How long does routine maintenance take you?

[rationull]

Did an oil change and tire rotation on my wife's Mazda3 today. Seems like whenever I do work on the cars it takes longer than I feel like it should -- especially this one when it comes to oil changes. By the time I:

- Jack the car up (a multi-step process with this car)
- Deal with the under-cover/splash guard
- Mess with the cartridge filter
- Rotate the tires including looking at the brakes/suspension/etc. and brushing the rust off the hub mating surfaces
- Drain and refill the oil, run the engine for a few minutes, and check the level
- Clean up

it seems like I've been out in the garage for a couple hours! Seems to me at least twice as long as it should take. I'm not sure if I'm meticulous or just slow. I suppose at the end I have saved money and I know that it was done right, but it still makes me wish a little bit that I could bring myself to take the vehicles in for maintenance.

How long does it take you guys to do routine maintenance?

 

[Quattro Pete]

It's not a race. There is no prize for finishing first.

I usually take my time as well. It probably takes me about an hour to do an oil change on the 530i, and that's using a MityVac, without getting under the car.

It must have taken me close to an hour to do the oil change on my bike today, alas, it was the first time, so hopefully it'll be a bit quicker next time. Still, it's fun... I don't really look at the watch while doing these things.

 

[robshelton]

Sounds to me like 2 hours for this service is hauling a$! With no lift and taking the time to inspect the suspension/brakes and even wire brush the hubs? Including clean up time that's pretty quick. I'd call that time will spent.

I can change the oil in my Camry in 5 minutes but everything is easy to get to and I've done it 75 times or more! And I'm not really checking anything. Quick visual on the master cylinder and the occasional look at the wiper fluid reservoir and away I go. There's even no reason to check the oil level after doing it so many times. Most guys at stealerships don't check the level either - just dump in what it takes and away it goes.

I digress, but I think you are doing fine.

 

[doitmyself]

I would wager that I might be the slowest maintenance and repair person in the world. Even at my "fast" mode, I am slow.

My family teases me, until I suggest they take their work to a professional and spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to get the work done.

For me, I look at it as kind of the "tortoise and the hare" outcome. I'm slow, but good. I schedule a whole day (4 to 6 hours for a front brake job). Usually, no, always, it involves a trip back to the parts store for "extra" supplies. And, who else cleans off the rubber piston boot before retracting it. However, I have painfully learned not to mess or fix stuff that "ain't" broken.

 

[d00df00d]

I love working on my car. Routine maintenance usually takes me as long as I can get away with.

That's especially true nowadays, since I drive my car so little and the miles accumulate so slowly that repairs and maintenance are a rare pleasure.

 

[Quest]

On B17A1 civics, 15mins typical (oil change)
On 2AZ-FE Camry, 15 mins or less typical (oil change)
On my GD3 fit: its about 20mins typical (oil change) due to the front splash shield in my way to reach/spin the oil filter out.

 

[Colt45ws]

15 minutes to do an oil change and about 30 minutes to do a rotate. Faster if I can recruit my little brother to help.

 

[Nick R]

2.2L OHV Cavalier: 15 mins oil change roughly

 

[severach]

If you work fast you'll do the same poor quality work that professional mechanics do. Take your time. Avoid your own mistakes and find theirs.

 

[Spyder7]

Much longer than others estimate it should. In my own defense, my mechanical background is very limited, as are the tools I have and my "facilities" for doing the work (which consist of my driveway and set of rhino type ramps).

But I get it right the first time, haven't broken or damaged anything, repaired or replaced anything unnecessarily, and being a hobby, the 'labor' is free (I enjoy it, so I put no price on it).

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
It's not a race. There is no prize for finishing first.

I usually take my time as well. It probably takes me about an hour to do an oil change on the 530i, and that's using a MityVac, without getting under the car.

It must have taken me close to an hour to do the oil change on my bike today, alas, it was the first time, so hopefully it'll be a bit quicker next time. Still, it's fun... I don't really look at the watch while doing these things.

Me too, It took me 45 minutes to 1 hour to do oil change for my E430 last week with a Mityvac.

After a good distance of 20+ miles drive home from work, I do the followings:
Checked the oil level one last time to see how much oil remained
Wipe the oil dipstick and set it aside.
Removed the oil fill cap.
Removed the cartridge oil filter holder from the housing, set it on top of the housing to let oil drip into the housing.
Took out the Mityvac from the box and assembled the tubes.
Pumped the Mityvac 10-12 times to vacuum the oil via dipstick tube.
While the Mityvac extract old oil, removed the cartridge oil filter and 4 gaskets from the filter holder. Put 4 new gaskets onto the filter holder, oil inside the new cartridge filter the slide onto the filter holder.
Checked and pumped some more to get the last few ounces of oil from the engine.
Moved 8 quarts of new oil from closet to near the front of the car.
Removed plastic tube from the dipstick tube, set the tube and Mityvac to a coner.
Started pour 8 quarts of oil into the oil filter housing.
Reinstalled oil filter holder to the housing, oil filter cap and oil dipstick.
Pumped old oil from Mityvac into 2 old jugs to take it to recycle, put away Mityvac for future use.
Dumped 8 bottles into the trash bin.
Cleaned up any drop of oil on the car engine and on the garage floor.
Close the hood.

So many things had been done and nobody can see any different between before and after an oil change, and that why it took up to 1 hour to do simple thing.

 

[eljefino]

I always overblow my own estimates with the wife, leaving me feeling like a heel.

Can do an OC in 10 minutes, if I leave my tools out, start with an empty collection pan (one of these) and end with a full one. Hurrying invariably leads to spills, which take longer to clean up than just doing it at a medium pace.

 

[demarpaint]

I tend to stretch out the jobs I do on my 3 vehicle "fleet" as well. First off I want to do the job right, and when doing oil changes I like to let the oil drain for at least an hour. Typically I will start another project while changing the oil, like cleaning the garage, cutting the lawn, or stacking firewood. I must say my wife never complains when I'm working on the cars because she knows how much we are saving.

 

[CharBaby]

I'm never in a hurry when I do work on the cars or the house. I'm known as the 4 hour guy. Everything takes me about 4 hours. Not oil changes/tire rotations but I could easily spend 4 hours tinkering with the cars. If I going to rotate the tires, I might as well inspect the brakes and bleed the system(or something like that). After about 4 hours, Im tired and it's time to bring things to a stopping point especially if the job still needs to be finished. I'll finish the next day unless it's only another hour or so. 6 hours max and Im done for sure. Next day, I'll pay for it!

 

[Lethal1ty17]

in short...much longer than it actually should take.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: rationull
Did an oil change and tire rotation on my wife's Mazda3 today. Seems like whenever I do work on the cars it takes longer than I feel like it should -- especially this one when it comes to oil changes. By the time I:

- Jack the car up (a multi-step process with this car)
- Deal with the under-cover/splash guard
- Mess with the cartridge filter
- Rotate the tires including looking at the brakes/suspension/etc. and brushing the rust off the hub mating surfaces
- Drain and refill the oil, run the engine for a few minutes, and check the level
- Clean up

it seems like I've been out in the garage for a couple hours! Seems to me at least twice as long as it should take. I'm not sure if I'm meticulous or just slow. I suppose at the end I have saved money and I know that it was done right, but it still makes me wish a little bit that I could bring myself to take the vehicles in for maintenance.

How long does it take you guys to do routine maintenance?


If you want to speed up the oil change process on the 3, I suggest 2 things:
1. Get metal shears and enlarge the "inspection" hole in the plastic shield. You will never have to remove it for an oil change again.
2. Jack up the driver's side only, I usually lower the car again once the drain plug is removed, a little extra oil always comes out.

I never rotate tires at oil changes, so with visual inspection and the above procedure I am usually done in 30 minutes.

 

[cp3]

Another option would be Rhino Ramps, I find they work great and are very easy to use. As far as the time, does it really matter? It's getting done and you're happy it's done right, then it's a job well done!

 

[Cutehumor]

I try to pack as much as I can. last weekend, I did an oil change, changed air filter, and plugged a tire. must have took me two hours. I probably should have let the oil drain first while I was hunting for a slow leak out of my front right tire.

 

[sciphi]

Depends on the car. On my Buick, an oil change takes 30 minutes. I did one on a 97 Chevy Venture in 15 minutes yesterday, with all my tools already out and the car up on ramps.

Other things will take me a good bit. Like the days-long ongoing coolant flush on my mom's 98 Scooby Legacy. Drain the coolant, then bung up the thermostat gasket, wait a day for the new one to get in, half an hour to the parts store and back, then another hour installing the thermostat, filling the car with water, and idling it to get out any trapped air bubbles. I'll have to do this 2-3 more times this week to clean the cooling system properly as it hasn't been done in years.

 

[Steve S]

Jack up and safty stand the vehicle, cry for about 20 mins, about 10 mins to get over it, then about 10 more mins to change the oil. 10 misn to cleanup . So real work time about 20 mins.