The Economic Case For Self Oil Changes
 

Hey guys. I took my car in for the 8K oil change today. I've never done my own oil change, but I've been looking into starting next spring. The price at the dealership for the oil change has sort of made me do some number crunching, though. While I was there, I swung by the parts department and got quoted on the stuff I'd need to do it.

Toyota charges 8.90 for the oil filters. Subaru charges 7.50 for them. So even with tax in, getting them from Subaru will be cheaper. Toyota wants something like 7.50 per liters of oil. IIRC, our cars need something like 5.7 liters. So 7.5X6 would add up to $45 for the oil. With the oil filter, that's like 52 dollars. Plus associated taxes, of course.

Now, the dealership charged me in the 50s for the oil change, came out to be $62 after tax. The changed the oil, filter, and gasket. I guess they also checked the air filter.

I'm not seeing a huge economic case for doing self oil-changes if the dealer you go to can be trusted. I know a lot of guys in favour of doing your own maintenance will argue that it saves you money. Since I'm starting from scratch with no tools, (no jacks, filter wrench lifts, or oil suction machine), it seems to be that there's no possible way that doing it at home will save you any money. Thoughts on this?

Just consider where you are going dispose of your used oil.

The way I see it, is never do the oil changes at home unless you have a lift or you love the manual labour involved. You can go to a private garage with your own oil, filter and gasket and pay them $10(usually) for using the lift and exchanging the oil(labour/ disposal).

Or you can continue using your dealership oil changes, why? Because I assume your vehicle is still under warranty and if there are any related problem with oil (usually aren't) they can't blame it on your "non-warranty" oil changes

Or you can go to a quick lube place life jiffy lube or econo lube. Cheaper than the dealership but more expensive than the first option. <- This is usually warranty approved.

Usually people make a midnight run to their local Canadian Tire and leave it outside the entrance. Don't ask me how I know.

Jiffy Lube is around $99 for 0W20. Free newspaper and coffee.

The jugs of oil are 5L ea so the oil will be more than your estimate.

Toyota dealers offer a great deal on oil changes hoping you will continue to enjoy their service for other work. I can't justify doing my own unless it's for full synthetic.

There is a reason Toyota is #1 and rightly so to some extent.

Only way I'd DIY an oil.change would be with an oil vacuum, some full synthetic oil and NO draining from below. Our vehicles have the best possible location for the filter access BTW.

Canadian Tire had no objections to picking up my yearly dump of used oil :).

If you just love working on your car and have plenty of time, sure.

Like you've calculated, I don't see much point. If the dealership is not total idiots, its fine if they change the oil. They go through dozens of oil changes a day I'm sure.

I was changing the oil on my old car, Nissan Maxima, because I needed to do it every 6 weeks. Supposedly I saved $30 each time, 7 changes a year = $210. This is totally peanuts if you factor in your own time (assume you value it). I did do more complicated things myself, like changing brakes - fucked up once, stripped the bolt, wasted another hour to go get a replacement; sparkplugs - done in 3.5 hrs, would cost me a pretty penny; coolant and transmission fluid...
All of this was pretty painful, no lift, jacking up the car and putting it on stands when needed. Not something i get excited about.

So far I had 2 oil changes at the dealer and I was out in about an hours time. While waiting, I can actually do some work on a laptop or browse the beautiful pictures of the twins here :).

Here they take it during the day time...they usually tell me to leave it on the side of the building :lol:

There is little to gain as far as saving money, but if you want to learn about your car and doing oil change, go ahead and have somebody knowledgeable assist you if possible for the first time. Be sure to save the receipts for any possible warranty claims.

Canadian tires gets some good sales on 0w20 Castrol 5 Litre jugs, something like 34$, so if you do it smart you can save a bit of money. It's actually on sale this week (It's not the right grade but they should carry 0w20 too)! http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ca...-0289212p.html

Wow, that's a decent price for the filter at Toyota. My dealer can't (or won't) touch that. I pay around $8 at the Subi dealer next door. If your dealer can do that, they should be able to do a little better on the oil (ask about case price). I get Toyota's TGMO 0W20 by the case (12 X 1L) for about $5/Liter...not bad for a really good oil. They also have no problem taking my old oil.
I have also done the midnight drop off at Canadian Tire...I look at it this way...when I buy oil at Canadian tire, there is a disposal/environmental fee added at the checkout (check your receipt). If they're going to charge me a disposal fee, damn right they can dispose of my oil.

Do NOT go to Jiffy Lube. That is, unless you want some kid that knows as much about cars as he knows about brain surgery mucking about draining & refilling your engine's lubrication system.

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Doing your own oil changes is like BBQ your "own" pre processed burger. Can't be done cheaply enough to warrant doing it yourself.

In sunny Alberta we just take our used oil to the local fire department hazardous waste site, no disposal fee.

Money wise I haven't really found it to be better when compared to dealership prices. However, dealer oil changes are painfully slow and they'll leave you there for an hour, sometimes more. Doing it myself takes me 20-30 minutes and I can just pass by a local auto parts store and tell them to dispose of the oil at my convenience. For me, the real reward is saving time, not money.

I get free dealership oil changes for a while. Till they stop being free, I'll let the dealership change the oil.

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So basically the impression I'm getting is that I should really only do them myself if I either enjoy doing that sort of work, or if I have nothing better to do.

Blimey that's a lot of oil - the 2.5L EJ engine only takes 4.2 quarts..