therefore without holes and leaks . . .

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Maybe someone else can answer, but "What is a 'synthetic oil car'?"

Probably just meaning a car with an engine stating it requires synthetic oil. Whether that's because the engine was designed for it (materials and tolerances) or it's just marketing to be able to claim longer oil change intervals.

Of course you can run synthetic in any engine. For a while 0W-20 engines required synthetic before we were able to make synthetic blends that met the API specification.

 

[WhiteNoise]

I change the oil and other fluids in my Harley myself.
I change the oil and filter on my truck myself.
I take both my cars to the shop with my oil and filter and have them change it for me. I do this because both cars are too low to the ground and I do not like using ramps to change oil and taking them to the shop is just super easy and fast.

 

[pete6032]

Maybe someone else can answer, but "What is a 'synthetic oil car'?"

Car that takes synthetic oil only. My last car only required conventional.

 

[Ackmed]

On my Moto Guzzi bike, and '68 Mustang I do. The Mustang Mach-E... obviously not. Full electric. My wife's Defender isn't due till 20,500 miles, not too sure how I feel about that. You can't drain it either, have to pull it out. Will probably just have that done when comes time, it will be due for a PM anyways.

 

[pcgeek11]

On my Moto Guzzi bike, and '68 Mustang I do. The Mustang Mach-E... obviously not. Full electric. My wife's Defender isn't due till 20,500 miles, not too sure how I feel about that. You can't drain it either, have to pull it out. Will probably just have that done when comes time, it will be due for a PM anyways.

Pull it out?

 

[zinfamous]

Pull it out?

get that a lot, do you?

anyway, I'm guessing he means extraction, like what I do with mine. Does the oil pan on that thing not have a drain plug? It makes sense on something like a defender--if you want to shore up the undercarriage from potential catastrophic damage, you could eliminate all potential failure points that are possible. ...there really is no need to drain from the oilpan, if you can just extract from the top; better yet if your filter is also top-mounted.

 

[pcgeek11]

get that a lot, do you?

anyway, I'm guessing he means extraction, like what I do with mine. Does the oil pan on that thing not have a drain plug? It makes sense on something like a defender--if you want to shore up the undercarriage from potential catastrophic damage, you could eliminate all potential failure points that are possible. ...there really is no need to drain from the oilpan, if you can just extract from the top; better yet if your filter is also top-mounted.

That is also what I was thinking, but "pulling it out" is a strange way to word it IMO.

Everything I see on the internet has the Land Rover Defender with a oil drain plug. The skid plate has a hole just for the oil drain. Maybe the OP just likes to pull it out.

 

[JeepinEd]

I used to take my cars to those express oil change shops. I experienced re-used oil filters, stripped oil pan plug threads, insufficient oil, charged for work not done, or needed, etc. Then I bought a Jeep. I found I could no longer afford to be at the shop every other weekend, so I first learned how to do my own oil changes, then everything else. Since 2002, none of my vehicle have been to a shop. I've done everything from oil changes, to replacing radiators, installing suspension lifts, replacing catalytic converters, oil pans, belts, hoses, replacing the battery pack on my Hybrid, etc. It gives you a good feeling of accomplishment, and the $$ savings helps.

 

[Ackmed]

That is also what I was thinking, but "pulling it out" is a strange way to word it IMO.

Everything I see on the internet has the Land Rover Defender with a oil drain plug. The skid plate has a hole just for the oil drain. Maybe the OP just likes to pull it out.

It was more plain speak for people who may not know. But yes, extraction. You can't really get to the drain plug without taking off the under carriage protection. In any case, only 3k miles on it and not due for a while. I don't plan to do it myself. The Mustang is extremely easy, and so is the bike. Drain, fill, drive. Cheap too. It is really not any cheaper, I just enjoy it, and the kids learn something.

 

[skyking]

Some pans extract well, others not so much. I tried out my wife's '13 beetle and it left too much there IMO, after I pulled the plug and got the rest out. We traded it before the next oil change LOL!