Yes, forget about money savings, life is about time and how much you have left, most of us have been at the mercy of making "appointments" for oil changes and them taking over an hour, screw that. Start to finish in your own driveway maybe 30 minutes at your own convenience.

Nope. I've got some kind of leak - I just have to add a quart a week; never needs changing.

I change my own since it saves quite a bit of money and I don't trust others to take as much care with my vehicles as I do. I take advantage of Mobil 1 rebates about twice a year when the oil is also on sale at a store and I pay about $2 per quart of synthetic. One of our vehicles takes 7 qts and my cost is under $20 with filter. I really don't mind changing oil it's not so bad or dirty as some make it out to be.

depends on the car. jeep for the synthetic and filter it's 5 bucks more expensive to let someone else do it. vette is a pain in the ass to get it in the air. again. synthetic...but I babysit thst car in the garage while they do it. camaro I do myself.

anytime someone else touches my cars they come back more broke than when I left em. brakes, suspension...do it myself on the sports cars. jeep is under warantee...they break it, it's their problem

Have y'all never been to Express Oil? 15 minutes in and out at the most. You never even have to get out of the car! Talk about making it easy. It's about $40 where I live, but you can't even do it yourself for $25 these days.

I grew up in a garage, was doing oil changes by 12 and brake jobs by 13. My grandfather built his garage back in 1955. All the kids and grand kids worked there in the summers sweeping floors and learning about cars. NO SHIT, my grandfather could tear down and rebuild a two barrel carburetor blindfolded.
Well we all know time changes and nothing stays the same. My grandfather retired and sold the building to my uncles who have since retired as well. I did not have the funds to purchase building, so it was sold to a car collector. I will still do brake changes and some other minor maintenance, but seeing as how I don't have a big garage and a lift I just take them to the dealership and they do the oil changes. Of course they are always saying you need this or that, and I say thanks I will take care of it.
Being a service technician on heavy mining equipment myself, I am a little lazy!

I've been to those places and have had inconsistent results. Most of the times it's been fine but sometimes the overfill with oil, sometimes they don't put in enough. sometimes they torque the drain plug too tight, and another time they put my filter on loose so that it was leaking oil. I really don't trust them and know that I can do a better job in about the same amount of time. Plus, I know that I'm using quality synthetic oil and a good filter and save money in the process. I do all 3 of my vehicles at the same time and it takes me about 30-45 minutes.

You should still change to drain all the old sludge out of the bottom and also replace your filter as those can break down.

I cheat too

Nobody touches my cars except me. Shoot, my most anxious time of the year is taking my Viper to have it's annual inspection done as it's the one thing I can't do myself, 90% of the tech's can't even figure out how to open it's hood and get pissed at me when I straight up tell them, in advance, I want to open and close it for them. Had to many "techs" mess stuff up in the past. I don't blame them as they are paid to get cars in and out fast but it's just not worth it anymore. I also despise sitting in a waiting room to have it done and don't even get me started on them grinding gears. If you can't drive a manual car just tell me and I'll move it for you....

Now, I just go into my shop, put the car on the lift, turn my TV on, open a drink and go to town. It's relaxing for me.

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A common tactic at a large chain of quick oil change places is to show you the dipstick after filling so you know the fill was perfect. Well if it's low they just turn the dipstick upside down for long enough to flow to the full mark. If it's high they simply wipe off the excess so it's at the full mark.

The other annoyance is that they try to upsell you on other services at the same time. Coolant flush, new wiper blades, air filters, etc. That's how they make their money.

You're supposed to change the oil?

I do my own oil, although I just bought a new vehicle and the dealer will take care of the first few oil changes so I'll go to them for those first few. After that I will be doing them myself, have been with my previous vehicle before this one. I really despise those oil change places, I have had some bad experiences with them. They have stripped the plug threads, claimed I needed this and that fixed (which didn't need fixing), ripped the air intake hose, and had other things broken. I feel like when I go there I have to constantly watch to make sure they don't mess with anything that doesn't need messing with. That and all the up-selling. One time I had a taillight out and they wanted something like $30 to replace it!

In my opinion it's so much easier to just buy oil on Amazon and do it yourself, you can get 5 quarts of full synth for like $20. If you want full synth at an oil change place it will cost you probably around $100 when it's all said and done.

Indeed. Many people take these "optional upsells" as critical maintenance needed RIGHT NOW so they give in. Instead of buying wipers and an air filter for $20 at any auto parts place and installing themselves they pay close to $100 for these at an oil change place.

I also buy my tires online. You can buy them much cheaper. The Toyota dealership changes and rotates my new tires for $69.95. I save hundreds in the process. Last tires I bought on Amazon didn't even have tax on them.

My wife and sister in law change their own oil at our house but I'm setting it up on the lift so they're cheating. But they both wanted to know how it is done but they're not typical women as they're used to slinging horse stalls, hoof cleaning, and manual labor despite them both working white collar pharma roles.

Like others that do it themselves it's really not much of a savings. It's what many of us see first hand and after the fact of missing heat shields, engine covers, stripped bolts, wrong oil, no oil, bad quality filters, etc!

I always do mine but my vehicle now has the filter in the dumbest spot. It almost makes me want to take it to get it done.

No, it doesn't make sense money/time wise for me. Local Honda dealership does all Hondas/Acuras for $14.00 after tax for a new filter and synthetic. No appointment needed and done within an hour. They will try to upsell the hell out of everything else maintenance wise though. "You need a cabin air filter? We have a special rate of $59 for that today!"

I change my own oil, and do pretty much everything else maintenance and repair-wise on my car. Most quick lube places use questionable oil and even more questionable filters. And I HATE being upselled on everything from wiper blades to air filters. It only takes me 20 minutes to change my oil, and I can usually get a $25 deal on a pureone oil filter and full synthetic at Advance Auto.

The only repair I really draw the line on are timing belts and anything that requires me to hook up a vacuum pump for AC lines or compressors--though I did change out the magnetic clutch and stator on my mom's minivan AC compressor once, but what a pain in the ass that was.

I figure if I can save $500 here, and $300 there on labor and upcharged car parts, I can use that money for cooler stuff--mostly pinball machines.

If you can empty the liquid contents of a container, then refill that same container with a new liquid, you can change your own oil. At the very basic concept of an oil change, these are the steps:

1. Use a wrench to remove the drain plug.
2. Let the oil drain into a drain pan.
3. Remove the oil filter and drain that.
4. Screw on new oil filter.
5. Screw back on drain plug.
6. Pour appropriate amount if oil into engine (from the top side).
7. You're done.

Of course there are a few extra things you can do. You can remove the oil cap to let the oil vent and drain better, add a bit of new oil to the filter gasket, re-install drain plug with new washer, have plenty of shop clothes or paper towels, etc.

But it really is pretty easy to do. Doesn't take hardly any mechanical experience. If you can unscrew something you can change your oil.

The problem is some people can hurt themselves screwing in a light bulb. I have seen it.

As an owner of 3 bugs currently- 66,67,and 71, I can state this is definitely the case. Although I do adjust my valves during every oil change.

I actually have 6 vehicles (3 are the VWs) and I only change oil on the VWs. For the cost of an oil change at my local place, it isn't worth my time to source my own materials to save $8.00.

Most of the young one's these days don't know right is tight, left is loose. Give them a phone though......

The only cars of mine that I won't work on myself is the exotics otherwise I'm doing the work myself or with my mechanic friends. Finding a good TRUSTWORTHY mechanic is difficult. When I was 16 and had my first truck I had paid for an oil change , sparks and wires. Not knowing too much about vehicles at this point in my life. But this truck I had was sitting for a long time and I needed to get the tune up right away. Went to a local midas and had the work done and paid way too much as it was. I blew the engine 2 weeks later and sold the truck to my cousin as he was going to rebuild it. After taking apart everything he found the oil in the pan was sludge and I still had my original sparks corroded to the block. Had some other bad experiences through years but that was the worst.

No one touches my cars anymore. My favorite hobby is cars and I care too much about them to let someone else's careless hands handle them. Especially with some of these oil change places have young kids that could give a shit about your car and could easily throw the wrong oil in for all you know. No thanks.

Eight cars here . I change all my own oil. Same here as having a shop who takes the used oil to burn in heater. With disposal hassle gone it’s an enjoyable chore.

Yeah see that's cool and takes an unfun step out of it.

Of course I change my own oil. And always have.

I've seen too many cases where the idiots at Jiffy Lube or one of those other quick lube places leave the drain plug or filter loose, or don't put any oil back in the engine at all. Or even put the wrong oil in there. A lot of Mercedes owners found that out the hard way.

In the auto repair business, the guys that do oil changes are usually the most inexperienced and lowest paid mechanics of them all.

Well I would never go to a jiffy joint anyway.

Even Mercedes dealers were putting the wrong oil in their cars. They learned the hard way. It needed some special oil and I guess they figured it was more profitable to use the off the shelf stuff their older cars could use.

No, not worth the couple dollars I would save. Been going to the same place forever and now have 365k miles on the car (4runner). So I assume they really do change it. If I have the time and can save a decent amount I'll do most other fixes/maintenance myself.

You guys are too funny.

I'm pretty sure cars these days don't need oil.

I can overhaul an engine in 4-5 hours at my dealership.

So... yes.

I also change the oil in my daughter's car, a 2002 Cavalier that she says she is going to drive until it dies.

In 35 years in the auto repair business, I can't remember another car that was so badly engineered as far as doing basic service. You have to remove the right front wheel to get to the filter that barely fits thru a hole in the frame and suspension to remove it and of course dumps oil on the exhaust. There is no dipstick or tube to check or add automatic transmission fluid.

You can't just remove headlite bulbs as they left no access to them. That requires disassembling most of the front of the car. And one serpentine belt that should take 5 minutes took me over an hour of frustration.

I'll stick with my Toyotas, thank you very much.

I change my oil in my riding mower. Does that count?

I don’t mess with my cars and would not fantasize changing the oil in my boat. The way the engine compartment is arranged you have to pump the oil out of the engines. Oil change and engine servicing runs me about $400 and is completely worth it watching what all the joys have o do.

no way. I did this when I was a kid, now I take it to the dealer where they do a full inspection and give me a loaner car so I don't have to wait. Yes it costs more but well worth it. My current vehicle gets free service for 3 years which makes it even better.

Yeah I always have. Also do the brakes when they need it. I think it's faster than going somewhere and waiting in line.

Hadn't had a new vehicle in 10+ years and got a real pleasant surprise when I got a 2017 Jeep with a V8. Turns out that they moved the drain plug from the rear of the oil pan, by the transmission, to right up front, practically under the serp belt. So now you don't even have to crawl halfway under the car to drain it.

True story!

I used to take our 2 Subaru's to the dealer for oil change. Last time I went it took 2 hours. I will never go back. I am now going to a local family owned and operated garage. 4th gen. I now know many of the great people that are there. Cost was almost half that of the dealer. Took less than an hour. No appointment, get right in.

A chimp working on a Porsche engine is pretty cool. Not with a pipe wrench though....

The General Motors answer was, "If transmission oil is appearing in your drive way, you should be bringing in your car for service".

Answer was it took some serious research to figure out how to check it. With mixed answers on the internet how to do so.

I found a plug on the side of the thing that you can only get to with the vehicle elevated. I removed the plug with engine running per instructions and when fluid came pouring out, I assumed there was enough in there.

Stuff I have seen at work. That seem odd.

Chryslers with transmission fill tubes but no dip stick.
Chryslers with the battery in the left front wheel well/fender. Between the bumper and tire, which is a crumple zone.

BMW, some models, do not have engine oil drain plugs. A pump is required to change the oil.

Mercedes Benz, ML, battery is under the front passenger seat. But the installation instructions state to just cut the carpet. (What the Hell?)

Got some real slice O'Michigan action for ya here.
So I was at the in-laws house for Thanksgiving and a brother in law said they just had a union meeting there discussing people really need to stop going on the roof and having sex or smoking pot...like this is the last warning.

So I'm surprised they design or make anything at all.

I change my own oil , rotate my own tires , flush my own trans fluid .. only beacause i don’t trust the goons at the oil change places who try to put the drain plug back in with a impact gun .my buddy works at a ford dealer , and they have sent 2 cars down the road with no oil in them after oil changes and seized the engine .... Plus the knuckle heads who do oil changes at the dealships are entry level guys ... they don’t know shit about cars !