So my free oil changes are all used up and I drop in to the dealer to get my oil changed. I always changed my own oil for decades until I started leasing cars instead of buying them. My wife gets Hondas and the dealer does the change for about 24 bucks with a free car wash with the ever present coupon. Toyota was doing mine for free and my Mustang was reasonable at 30 something and it took 6 or 7 qts of synthetic. So, I was letting the dealers do them since it wasn't worth my time to save a couple of bucks and I like the factory having access to my vehicles to do any campaigns etc. My wife got a new battery they didn't even tell us about until I discovered it due to a campaign.
So I roll into the same dealership that does my wife's Honda for 24, it's the same outfit separated by a breezeway, and they whisk me out of the car calling me sir etc. Right off the bat they want to do 148 bucks worth of who-knows-what because I wasn't listening because I lease the thing and I just want the oil changed for 24 bucks. I cut through the sales pitch and I ask the guy how much for the oil change and it's 42 Dollars!! Keep it I tell him and out the door I go with my paper floor mat thing on my floor.
I stop by autozone and pick up a jug of oil and a filter for 25.00 and I did it myself in less than half and hour and that includes making funnels out of a milk jug and a 1 liter bottle. I didn't even have to jack it up, just slid under there and the plug is accessible. The plug is great because it drains straight down. Every vehicle I have had in the past has the plug on and angle so it shoots the oil horizontally, missing the drain pan. I didn't even drop the plug into the pan and have to get my fingers all icky getting it out.
Thoughts
A gallon jug makes a great funnel for pouring the waste oil back into the jug the new oil came in. Hve your 12 year old hold the funnel by the handle of the milk jug while you use two hands to pour and you won't spill a drop.
A 1 liter bottle makes a great funnel for pouring the new oil into the filler tube. Use the bottom of the bottle that you cut off to catch the oil that drains from the filter mount.
The dipstick is useless. I read the oil level a dozen times and got 12 different heights on the stick. I don't really care since there is a low oil sensor, but either the stick is coated in teflon, or the oil these days is different than 10 years ago when I did my last oil change because it just beads up on the stick. I'll check it in a couple of weeks and maybe when it is dirty it will read better.
Oil is cheaper at Walmart than autozone. I paid 20.00 for a 5qt jug of Valvoline because it was on sale. Several major brands of oil are 5.00 less at WM, and this is why my ass hurts a little. I wasn't about to drive in Friday afternoon traffic to WM and the autozone was on the way home, so It's no big deal, but I'll get it ahead of time at WM next time.
The new jugs that oil come in kick ass for holding the waste oil. I am from the cardboard oil can generation. I remember when the plastic bottles came out and we mocked them. I even had a poster from Valvoline with a hot chick in a tight Tshirt with dirty hand prints on her tits and it said "Real men don't use plastic bottles". We used the cans with a spout that bayoneted the can and after you opened and poured 5 qts you easily got half a qt everywhere but in the engine. Then you had to pour 5 qts of used oil into milk jugs that were flimsy and had the press on caps. Lot's of fun driving to the drop off place with flimsy jugs of dirty oil with lids that don't stay on.
So I roll into the same dealership that does my wife's Honda for 24, it's the same outfit separated by a breezeway, and they whisk me out of the car calling me sir etc. Right off the bat they want to do 148 bucks worth of who-knows-what because I wasn't listening because I lease the thing and I just want the oil changed for 24 bucks. I cut through the sales pitch and I ask the guy how much for the oil change and it's 42 Dollars!! Keep it I tell him and out the door I go with my paper floor mat thing on my floor.
I stop by autozone and pick up a jug of oil and a filter for 25.00 and I did it myself in less than half and hour and that includes making funnels out of a milk jug and a 1 liter bottle. I didn't even have to jack it up, just slid under there and the plug is accessible. The plug is great because it drains straight down. Every vehicle I have had in the past has the plug on and angle so it shoots the oil horizontally, missing the drain pan. I didn't even drop the plug into the pan and have to get my fingers all icky getting it out.
Thoughts
A gallon jug makes a great funnel for pouring the waste oil back into the jug the new oil came in. Hve your 12 year old hold the funnel by the handle of the milk jug while you use two hands to pour and you won't spill a drop.
A 1 liter bottle makes a great funnel for pouring the new oil into the filler tube. Use the bottom of the bottle that you cut off to catch the oil that drains from the filter mount.
The dipstick is useless. I read the oil level a dozen times and got 12 different heights on the stick. I don't really care since there is a low oil sensor, but either the stick is coated in teflon, or the oil these days is different than 10 years ago when I did my last oil change because it just beads up on the stick. I'll check it in a couple of weeks and maybe when it is dirty it will read better.
Oil is cheaper at Walmart than autozone. I paid 20.00 for a 5qt jug of Valvoline because it was on sale. Several major brands of oil are 5.00 less at WM, and this is why my ass hurts a little. I wasn't about to drive in Friday afternoon traffic to WM and the autozone was on the way home, so It's no big deal, but I'll get it ahead of time at WM next time.
The new jugs that oil come in kick ass for holding the waste oil. I am from the cardboard oil can generation. I remember when the plastic bottles came out and we mocked them. I even had a poster from Valvoline with a hot chick in a tight Tshirt with dirty hand prints on her tits and it said "Real men don't use plastic bottles". We used the cans with a spout that bayoneted the can and after you opened and poured 5 qts you easily got half a qt everywhere but in the engine. Then you had to pour 5 qts of used oil into milk jugs that were flimsy and had the press on caps. Lot's of fun driving to the drop off place with flimsy jugs of dirty oil with lids that don't stay on.
