They’re building
two new oil change places on rt 30, within the sound of my voice.
I think that makes thirty something
I don’t understand that at all. Are there really that many people who are too fucking lazy to unscrew one plug, swap out one filter, screw in the plug and fill the engine back up with oil? It takes less than five minutes if you stop to jerk off and you have a look at everything under the car(And hood) while you’re down there, something you should be doing regularly anyway. Plus forthe cost of a conventional oil change you can use Mobil one which is a 10,000 mile change rather than a 3000 mile change.
18 comments Og | Uncategorized
Not to mention the fact that in a not insignificant percentage of cases they fail to either 1) replace the oil plug properly or 2) replace the oil. When someone has more than $500 of ink on their arms I don’t want them near my stuff.
“It takes less than five minutes if you stop to jerk off”
In Texas, we call that an “oil additive,” son.
And, the 3000 mile is actually an untruth—it is a fact that the majority of “quality” motor oils are rated at 5000 miles–the 3000 mile change means that you are basically throwing away money….And, when you happen to be installing an electronic servicing monitor in the below ground storage bay and notice the oil change “tech” pouring excess 10w30 in the 5w20 synthetic tank — have never used one since……
“When someone has more than $500 of ink on their arms I don’t want them near my stuff.”
Yeah, think of what you get when you go to a brake shop.
It fits right in with paying for “lawn service”.
Unfortunately not quite that easy on the Isuzu. Gots to pull off two steel skid pans to get to the oil drain and filter. I don’t mind dropping $30.00 at the small garage down the street for this. Heck, I damn near can’t buy the oil and filter for that.
And just for gigggles, the Isuzu 3.2l V-6 engine apparently has a little man in it with a soda straw drinking about a quart every 1000 miles. I have had two or thre mechanics tell mw that that particular engine just “does this”(wish I had known this before I went 5K miles without changing it once…). It ain’t going out the pipe as blue smoke and there is never a drop on the ground.
Back in the 1990s when I had no time whatsoever, I took my vehicles to oil change places.
Then I realized that I was paying more money to save myself no actual time, because I invariably had to wait longer at the oil change place than it took for me to do it myself.
After I got a garage at my apartment complex in Cedar Rapids (in 1998 I believe) there was no longer any good reason to have someone else do it.
And sometimes it’s because your body won’t let you any more.
Hard to get rid of the excess oil. Yes, I can take it to the place that changes my oil, but I hate hard looks as well.
This is a service economy, after all.
I had my dealer do an oil change at the same time as a trans service last year. I know the guy that does the transmission but a teenager with ink does the oil change. The next month I’m doing it myself, the drain plug is cross threaded and not even half way in and leaking some( this thing leaks anyway so I didn’t notice) and the filter is on so tight I don’t know why the gasket did not extrude out. I’m glad he did not force the plug in all the way so I could chase the threads with success. I know the parts and service director and described what I found a month later. I expected nothing from them just wanted to tell him what a shitty job the oil change guy did, he tells me they have already fired him and gives me a free oil change. I took the oil a filter home and did it myself.
My wife takes her new Hyundai Tuscon to the dealer for it’s 5k oil change. I told her to watch while they did it. The service writer watched with her the first time, telling her what was happening and why. It almost seemed as if they wanted her to know what was going on. What with oil disposal and my rotten back, I do appreciate oil change service. I also watch to see what they do. There’s one nearby I wouldn’t send an enemy to. They forgot to put in new oil and the drain plug on a neighbor’s car and had to pay for a new engine. That place replaces managers about every second week. I wonder if it’s the chain’s training shop. I do wish sometimes that I could still do it myself, that and cut my lawn. That’s right out as well. Getting old sucks.
Gerry N.
My wife’s 2001 Chevy Venture mini-van hides the filter well enough that a lift is pretty much required in order to change it. Surprisingly, this wasn’t a problem with the SAME ENGINE when it was in her 2000 Pontiac Montana. Go figure.
Sooooo… I take it up the road to the independent shop that I trust for other repairs. Quicky Oil Change Place? Never.
I get the difficult ones, and if you’re not as able as you once were, but I don’t see people like that at the oil change places. I see bluecollar folks driving Explorers and Taurii, two of the easiest damned cars to change the oil in EVER. My sunday breakfast waitress has a 99 Mountaineer and does her own oil changes, always has. Now, she’s no shrinking violet, but the Oglet will pull her own maintenance, thankyouverymuch.
With the Intrepid it was a case of it simply being a pain in the ass to get under there.
With the Escape, I might start changing my own again…but I have a friend who is a super mechanic who does it for less than what the oil change places charge, and does both of our cars one after the other so all I have to do is drop one off in the morning (or even the night before) and go swap them out at noon. And with my back and knees, that’s just fine with me…
For lawn service, I cut my own grass, but I hire professionals to fertilize and put down weed killer. Since I’m so allergic to that crap that just walking down the fertilizer aisle at Lowe’s triggers asthma-like symptoms, that’s just fine with me, too.
Don’t know about other states, but in OK all the O’Reilly parts shops have a tank for recycling oil. I’ve got a 3-gallon kerosene can(actual can, was in the garage of the first house I owned) I pour the oil in, and when it’s near full I take it to the nearest and dump it.
In indiana all the parts stores recycle oil.
I did my own oil changes for a while when I lived in NYC, getting rid of the old oil was a pain. Yeah, the garages are SUPPOSED to take it, but for some reason their waste tank was always full when I was there. Mind you, same station I bought my gas at, so it’s not like I wasn’t a regular customer.