Anyone here do oil change themself? is it worth the trouble of jacking up the car and disposing the bad oil worth 12 bucks? Where I live, an oil change at honda is 22 bucks. I assume part and oil cost 10 bucks.

 

I like to do it myself. Besides saving some money, it's good for getting under the car and checking for leaks, cracked CV joints etc on a regular basis. That's how I've spotted a cracked tie rod boot. Not that I particularly WANTED to see that, but I saw it nonetheless and now I'm aware of it :D

One thing, get some ramps. It's easier, and faster for oil changes.

 

i hate starting to do it, but after i've actually climbed under the SOB, it's relaxing....i just put it off until the last minute....i like doing it, but you have to do that so often that it can get tedious, but i'll be damned if anyone else touches it...that's a NO NO

 

i like to do it myself also. i pick up five quarts of castrol gtx syntec oil from walmart for like twelve bucks and a fram filter for like three. for me it is totally worth it. like everyone else has said, you get to check everything out yourself. besides, you can take the bad oil to any auto parts store to recycle it for free. on top of all that, it is relaxing to get up under your car, or work under the hood of your car. it is a deeper sense of relaxation that just calms your whole body. unless you **** it up and end up having to pay like eight hundred bills to have it fixed. then it sucks.

 

yeah, it feels good knowing u did it yourself.

 

I always do mine myself.... peace of mind knowing it's done right, with the exact oil and filter I want to use. Plus like everybody else mentioned, that's a good time to get under and check for any leaks, CV boots, P.S. rack boots, axles, balljoints, and tierods, all of which I do check at every oil change. I just get the 5 quart bottle of Mobil 1 synthetic from walmart for $18.88, and either a Honda or a Purolator Pure-One filter. Every once in awile I even go as far as cutting open my old used oil filter for inspection of any debris that really shouldn't be there, LOL (haven't found anything yet! Always nice and clean).

It's not that hard at all and doesn't take long. I use a jack and jackstands and it always goes pretty quick. After the oil cools down a bit, I pour it in an old milk or juice jug and take it over to Autozone for recycling. They don't charge anything for disposing of it either

 

Any oil change place including dealer they only let it drain for 2-5 minutes. I did a test and after 5 minutes i put a new container to catch the oil i got almost half a quart of used oil out of there.
Im sure it doesnt mean much but i got nothing better to do at times and i like to feel good and kinda fun to look under there.
I also agree to use some car ramps if you have a place to store them.

 

do it yourself, buy oil in bulk on sale and save money i buy cases for 9bux if i have too @ advanced auto they have a sale on castrol every month or so most of my friends work @ lube shops tho so i get all my fluids and filters for free.

 

who's back?

 

I have a question about ramps. My car is lowered about 1.2" with Eibach Pro Kit springs and I was wondering if there would be any problem driving up the ramps with a lowered car. Granted my car isn't lowered that much but I was wondering if anyone has had any problems like that.

 

You can either try to find ramps with extensions, or just place a piece of wide, thick wood in front of each ramp to make the angle a little less brutal.

My Accord's splash guard hits when I drive it up or down, but I don't care too much about that. You'll probably have to use one of those two methods.

 

i have it easy. i get to use the lifts and oilpans at work. its nice and easy to be able to change your oil while standing straight up, and flat on both feet . but yeah, do it yourself. you know its done right as long as YOU know what you're doing, but there isn't anything sophisticated to changing oil........so you should know what you are doing. my $.02

 

I probably pay about the same w/ parts (valvoline maxlife is like $2.15/quart now ) as i could at a lube place, but it's peace of mind that its done right. Friend of mine who usually changes his oil at my place had his done at a lube place up north cuz he was busy found his threads stripped next time he changed it. Sad, was a pain to drive around to 5 autozones and kragens to finally find one that carried a replacement.

also, i always get 5 full quarts in after i change my oil, the manual says 4.2? hah somehow my draining it for like 15 mins and jacking it up high gets out another like half quart and i pour a bit into the filter too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by StimpyBoy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You can either try to find ramps with extensions, or just place a piece of wide, thick wood in front of each ramp to make the angle a little less brutal.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Where can I find a ramp that has extensions. Is there a particular brand to look for anything?

 

Not really, just check a local automotive store and look around.

Here in Canada for instance, here's one that's found at our general hardware store.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/***...07169

Edit: I helped change the oil on the family Civic today, and it was too low to use the ramps we had. We ended up putting some 2" thick wood on the ground in front of each tire, and then put the ramp end on top of the wood. It makes the angles shallower, and as long as the wood isn't too thick there's no real danger of tipping over the ramps.

 

I change my own oil all the time, 3 vehicles: Started using oil filters with better flow readings as well as trapping the dirty oil, will not use Frams any more after reading different info on Bob is the oil guy web site.

 

what filters do you recomend over a fram?

 

Thanks for the tip but what am I supposed to be looking at on that link. When I click on it, it takes me to a Canadian Tire website. I didn't see any ramps or anything if thats what it was supposed to be.

 

It doesn't? I just clicked on it and it did for me. Hmmph, maybe it's using cookies or something.

Anyways, the extensions at Canadian Tire are called Jackall 6,500 lb Ramp Extensions. They're just a set of red extensions to the ramps, and it looks like they have a pair of metal hangers in the end that rests on the ramp, so you can bolt them to the ramp.

I personally just use wood

 

I was told anything else other than Honda OEM Filters.. is just not as good. Go to Honda and buy yourself a Blue Filter and a crush washer.

 

http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/filters.shtml

i'm gonna stick w/ my Hastings/Baldwin filters, $5/each or so. If i had to, I'd use a mobil1 filter ($12) or an STP before picking up a honda filter.

 

ok, still doesn't work but this time I ran a search for ramps in the automotive section and found the ramps and extensions. At the very least, if I can't find anything around here, I know where I can order them from. Thanks.

 

if you want a nice filter just get an s2000 filter from honda. its toyo roki.

 

Under normal conditions, Honda recommends replacing the oil filter every 15,000 miles (every other oil change at 7500). Most of us replace it at 3000 or 3750. That's as much as 5X what the factory recommends. There comes a point where more is just overkill. I don't think they make $13.00 oil filters because it's a huge advantage over the OEM filter. I think they make them because they know people will buy them.




Modified by AngryTroll at 3:20 AM 8/20/2003

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AngryTroll &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Under normal conditions, Honda reccomends replacing the oil filter every 15,000 miles (every other oil change at 7500). Most of us replace it at 3000 or 3750. That's as much as 5X what the factory reccomends. There comes a point where more is just overkill. I don't think they make $13.00 oil filters because it's a huge advantage over the OEM filter. I think they make them because they know people will buy them.

</TD></TR></TABLE>
id like to see that recommendation.