I changed the oil all by myself! Congratulate me!

[marywantsmoney]

I recently got a new car and I decided, "Hey, I can at least do my own oil change. It really only saves me about $10 each time but it's easy and I don't have to drive to a shop, wait around, and hope they don't break anything."

The oil filter was kind of hard to undo. I didn't put it on quite as tight but it's still leak-free. I borrowed my parents' tools so that's free. I'll eventually have to get my own so that'll cost a little. Maybe I can ask for them for Christmas

But, hooray! Looks like I'll be saving $10 every oil change for decades to come. That'll be at least what... $1,200 over my life plus interest gained by investing the money instead. Sweet.

Everyone should do this. Even if you're a girl.

[FIREseeker]

Smart girl! It's super easy isn't it?!

[ua_guy]

Doing your own maintenance is great. A couple of things, if you haven't already done or thought of them already:

1. Recycle the oil. It needs to be captured and dropped at a recycling facility. It should not go in the trash, down any drain, or poured out in the yard. Most auto parts stores accept recycled oil.

2. If you're jacking up the car, always support the car with jack stands so you don't get crushed if the jack fails (and they do).

3. Make sure anything else that needs inspection at the oil change interval also gets done. Most of the time they are simple things like checking other fluid levels, checking and setting the tire pressure, looking for any other leaks or obvious things that need repair. But sometimes the service intervals can be a bit more involved. Make sure you know what needs attention.

But yes, changing your own oil is pretty easy and can save a couple of bucks, if not, then it can save some time.

[marywantsmoney]

Yes, I'll get to doing those things eventually. My brother looked over the car when I was changing the oil so I think he checked all those things.

The car maintenance stuff is kinda fun so I'll keep expanding my repertuar.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Another stupidly simple thing you can do yourself: change the air filters and AC filters.

[thomasdan]

I recently got a new car and I decided, "Hey, I can at least do my own oil change. It really only saves me about $10 each time but it's easy and I don't have to drive to a shop, wait around, and hope they don't break anything."

The oil filter was kind of hard to undo. I didn't put it on quite as tight but it's still leak-free. I borrowed my parents' tools so that's free. I'll eventually have to get my own so that'll cost a little. Maybe I can ask for them for Christmas

But, hooray! Looks like I'll be saving $10 every oil change for decades to come. That'll be at least what... $1,200 over my life plus interest gained by investing the money instead. Sweet.

Everyone should do this. Even if you're a girl.

Good job!!!! i've been doing my own car work for years.

Here is a good tip: when changing the oil filter. dip your finger in the new oil and rub it around the top of the new oil filter. then twist it on. Next time when you change the oil filter, it should twist off easier.

[xxdeanerxx]

Congrats! Doing routine maintenance is relatively simple on most vehicles as long as you can get them up in the air (floor jack, jack stands). Its a great feeling doing it yourself and can become a fun hobby. While I consider myself pretty handy, I always reference YouTube to watch other people do it to find tricks and tips. Almost anything you want to do to any vehicle has been done and has a video now, crazy.

[Buyer]

Doing your own maintenance is great. A couple of things, if you haven't already done or thought of them already:

1. Recycle the oil. It needs to be captured and dropped at a recycling facility. It should not go in the trash, down any drain, or poured out in the yard. Most auto parts stores accept recycled oil.

2. If you're jacking up the car, always support the car with jack stands so you don't get crushed if the jack fails (and they do).

3. Make sure anything else that needs inspection at the oil change interval also gets done. Most of the time they are simple things like checking other fluid levels, checking and setting the tire pressure, looking for any other leaks or obvious things that need repair. But sometimes the service intervals can be a bit more involved. Make sure you know what needs attention.

But yes, changing your own oil is pretty easy and can save a couple of bucks, if not, then it can save some time.

X2.

And congratulations! You give me a little faith in the younger generations. Sometimes I feel that we have entire generations that lack the knowledge or skills to fix anything. By changing your own oil, you will also avoid all the problems that come from having your work done by other people who may not know what they are doing. For example, you can avoid over-tightened drain plugs, stipped drain plug threads, and the like. Good luck!

[Reece102]

Well done. I recently did this too!