Quality oil change for under $20.00

[Finklejag]

My friend called me yesterday and said her OLM light went off in her 04 Saturn ION. She asked me how to turn off the light. I asked her did she get a oil change? She said no, and was going to take it in and pay $45-$55 for it. I told her I can do it for under $20.00. I have done oil changes for her in the past.

I stopped by a local indy chain and bought 5 quarts of Kendall GT-1 SynBlend and a Fram filter for $18.94 OTD. The Kendall was $2.59 a quart. The Fram filter looks like every other cartridge filter I ever used in the Ecotec's in the past. She said she will give me $25 bucks for the trouble. So I saved her about $20.00 or more.

I know you can find cheaper deals with sales or rebates. This is just their regular prices.

 

[Big_Kat]

200 Karma points for you sir!

 

[HTSS_TR]

Everyday price of $18.94 for 5 quarts of SynBlend and a cartridge oil filter is very good.

 

[cp3]

Nice. My Son is in the process of resurrecting my Saturn and picked up a 5L jug of GTX with a free Fram for $16.99 on the weekend. So ya, would be an outstanding regular price here.

 

[bodeh6]

Nice combo. Good every day price.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Good for you and your friend too. You saved her some money and know the job will be done correctly without anyone trying to take advantage of her. I would not take her money though, other than her paying you back for the oil and filter you picked up for her. You know, the damsel in distress type of thing..Not to mention it's payment enough just to help out a friend that needs it. One day the good karma will come back to you when you may need it most. Plus you get to do another oil change.

 

[buickman50401]

Whether this would be considered "quality" by some is up for debate but I picked this up recently.

5qts of Fleet Farm's "house brand" Resolute for $1.69/qt and a QS filter for $1.99 at Menards. Resolute is made by Citgo. The bottles' designs and ID stamps on the bottoms were identical indicating they likely came from the exact same plant. The filter is a Puro Classic clone.

Total cost for next oil change including tax is $11.17

Both are GF-4/SM rated. Interestingly the 5w20 does not have the starburst like the 5w30, but if you look at the 5qt jugs of the 5w20 it has the starburst on the front (same specs and doughnut on the back).

And yes there is 1qt of 5w20 to go with the 4 of 5w30. I like to run on the thin side of 5w30 because of my shorter morning commute so the 3.1L GM will be getting 3.5qts of 5w30 and 1 of 5w20. I could care less that it's SM/SL as the car is an '03 that specs SL.

I was sorely tempted to pick up a quart of the Citgo full syn 0w20 they had instead of the Resolute but it was $5/qt so I let it be. The "loose" bottles of 5w30 were nearly gone (about 15 left on a huge shelf that is usually packed full) and there were only a handful of cases left as well. There was still quite a bit of 5w20 left. The 10w30 was completely wiped out.

As a side note, I'd love to see a PDS for these oils. The only thing I really have to go off of is the Citgo or Mystik sheets.

 

[Merkava_4]

Since oil has gotten so expensive, I've resorted to getting my oil from Costco now.
The only problem is, they store the cases of oil next to the laundry detergent and
so the oil bottles smell like perfumed laundry detergent when you get them home.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Nice job, OP, but does the Ion have the engine that is particularly sensitive to oil filter cartridge length? I recall reading recently about folks having trouble with non-ACDelco oil filter cartridges in some of the GM engines.

 

[Finklejag]

That was up to 03 I believe. I never had a problem on her 04.

 

[someguy]

I would have probably sent her to Walmart for the $24 Quaker State special

 

[mechtech2]

How are you gong to change the light to go off?

 

[Finklejag]

You can reset the OLM with a button in the cluster.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: someguy
I would have probably sent her to Walmart for the $24 Quaker State special

Me too, although Finklejag may be hoping for other types of compensation from the car's owner later down the road.

 

[mongo161]

I plan to use a store brand oil for OCI for some neighbors. 4 or 5 quarts of Strauss Auto Full synthetic 5W-20, 30 and 10w30 in mixed blends for their winter runs.

Oil at $2.50 a quart for Full Synthetic and Purolator Pure One or Classic for $2 to $3. Thanks to Advance and Purolator rebates I was able to load up on oil filters or different sizes.

Full Synthetic Oil change for $12 to $14.50 should get quite a few people through the winter season. Now they can focus on using their money for Food, Gas and paying bills without worrying about the cost of an oil change and what kind of oil they are getting in the sump.

 

[OldCowboy]

The only difference between your $20 oil change and one she could have gotten for twice that is that you used quality products and did the job right!