I’ll change the oil in my car myself before I’d take it to a quickie lube! Of course I had an experience with an automotive shop in town that changed the oil in my Versa. The guy who changed my oil didn’t tighten the drainplug properly after he changed my oil and the next day I go to the store and when I come out of the store, I see a huge oil puddle under my car! I was pretty angry! So instead of driving my car, I called a tow truck, had my car towed home and of course and had to buy oil and a new drainplug and fixed the problem myself because it was on a Sunday and the shop wasn’t open on Sundays. So I went to the shop, showed the owner the pictures of the oil puddle under my car and pics of it being towed and the owner ended up refunding me the money I paid him and the money I spent having to buy more oil and a new drainplug. So basically what I am trying to say is quickie lubes are a joke but automotive shops can be the same way. Always check the shop out before you take you car there. They have several websites with reviews. You can also talk to friends and family as well.
I always change it myself. All it takes is one clown stripping the hole out ot not securing the plug to cause a sudden loss of oil and serious damage. It isn’t worth that risk to me.
I realize that someday I may on longer be able to, but I’m hoping to pass on before that day comes.
I too change my own oil. When I remove the filter I check to make sure the old gasket isn’t stuck to the block and before starting the car I always check to make sure the plug has been tightened and that I haven’t forgot to put the new filter on and have replaced the filler cap. Even after taking these precautions I start the car and let it idle for a few minutes while checking for oil leaks at the plug and filter. The only time in 35 years of changing my own oil and sometimes for friends and family that I remember making a mistake was once when I forgot to put the drain plug back in and thought of it before all the first quart of oil had drained onto the ground. Since then I look before I start to pour. I have had to replace the drain plug once in my 518K mile Escort, it wasn’t stripped, but the threads either in the oil pan or on the old plug were worn and it just didn’t seem like it was tightening at all until I seated against the oil pan using a wrench so I bought an over sized plug and put in it which solved the problem.
FordMan, I follow pretty much the same routine, except I also clean the gasket surface on the block. I too double check everything, and even monitor my oil level for a few days.
Re: that oversized plug, was that one of the self-tapping ones? They work great.
Yeah, I always take a rag and wipe the gasket area clean. The over sized plug was a self tapping plug.
“But as with any motor oil thread, you will get at least 50 replies with 20 different answers. Take your pick!”
25 and counting…Don’t stop now fellas!
" many of us on this forum don’t stop at these quickly places even to ask directions. "
I must confess, I did once. I had to peeee really bad.
I happened to ask an US based Acura engineer(powertrain) this very question about oil. Mine requires 5w20 but he said 5w30 is fine for year round and 10w30 for mild winter. Like it has been said, the reason is efficiency. He puts 5w30 in his Honda.
Raj, use what your owner’s manual recomends. Don’t try to outsmart the guys that designed the vehicle.
Shopping in an Autoparts store in Guaymas, Mexico yesterday, I saw, on the Motor Oil shelf, 0W-50 and, yes, 5W-60 weight oil ! These products carried the Quaker State brand…
Single grade oil is offered in 30, 40 and 50 weight…
Changes in latitude, changes in attitude…
While I ALWAYS use what is recommended in my owners manual…I wouldn’t be at all surprised if meeting the Cafe’ numbers had something to do with manufacturers oil viscosity recommendation. I’ve been using 5w-30 without any ill-effects for a couple decades now. If I moved to Mexico…I might be more inclined to use 10w-40…or even 20w-40.
Learn to change your own oil. There’s no reason any anyone should not be able to do that, unless you’re disabled.
My daughter had her oil changed to her first car, an Impreza*, at a Firestone. I bought the car when she entered college, it being cheap and reliable.
A couple days after, she calls me “Dad - the car just died. It totally stopped. At first the oil light came on, I tried to pull over and I can’t get it started again”.
After driving over, come to find that the oil plug had fallen out. Clearly the morons hadn’t tightened it properly so I had it towed to Firestone. The car had seized up.
The manager said that “99.9 percent of the time the plug is perfectly fine and will stay put. Sometimes they just fall out…” as if that somehow is an act of god, a reality of life, something I had to live with.
I go "I don’t know what’s scarier - that your company knows a statistic like that, that you keep track of it and not improve it or that you seem proud to tell me that nugget: 99.9 percent implies that 1 in 1000 falls out…"
After some back and forth, they agree to replace the engine at their cost.
The replacement engine wasn’t new but certified and only had 40K on it.
Everything’s good, right? Mistakes happen, right?
Fast forward another two months when I get a call again “DAD - the car is making weird noises!! There’s this weird really loud rattle. None of the lights are on and the gauges are normal, though”.
She was only a couple of miles away so she drove it home. The car was behaving normally. I figured the muffler had just fallen off or something like that. When she pulled in, she shut the car off and tried to start it again but couldn’t.
I found that all bolts holding the drive plate to the torque converter had walked out or snapped off. This time I wasn’t taking any risk and just pulled the engine, doing that work myself. The torque converter was hosed up a bit, with all the bolt holes being boogered out and the bell housing had a piece missing on the bottom, where the bend drive plate had knocked a piece out of it. The torque converter had to come out and tigged the holes closed to redrill and tap them. While the engine was out, I did a bunch of other things to it. (seals, gaskets, etc)
Long story short: oil change places are inhabited by morons.
Don’t use them.
Change your own oil.
In fact, learn to do your own mechanic work. You may enjoy it. Even if you don’t, you can screw it up four times by the time you pay for a mechanic and you know you’ve done the work right.
*Actually still runs quite well. My son drives it now.
Remco, thanks for the story. It sends chills down my spine.
Unfortunately, ther are many millions who live in apartmenst and condo complexes where the “no maintenance in the parking lot” policy is strickly enforced.Those folks should find a reputable independant shop, but most just stop at the quickie lubes. I had to live in an apartment complex for some years (company bankruptcy, divorce, long story). I used to sneak my oil changes in. I even snuck in an exhaust system change early one morning on my '89 Toyota pickup. Cat flange to tailpipe in 20 minutes total, as God is my witness. I was younger then. It takes me 20 minutes now just to get up off the ground.
Learn to change your own oil. There’s no reason any anyone should not be able to do that, unless you’re disabled.
Tell that to someone who lives in a high-rise in Boston. Apartment management frowns on people doing any kind of auto repairs (even oil changes) in the parking lot. So unless you know where to rent a garage you’ll have to rely on a mechanic or a quick lube place (which I highly discourage).
But I agree…if you have the means…then do the oil changes yourself. Last time I took any of my vehicles someplace for an oil change was when we bought a new car and the first 2 oil changes were free.
I hear you on not having the space for it.
Maybe ask a friend with a decent driveway or garage for help? With everyone in the family driving, I can’t see maintaining a car by a mechanic. To do it properly, doing preventive maintenance, would cost a fortune.
How can people afford that?
In the woodworking world, they have these ‘woodworking clubs’ - a similar concept as a health club, where for a monthly fee you can use their facilities and tools.
Wouldn’t it be nice if a similar thing existed in the car world?
Maybe have a retired mechanic run the place where people can get advice, make sure the work is done safely, etc. Lots of people would be interested in joining something like that, I think.
“Even if you don’t, you can screw it up four times by the time you pay for a mechanic and you know you’ve done the work right.”
Ha. First time I did plugs I cracked the last one in the engine and couldn’t get it out. It cost less to have a mechanic fish the last one out than it would have for them to have done all the plugs. So this rings true as I screwed it up and still saved money.
I seem to recall reading that Tom & Ray started out with a “fix it yourself” garage. They ended up having so many people bring their cars in and find themselves “in over their head” needing technical assistance that they had to hire emechanics to assist. Then they had to bring in repairs under the traditional shop model to support the mechanics.
I think it’s a great idea in concept. Until one ends up with a building full of cars up on lifts with owners in “over their heads”.
MB, I didn’t know that about Tom and Ray. They sound like nice guys.
Yea, not sure how that would need to be implemented. I know it works in that woodworking world, but to put a jewelry box that some guy may be making on a shelf isn’t that big of a deal.
And Nebin: lefty loosy, righty tighty. 
Oohhh just have a traditional shop. But make 2-3 bays rental bays for DIY customers who rent the space and tools by the hour.
Then they could also have a bail out button to call in a mechanic from another bay at which point traditional charges would start to apply.
That’s a good idea.