Who changes their own oil & filter

Grumpy_chap

ColdPensioner said:

 one of my near neighbours drains his sump over a street drain 😲

That's really bad - street drainage often goes direct to watercourse or soakaway.

Richard53

daveyjp said:

dipsomaniac said:

Just curious as it's such an easy but crucial job.  Bought the oil & filter (£30) but just need to find the motivation. The old oil can be fed into the landfill (back to where it originated) bin over a couple of weeks or help fire up the incinerator.🙂

You also need a new crush washer, unless you have a drain tap on the oil sump.

In 50 years of serving my own cars and motorbikes, I have only ever used a new crush washer (I think) twice and that was when they came free with the oil.  And yes, I always check for leaks afterwards. Never a problem. The washers can be reused many times, and annealed if they go brittle.

Bigwheels1111

Until 6 years ago I did all my own servicing, then got a new car.
10 year main dealer servicing paid monthly worked out at £170.46 per year.
Years 1-5 £13.46 a month, years 6-10 £14.99 a month.
Including brake fluid, pollen filter and adblue top ups.
Plus 50% off Mot.

I’m to old and it’s cold to lay under the car now.

In the past serviced my cars every 6 weeks as did 1k or more a week for work.
Oil & filter, Air filter, fuel filter, wipers, bulbs and adjusted brakes or changed them.
Parts were so cheap, Oil & Filter, air & fuel filter, wipers, and front pads £27.00

Ebe_Scrooge

ColdPensioner said:

Oil to the recycling centre, not landfill. Although one of my near neighbours drains his sump over a street drain 😲

It's actually illegal to pour engine oil into the drains - he could be in a lot of trouble if he was ever caught doing it.

Always used to do my own oil changes, right from the time I got my first car (that was a long time ago!).  It always used to be a really simple job, but for some reason these days, a lot of cars seem to deliberately make access as difficult as possible.  I'm lucky to have a really good local indy who I trust totally, so these days I let him do it.  He charges maybe just a couple of quid more than what it costs me to buy the parts myself, so it's a no-brainer now that I'm not as young and fit as I used to be

Iceweasel

I change the oil-filter at the half-way stage as I feel that 18K miles or two years is too long.
I also change the cabin-filter and air filter at every oil-change.
Some of these extended service schedules are to attract fleet buyers who change the vehicles regularly and to whom running costs are pared to the bare minimum - or less.

Richard53

Ebe_Scrooge said:

ColdPensioner said:

Oil to the recycling centre, not landfill. Although one of my near neighbours drains his sump over a street drain 😲

but for some reason these days, a lot of cars seem to deliberately make access as difficult as possible.

Main dealer workshop rates of £100 + per hour, and naughty motorists were not paying it! I wonder how we can get the casual DIYer to use us again?

Ebe_Scrooge

Richard53 said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

ColdPensioner said:

Oil to the recycling centre, not landfill. Although one of my near neighbours drains his sump over a street drain 😲

but for some reason these days, a lot of cars seem to deliberately make access as difficult as possible.

Main dealer workshop rates of £100 + per hour, and naughty motorists were not paying it! I wonder how we can get the casual DIYer to use us again?

It wouldn't surprise me if you were spot on there.  Similar to some of these cars where it's nigh-on impossible to get to the headlamps to change a bulb.  Things like that always used to be trivially simple, literally a two-minute job that anyone could do themselves.

fordyms

As a diesel car owner, oil change every 5k ( I use a pump because the filter & sump plug is a PIA to get to and I am old). Every 10k I get a garage to change oil & filer - last time it was £77 all in at ATS.  Air filter yearly, easy job.

mluton

Yep going on 10 years now, Do it every 6 months on my diesel and 12 months on our petrol car, I use an oil extractor from the dip stick, I know some won't approve but works well. Saves a nice few ££££.

Grumpy_chap

Ebe_Scrooge said:

It wouldn't surprise me if you were spot on there.  Similar to some of these cars where it's nigh-on impossible to get to the headlamps to change a bulb.  Things like that always used to be trivially simple, literally a two-minute job that anyone could do themselves.

Too right (or wrong depending on point of view)

Last time we needed a headlight bulb and, because I was being a lazy so-and-so, I took the car to Halfords to avail of their "we fit" service only for Halfords to decline and say that had to be a main dealer job...