Friday, April 24, 2009

Oil change time


I think the dealership hired the guy in the photo to change peoples oil.
We bought a new/used car last year. They "threw in" three free oil changes. We've used two of them. None were free. The dealership always managed to find something else to do/charge us for.
I've been changing oil in our vehicles for about 35 years. I do the two Mustangs and the daughters car once a year. The Mustangs over Christmas break and the daughters Corolla, Memorial day, because that was when we bought it and I first changed it. She doesn't put that many miles on it, but once a year is a good idea. The Mustangs are the same, not many miles a year.
My F250 diesel and the wife's car, get a lot of miles. I keep spread sheets of maintenance. The wife's Corolla was due an oil change. 3000 miles were up and the "MAINT" light was on. Except I was fed up with the "free" oil changes. I bought a WIX oil filter and four point two quarts of oil for the car. We have about three very busy weekends lined up, so taking the car in for the "free" oil change, was going to be hard to schedule. The dealer takes an extra hour to find if they can charge us for something! I can change the oil and be cleaned up and done in 45 minutes. Last Sunday night, I started at 8:15 PM moving cars about to get a shop bay open. By 9:15, all was done. It took an extra 15 minutes because the dealership hires gorillas to install the oil filter and drain plug! They must not be able to read. Put the filter on until the gasket makes contact and then HAND turn it 3/4 turn more. Trust me, you can hand tighten it past that, but there really is no point as the gasket would have sealed. Hers was put on so tight, I had to use two tools trying to bust it free. They'd put the drain plug in so tight, the gasket for that was practically welded into the oil pan. Again, hand tight with a hand wrench would have done it.
You hit the Odometer reset button and page through the two trip counters to the odometer. Then, hold the reset button in, turn on the key and wait. That resets the "MAINT" light.
Oh, I also replaced the Cabin air filter. One of those items the dealer wanted $50 to do. I got the part for $14.99. One screw holds it in. 10 minutes tops.
And they wonder why we avoid them.....

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