Giving up: Gonna pay for oil changes. Maybe...

62YO here, where do you get your synthetic oil and filter for $25?

SM-G781V ?

 

i haven't changed my oil in 40 years, don't miss it. did the old gas riding lawn mower once, what a mess.
i'm not cheap, and unless i can't afford it, i hire it out.

 

I don't like to get under a jacked up car even with jack stands but do if necessary to diagnose or save a lot resolving a problem.

When it comes to oil changes I usually take it to a nearby dealer rather than bother my preferred independent that is 45 minutes away.

Two cost savings methods I use for oil changes - get on mailing lists for Toyota service departments and get several buy one get one free oil changes a year. Change air filters prior. Go to the dealer on 10k mile intervals most of the time. In between 5k miles later I change the oil with a vacuum pump in the garage leaving the oil filter. Dealer costs all in about $40 per change; mid point 5k changes around $25 with Mobil 1

 

I use Rhino ramps and it gives me some exercise and something to do. Every once in a while a few drops hit my driveway.
Sorry, I've seen too many screw-up to trust my investment to some kid. My buddy had his new Taco's first oil change at the dealership nearest me. They didn't tighten the oil pan drain bolt - finger tight. He got it home and saw a small puddle forming in his garage. He made sure there was enough oil in it to go back to the dealership and finger tighten-up the bolt a bit more to slow the leak down.

 

Truck tire rotations....

 

Belts-and-braces approach helps assuage my fears: whenever practical, and that’s always the case for oil changes, I push this tree trunk section under first. If the car were to come down, it’s got to crush that first.

 

Its not necessarily fears; I would not work on a lawn mower lying on my back. In fact what else do you work on in such a ridiculous position? The guys at Walmart have it better.

 

Yeah I know. It’s hard on the neck, for starters. I have one of those rollers with headrest, but find it cumbersome. I’ve got a kids foam, miniature football, old as the hills, use it as a headrest sometimes.

 

I have to lay on my back to scrape the mower deck underneath.
I’m in traction for a week afterwards. But there’s no practical way to get it to the dealer, and that would be a lot of money every week

 

I just use any cardboard box that's laying around before it goes into the recycle bin. If I'm under there for any period of time, I'll use my mechanic's creeper. Got two, a uncomfortable molded plastic one and a very nice one with a really nice head rest. Had to buy it for a major job I had to do on one of my old clunkers.

 

I've gone the other way. Work used to keep me plenty busy, so I did the take it in thing.

After a while, I noticed that the synthetic oil change at the "lube and go" store was pretty expensive - strike one. Then, I noticed the oil change door on my Gen 3 dragging on the ground a few times because they didn't care about replacing the loose or worn plastic push clips - strike two. Finally, I found the cause of repeated tire failure was being caused by a faulty wheel bearing (this is probably not one of the hundreds of points of inspection since it involves jacking the car up) - but it was the final straw.

I'm retired now, don't have all the extra income and my time is cheap. Getting rid of used motor oil in this town is really easy. Every auto parts store will take it for free, and the landfill has a waste disposal section that's takes used motor oil for free too. Oil changes cost me 1/2- 1/3 of what they used to, and I know, for sure, what oil is being used, what it looks like when it comes out of the car, and what brand of oil filter ins being used too.

I also noticed that broken-up plastic oil filter housing on my Gen 3 looked like someone had taken a large water pump wrench to it rather than the proper tool - strike four.

I also found which one of my Prii had the bad wheel bearing and which one it was (this wasn't exactly straight forward as we change from summer to winter tires on both vehicles, and since they use the same size tires, it wasn't necessarily the case that the same tires get put on the same vehicle so the car that had the problem wasn't the one with the worn out tire. The bearing also didn't make the typical grinding noise, it just got loose.) Now, when I have the car jacked up I also wiggle the front wheels around to see if there's any worn suspension components.

 

Professional over-fill of the oil on our previous car tipped me to get back to DIY. That coupled with the shear-hopeless vibe of the waiting room.

 

I ended up with a free oil change once at a local garage. I took my car in for inspection and, after draining the oil, they realized they drained the wrong car! they told me afterward. Not happy, but nothing I could d. They put their oil change sticker on the windshield too.

 

Would using an upward sprinkler work to rinse most of it off?

 

These must be heavy riding mowers? With our push mower I tip it over, hit it with the leaf blower.

 

it's a ryobi electric lawn tractor. manual says not to use water. i ride one front wheel up a ramp to give myself some access, but i still have to lie on my back/side and reach in with a scraper.

 

I don't love crawling under the car, even with a smooth clean floor and a creeper.

I took a suggestion from @rjparker and bought a vacuum pump a few months back. I've only done one Prius oil change with it so far, but it made the job considerably easier, even though I still had to go under for the filter swap. It has also proven to be better than my old methods with respect to my generator & snowblower lube needs.

@xliderider I get synthetic oil for $23 per jug at my local Walmart, and I only need ~0.8 jugs per change. I typically pay $4 for oil filters shipped from Rock Auto.

(23 x 0.8) + 4 = $22.40

 

Presumably 5 (US) quart jug, and “~0.8” of it being 4 quarts?