First Oil Change Memory Lane

[Kage860]

After reading the wealth of information that this forum has to offer it's time to make my first post. I was thinking about the first oil change I did 14 years ago when I was 17. I stopped by auto zone, got quaker state regular oil, a fram oil filter, and a fram air filter, mostly because those were amoung the cheapest i could find for my old beater car.

Then I discovered the auto internet comunity out there and learned I was doing it all wrong! Over the years I began shopping at NAPA because autozone stinks, using mobil because quaker states causes sludge, wix filters because frams will kill your engine, and k&n air filters because they were supposed to be the best!

Fast forward to 2017:
Now the consensus is that autozone has great end of the year oil deals, fram makes some of the best oil filters and fram air filters are good at protecting engines. K&n air filters will kill your engine and wix doesnt filter well

If people start saying quaker state is a cheaper way to get the same shell base oil as the much touted pennzoil I'll be full circle!

I realize different forums have different opinions but I generally agree with most of the opinions here. The products have changed over the years and this us meant ti be light hearted. Anyone have old war stories to share?

 

[Astro14]

Well...my first oil change was in about 1975...my Dad and I bought everything from a local store. Parts store chains? Never heard of them. QuakerState bought in cans, a good 10W40 for "plenty of protection" and a spout to puncture the cans and pour the oil...with spout, new oil pan, oil and a filter, it was probably less than $10.

Yeah. A LOT has changed....

 

[jeepman3071]

My first oil changes were on small engines. Lawn mowers, snowblowers, and ATVs. I only started with cars about 7 years ago. First car oil change was my Jeep. I used likely Valvoline 5w30 and a Mopar filter from WalMart.

 

[Indydriver]

I exercised my independence at age 19 by buying a Honda 400cc twin in 1973. Of course I couldn't afford to pay someone else to do it so I had to figure it out myself. I was highly influenced by "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence" where I learned among other things how wrong it is to listen to the radio while working on a machine.

Back then in the two-wheel community you used Castrol 20W-50 or nothing at all (everything was air cooled). My first car, a $2300 (new) Datsun B210 was super easy to work on (point distributor etc) and a blast to row the 4-speed in the snow. I learned drifting before it had been named. Kept it until the floor rusted out thereby sucking exhaust into the cabin. You could put anything called "oil" into it and as long as it was on the dipstick, you were good to go.

Simple beginnings, great memories now. Good first post. Thanks.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Hard to remember my first oil change (about 1967 or so). My Dad helped me change oil on our 1961 Ford Galaxie. Think it was fairly uneventful. Back then, using a bumper jack with no jack stands was considered "acceptable".

Dad was a Havoline man, so pretty sure we used Havoline 10W-40 and an oil filter from the local parts store, Stinger Sam. May have been a Lee oil filter. Think we paid about $ .59/qt for the oil and less than $2 for the oil filter.

Quite a few things have changed since then - Stinger Sam and Lee filters are no longer in business; jack stands get used; and most of my oil changes are thankfully uneventful.

 

[PimTac]

Way back then, I used Havoline SAE 30 in the cardboard can with the oil spout. If you didn't insert the spout just right you made a mess. Filter was a Fram as there wasn't much choice then. Everything was purchased at the neighborhood auto parts store where the counterman knew just about everything about any car. Every 3000 miles.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Probably around 1950 or so and it would have been a tractor-most likely an Allis G or Ford 9N. We used whatever oil the gasoline delivery driver gave us. When they filled our gas/diesel barrels we received 8 quarts of oil free. The oil was bulk, and I'd bring out the 8 glass oil bottles with their metal spouts in their wire rack, and the gas driver would fill them up with oil from a drum on his truck. If we didn't use all of the oil dad had me empty whatever was left into whatever container we had around so we could get all 8 oil bottles filled.

We used the same oil in everything-tractors, cars and trucks, diesel, gas, etc. I have no idea what brand or weight of oil it would have been, but it was black as soot right from the drum.

The rack and bottles looked about like these.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

First oil change I did on a vehicle was on the Cherokee when I bought it. Drained all of the oil out of it and went to put oil in and ....


...

The oil cap wouldn't come off. Was interesting, to say the least!

 

[NormanBuntz]

My first oil change was in 1966 on my father's 1960 Willys 4WD pickup, 3 speed manual and straight six if I recall. Back then we used a Penn Jersey Auto Parts store in PA and bought Kendall or Wolfs Head 10w-30 and a Lee Maxi oil filter.

 

[Schmoe]

1983....Datsun B210 at the auto craft center at Naval Communication Station in Guam. Guy who ran it schooled me on how to do it. Been doing it ever since, except for the newest member, 2014 CRV, dealership offered free oil changes and motor warranty for life....just couldn't pass that up.

 

[Bud]

I did my first oil change myself in 1964 on my 63 Plymouth Valiant. But I started helping my Dad with his in the 50's. If he was working on his car I was there with him.

 

[panthermike]

Great topic, love these stories. Mine was on my first vehicle; a rusty '73 Ford F250. Used Valvoline and a Fram filter, a buddy helped me.

 

[901Memphis]

99 Taurus with PH3600 and Quaker State high mileage

 

[y_p_w]

My dad never did his own oil changes, but he sure topped off the oil a lot. My folks drove a couple of mid 1970s GM vehicles, and they were huge oil burners.

My first experience changing the oil was kind of flubbed. I got all the stuff I needed (collection pan, filter, gasket, gloves), but then realized that I didn't have the oil. So I actually put the drained oil back in and drove to buy several quarts of 10W-30. That car is long gone, and it never had any oil problems. I did make the mistake of putting Slick 50 in it. That didn't cause any catastrophic failure, but there was this crusty mess that formed near the oil cap.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I decided to do my own oil a few years ago after some dealer hijinks and the first good time to do it was during a snowstorm when I had to stay home from work. I think I cleverly decided to hoon around in the snow before the change, so I had melting snow raining down on me for the entire process. I was pretty uncomfortable with getting my car up on ramps inside the garage and then was totally shocked by how quickly the oil shot out at an angle I didn't expect. I tried to tighten the drain plug by feel and it dripped until I finally used a torque wrench a few days later...I was very careful with it because the dealer had previously given me a huge mess in my garage by mangling the plug and crush washer.
In short, I made dumb choices and the whole process sucked. I stuck with it and kind of enjoy it now.

 

[demarpaint]

My first oil change was sometime around 1974 in auto shop class. My father swung by on his day off with his 66 Falcon. I remember it having a drain plug that looked like a nipple from a baby bottle, with a tool to remove it in the glove compartment. The mechanic my father took the car to stripped the drain plug. My father wasn't a DIY guy, and once my brother and I learned we took care of his work for many years. It was a great lesson from the shop teacher on the value of DIY work. It got PYB 10W30 and a Fram filter. I stuck with that combo for many years.

 

[Crispysea]

It was about twenty years ago. Castrol GTX (SJ?)10w-30 and a Fram PH8A in my '96 Mazda B2300. My dad was a Castrol man, I think maybe one time he used Mobil 1. The whole change was maybe $10. I had been getting the $7.99 jobber special at a local shop.

 

[i_hate_autofraud]

Love the stories, our collective shared DIY experiences from the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc a lot
like a time machine if you get lost in it!

In 69' I learned the price of gas when the old man gave me a (whole) $5 bill, but then
I had to role down the window and hand it to the gas station attendant. Yup, $5 filled the
tank of '64 Mercury wagon, 35 cents a gallon! Bread was 10 cents and a jug of milk was 60 cents
and pack of smokes was 50 cents! But then an good wage was $75 a week. Jeez.....and then the the
oil changes.....

6 yrs ago was my last car with a carb.......one warm spring day on a 8 lane wide hiway a whiff
of gas like after a car sits in the hot sun with a flooded carb came thru the dash.....reminds
me of the old mercury....I time traveled back to then and forgot how to drive for 90 seconds
while barreling down the hiway! A scent trigger did it, nice but scary!

LOL!!

 

[jimbrewer]

Arco graphite oil. Pitch black with shiny flecks in it. So far as I know, it was excellent stuff and worked as advertised.

I'm sure people hated the appearance and the introduction of Mobil One did them in.

 

[Duffyjr]

For my 16th birthday my grandpa gave me a oil spout and a filter strap wrench, I still have both of them. They were the ones he had used at one time or another so they weren't new but I didn't care, it means more to me today than it did then that they were his tools. He also showed me how to change oil in my first car, 1964 2 door hardtop Impala, 327 four barrel four on the floor with a bench seat, I loved that car. At the time he owned a 1961 four door hardtop Impala with the same engine but had the two speed auto in it.

I remember I had oil every where, all over me and the garage floor and him sitting there drinking his Falstaff laughing at me.

Forgot to mention it was 10w40 Pennzoil and a Fram filter.