Oil Change Best Left to the Professionals

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Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
+1. I couldn't have said it any better myself. What's worse? The girls now want to be more like boys.
That's fine with me. At least they will be someone in the house who isn't afraid to pick up a screwdriver. If I ever have a daughter (have a 2yo son right now) she'll be right alongside my son and learning how to do basic maintenance on the car, house, computer, etc. Speaking of more like the boys, in 2010 women earned more money than men and there are now more women managers than men.
 
Originally Posted By: Indydriver
Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
If I'm way over the OCI I WILL and HAVE drained it right into the dirt. THAT has only happened twice though and I'm NOT ashamed of it in any way. I did take the filter with me though.
Nice of you to pick up that filter! My satisfaction from DIY oil changes comes from knowing it's a job well done. Especially with my turbo Speed3 which requires the removal of an aero-shield across the underneath of the car plus a cartridge type filter with two gaskets and a drain plug washer, I simply don't trust the guy at the bottom of the seniority/talent ladder to do it right. I once sat in the lobby of a tire service center and watched while the technician completed an oil change on an SUV. As he backed the vehicle out of the bay, ALL of the oil puked onto the floor. Then the comedy began of cleaning up the mess then driving (!) the SUV into another bay. All while the hapless owner looked on. You've got to wonder how many times this scenario repeats itself in every city while no one ever knows.
Totally with you on that. I have a similar car, ( MKV GTI), it has the same setup with the belly pan and odd oil filter. There is even a special took you need to use to drain the oil out of the housing before you remove it. I do almost all the maintenance myself, except for that wacky DSG transmission which I won't touch.
 
I picked up a LiquiVac from Tractor Supply and can't imagine EVAR having anyone else do oil changes for me now. Lugging the ramps out of the shed and hoping the wind gusts wouldn't make a mess of the pan was not that big of a deal but now it's so dead simple and clean it hardly rates above filling the washer fluid. I wish I had gotten one of these sooner. Others have commented that it actually gets MORE oil out than pulling the drain plug and I can confirm that. Even with the plug out and the drips have slowed to mostly nothing the LiquiVac can still find at least an extra 8oz in the corners of the pan.
 
dtt004, Have you seen someone use a torque wrench on a dain plug ? I have never, nor ever heard of using a toque wrench on a drain plug. Have never seen a torque listed for them either.
 
No one goes near my oil or filter. I had my car in at the dealer for warranty work about 3 years ago. Well the so called GM Master Tech. over tightened my oil filter cover causing it to crack since its plastic. This is a GM ecotec btw. and he also forgot to add a quart of oil.
 
Nice of you to pick up that filter! Well, Indy? It was the least I could do! Littering is illegal!
 
[quote]Speaking of more like the boys, in 2010 women earned more money than men and there are now more women managers than men.[quote] Uh Huh. I have to wonder who's raising some of their kids? The local gang? I may also add that if I had a daughter she would be learning how to change her own oil as well. Nothing wrong with that.
 
Originally Posted By: pavelow
Changing oil is one of the easiest things to do. Even when I'm 80 years old, I'll still be changing my own oil.
Changing oil is one of the easiest things to do; getting rid of old oil, not so easy. That's ultimately why I gave it up. I realize that there are plenty of places that would take it, but I always spilled some (at least a little) getting it into the container. The container got a little oily on the outside and it ended up being a pain. Now I go where a fully competent friend lets me pay him to do the work with the stuff I bring. I stand in the bay and we talk sports while he changes my oil.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Unfortunately, none of the OC professionals work at OC places.
+1
 
Originally Posted By: malibu jimbo
dtt004, Have you seen someone use a torque wrench on a dain plug ? I have never, nor ever heard of using a toque wrench on a drain plug. Have never seen a torque listed for them either.
At Walmart where I work, we use a torque wrench on the drain plugs. We also have torque charts all over the place. If a torque specification is not listed, we call the dealership and then write it down. We do the same thing with lug nuts.
 
Originally Posted By: buickman50401
Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
+1. I couldn't have said it any better myself. What's worse? The girls now want to be more like boys.
That's fine with me. At least they will be someone in the house who isn't afraid to pick up a screwdriver. If I ever have a daughter (have a 2yo son right now) she'll be right alongside my son and learning how to do basic maintenance on the car, house, computer, etc.
My daughter is 17, and isn't "boyish" at all... but she is very proud of the fact she drives a stick, and that she can change her own oil. In fact she was busting a male classmate's chops a few weeks ago because he was whinging about having to take his truck in for an oil change on a saturday. "You can do that yourself, you know. Just take the plug out, drain it into a pan, change the filter thingy, and fill it back up. Nothing to it, you could be done in no time." I told her to cool it just a *little*... boys don't mind a competent and strong woman, but they don't like having their jewels crushed to a complete pulp... ;-) And on the plus side for her classmate- at least his parents were making him take care of his truck himself, even if they didn't make him do the actual work himself. Way too many kids make it all the way out on their own with mommy and daddy having done *everything* for them. Speaking of which, my daughter gets a lesson in how to take her Jeep in for its annual safety/emissions inspection this weekend.
 
Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
[quote]Speaking of more like the boys, in 2010 women earned more money than men and there are now more women managers than men.[quote] Uh Huh. I have to wonder who's raising some of their kids? The local gang? I may also add that if I had a daughter she would be learning how to change her own oil as well. Nothing wrong with that.
No one is raising the kids. While there is a legitimacy to the claim for necessity for a two income family, necessity in part comes down to decisions made by the family. Prior to the economy blowing itself apart, I knew many professional couples who both worked full time salaried positions (i.e. most often much longer hours than a hourly paid employee) because "they had to". Had to was subjective at best. They "had to" to support their life choices of a home they could barely afford, 2 SUVs, and glossy examples of the latest tech in home entertainment. If (barring current economic conditions and rampant consumerism fueled by the inability to engage in delayed gratification and the narcissism attached to needing the latest whiz bang piece of tech in order to hop on the me too bandwagon) we could get by with one parent working full time and onen working just part time to provide a sufficient income for the family and allow for someone to actually be at home to raise the kids. When you look at childcare costs, there are cases where based on the lowest wage earner's income in a married couple it makes almost no sense for that lowest wage earnenr to be working when 2/3rds or more of their wages are going towards childcare. Is busting your hump in order to earn money that mostly goes to child care and have a little bit leftover for extra disposable income a wise choice in light of the other option being to cut back on expenditures and spend that time raising your child yourself rather than a daycare provider doing it for you? My wife and I set up our purchasing decision for our home, cars, and other household durable goods on the assumption that at any given time only one of us might be working... which ended up happening when I was laid off 2 years ago and returned to school and was only able to pick up some piecemeal work on the weekends (since I had an 1.5 hour commute to classes).
 
If best left to a professional? No, but should be if one doesnt know about cars. By professional I mean trusted indy mechanic, not jiffy lube, or fail boys.
 
Originally Posted By: malibu jimbo
dtt004, Have you seen someone use a torque wrench on a dain plug ? I have never, nor ever heard of using a toque wrench on a drain plug. Have never seen a torque listed for them either.
This question was not directed at me but figure I will throw in my 2 cents. My 2008 corvette has a torque value for the drain plug, 18 lb-ft as a matter of fact. And I just changed my oil today and torqued both of the drain plugs (yes it has two) to 18 lb-ft. Just a FYI and now you have heard of a listed torque value AND someone who used a torque wrench on a drain plug.
 
Originally Posted By: NewC6
This question was not directed at me but figure I will throw in my 2 cents. My 2008 corvette has a torque value for the drain plug, 18 lb-ft as a matter of fact. And I just changed my oil today and torqued both of the drain plugs (yes it has two) to 18 lb-ft. Just a FYI and now you have heard of a listed torque value AND someone who used a torque wrench on a drain plug.
Wow, that's barely more than finger tight. I would have guessed closer to 40. What is the pan made out of? How many threads on the bung?
 
Originally Posted By: calvin1
Originally Posted By: NewC6
This question was not directed at me but figure I will throw in my 2 cents. My 2008 corvette has a torque value for the drain plug, 18 lb-ft as a matter of fact. And I just changed my oil today and torqued both of the drain plugs (yes it has two) to 18 lb-ft. Just a FYI and now you have heard of a listed torque value AND someone who used a torque wrench on a drain plug.
Wow, that's barely more than finger tight. I would have guessed closer to 40. What is the pan made out of? How many threads on the bung?
It is aluminum I think, never checked. This is a 2008 Z06 with the 427. Threads on the bung? I have no idea. but the plug itself has 3/4 inch of thread.
 
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