Who does your oil changes?

When I bought my Cadillac I let them do the free oil change / free car wash thing. The oil change went fine, but it took them 3 hours to wash the car, and they didn't even do a good job. They left soap all over it! I hope Toyota dealerships do a better job. I'd rather do it myself though because I'm sure the guy at the dealership isn't going to be as caring toward someone else's vehicle.

 

The Larry H Miller dealerships in ABQ must be a cut above the rest as they are quick enough with a appointment scheduled change and the vehicles come through clean and dry.

 

I am covered for the first 25,000 miles by dealer for free, or at least included in the purchase price. As for local oil change shops, I used to do the lube work for my dad's station when in high school and college, it was , wipe off the zerks, never over fill and blow the seals, make sure you get all the fittings, and check for leaks and other safety items. My GMC had one location that had to have been an error by the factory, it required the zerk be removed and lubed with a needle point gun. Never happened in the quickie places, dealer included. Then one day took it to a local shop by my work, the transmission was acting up, turned out it was low on fluid and they pointed out the fitting. Went back there the rest of the 300,000 miles.

 

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No, DIY is OK ... I have free oil Toyota oil changes and I still do them myself.

FWIW ... I keep all receipts and also take cell phone photos of the oil change in progress with the materials setting on "Todays Dated Newspaper" to document the date.

Every 3 months and or 3,000 miles with a high quality filter & synthetic oil is my schedule and I put about 1,000 miles a month on the ODO.

Oh, and I do the oil change at the beginning of each season ... so it is easy to remember.

 

Maybe they thought it was their tip

 

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Did my oil today @ only 2,057 miles (2 1/2 month old OEM dino oil) and it was really dirty ... very dark brown ...

Took about 30 minutes and I am turtle slow (with no drips on anything).
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. . . ^ ^ ^ . . . Perhaps they thought it was a tip . . .
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i do my own. swapped to synthetic mobil 1 5w-30. drove 6k put a new filter on and topped back off (i still had a half quart from the change since it hold 5 1/2 quarts and u can't buy half quarts) have since then drove about 5800 miles and plan on putting some seafoam in it in a week and drive another week and do a full change. my oil looks better than my father's 91 ranger that has full synthetic and about 3500 miles on the change. i figure since its rated for 7500 and most ppl prolly drive 10k on it that if i change the filter (which is, from what i understand, the "weak link" in the oily chain) before the oil gets dirty i can get pretty dang good life out of the oil.
on a side note, the tacoma may be the easiest oil change, but my wife's 07 rav4 is a close 2nd. i drive it up on ramps, and the filter is right beside the drain plug. i swapped her's to synthetic last oil change and plan to do the same with hers. it does use about a quart ever 3k-4k. but it only hold 4.5 quarts so ill just buy 6 quarts and have enough to put a quart in at 3500 and then top it off after filter change and another quart at 9500

 

I have always done oil changes myself on vehicles, I have been taking it to the stealership for now as im getting free changes, but ill soon get tired of making appointments and get back to drinking beer and doing them myself haha

 

Even if they carried Royal Purple, wait...nope, still wouldn't do it.

 

I do it myself- it's easy to do, and I'm cheap- why pay for something when I can do it myself cheaper?

 

The dealership does mine.... that's until their 'free' service is all used up, then I'll do it myself as I've always done in my prior vehicles.

 

Coming up on my first 5K service. I am going to take it in, but tell them no oil change and no wash. I am running Mobil 1 and a good Bosch filter and will continue to do the changes myself. If you catch Mobil 1 on sale at Costco, it is a really good deal. And I don't want them running my truck through their shitty automatic car wash which scratches and strips off the wax. I will however let them do the inspection, change the air filter, etc...

 

Toyota filters are actually good filters, I'm sure someone else will chime in

 

why dont you just take your oil/filter and tell them to use that instead

 

I still have warranty so I'll be going to a Toyota dealership for all my maintenance stuff.

 

Great Sig!!

 

I may do that next time around, but it's not due yet. I changed it after break-in so I have a ways to go before the next one is due. Plus, not really sure I would trust them to actually use the case of Mobil 1 vs. it ending up in someones trunk.

Smitty

 

The dealer does mine but only because they are free as long as I own the vehicle and also get free state inspections for as long as i own it too

 

The last time I had someone else change my oil they stripped the drain plug and eventually I had to replace the oil pan. The only reason I had someone do it even that time was because I was on an emergency road trip and didn't get it changed before I left. Never again will someone do simple maintenance on my vehicles!!