Do you change your own oil?

Do you change your own oil?

  • yes

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  • no

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I let the guys at my local Costco handle it. Its pretty hard to screw up an oil change and it is convinient for me as well. They also rotate tires and plug tire punctures free of charge.
 
Originally posted by Shiny Lil Detlr

all that on a little V6 porsche engine??
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No V6 in a 993, it's a flat 6, but I expect you really knew that. The engine also uses the oil for cooling purposes even though the engine is touted as being air cooled.



I change my own oil most of the time. With my oil extractor, changing the oil in my BMW is sooo easy. The filter, a cartridge type, resides in a canister with a screw off lid right next to the intake manifold. I can change the oil and filter without getting dirty. Our Catera is a different story. The oil filter location makes removing it a mess. I end up doing it half of the time and letting the Cadillac dealership do it the rest of the time.
 
I thought I might give someone else a chance to change my oil for me and they blew it first chance. I opted for the oil, filter, & lube chasis. Since it was the first time I let anyone touch any of my vehicles I thought I might check on their work. Sure enough, they didn't lube several chasis points, and they didn't clean any of the oil off of the engine where it leaks when you take off the filter. So for under $15 I'll continue to do it myself. Besides, it gives me another chance to get out of the house and into the garage where I belong.
 
raymond_ho2002 said:
when you guys say that an oil filter company has a bad reputation, just exactly what would go wrong with the product?
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It's not so much what would "go wrong" as it is the quality of the product. There are several studies of oil filters out on the internet where people take apart filters and examine them for things like filter media surface area, construction quality, anti-drainback valve construction, etc, etc. Some of these are even posted up on various car forums by people inspired by the original oil filter studies.



It's interesting to read (if you're hardcore about this sort of thing) and helps figure out who makes filters for which companies and OEMs. While there are a zillion brands out there, there are only a handful of companies that actually do the making.
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
:shocked all that on a little V6 porsche engine?? Jeez, my chevy blazer only takes 4.5 quarts and has one dinky filter.... :cool: wonder why it takes all that oil? not like you're running the TT are you?
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I maybe mistaken but I think the Porsche runs a "dry sump" system with the reservoir located in the aft part of the car.
 
Nope.



Well, I do on the bike. But, not the cars. The dealers are still doing it for free, at least 1 more time for each. But I still probably won't do it. I just have it done by the people who maintain my wife's work vans. Some of the vans are over 10 years old and still running fine. I buy Mobil 1 by the case and take it to them and let them do it.



BOB
 
I always do my own. It really doesn't take too long. I find it takes longer driving to the shop and waiting in the waiting room wondering if they're doing something wrong.



I do both the MR2 and WRX without lifting them up. I can slide an arm under there easy enough to get to everything. The MR2 is even lowered. Actually, it's so low that a floor jack won't fit under it. I have to lift up on the wheel well while kicking the jack under it.:p
 
Not since I have had foreign cars. Usually, the oil filter is in a very awkward place. On my Honda, it is on the back of the engine. Besides, it is such a pain to have to take the used oil to a recycling center. For the $12 or so I would save over having the local lube goons do the work, I can find other ways to spend the 30-40 minutes it'd take to change the oil then drop off the old oil to be recycled.



I do my own tune-ups, etc though.
 
I do my own oil changes. I use Amsoil Synthetic Motor Oil with extended drain intervals, so I only need to do a full change once per year (12-15k miles) and change just the filter every six months. It costs me about $40 for a year's worth of changes. That's worth it to me. My wife's Saturn still goes to the dealership since she got a service plan with the car. That expires in about 4,000 miles, so I'll be doing that little thing eventually. We also have a 70 MGB that gets changed once per year. It's messy since it has a canister filter and an oil cooler. But, I really only trust myself and the MG shop guy and I work a lot cheaper.



I use a K&N filter on my Grand Prix and will do the same with the Saturn. They have some very good flow rates are an excellent filter overall.



In response to the person that asked about what could go wrong with a filter: Fram filters use cardboard end caps to hold the filter media in place. Many people (myself included) believe that these end caps could possibly deteriorate and allow unfiltered oil back into the engine.
 
Scott P said:
I do my own oil changes. I use Amsoil Synthetic Motor Oil with extended drain intervals, so I only need to do a full change once per year (12-15k miles) and change just the filter every six months. It costs me about $40 for a year's worth of changes. That's worth it to me. My wife's Saturn still goes to the dealership since she got a service plan with the car. That expires in about 4,000 miles, so I'll be doing that little thing eventually. We also have a 70 MGB that gets changed once per year. It's messy since it has a canister filter and an oil cooler. But, I really only trust myself and the MG shop guy and I work a lot cheaper.



I use a K&N filter on my Grand Prix and will do the same with the Saturn. They have some very good flow rates are an excellent filter overall.



In response to the person that asked about what could go wrong with a filter: Fram filters use cardboard end caps to hold the filter media in place. Many people (myself included) believe that these end caps could possibly deteriorate and allow unfiltered oil back into the engine.
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I was really looking into Amsoil for my 2002 VW GTI 1.8T. And then I found some documents on the web that suggested by the time you hit 6K with your Amsoil it's pertty much run it's life. They questioned how Amsoil touted a 25K life on their products.



:eek:
 
How much is Amsoil oil going for?



I use Redline oil. $6.69 per quart.

If I get a case of 12 it is 10% less. (6.03)

Of course there is a delivery charge.



At the track its 8.95 per Qt.

I have seen it as high as 10.95 per qt. in some places.
 
My Suburban Assault Vehicle gets it’s oil changed at the GMC dealer - cheap and fast.



I do my roadster myself every 2,500 miles using BMW’s synthetic oil and their filter. I use Griot's oil-sucker because the car is too low to get under easily.
 
I dont do it myself because the price difference doesnt make it worth my while. I do Mobil 1 5-30 in both the wifes SUV and my truck on a 6000 mile basis. I also use Mobil 1 oil filters, and yes I know they are expensive. However, by using these two Mobil 1 items, I have not had a single engine related failure in any of the cars I have owned.



Nick T - How do you like that Griots sucker thing?



Dana
 
Griot's oil-sucker is really a time and work saver! No spills, no mess, no getting under the car on your back. There are other oil-syphons available, maybe a little less expensive. Boat stores ofter carry them.



On your first use you might want to pull the oil drain plug after the oil-sucker is finished to see how much, if any, oil it has missed.



Do it with the engine warm but not hot. I've heard of people partially melting the plastic withdrawal tube with really hot oil.
 
blkZ28Conv said:
I maybe mistaken but I think the Porsche runs a "dry sump" system with the reservoir located in the aft part of the car.
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Correct, the reservoir is in front of the right rear wheel. Drive the car for 20+ minutes to ensure the thermostat opens and cycles *all* the oil through the engine to bring all of it up to temperature. Remove the right rear wheel, remove the wheel well liner, remove the sill undertray. Drain the oil from the reservoir, drain the oil from the scavenge area at the bottom of the crankcase, replace the big filter by the reservoir, remove an oil return tub up under the car, replace the second oil filter that's WAY up there out of the way.



Pour in ~11 quarts of oil, put all that other stuff back on the car, go for another drive! At least one & a half hours including the warm-up drive. 3 gallons of Mobil 1 does put a hole in your pocket!



I do all that on my p-car... and pay the korean-owned texaco station down the street $20 to do my truck! My wife just got a new BMW, and I'll start doing that one myself, too. I'd get the sump-sucker, but I'm already well equipped to go under the car, and don't want to chew up more scarce garage space with a specialty tool that's redundant and rarely used.
 
Mindflux said:
I was really looking into Amsoil for my 2002 VW GTI 1.8T. And then I found some documents on the web that suggested by the time you hit 6K with your Amsoil it's pertty much run it's life. They questioned how Amsoil touted a 25K life on their products.



:eek:
Click to expand...



All engines will treat oil differently. I've seen analysis of Mobil 1 going 8-9 thousand without a problem. I've seen good analysis of Amsoil going 15-20 without a problem. Amsoil touts the 25,000 mile oil change, but they don't mention that it is under ideal conditions. If you drive all highway miles, then yes, 25k is conceivable. Some cars are just too hard on oil and will cook any synthetic in under 4,000 miles.



I plan on havng my oil analysed just before the six month filter change to see the result. It's been a nasty winter, so I'm curious to its effects on the oil.



Regular synthetic Amsoil run 4.55/qt dealer cost and 5.85/qt retail.
 
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