Do you change your own oil?

frito833 · #1 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 10:03 AM

If you change your own motor oil, I want to know the mileage changed, the type of brand, and total cost doing it yourself including oil filter?

Oil: Walmart's Super Tech Motorl Oil 10w-30
Mileage: every 5,000 miles
Total Cost: $14

irmanator · #2 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 01:28 PM

I used to but since the dealer does it for 9.99 I haven't plus they have buy 10 get one free. I can't justify getting dirty and paying 5 bucks more for the joy.

disneysteve · #3 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 03:06 PM

Never have. Probably never will. The most anybody charges for an oil change around here is $29 and most places are less. I think one chain charges $15. I just don't see the point of doing it myself when there is little if any cost difference. If I change the oil 3 times/year, you are talking about a savings of at most $45/year. My free time is worth more than that to me.

frito833 · #4 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 03:42 PM

Valid points. Guess I just had bad experiences getting my oil changed by a tech. Either I was overcharged or they didn't do the job correctly. Final straw was a 3 hour wait at Walmart when they only had 1 tech servicing a dozen cars. So, I just bought all the tools needed to change the oil. I guess "doing-it-youself" gives me the peace of mind it's done correctly.

project15 · #5 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 06:57 PM

I used to for the fun of it, but I don't save any money doing it - possibly spend even more. However, I do attempt other more expensive repairs such as brakes, spark plugs, belts, and exhaust. Thats where money savings on car repairs actually pays off.

PrincessPerky · #6 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 07:28 PM

husband does it..but only in PA with his father...Kindof a guy time thing.

No idea the cost though.

GREENBACK · #7 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 07:37 AM

I did it a lot when I was younger but rarely anymore. The deals you can find to have it done for about $15 are all over my Sunday paper so why bother.

The thing to watch for is that you don't let them talk you into expensive and unnecessary "repairs". This is the reason they offer cheap oil changes to begin with.

MonkeyMama · #8 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 10:51 AM

My dad is "cheap" and has always done his own oil changes. Made me do my own when I was 16/17.

There is cost of oil, filter, and oil DISPOSAL. Then there is the ruined clothes (LOL). Plus it takes a fair amount of time for those less practiced. In some cars, oil filters can be REALLY hard to change (as in my first car - was just in a hard to reach space).

Jiffy Lube is $20, on average, and takes about 5 minutes. PLUS they check over everything in the car. I will take Jiffy Lube any day. I will never change my own oil. I am not convinced it would save me a dime, anyway.

No bad experiences with JiffyLube.

melinuxfool · #9 (**permalink**) 09-26-2009, 06:40 PM

Just did today. The local Autozone had a special on Mobil Clean (dino oil) with a filter for 11.99. They even take the old oil back for free! Every 3,750 miles is what the owners manual calls for.

My mechanic charges 29 bucks. I should also mention, never take your car to those chain places. They use the cheapest oil you can get, and will sometimes even put in the wrong weight of oil.

lovcom · #10 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 03:34 PM

The only time it is worth doing yourself is if you are putting synthetic oil in the engine. It is far cheaper if you do it yourself. With conventional the price difference between you doing it and the JippyLube places is not significant.

Now if you do run synthetic oil, you can go 50% to 100% further on that oil then if you had used conventional, so if you want to save a good amount of money, run synthetic, change it yourself, and run it 50% or more miles over conventional.

G-Force · #11 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 03:53 PM

I don't change my own oil. Not only do I not have to get dirty, but they dispose of the old oil for me. It's well worth the price for me.

autoxer · #12 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 07:04 PM

I change my own oil for a few reasons, but saving money isn't one of them. I enjoy working on my cars and I know the techs at Walmart don't car about my car as much as I do. But I agree with Project15, I have saved a lot of money doing the other stuff, brakes, exhaust, suspension parts. I even did my own alignment (although it was a fairly simple one).

buster7823 · #13 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 08:45 AM

I do not change my own oil. The savings is not that much in our area and I figure my time has to be worth something.

good2goo · #14 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 03:22 PM

I have not changed my own oil. It would be cool to learn how(I doubt its too hard), but Walmart checks all my fluids and other things like wiper blades, filters, checks my tire pressure and changes my oil. I go to Walmart, drop off my car and by the time I am finished shopping my car is done and I only pay about $20. I see a lot of value in this method. Being frugal isnt always about saving the most money, its about getting the most value out of what you pay for.

donlat3 · #15 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 04:17 PM

I've done it a few times but realized I was only saving about 6 or 7 bucks.

Bimmer · #16 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 09:43 PM

Yes, on every car I have owned except my Mini (bought new, so I let the dealer do it on that one. It only needed one in the time I owned it).

I can do it faster than it takes to drive to a lube place and wait in line.

I use synthetic oil, you rarely get the good deals at lube places on synthetic, from what I have seen.

The "pro's" at Jiffy Lube over-tightened the oil pan drain bolt on my wife's car once and cracked the pan in the process. I will never trust those type of places again. As mentioned in a previous post, they do not care about your car.

Checking other fluids/wiper blades is no big deal or a good selling point- I can do those things in a few minutes, too.

To answer actual question:

I buy Mobil One Synthetic or Castrol Syntec, whatever is cheaper. Oil weight depends on the season: 5-30 winter, 10-50 summer.I usually buy oil filters in bulk. Cost varies, but my car uses more oil than most similar displacement engines (7 quarts) and of course uses synthetic. I change it every 7500 miles. It could probably go longer with my Sunday cruise-style, eco-mode driving style I have (I own a dedicated race car for "fun" driving :-) ), but I just stick with 7500 to play it safe.
Granted, I'm a car guy and get satisfaction from working on them (saving money, doing the job right, learning how things work).

I have saved tons of money by doing my own basic repair/maintenance work: brakes, bushings, shocks, coolant, oil, wiper blades, tire rotation, belts, etc.

mtsen · #17 (**permalink**) 10-09-2009, 06:35 AM

too much of a work for a non car mechanic like me, however, I add my own additive to improve the mileages ...

glock35ipsc · #18 (**permalink**) 10-28-2009, 08:48 AM

I never let anyone else touch my vehicles, except for one close friend. That's because his diagnostics machine is better than mine, and he an alignment rack!

I run Amsoil synthetic in everything I own that has an engine. My vehicles gets changed at 20,000 miles or 1 year, whichever comes first. I also have an oil analysis done about every other year. So my total yearly oil change cost is between $40 and $60 per vehicle, depending on if I do the analysis at that particular change.

If I even took my 1985 GMC pickup to a chain LOF place, they wouldn't know what to do with it! It has a Flex-fuel 5.3L Vortec out of a 2007 Silverado that also has Active Fuel Management, along with the 2007's transmission. I have a hard enough time convincing people at the gas station that NO, I won't ruin anything by pumping E85 in to my "old" pickup! LOL!! Nothing like 24-25 mpg from an "old" truck!

Snodog · #19 (**permalink**) 11-01-2009, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by good2goo

Being frugal isnt always about saving the most money, its about getting the most value out of what you pay for.

Excellent point.

I used to change the oil in our cars when I was younger but not anymore. Now I get it changed at inspection time which is about every 10k miles or so. Its just less hassle this way and I never knew what to do with the old oil.

fe2o3ez · #20 (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 09:19 AM

Wow. Lots of conversation on this one. I am with MonkeyMomma in that my Dad changed his own and had me doing it since before I could drive. I don't mind getting out and doing it and it feels like I can stay more in tune with what's happening under the hood.

I also rotate tires (found a great deal on hydraulic jack with stands at Sears) and wipers, fluids, engine cleaner, etc. Anything I can feel comfortable doing myself, I dont see why I would pay somone else the upcharge and add in the wait time, doing nothing constructive.

By the way, for those concerned about disposal, most oil change places will allow you to dump used oil, as long as you sign your name, address, etc. WalMart car care is really good at accepting this. Especially when they know that by dumping your old oil there, you will most likely head inside to purchase replacement fluids.

I buy the stuff at WalMart most times, unless I catch a sale elsewhere. PennZoil synthetic is usually 11.99 -13.99 per 5qts and I use 4, per recommendations. Essentially, every 5th oil fill is free that way. I'll stock up the rest of my fluids there also.