I had this debate with a coworker today and I see this being said a lot on many automotive forums. An oil change LITERALLY takes about 5 minutes of actual hands-on time. I can never understand why people use "I don't have time" as an excuse to not change their own oil. The time it takes to drive to a shop, fill out papers, pay, and say 'no' to the 32894723 things they say you need to fix, you could have done an oil change on 10 cars (okay maybe not, but the idea is there). That's not even including the time you're either sitting around waiting or getting a ride to and from the place.

Not having the tools - same thing. You can literally buy ONE wrench and you have all the tool you need for an oil change. A funnel helps too. So do a garage jack and stands or even better: ramps, but use the OEM if you're that strapped for cash (if you can afford a G35 you can afford a freaking jack).

Not having space or you live in a apartment - fair enough. But you can also drive to Autozone or O'Reilly or whatever auto shop is nearby and they usually have no issues with you changing your oil there. Plus you can dispose of the oil right away.

Unless you're physically incapable of doing an oil change, there's really no excuse. I have seen, heard, and experienced horrors of letting incompetent thunderc*nt of mechanics at Fappy Lube or whatever, who are more useful standing around with their dicks in their hand, screw up something as simple as an oil change. Like, pooping takes more effort than oil changes, and they screw it up.



TL;DR - Stop making excuses and change your own ****ing oil.

 

You're being a little judgemental there.

Not everyone wants to change their own oil. Most people probably have no clue how to change their oil or do any kind of maintenance on their vehicles. Some people would rather pay the $30 for the oil change than the hassle of doing it themselves (for whatever reason they don't want to do it).

I know some people who should not be trusted on any mechanical objects, because they'll probably mess things up, than make things easier. I had a friend from work who forgot to put oil on his vehicle while doing his own oil change--basically blew a whole in his engine when he drove it.

Females? Forget about it. You could tell them that the fluid on their headlights needs to be changed and they'll probably believe you.

 

Yes, I AM being very judgmental. I only write this here because this is an automotive forum and if you're reading it, that indicates you either 1. already possess the basic knowledge of how to do simple maintenance on vehicles and/or 2. you're looking for answers to do some sort of repair or diagnose some issue, which implies you *should* know how to do simple maintenance on vehicles. I obviously wouldn't say what I did on, say, a golf forum.

It's one thing to say "I'm too lazy to change my own oil, so whatever." No one can help you there. Yeah, go take it to a shop if it makes you happy and you're willing to accept the risks. I don't sympathize with laziness.

It's another thing to say "Well, I'd do it but I don't have the time." or "I took it to the shop because I didn't have time to do it myself." or "I don't have the tools to do it." This implies that they know better, but they're coming up with a reason to justify it. My PSA is "Just do it and stop making excuses."


Hahah, and with regards to females, all of my girlfriend's friends think I'm god because I do all the work on all of our cars. It's pretty funny, because it's almost as if they didn't realize you can even work on your own cars at home and the mechanic was the only option... If I ever have a daughter, she will know how to change a tire and change her oil before she learns to drive.

 

I think your being judgemental now... Lol

 

its just a b!tch dealing with the left over oil. gotta refill it back into the containers then take em to somewhere that accepts the motor oil and if you get any on the driveway.. good luck. i have changed my oil but its just such a hassle with the cleanup. depends on my mood and if im feeling like the 1hr clean up is including jack up time is worth it

 

If it takes you AN HOUR?! to clean up after an oil change, you're doing it wrong. And it's really easy to not get oil on your driveway.

 

This is real **** tho.

When I lived in a very strict apt complex I could sneak in an oil change with no one even knowing what I was doing. I think people who say they don't have the time or space have never done it. They know what it takes on paper but have never had the hands-on and may be a bit intimidated. Not an uncommon thing these days (and understandable). That's no excuse tho. Just do it. It saves you easily $20 and for the 10mins that it takes to do it, economics suggests you'd have to make about $120/hr for it to be worth paying someone else. Not to mention the extra time you waste waiting for it to get done. I highly doubt 99% of our members time is worth that.

 

So I guess we're only talking about those people who can do their own oil change, but just have an excuse not to?

Laziness or not having enough time (and inclination to do it) are all excuses just the same. I could do all the other maintenance on my vehicles, but I don't. Am I lazy? Hell ya! I'd happily pay my Infiniti dealer $60 for my oil change than to mess with removing that bottom cover lol.

 

I change my own oil and do all my own maintenance on all my vehicles and bikes. I could see how someone would be lazy about changing oil on our G's since they are such a huge PITA to do an oil change on. 20 screws to take off the engine undercover primarily. It does take about an hour to do an oil change on this car without a lift and just using ramps.

 

I have the best of both worlds, buy my Mobil1 at Cosco. On the way home stop at O'Rielys and pick up a couple WIX oil filters, one for now and another for future changes. Next morning drop by my friends shop, he allows me to use his lift. While oil is draining I check and clean suspension/exhaust/inside wheels and r&r oil filter. Checking tire pressure is also a must. New Mobil1 is in and I'm back on the road, good for another 3500 miles. Life is good, SLICK'S happy and so am I...Gary

 

True true

 

I cannot wrap my mind around how it takes an hour to do an oil change. I can change the oil in all 4 of my cars in less than an hour. I've done it, granted two were SUVs and I got under fine without stands..

Takes 1 minute to get your car off the ground, be it a jack or ramp.
Takes about 15 seconds to remove drain plug. Same for a filter.
Same thing for plugging it back up and installing filter.
Takes about another minute to fill her up.
Another minute or so to get the car back down.
Maybe a minute to wipe **** up if you need to..
Add up the time walking around, getting under and out from the car, etc.
DONE. Go add up the time.

Now what you do with your time during the draining process is up to you, but I do not count that because that's not "hands on. " Go have a beer. Do some dishes. Quick detail the car. Check tire pressure. Vacuum the interior. Mow your lawn. Have sex with your wife/husband/GF/BF... Cat, dog, fish... Whatever you're r into. If you don't have any of those, **** and your hands do the job. Whatever, I wait about 10 minutes and inspect my car(s) while it's draining..

With a little 'engineering' there is no need to the the splash shield off every time. I'm an engineer, so I find the path to least resistance

 

Preach it brother. not only do you learn more knowledge on just the oil change. While you're under there explore some more of your car. Why the hell that thing is there, Or maybe WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING, good or bad? I got tired of going to infiniti, ALL im wanting is a oil change and top off my fluids (hell i dont think they even bother looking at the other fluids or doing anything anyways). But yea seems i always have this or that EVERY SINGLE TIME i have to fix something and it's always atleast $200-500 to repair.Sometimes i feel like they be scheming like hell they be creating the problem. F the stealership people. So since i been doing my own oil change the G rides not only GREAT, and its not only in my head. But nothing is breaking down as if i took it to the stealership. Sorry for the gripe but screw the stealership and some dumb lube place. If u got it spoiled like that and have money to blow groovy for u do your thang I aint mad at ya.

 

well for me im going to slowly fill the oil back into original oil container then drive to autozone, dump it. gotta clean the drain pan totally spotless which is kind of a pretty big hassle. idk or bring my oil n filter and have shop charge me 20$ for the labor.. for me that 20$ is well worth my cleanup time. also i drive it on planks then jack up then lower on jackstand and repeat for the other side.

i mean i do my own work like sound deadening, audio install, plenum, runners, belts blah blah and all that but oil is just such a hassle fpr me. idk its something i hate dealing with.

by engineering you. mean modify the stock plastic undershield? or just doing the screws in the back and pulling it back?

 

When I had the plastic one, I just expanded the hole a little so the oil drains out without getting everywhere when the filter is removed. I have the aluminum one now that has a door so it's not an issue anymore.

I have one of those big 20 quart drain pans that seal up, so I don't transfer the oil back into the jugs. I just take the pan directly to oil traps when it's full, there's a place on my way to work so it doesn't take long. Sure I wipe things down but even then, that takes no more than a few minutes.

Everyone seems to be focusing on the money part of this.... If you noticed my post, it's not about the money. I can afford to have my oil changed by the shop if I wanted. The problem I'm talking about is letting some other dude you don't know, whose background you have no idea, manage a very critical maintenance process. Not to mention, they don't give two ***** about the car as long as the job is done.

I've heard stories that mechanics don't change the oil filter. I've heard stories where the oil wasn't even changed. I've heard stories where the oil was drained but not filled. I recently changed an oil pan out of my coworkers car because his mechanic stripped the **** out of the plug and attempted to use a bigger one to mask it, but it kept leaking. I mentioned that I have personally experienced a screw up at the shop.. I got lazy one time and brought my oil to a shop, and they filled my oil without draining out the old one. Luckily I drove it about 1 mile back to my house but noticed something way off. That was the one time in my entire life I took my car to a shop because I got lazy. Never again.