Do you change your own oil? If so, why?
 

Ever since I learned how to change oil on a car, I've been doing it myself (along with my brother, who taught me). At the time, we were poor and in college so keeping up with maintenance of the car ('95 and '97 240SX, '84 RX-7, '96 Civic, '00 Eclipse) was fun, informative, and most importantly, cost-efficient.

Fast forward 6 years and we both have jobs. I bought a snooze-mobile 2009 Hyundai Sonata and got suckered into getting a "maintenance program". For the first 36,000 miles, all my oil changes were done at the dealer. It was kinda nice not having to worry about carcinogenic used motor oil running down my arm and having a roll of paper towels being totally used up for clean up.

Today I changed my oil and it sucked. Filter removal resulted in oil running down my arm. Oil smell filled the car while I drove to the Advance Auto Parts to empty the damn thing. I didn't want my passengers or my dog to breathe in this stuff. And oil change stuff just takes up way too much room and the shit's hazardous when its not totally cleaned up.

Why do you guys still do it?

Because when you take it to the dealer you just don't know if they've done a bad job... but if you do it yourself, you know! :D

I have always and will always change my own oil. I dont trust anyone else with my cars. I used to work at one of those quick lube places. Its ridiculous what they get away with and the customer doesnt even know.

My question for those with more boxer engine experience is this - with the filter mounted on top of the engine, are there any tricks for replacing it without having oil spill all over the engine?

The best maintenance is your own maintenance! :happy0180:

What better way to get to know your car then to do the work yourself.

QFT.

Plus doing it yourself leaves more money for mods!

Always change my own oil/brakes/filters, as for other repairs its heads or tails since Im a shit mechanic myself and a lazy on at that too.

Because my Father has a hydraulic lift. If I had to crawl around on the ground to do it, I think I might succumb to laziness and pay someone else to do it for me. ;)

Yes, it's cheaper, easy and I don't trust non certified mechanics.

:word:

Easy as hell and as a MAN you should be able to do something as simple as changing the oil. Fathers in the past have done it why can't our own lazy asses do it too.

Yes.

Worked at a oil-change place during late high-school years. Which both renders me competent in the procedure, and unwilling to take my car to a place like that. The dealership is a bit better but they are prone to do stupid things on simple procedures as well.

Didn't put the car on stands last time... everything is reachable from under the front bumper so it's a waste of time.

Yes its messy, yes it smells, yes it can be alot of hassle/work, but I still do it because its just my kind of fun. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon (other than going for a drive after). Its that sense of accomplishment any DYI'er gets after getting a job done. Ofcourse, I'm just talking about oil changes, any thing other than brake pads or changing fluids, I'd have to go to a mechanic.

Luck I want a lift or enough room to have one or a Father with one. Must make that battle to work on your car in winter that much easier.

I use car ramps lifts the front about 9 inches off the ground so good enough for me


The real question is why wouldn't you?

For the most part I don't. The quick change place does it faster than I can and for right at the same amount of money, and I don't have to hassle with proper disposal of the oil or filters. Plus since they are also an inspection place they also have things like wiperblades and lightbulbs. I also get free washerfluid top off there, and they let me under my vehicles to inspect them. From my door back to my door it's usually around 15 minutes, which is a bit faster than I am, plus I can surf the net while I'm wait there on my smartphone, so for the most part it's a time saver. I can also have it done in effectively no extra time if I need to pick something up at the hardware store nextdoor as well.

I would not do it at a dealer unless I lived very close to one. For me it is at least a 20 minute drive to the dealer, and in that time I could be almost done with it myself.

This is new to Subaru, previous Subarus have bottom mounted oil filters. With that said, as long as you go slow with unscrewing it you shouldn't have a problem. Its also nice that Subaru put that ring around it which will help you avoid spilling down the timing cover.


Justin

The current Tacoma/FJ are like this so hopefully there is also a notch to channel the oil to a drain spout.

Here is an example. I have a water bottle that I wedge underneath to catch the oil.

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forum...l-p9251508.jpg

My car only goes to the shop if I don't have a tool that costs more than the maintenance/repair itself.

The FJ is ridiculously easy to change its oil. I dont even need to lift the car to get underneath haha

Hmm, thats pretty sweet that it has a nice drain spout. I feel like I dont remember seeing a drain spout on the Subaru one. Nothing a 2 minute hack couldnt fix though.


Justin

Yeah man, oil changes are a 10 min ordeal for me! Most of the time is spent waiting for all of the oil to completely drain!

I'm going to hate having to change oil on a lowered cars again, especially after how easy/effortlessly it is on our Toyotas.

Having to drive up on the curb or use pieces of 4x4 with my ramp because they are too steep. :thumbdown:

It looks like it has a round brim to prevent oil draining everywhere. The Taco/FJ's brim is just wide enough and angled well enough so that it's fool proof.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog....on-fr-s-fd.jpg

My main concern is the carcinogenic used motor oil getting on me. Is it worth being exposed to something like this to save a little money? And regarding mechanics messing up things: I think I'd rather have a busted up $25,000 FR-S/BRZ than have to deal with surgery/radiation/chemotherapy.

Is it much more cost-efficient when you can usually get a $20 oil change coupon? Yes, I get to have a full-synthetic oil of my choice and oil filter brand of my choice for $30 but from what I've read online (like from Bob is the Oil Guy), synthetic and "dino" oils aren't much different for most cars.

Your getting cancer anyways bro. We all are. Might as well save some money on oil changes lol

You got a garage?

If so may I suggest this: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...t=Chinese+lift

Do my own oil changes unless it's winter time/inclement weather. Since I have to do an oil change every month, doing it myself does save me a good amount by the end of the year. My dad always taught me "Don't pay someone else to do something that you can do yourself."

really? Gloves and clothes help you keep oil off yourself and if you are going to go so fair as to not change your oil and chance getting some on yourself in fear of cancer you better stay inside all day too cause you know that sun is danger.


I can understand being lazy or not knowing how but cancer kinda threw me back

Is it worth getting to know your car? Yes.

lol

life + extra money + more booze + cancer
life + not getting dirty during oil changes + cancer

i'll take the former.


Justin

Man, I'm getting cancer just from reading your post! :bonk::bellyroll:

I do agree that a $20 oil changes are a good deal but most of the times if your vehicle is modified, either they don't know how to drive your car or just don't really care and drive it like a regular car; especially if it lowered.



At the time, I didn't but now I do. Damn, that is nice but I'm sure the HOA wouldn't take too kindly if I hacked up my garage to install a lift! :bellyroll:

1/3 men gets cancer; I'll take my chances with the oil considering just about everthing else is carcinogenic or contains carcinogens.

I changed oil by myself for years and I will continue to do so. Last time I brought it to the dealer was when my oil filter wrench stuck and I couldn't get it.

You putting a little oil on the o ring on the filter?

If I'm not mistaken, motor oil is a lot less dangerous than gasoline which is volatile and has much nastier stuff in it. Used motor oil has some gasoline in it sure, but the volatile components should've passed through the PCV already, and gloves prevent it from contacting your skin.

Of course...

i change my oil because the people at toyota cant drive my car onto a lift without burning up a clutch...

My girlfriend asked why I change the oil when I can have somebody do it for me. I told her it was my form of therapy.

As far as cancer is concerned, I wear latex gloves when handling oil.

You might want to switch to nitrile rubber gloves instead. You may not have had problems with latex gloves in the past, but oil destroys latex. Nitrile "latex free" gloves would be more suitable and aren't any more expensive.

I'll keep that in mind. Haven't had any problems yet.

I change my own, its the best way to be able to quickly eyeball if you have a problem with your motor. Knowing how much oil it burns, what kind of particles show up in it, and the smell/consistency of the oil tells you a lot about the current state of your engine.

And I just use gloves to keep the gunk off me.

The HOA most likely has no control over what you do in your garage. So why let a little thing like the HOA stop you. :party0030:

My IS uses different wrench. I think it's like the one in Tundra.

Seriously? You're worrying about cancer when changing oil? I've yet to hear anyone getting cancer from doing oil changes on their car...

I understand that oil can be carcinogenic, but unless you're ingesting a decent amount, I think you should have much more important things to worry about.

I change oil without gloves, feels good to get oil/grease/dirt over my hands once in a while!

This. I haven't invested in good nitrile because I'm still looking for a decent price on laboratory quality gloves in bulk. The shitty ones rip way too easy, the lab shit is several mils thicker. God I wish I still worked at a biotech lab.