DIY oil change - I am starting to get it.

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When I was 16 years old, I changed the oil one time each in our family cars at the time, a '72 Nova, '69 Stingray, '84 Volvo 740, and '85 Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo, and didn't do it again for almost 30 years.

Since then, I've almost exclusively used quick lube type places, sometimes bringing my own oil and filter to make sure I got exactly what I wanted, other times just getting whatever they had in the correct grade. This technique didn't seem to cause any issues at all; in fact I put 186K miles on a 91 Mercury Cougar XR-7 (5.0 V8) over 10+ years using mostly bulk dino oil every 3 or 4 thousand miles, and it was still going strong when I sold it with the exception of a minor but worsening rear main seal leak.

Fast forward 30 years and I've been changing my own oil (thanks to BITOG) for a few years now. I changed the oil in our Cadillac DTS early this morning (6 qts Castrol Edge EP, 1 can of Liqui Moly Oil Saver, less than 1 qt of M1 0W-40, Fram Ultra filter). It was an oddly satisfying experience watching the old oil drain out and pouring in the new stuff, and I was done in 35 minutes start to finish, including clean up, and putting everything (ramps, tools, etc.) back in their proper place.
 
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I really don't trust anyone to work on my vehicles, and never have since 1987.

Only exception: Scott Hubbard in Robinson, Texas is the best & most highly skilled manual transmission and rear differential guy I have ever met. It's just that he's booked solid for months at a time.

Everything else, I do myself.
 
Originally Posted By: Ddubya
It was an oddly satisfying experience watching the old oil drain out and pouring in the new stuff,

This pretty much describes the illness many of us suffer here. In time, you will learn to slow down and enjoy the process even more. I.E. - "Honey, you've been out in the garage for 4 hours. What are you doing? I need help changing diapers.....garbage needs to be taken out.....can you clean up the dog poo in the yard...."
 
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Ddubya
It was an oddly satisfying experience watching the old oil drain out and pouring in the new stuff,

This pretty much describes the illness many of us suffer here. You need to slow down and enjoy the process more.


Exactly. A good quick oil change should last at least an hour. Quiet alone time to poke, look around, and be proactive with other stuff.
cool.gif
 
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Ddubya
It was an oddly satisfying experience watching the old oil drain out and pouring in the new stuff,

This pretty much describes the illness many of us suffer here. In time, you will learn to slow down and enjoy the process even more. I.E. - "Honey, you've been out in the garage for 4 hours. What are you doing? I need help changing diapers.....garbage needs to be taken out.....can you clean up the dog poo in the yard...."


+1

Cant wait for the next oil change to come around !
 
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I worked at a Walmart Tire and Lube for about two weeks as a side job shortly after I got out of college. I wanted more money than my primary job provided and I wanted to work with my hands some.

I only lasted two weeks because I could not stand the shoddy work that was performed there. Lug nuts stripped or studs broken. Pull a dipstick to check oil, accidentky scrape it in the dirt on top of the engine and then just shove the dipstick down the tube without even wiping the dirt off. I have never had anything basic done by anyone other than myself or my employees since that time.

The customers were treated terribly as well. We were not allowed to give them an estimated time until we would get to them. Even if we knew that if everyone stayed in line the next person to get in line was 6 hours out we could not recommend they come back another time. This lead to customers frequently walking out in a fit of rage at having waited so long.

I could not stand being a part of it and quit.
 
OP said, "...It was an oddly satisfying experience watching the old oil drain out and pouring in the new stuff..."

The CORRECT new stuff with a CORRECT / SPECIFIED QUALITY filter on YOUR SCHEDULE for LESS COST with NO DRIVING, NO WAITING leaving MORE MONEY to spend / invest the way YOU want.

Frankly, we don't know what you mean.
 
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Ddubya
It was an oddly satisfying experience watching the old oil drain out and pouring in the new stuff,

This pretty much describes the illness many of us suffer here. In time, you will learn to slow down and enjoy the process even more. I.E. - "Honey, you've been out in the garage for 4 hours. What are you doing? I need help changing diapers.....garbage needs to be taken out.....can you clean up the dog poo in the yard...."


Ha! I'll change the oil in my wife's Mazda within the next few weeks, so I'll try to slow down and enjoy it more next time.
smile.gif
That one is REALLY easy. Dump in a 5qt jug of Castrol Magnatec, and done.

I do subscribe to your philosophy when detailing our cars. A wash/polish/wax/vacuum/dress takes me about 4 hours usually. And grilling/smoking too. It takes a LONG time to get the smoke level just right.
 
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You're degradation is nearly complete. You'll know it's hopeless when you have 100 qts in stash "just because it was on sale". Good going, oil changes also allow you to inspect the underside as well, and if you're working on a high mileage vehicle, that's a good thing.
 
I echo the comments above;

The sense of satisfaction
None of the anxiety associated with the risk of someone else rushing the job and missing something
The opportunity to get under the car and have a poke about to identify potential problems BEFORE you break down
The amount of money you save
The opportunity to hide from other responsibilities for a couple of hours.

There are no downsides whatsoever!
 
Originally Posted By: 28oz
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Ddubya
It was an oddly satisfying experience watching the old oil drain out and pouring in the new stuff,

This pretty much describes the illness many of us suffer here. You need to slow down and enjoy the process more.


Exactly. A good quick oil change should last at least an hour. Quiet alone time to poke, look around, and be proactive with other stuff.
cool.gif



And then celebrating a job well done with a few coldies
laugh.gif
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: 28oz
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Ddubya
It was an oddly satisfying experience watching the old oil drain out and pouring in the new stuff,

This pretty much describes the illness many of us suffer here. You need to slow down and enjoy the process more.


Exactly. A good quick oil change should last at least an hour. Quiet alone time to poke, look around, and be proactive with other stuff.
cool.gif



And then celebrating a job well done with a few coldies
laugh.gif



Any chance to get underneath the Z and behold her underside. You know what I'm talking about, Aquariuscsm.
laugh.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Ddubya
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Ddubya
It was an oddly satisfying experience watching the old oil drain out and pouring in the new stuff,

This pretty much describes the illness many of us suffer here. In time, you will learn to slow down and enjoy the process even more. I.E. - "Honey, you've been out in the garage for 4 hours. What are you doing? I need help changing diapers.....garbage needs to be taken out.....can you clean up the dog poo in the yard...."


Ha! I'll change the oil in my wife's Mazda within the next few weeks, so I'll try to slow down and enjoy it more next time.
smile.gif
That one is REALLY easy. Dump in a 5qt jug of Castrol Magnatec, and done.

I do subscribe to your philosophy when detailing our cars. A wash/polish/wax/vacuum/dress takes me about 4 hours usually. And grilling/smoking too. It takes a LONG time to get the smoke level just right.


LOL. My wife says I've got the only grill (komado) that takes hours to heat up to just the right temperature.
 
Have done my own oil changes since I got my first car, a 57 Fairlane with the T-bird 312, now in my mid 60's still changing, now I do both my daughters cars and Mommas.
cheers3.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Malo83
Have done my own oil changes since I got my first car, a 57 Fairlane with the T-bird 312, now in my mid 60's still changing, now I do both my daughters cars and Mommas.
cheers3.gif



The 1957 Fairlane is a great looking car. Sounds like you had a nice one. Keep up the good work, and thank you for your service! Cheers.
 
I get The same feeling of satisfaction. When I change the oil in my wife's car I feel like I'm saving It from utter destruction. It reeks of fuel & looks thin as [censored].
 
I been changing my oil/filters for years. Getting older and more lazy I had thoughts to just take it in somewhere but can't pulled myself to doing that I guess as long as I'm capable of doing it.
Now I take my time. The usual is to warm the oil, start the draining. Take a seat and wait/watch. Get bored and tell the wife to make me something to eat. Eat & a drink while waiting/watching. Then take a break. Then I have to pull myself together and get it finished because I'm going to need the vehicle again.
 
By doing my own oil changes then I have more options and control as to what brand and type of oil and oil filter I wish to use.
 
I've changed the oil in my vehicles for a long time now. However, once I bought a Fusion, it was too low to the ground for me to do easily so I was taking it to the Quick Lane for the oil change special. It took well over an hour of waiting every time.

Finally I got fed up with that and started doing it where I had access to a set of ramps and someone to spot me driving up them. Then I got good enough to drive it up the ramps on my own, and the rest is history.
laugh.gif


As for my E-250, it's the easiest vehicle in the world to change the oil. Anyone who owns one knows what I mean.
 
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