my first DIY oil change since 1988

[shepd]

I used to do my own oil changes, but the shops here do them for $19. Oil in sale in Canada is $13 for 4.7 litres. Oil filters here are about $6 for cheap ones. Hardly worth getting under the car to save a dollar or two, and if the oil plug gasket has to be changed, you end up losing money. And the drive to the dump to put the oil in the waste collection costs enough fuel that there's no profit left.

[tmontague]

Originally Posted by shepd

I used to do my own oil changes, but the shops here do them for $19. Oil in sale in Canada is $13 for 4.7 litres. Oil filters here are about $6 for cheap ones. Hardly worth getting under the car to save a dollar or two, and if the oil plug gasket has to be changed, you end up losing money. And the drive to the dump to put the oil in the waste collection costs enough fuel that there's no profit left.

Fair enough, there's no doubt you can get an oil change done cheaper at a quick lube place. I personally don't trust anyone else and have seen enough horror stories from those places. Plus the oil they get is a bulk generic oil that is hopefully up to spec. When I do an oil change it allows me to check out everything else under the car and inspect for seal leaks, rust, bushings etc.

6 years ago before I did much work on a car we took my Wife's Acura1.7 EL into a Meineke since they had an oil change advertised for $19 with wheel rotation and inspection. When we got there the guy told us that we'd have to upgrade to the $29 oil change package because "this car takes a different oil and the basic oil for the $19 doesn't work for this car". We just went ahead with it as she needed the oil changed and $30 was still fairly cheap.

When we went back to pick up the car shortly after, I questioned the guy and asked specifically why a 5w20 dino oil is not covered under the basic package since it a very common oil grade and nothing special. He got all red faced and stuttered a bit and then said because oil prices are so high that they actually lose money on the $19 package. So he basically stated that it had nothing to do with oil grade and that he just didn't want to sell any $19 oi changes because they don't make profit so he just BS'd to charge me $10 for a basic oil change.

Oh, and they never ended up inspecting anything on the car and the wheels weren't rotated. Ever since then my journey began into being the sole individual to work on the cars my family owns.

If I was to get oil changes done it would be at a trusted indi mechanic or even the dealer if the price was reasonable but never a quick lube place.

Most dealers have fairly cheap oil changes with very little margins. They use this to get people in the door and then make money on maintenance work that they up sell the customer on. If you know enough about what you do and don't need or just want an oil change and nothing more, you can end up getting an oil change for a decent price with oem stuff by a competent tech.

I had a family friend ask me to do oil changes on her 5 year old Ford escape eco boost. I asked her what she was currently paying at the dealer. Turned out that for me to buy the proper spec syn oil (on sale) and a filter at a customer cost would have been $3 more than what she was paying for the whole oil change at the dealer. That was without any money for my time. I just told her to keep taking it to the dealer, they will pay much less than I ever will for there oil as they pay cost and buy in bulk.

Any used oil I have goes into old oil jugs marked used oil (don't ask me why I now label them) and after I have 2 or 3 full I just go right into the local Canadian Tire and drop them off in their mechanic bay area. They willingly take it for free as I'm pretty sure they sell it to a company who recycles it. Any brake fluids or coolant goes to to local city dump.