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Is it really worth it?

Geo-TH,In

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
I was a Walmart yesterday.
cvphoto114752.jpg

Took pictures of the oil and filter

My car uses.
Because car is under warranty dealer will serve it, $39.95 .
Same oil.

The older I
get I ask myself, I is it really worth it to serve my vehicles?

I need an oil change. Self is saying to schedule an oil change around lunch time and have my BOSS pick me up and take me to lunch while the car is getting serviced.



cvphoto114755.jpg
 
I can't change the oil in the wife's new Explorer, going to tbe dealer next week. Can't be done unless its up on a lift, there is an air dam underneath that must be dropped.
 
I take my vehicles that are under warranty to the dealer. My new truck come with 5 free changes.
 
I got 3 years of free oil changes, 36K miles.

One place in town you get a free car wash with oil change.

Next door to the Cadillac dealer. I may have to check out their prices if my kids stop giving me free car wash booklets from crew car wash.
 
I took wife's 2019 to a dealer for what I thought was supposed to be a free oil change. Service tech lists what they want to do and it comes to $350.00 including 4-wheel alignment. The car has 10K miles on it. He still listed the oil change as free, but it looks like they want to run up a bill. I don't plan to go back to that dealer for anything.

Butch
 

We take our 2012 Silverado to the GM dealer for service. The price is less than if I did it myself and I don't have to lay down on the concrete and slide underneath, which ain't easy anymore.
 
(quoted from post at 11:12:29 01/21/22) I took wife's 2019 to a dealer for what I thought was supposed to be a free oil change. Service tech lists what they want to do and it comes to $350.00 including 4-wheel alignment. The car has 10K miles on it. He still listed the oil change as free, but it looks like they want to run up a bill. I don't plan to go back to that dealer for anything.

Butch
Click to expand...
That is the entire premise of "free oil changes".
Statistics say they will get that cost back sooner or later.

And no guarantee the $39 oil change is using the mfg. recommended oil either. Unless you observe the jug being opened and poured in.

This post was edited by DoubleO7 on 01/21/2022 at 06:51 am.
 
I used to go to a Pennzoil branded oil change shop. Unless you specified Pennzoil you got bulk oil pumped from an unbranded drum from Williams Lubricants.
 
I get the full synthetic in both my 15 Silverado and Jos 17 Colorado done at the dealership, cheaper than the quick change places. Shut, if the dealership wasnt so far away Id take the J/D 5203 in for the oil changes.
 
Same here car and truck both go to dealership for
service have so-called warranty for life on car as long
as service is done by certified shop
 
Agreed with doing it yourself.

Gives me a chance to get under the car and see the overall condition - what's leaking, what's starting to seep, new mystery scrapes or dents on the bottom side. I also examine the oil and see if it looks like oil or sludge and check it for metal.

Occasionally I send it off to Blackstone labs to see what I am dealing with. Twice they have alerted me to coolant in the oil that I had missed - both times with GM V6 engines that had blown intake manifold gaskets. Another time I had a massive amount of metal & junk in the oil from Ford 351W engine. I was ready to dump the pickup thinking the engine was tearing itself apart on the inside - their analysis showed the material was most likely the timing gear failing. Turned out they were right - I replaced the original nylon coated timing gears, timing chain, and water pump - the engine only had about 100k miles on it and went on for another 50K before I traded it. As bad as the oil looked I was ready to dump that truck and would have taken a beating to get rid of it thinking it was needing a $3000 engine instead of $175 in parts and a couple hours of my time.

Most shops don't look at the oil that comes out - it usually drains right into the catch pan with the oil from 10 other cars. You could have a massive issue developing and they won't know until the check engine light goes on.
 
Last summer while my son was living in Wisconsin for an internship, his car came due for an oil change. I told him to take it to the Honda dealer and pay more because they would be more reliable than a quickie lube place. He paid the long dollar and waited. They identified a small leak at the transaxle. This fall it was dripping and he was on crunch time so we took it to our local Honda dealer for the trans axle leak. There were two, leaks. The idiots in Wisconsin stripped the oil pan and didn't say a word!
 
I take mine to an independent shop anymore. If I had a hoist it might be a different story but anymore after I struggle to get up off the creeper and walk around bent over for awhile I figure it's better left to someone else. The place I take the vehicles to is not cheap and they do look for and will find problems. They also know they can't pull the wool over my eyes. I took the green van to them a week ago for a service and to check the rear tires because they were wearing funny. $1700 later the van had a full service, new tires rear alignment and one rear caliper. Did I say they are not cheap? They do excellent work and I trust them farther than a dealer for quality of the job. This green van has 227,000 miles on it and is in excellent shape and has no rust. It is in good shape because I do spend some money to keep it that way.
 
I spent many years in dealers, and not one time did any of those dealers use OEM oil for oil changes with the only exception and rare occurrence the bulk tank went empty or the pumps failed . They use bulk tanks, and buy bulk oil. The bulk oil might carry the same ratings as OEM recommended though. The bottles of oil on the parts shelves might have a good layer of dust on them.

Dealers often offer free or discounted oil changes, they are expecting to make it up on up-selling and wallet flushes. They are probably not giving you synthetic oil on large discounts, or free though.
 
It's hard to beat the dealer price for a Dexos oil change, although I doubt your dealer will do a six quart oil change for 40 bucks; it's probably a few bucks more for that extra quart. And I don't think they use full-synthetic Valvoline. It's still a good deal, especially if they throw in a tire rotation.

But for my Duramax, it gets pretty expensive to have the dealer change the oil, given it takes two and a half gallons of oil. And they don't use full or semi-synthetic oil, either. So I do it myself; 2.5 gallons of full-synthetic Rotella T6 runs about 45 bucks. (I use cheaper semi-synthetic oil in the summer.) Much cheaper than the dealer, and better oil.

I once asked the dealership for a price to change the fuel filter on my truck while it was in for warranty work. 135 bucks, no thanks. I buy Delco fuel filters online for thirty bucks and save a C-note by changing it myself. Usually I need to take a shower afterwards and wash my clothes a couple of times! I kind of understand why the dealer techs aren't eager to do it.

As for our Acadia and Enclave, I do the oil changes myself. No, I don't save much money, but I know I'm using good oil and I don't have to sit around the dealership waiting for them to do it.
 
I'm with you this time, George. I haven't changed my oil for several years. I too, wondered about the brand of oil they were using because it comes out of a 500 gallon overhead tank. One day, while I was in their very well appointed waiting room, the Mobil 1 tank truck rolled up and filled their tank. So they're using the same oil I would have bought, 2 and 1/3 gallons, at WAL*MART. Along with the OEM filter which is a replaceable element costing $5 + change, cross switching tires, inspecting the brakes, filling the windshield tank, greasing the U-joints (Yes, greasable U-joints) and then washing the vehicle, I can't justify doing it myself. Price is about the same. This was at the OEM dealer. Not a Quick-lube place.
 
Well sir, every time I go through the process and have to make several trips under the truck to get what I forgot, or the correct size, trying to navigate the creeper getting up and down, and then the fact that regardless of what I use and how I use it I always make a big mess on the floor, and try to remember to put the drain plug back in before I ensure that I remember to put the oil in before I crank the engine to check for oil leaks, I think about the same thing. (How long is that sentence?) My 3rd grade (Nun) english teacher would have been proud of me for that compound sentence.

One of these days, I am going to give it up and have it done.
 
My MIL had a 1955 Chevy V8 and the Chevy dealer did the same thing on stripping the nut. I don't know the particulars but she wound up having the oil pan replaced....with all that entails to get the old one out and new one in. On stripping the drain plug on a Honda that took some torque to rip out those threads.

On the subject, a stripped pan nut is one reason I don't have someone else do it for me.
 
That's the gimmick. They bait you into their shop so they can oversell you work you probably don't need. Many folks that don't know any better will fall for their 'recommendation' and thank them for pointing it out. I cringe when I see some of the repair bills.
 
(quoted from post at 07:45:34 01/21/22) I do my own. Nice to know it was done in accordance with Eric's strict standards.[/quoI got 75k miles warranty on 5 yr old explorer and at about 45k now with oil change included.
Click to expand...
 
(quoted from post at 11:55:19 01/21/22) The idiots in Wisconsin stripped the oil pan and didn't say a word!
Click to expand...

And next time they would have wanted 600 bucks to replace the oil pan. Seems to be a Honda trick.
 

Yes, you can put on a GOOD filter and GOOD oil and know it's done right.

Shop is going to use cheap oil and charge by quart.

I can change oil for less than $30 in my yard using on sale synthetic and on sale premium filter. Not getting shop to do it around here for less than 60 and no control on what gets used.
 
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