Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
$5/quart is as cheap as you will find a synthetic, so a little over $30 for oil, $5 for a filter, and $25 for labor, overhead, recycling and profit. There's your $60 oil change, which seems fair to me. Doing my own only costs about $30, but my pickup only uses 5 quarts. I have to haul the used oil to a landfill to recycle it.
Child's play. My hand crafted Rolls Royce is easily $2,000. And that's just the service fee to set up an appointment. Can't wait to see what the final bill will be. But it does use special -50w-300 oil
I take it that you absolutely didn't get the context of what I was posting to.
No, an APARTMENT lease that doesn't allow working on your car yourself. As has been explained numerous times in the thread.
Jesus.
And doing it yourself doesn't save much time or money, especially if you have to drive to Walmart (a half hour away for me) drive back after spending time IN Walmart, buying/renting the wrench needed, buying ramps or jackstands and a jack, an oil container to catch the old oil in, and then driving to somewhere that takes the old oil and driving back. Yes, you can buy the tools once and then amortize the cost over years of DIY (like I have), but still. If you live in an apartment you also have to find a place to change the oil and the time spent doing that. Makes a $50-60, no-hassle oil change a no brainer.
Oh, and long ramps are nice for oil changes, but not for working on the underside of the car (can't get in from the side very easily with the ramp in the way), or doing brake jobs. So you often still need to use jack stands instead. Quality jack stands don't fail unless you're using them on dirt/gravel (even with plywood under them).
Confession: I threw a temper tantrum one time years ago when I was younger when I returned a defective used oil container to Walmart. They would not take it back with the used oil in there. They said I had to recycle it first. I shouldn't have been, but I was angry. I let my temper get the best of me and dumped the oil in their parking lot by a tree. I forgot what the dispute was about and why I felt I was justified in doing that. Some hippie approached me and said "is that oil?!?!?!" "What about the environment?". He went in and reported me to customer service.
I went back to customer service and returned the container. The woman looked at me with a disapproving eye and asked me if I had just dumped the oil in their parking lot. She went ahead and did the return anyway. I felt bad afterwards.
Why didn't you walk to the auto tire area and recycle the oil there THEN return the defective oil container.
I do my own oil changes. I order factory filters online and buy oil in bulk. Two of my cars use the same oil. My diesel requires a different oil. I order it online in 5 gallon buckets. I order enough for the year. I keep the oil in 5 gallon buckets and I turn it in once a year. I can dump 20 gallons per day allowed by law
My dealer wants $55 for a regular oil change or $60 for a synthetic oil change. But I read once you commit to regular oil, never change to synthetic, or vice-versa. It could cause problems with your car.
You mean $60 extra? Because if you can get a $60 synthetic oil change at the dealer, run with it. There are no problems switching back and forth but higher mileage cars might need a thicker oil. Those prices are reasonable and typical, if you disagree then get a cheapo change by unskilled labor at one of the quickie chains.
Buy your oil and filter at WalMart then find a service station and ask them if you can use their lift.
Lol, I think a few posters here took you seriously.
When you're done changing your oil on their lift, go to the grocery and buy some steaks then find a good steakhouse and ask if you can use their grill. Might as well celebrate.
Same here. Dealer, or reputable independent mechanic only for me. I'd avoid chains and recommend others to avoid them as well.
Growing up, I had tons of friends who worked in chain-type automotive places. I could tell you some stories of what they did there. One common one was that if you showed up with an "odd" vehicle that they didn't have an oil filter for, they would just remove the one that was on there, wipe the hell out of it, and reinstall it. Also had a friend tell me they used to put whatever grade oil was nearby in a car, and never actually check if it was right for the vehicle. Jiffy lube, pep boys, walmart, firestone, etc...I knew quite a few at places like this.
So like I said.....dealer or reputable independent mechanic.
Let me tell you a story:
My former auto body instructor said he used to work at a dealership. A certain model's filter installed so tight, that the canister came off and the threaded part remained stuck on the engine. It was just impossible to get off without spending over an hour doing the job. So anytime he got that model assigned to him, he simply wiped the filter off to make it look new and just changed the oil. He said let the next guy worry about it; they are only paying me flat time for job that takes at least 4x as much.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
