Is it worth changing your own oil?

[Fritzo]

I have a couple of these and they suck. No matter what you do, the drain will always leak because its molded plastic that doesn't match up properly to the cap. I've gone through probably 10 of them and they are just plain crap.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

On mine, the lids split on one and the seal on the inside stopped sealing on the other which thread tape would've fixed. But then I have to redo thread tape every time I pour the oil out... No thanks.

Now I use one of these. Very happy with it.. Large enough to catch splashes/runs or to remove a trans cover.

 

[BUTCH1]

Pretty much this. It is messy, plus pouring the old oil from the drain container back into the quart bottles you always end up spilling some. Add to that the crawling around under your car repeatedly. And then hauling the old oil to the auto parts store. Just not worth the hassle IMO.

I did change the oil on my bike a couple weekends ago. That wasn't as bad and the dealer charges a lot more for an oil change than what the car places charge to change the oil on a car. Still, it was $80 just for the oil and the filter. Shop charges around $150 for an oil change.

I still have to dispose of the old oil though.

Surprising, my town has 2 "oil igloos", just lift up the top and dump in your used oil, the town (I assume) sells the used oil so the igloo's pay for themselves..

 

[BUTCH1]

If a busy Jiffy Lube is blowing up an engine every month, that means that there are thousands of cars going through there that AREN'T having problems...which means that you could take your car there for decades and be statistically unlikely to have issues. However, when you have other options that make even fewer mistakes, why not take them?

My brother brought his Accord to a JL after work then went home, next AM he went to go to work and saw a huge puddle of oil under the car, turns out JL didn't tighten the drain bolt, it was hanging on by 2 threads, luckily he spotted it before he started the car. I used to let the Chevy dealer do my oil changes while the car was in warranty ( so they could never claim owner neglect if a major engine problem developed). Once they overfilled it by one quart, had to bring it back, when I started to do my own changes the drain plug was on so tight I had to jackstand the car and use a "1/2 breaker bar to loosen the drain plug!. The filter was the same way, on super tight, I was barely able to get it off..