A. Not worth the trouble, such as mess, time, and effort.




B. Totally worth it. Atleast you know it is being done correctly.




Just wondering what you guys thought.

 

If you can't do it yourself, you must be retarded.

 

I don't like other people touching my car esp. for such an easy task.

 

I'm with these 2...but definately do it yourself and put in the good stuff. NO one cares for YOUR car like YOU do.

 

-its good to know what your putting on the car for such an easy task.

-but if your a busy person and time is money, it might be more feasible to have someone else do it

 

well i do mine because if you want to go synthetic the locals shops want to charge 60$ for a synthetic oil change. Plus when your under the car you can look and see if you have any leaks or problems that would otherwise go unnoticed.

 

depends on your time and how much you care about your car..

the grease monkeys at the shop don't give a damn about it.. if they spill oil everywhere on your frame, they wipe it up enough so it doesn't drip on their heads.. sometimes I think they put the plugs in with an impact wrench as well..

thus, I just do it myself. the car stays clean and I know it's done right. too many other small things to notice while you're down there as well. the shops don't tell you about them unless they think they can make some money off it, then they'll trump up the situation and tell you your car will fall apart unless you replace this $500 bushing-- that actually costs $15 and has years of life left.

 

Paying $50-$60 for synthetic is nuts... I can get 6 quarts for $22-$28 from Costco usually... plus I know what's going in and how carefully its been done. It usually doesn't take too much time, but then again, I'm not working this year anyway...

 

i havent dont my own in my max, cuz i got free oil changes for 2 years from the stealership. other than that, yes, i do it myself unless its freezing outside.

 

I like doing my own. It always seems like when other people work on your car, they always want to sell you something, or something is always needing to be replaced.

 

Do it myself and it's worth it. I asked my wife to time me the other day and it took 19-20 minutes, including getting the few tools out of my toolbox, jacking up car, draining, replacing filter, etc. and finally putting tools back and lowering car. 20 min is not bad and it would take as long to do it elsewhere, except in this case its cheaper ($26 for synthetic with an OEM filter), and I know it wasn't overfilled, or (worse) they forgot to fill it

I'm basically of the opinion that anything you can do you should do. Don't pay anybody for anything you can do yourself, whether it's working on your car or mowing your lawn. Few of us here make so much money and have so little free time that doing oil is not worth it. I have about an hour of free time every weekday at the moment, so I just squeeze this sort of thing in on the weekend.That too. Every since I've stopped taking my car to others for maintenance I've found it to need far fewer repairs

 

I have always done my own oil and other fluid changes. I don't want some Goober rounding off my oil drain plug among other things.

 

A perfect example about my previous post....I went to the tire shop because my passenger rear tire was slowly leaking air....Of course, I walk in and they tell me how the Yokohoma tires on my car have been discontinued, and that I should spend 119 per tire from his place. As it ended up, the tire needed to be re mounted, and a new bead around the seal. 15 bucks and I was on my way....with my old tires! Sorry, I know it doesnt have to do with oil changes, but wanted to prove my point about always trying be sold something

 

I went to have my oil changed a few weeks ago (it was 15 degrees out, if its below freezing i dont do it myself) and the idiots tried to tell me that I needed something else done to the car that would have cost about $100. I dont remember what they said, but I remember coming home to look in the records my dad keeps of repairs, and the same thing had been done a few months ago.

 

 

and you should if it's messy...learn to do it.

 

I guess I'm a tard because I've never changed my own oil on any of my cars. I go to a mechanic that my family has always used for many years.

 

Last time I didn't do it myself, I sent the wife to the dealer to get the oil changed in her Acura. The ramrods stripped the threads in the oil pan, denied responsibility for it, and I was out $120 for a new oil pan. Never again...

 

And the list of reasons not to go to the stealership keep adding up!

 

I do my own oil and anything else I can to avoid other people's grubby hands playing with my car.

~THT

 

I do it myself but at my friends shop. My family has been going there for years now, and whenever i need an oil change i just call in and ask if they have an open bay i can use.
I pull right up, use my friends tools - bring my own oil but get a filter from them - so i end up paying like $5 for the filter and whatever i paid for the oil and i am on my way.
I do also try to change my oil every 2000 or 2500 miles at most so i am in there quite often.

To answer the question at hand - do it yourslef as its so easy to do, not messy if you have the right tools and all, and gives you a chance to look under the car as others have said above.

 

It's all good if that's your comfort zone.

 

I don't have time to change it, working full time and going to grad school. Also it's cheap as hell to go have it done. I go to Firestone and pay less than $20 for an oil change and I have never had them try to sell me something other than that. They also rotate my tires, check my air pressure, fluid levels, and whatnot.

 

Now when I had my old car and was in high school and college, I always changed my own oil...

 

I just did my oil change today! Cost me less than $30 for Mobil 1 5-30 synthetic oil and an oil filter. Took me about 25 minutes to do and that's way less of a time consumed for me cause driving to and from the nearest garage is about 15 minutes plus all the time you waste waiting while they are doing the oil change. Then you still gotta pay them around $20 even if you bring your own synthetic oil.

Eric

 

Yeah I had a similar experience. I bought my 93 sentra and had a front crankshaft seal (I think!) replaced, because it was leaking. About two years later the engine was leaking again and a rear main seal, plus that front crankshaft needed to be done. Somehow I really doubt that the front crankshaft seal died after two years.

 

I just changed mine yesterday

 

i've only done mine once on the max. i don't want to bother because it's winter time now, and in the summer i'd rather pay the $20 for someone else to dispose of it anways. my work does business with the place i go so they don't screw me and i haven't had a problem. it's easier and the money isn't all that much of a difference.

 

$20 - have shop put in crappy regular oil.
$50 - have shop put in crappy synthetic oil
$36 - do it myself, use good synthetic oil and engine flush cleaner, and only takes 15 minutes

...what do you think i do?

 

I used to be the type that wouldn't do my own oil. I would do everything else but oil. This was mainly because it was difficult for me to dispose of the old stuff. Now I do pretty much everything myself except alignment and body work. Also, no place I know of carries Amsoil.

 

there is a guy on here that sells amsoil for VERY cheap.

 

I absolutely despise Firestone. In my experience they are overpriced, dishonest, and careless/incompetant. I also hate CarX as they are to fscking stupid to do an alignment on a car with aftermarket springs. The ********s at Firestone told me I needed a new passenger side balljoint (I checked when I got it back and it was in perfect condition ) and some other crap when my exhaust fell off. They wanted 900$ for the exhaust, so I told the guy to change the oil and I would take it somewhere else for the exhaust. That didnt make him too happy and he tried his best to discourage me, saying that the 300$ another shop quoted couldnt be genuine. I saved my cat, and the guys at Firestone said that it NEEDED to be replaced, but it passed emissions with flying colors less than 8 months ago. The guys at the exhaust shop said it looked fine and reused it.

After my limmited but unpleasant experience with mechanics, I do all my own work. If I need new tools for the job, it's still much cheaper than paying some ******* to mess up my car. I'm mechanically inclined and a fast learner, so working on the Max seems pretty easy.

I've had much better experiences with the indepentant tranny and muffler shops that I went to. Generally alot cheaper, more friendly, and alot more honest.

 

dont forget the idiots at jiffy lube. thoes retards used an air ratchet on my friends prelude. they tightened the drain plug so tight that they destroyed the threads on both the plug and oil pan.

 

It's interesting about your time is money theory. Because when I used to play the stock market, the best I ever did was nearly 3k in 40 min. So that 40 min of watching one stock was very valuable. I also remember making a trade on a Thanksgiving holiday and having my parents yell at me telling me to hurry up let's leave. I was thinking they're costing me potential money because I was dumping an IPO and the question was when. But I don't think the argument holds up. I have some colleagues that earn in the neighborhood of $175/hr. Earn, not bill. The thing is, life is not such that you apply your hourly rate 24 hours per day. These people seem to be able to set aside their day for Super Bowl Sunday. The also seem ok to take off for a pro-am tournament of golf. My point is every has spare time. To be unable to change one's oil in 20-25 min, or front brake pads in 15 min., is a cop-out no matter how valuable one's time. Even when a person earns $175/hr (I don't buy may someday), and is a homeowner, there are contractors ready to charge double that to fix things in the house. So that my times is more valuable argument will get very expensive around the house. my .02

 

Why the engine flush?

 

I agree with your assessment. When it comes to woking on your own car, you don't pay yourself for labor. If you have time to drive to an oil change facility, you have time to change your own oil. If you don't feel like doing it or are not comfortable doing it, them pay somebody else to do it and spend your time and money pursuing it. If you want to change your own oil and work on your car, you will find the time to do it.

 

why not?.....

 

Because you are already using expensive oil. Is your engine that dirty inside. I have never seen a need to flush any of my engines for any reason. That's why I asked. So, I ask again. Why the engine flush?

 

my engine could be really dirty, or it could be nice and clean, i really dont know, but if the engine cleaner only costs like 5 bucks, what the hell do i care.

 

Pump your brakes man. It's your paper, spend it as you see fit. I just wanted to know what you perceived as the benefit of flushing your engine when you changed the oil.