Who does your oil changes?

It says on his shirt that I can trust my car to the man that wears the star!

 

I do my own at work, lol so both toyota dealer is me!

 

Tim you've sure turned your life around!

 

I have lifetime service and life time coverage on the engine, trans, and diffs, pretty much I am covered for life on everything but brakes, tires and gas. Even covers big and little tune ups. I live in a place with a pretty tight HOA, so its a no go in my driveway

 

I hear the sandwiches are good...

 

Hi,
I have my local Goodyear dealer do it. For $25 oil, filter, up on the rack for a look underneath, set air pressure, rotate and check balance of tires, check condition of brake fluid, no oil and filter to dispose of, no hot oil down the arm or where ever while laying on my back, no dropped drain plug at the bottom of the drain pan full of hot oil, no sand, dirt, crap in my face, down my shirt, no drippy oil containers, funnels, no no no I won't do it myself, been their done that! On the other hand no one but me ever changes oil and filter on my motorcycles, tractor or lawn tractor!

Jim

 

I do my own oil changes. I prefer working behind myself - I know what to expect. I've only used the stock Toyota filters and am currently running Mobil 1 extended performance synthetic with Marvel Mystery Oil. She runs quieter on cold morning startups since I switched to synthetic.

 

Nope DIY is good! DIY all my life, DIY maintenance on numerous on motorcycles including frame up resto of Honda CL77, CL160, CL90 , DIY painted 2 cars, DIY VW engine rebuild taking the engine out in a parking lot at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, DIY completely rewired our 1900's farm house, DIY Athena big bore on my WR250R, DIY oil changes, brakes and other repairs on all my cars since 1963 until the '97 Contour V6 and there was no way to eliminate the hot oil down the arm all the way to the pit from the oil filter once you found it via the braille method lying on your back and gladly paid the $12 difference between what I could get the oil and filter for. Its then I figured out the rest of the crap I didn't have to do for that $12 extra and have been stuck in the rut ever since.

Of course my two daughters knew that it was better to take it to Halpins and pay the then $19 but suffered through Dad showing them once and then making them do it the next time themselves. Good sports, the oldest isn't afraid to tackle household projects, the youngest gets pissed when the repair shop talks down to her about the technicalities of the work they did.

Oops! I ramble.

Jim

 

I have always done the oil changes in the past on all my vehicles. Will do the same for this one as well. I actually like & enjoy doing the simple service work myself. At least I know it's done correctly. Even tho I got the first 5 changes free, my time is far more valuable. By the time I add up the driving time, sitting at the dealer time, rechecking their work, then driving back home - it's cheaper and faster for me to do it myself. Been thinking of building me a bigger workshop and putting in a lift - can't wait!

 

A frame contact lift might change my outlook.

 

I do my own. I couldn't care any less about Toyota Care.

 

DoorDing,

It might not have been so bad to get the filter off with the car up on a rack. The angle might have been better. Don't know though never did it a rack.

Jim

 

Dealer, I'm over the whole do it yourself thing. If I were 30 years younger it would be a different story.

Plus, I have free lifetime service and annual state inspections.

 

Haven't changed it yet, barely have 1,000 miles on the new Taco.

I'll have to rely on the dealership to change my oil since the service is included for next 5 years. It worries me to have it done there, no one will take better care of my Taco than myself.

 

The problem is I have never had shops do the maintanance on my cars except when things are out of my hands (tranny rebuild, engine swap). I can only check to see if the fluids are topped off and that they didn't forget to fasten the caps back on. Time will tell = ]

 

LOL!

As convenient as the 4.0 design is with the filter up top and the cup under it (hell, if I had a 4.0 I might just change my oil every 500 miles because with a Fumoto it's so easy!)... the 2.7, while better than the 22RE, is still not totally ideal.

Toyota did good by mounting the filter vertically, and they did good by moving in an inch away from the block so it clears the oil pan flange.

But then they ran the trans cooler lines right under the inner edge.
And I change my oil with the driver's side slightly high, so the oil drains away from the block... and still right ON those lines, and of course, splashes off of the lines onto the crossmember.

If the lines were 2" higher and 1/2" more to the left, the filter mount would drain right through the opening in the frame and into the pan.

Seriously thinking of designing a punch that I can jam into the bottom of the filter to drain it from the center rather than from the gasket surface.
Something like the old spouts that we used for canned oil.

 

If you would rather do it yourself, then do it yourself.
Just keep the receipts (photocopy them, thermal receipts don't last more than a couple of months in a hot vehicle) and keep a maintenance log indicating date and mileage.
The dates on the receipts will mesh with your logs and will be all you need to prove that maintenance was done should you need warranty service.

Just use the dealer for the expensive maintenance items like coolant flush, spark plugs, trans fluid, etc....

 

.
I think I could be 90 years old with 1 arm ... ... and I would still want to do my own oil changes on a Gen 2 Tacoma V-6. ...
.

 

I do my own. I know what I am putting in and everybody else uses "recycled" oil which doesn't protect the internals like what you buy at advance or walmart. I put mobile 1 full synthetic in all three of my Honda's and I put a heavy weight high mileage oil in my brothers truck. I only do his oil because I found out that he went 20,000 miles without changing it when he first bought the truck and I about went and we about had a dead

 

I had success on my Duramax and Tundra (45 degree mount) by pulling a Ziplock bag over the filter and mount after loosening, then breaking the seal gripping the bag.

Tried it with the 2.7 and I can't get the bag up there.
Keep thinking of the foil trick, but every time I remember it, I'm already set up and the oil is draining and I can't go back inside (condo).