Nephew has that "new" used Volvo. We already changed the PSF and the air filter and located the sticker indicating the timing belt was done 10k ago. With a bottle of ARX sitting here and cold temps too, it's time for a change after 3 weeks of ownership. He works in the same town where I have my business, so I grabbed the car from him to do an "away" oil change with the Havoline Synth 5w-40 I already had. The filter was actually not a problem, I made sure it would move before dumping the oil.
The freaking drain bolt was tizz-ite. It was a partly rounded 17mm, with a very short head. Nice. In the snowing +20f weather, even parking the car over a ditch did not let me get room enough and bite enough to get it.
I knew it was time to quit and take it over to one of the T&LE I frequent. This is where it gets interesting. We settled on a price, which was oddly negoiated down from the "Synthetic" price...since I was ~using~ (my) synthetic oil. That got it down to like $29, I sorta balked because a basic change is about $22, both sides pretended not to understand the other....ended at $18. Target price was $20, so that was fine, especially considering the pita factor of handling used oil during an "away" (from home) change.
The guy started by checking/topping all the fluids and talking to me about the job. I complained about the bolt and the cold etc. Said it was a new used car and I'd run over and get a new bolt from Volvo if needed....I kinda wanted one but did not have time.
As the job progressed, I notice they flushed out the engine with fresh oil and the guy said he replaced the rounded short 17mm with a new 19mm one. No extra charge. Pretty cool. The old one he gave me was not really that bad, just a poor design. It took no more than 20 minutes until I was off. My only complaint was they did not fully drain the quarts of sweet Porsche-Approved goodness. No Fram TG either, but I had a ST-16 to comfort me.
Wal*Mart T&LE is an excellent service in most cases. Where else can you choose from 100 different oils? (Pep Booys, yeeechk!) I get a lot of tire work there and they always nail exactly what I want done with very few exceptions. $40 m&b a set of tires is pretty good.
The freaking drain bolt was tizz-ite. It was a partly rounded 17mm, with a very short head. Nice. In the snowing +20f weather, even parking the car over a ditch did not let me get room enough and bite enough to get it.
I knew it was time to quit and take it over to one of the T&LE I frequent. This is where it gets interesting. We settled on a price, which was oddly negoiated down from the "Synthetic" price...since I was ~using~ (my) synthetic oil. That got it down to like $29, I sorta balked because a basic change is about $22, both sides pretended not to understand the other....ended at $18. Target price was $20, so that was fine, especially considering the pita factor of handling used oil during an "away" (from home) change.
The guy started by checking/topping all the fluids and talking to me about the job. I complained about the bolt and the cold etc. Said it was a new used car and I'd run over and get a new bolt from Volvo if needed....I kinda wanted one but did not have time.
As the job progressed, I notice they flushed out the engine with fresh oil and the guy said he replaced the rounded short 17mm with a new 19mm one. No extra charge. Pretty cool. The old one he gave me was not really that bad, just a poor design. It took no more than 20 minutes until I was off. My only complaint was they did not fully drain the quarts of sweet Porsche-Approved goodness. No Fram TG either, but I had a ST-16 to comfort me.
Wal*Mart T&LE is an excellent service in most cases. Where else can you choose from 100 different oils? (Pep Booys, yeeechk!) I get a lot of tire work there and they always nail exactly what I want done with very few exceptions. $40 m&b a set of tires is pretty good.
