Changed the oil in our main daily driver, probably was a bit earlier than strictly necessary but it was past the service mileage stipulated in the manual and it’s above freezing finally. Managed to not make a mess and didn’t run into any issues. Even torqued the drain plug to within spec. Then got it washed to get rid of the salt crust from the past few weeks and wash out any oil drips from the filter the got on top of the plastic air guard.
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Even torqued the drain plug to within spec.
Did you replace the crush washer or just give it the side eye and say “yeah its good enough for another go” and put the original back on.
I drive a Chevrolet. What crush washer?
I’ve never replaced a crush washer on a drain plug and haven’t ever had any issues with it leaking. The pressure in the sump is so low I just don’t see there being a lot of force to necessitate it. I also always forget to grab a pack when I’m at the store so there’s that too.
Ah thanks for the reminder!!
I considered it, but decided against it.
Fun fact: There’s no flat surface around my house for doing it. Nor is it sheltered, and it usually rains sideways where I live. So my usual place to do these things is inside a 2km long mountain tunnel 5min drive from my house. There I can change oil, brakes, seasonal tyres, with no wind or precipitation, and temperature above freezing. In the middle of the tunnel there is a large excavated space on the side of the road where the snow plow turns around, so it’s not like I’m blocking traffic either.
Probably saved a bunch of money compared to having someone else do it!
Sure did, full synthetic oil and a filter was less than $40, would have been around $70 to take it to a quick lube place.
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I worked at a Jiffy Lube when their oil change was $20, and I don’t change my own oil today. I’ll do all sorts of other work, but the amount of savings I would get for doing my own oil isn’t worth the time, the mess, having to take the old oil somewhere, crawling around on the ground, getting filthy.
Oil changes are usually priced at a “get you into the shop” level. You can use this to your advantage. Going to a proper shop as opposed to a quick change place, they’ll be able to tell you what other things do (or don’t) need attention. Then you can decide whether that’s work you want to tackle on your own. If it’s not something you’d like to do yourself, then you’ve also given a mechanical shop a “test run,” and if they’ve passed, you can have them do the work you don’t want to do.
You probably still can if you buy conventional oil but most cars require synthetic and the cost savings isn’t worth the risk and worse protection.
If I had gone with the conventional store brand and a cheaper filter I could probably get close to $25. I like the longer intervals with synthetic though and use a bit better filter to go with that.
