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

Scoring five US quarts for $20 USD is easy enough. Just bought a jug at NAPA for$18.50.

Filters from $3.50 to infinity.

When Costco puts oil on sale, i think it goes for about $16. Around $20, normally (in multi-packs).

But the real reason to shop Costco is dog supplies/treats/food.

Considering my pack wolfs down 65 to 75 pounds a month -- more in winter...
kris

 

I must admit that crawling under the car gets pretty annoying. Especially since I've gotten older. There's something to do with the calcium deposits in my inner ear. Crawling under the car, and looking around at odd angles leaves me with a bit of vertigo after I get up. It's not too bad with a simple oil change, so it's worth it.

Other repairs ... It's just that I can't trust any of the knuckleheads working at the shops around here to do anything right.

 

Not nearly as annoying as driving to a dealer and waiting for them to (maybe) do what I pay them to do.

Maybe, when I'm as old as a US President I will accept the inevitable and let somebody else do my maintenance for me - but by then I will probably be using a power wheelchair as my principle mode of transportation.
Until then?
I will keep doing my own maintenance.
Home.
Auto.
Lawn.....

 

Maybe this is how depressions, '30's style, decade long depressions, start. Professional auto maintenance seems to iniexorably devolving into McD' style franchises, they'll present you with a menu, party tray package services, most of which the manufacturers don't even mention. At the same time automobile complexity is ever escalating. If you roll in with a 10+ year old, rust/rodent knackered mess with the money light on, good luck. Slightly more savvy owners resort to DIY, using bootleg manuals, youtube and forums, and only the most vulnerable continue to get fleeced.

 

I manged to change the oil on my Camry and my Prius without any ramps or anything although I did use the jack that came with the Camry to lift up the cars slightly -- wheel never left the ground.

But Patrick Wong got on my case, so I quit using the jack.

Camry, not so bad, but Prius was really tight. I still managed to get underneath to pull the Prius filter, but it was "watch your nose" under there. On the Outback there is so much room underneath, I could throw a party under it.

Oh, both had Fumoto drain valves, so that helped.
kris

 

I found with my old Bronco II there was enough room underneath to drop the transmission out with no need to lift anything. (Now why would I want to do that?) After the first job where I learned how much the tranny (didn't) weigh, I didn't mind sliding under and just setting it down on my chest, then rolling sideways and tugging it out on a cardboard sheet.