First Oil Change Memory Lane
- Thread starter Kage860
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I am old enough to remember when oil came in cans, but young enough I never bought oil in cans myself.
I remember helping my father do oil changes from a young age, probably 5 or so. My job was to manage the oil cans he would let me try to use the opener to poke the two holes required in the can though I cannot remember if I was actually able to poke the hole in the lid or not. I seem to remember doing so but it may have been when I was a bit older that I had the actual strength to.
The first actual oil change I did by myself was probably age 13 or 14 on the family's Chevy Corsica 3.1L. I did everything by myself and then my dad checked it when I was done. From then on I was "qualified" to change the oil on our cars by myself. My dad really didn't care to do it himself at that point and I loved it (and still do to a point) so I did almost all of the oil changes on our family cars from that day forward. My parents only have one car now and I still change the oil on it for them.
I had a time before I got my license where I was into air cooled Volkswagens and I had done oil changes on those several times, I remember cleaning the mesh filter each time thinking to myself, "whats the point in cleaning this every time?" since there was never any thing caught by the strainer. From then on out I only drained and filled then engine and every third time I would check the strainer.
I got my first "real" car when I was well into my 16th year and had worked an official job for a while to save up some money to buy a car and pay for insurance. It was a 1987 ford ranger, regular cab, long bed 2wd with a 3 inch body lift. It had the 2.9l V-6 and the toyo-kogo 5spd. It had an indicated 107k on it when i got it and It got driven a lot. This was the first vehicle that I actually relied on and was totally responsible for. I remember doing many oil changes on that truck, as well as just about every other maintenance or repair on it.
I Usually used Fram oil filters (The orange ones, did they even have any other frams 20 years ago?) and Pennzoil oil in the Ranger. I used Pennzoil because that is what my dad usually bought and it was reasonably priced.
I love reading these stories. Thanks.
I remember helping my father do oil changes from a young age, probably 5 or so. My job was to manage the oil cans he would let me try to use the opener to poke the two holes required in the can though I cannot remember if I was actually able to poke the hole in the lid or not. I seem to remember doing so but it may have been when I was a bit older that I had the actual strength to.
The first actual oil change I did by myself was probably age 13 or 14 on the family's Chevy Corsica 3.1L. I did everything by myself and then my dad checked it when I was done. From then on I was "qualified" to change the oil on our cars by myself. My dad really didn't care to do it himself at that point and I loved it (and still do to a point) so I did almost all of the oil changes on our family cars from that day forward. My parents only have one car now and I still change the oil on it for them.
I had a time before I got my license where I was into air cooled Volkswagens and I had done oil changes on those several times, I remember cleaning the mesh filter each time thinking to myself, "whats the point in cleaning this every time?" since there was never any thing caught by the strainer. From then on out I only drained and filled then engine and every third time I would check the strainer.
I got my first "real" car when I was well into my 16th year and had worked an official job for a while to save up some money to buy a car and pay for insurance. It was a 1987 ford ranger, regular cab, long bed 2wd with a 3 inch body lift. It had the 2.9l V-6 and the toyo-kogo 5spd. It had an indicated 107k on it when i got it and It got driven a lot. This was the first vehicle that I actually relied on and was totally responsible for. I remember doing many oil changes on that truck, as well as just about every other maintenance or repair on it.
I Usually used Fram oil filters (The orange ones, did they even have any other frams 20 years ago?) and Pennzoil oil in the Ranger. I used Pennzoil because that is what my dad usually bought and it was reasonably priced.
I love reading these stories. Thanks.
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I always hung around dad in the garage, and he was a DIY'er, changing oil, rebuilding carbs, changing starters, etc. He had cases of Sohio Multron 10w40 that probably went in everything. We were a GM family: 2 '58 Chevies, a '63 Biscayne wagon, '61 Chevy 1/2-ton pickup, '67 Chevy 1/2-ton, '69 GMC 3/4-ton, '71 Chevy station wagon, '72 Chevy Blazer, '73 Chevy Vega, '71 Chevy Vega with 225 Buick V6 swapped in, '79 Chevy Malibu. These are all cars I remember before going off to college in my (you may have guessed) 1975 Chevy Vega.
In 1978, my brother and I partnered on swapping a 327 Chevy into a '71 Vega. This would be my first "oil change" in that we drained the oil out of the engine when we took it out of the donor car ('68 wagon of some kind), then poured in CAM 2 20W-50 the next spring after shoehorning it into the Vega. My brother still has that car, but with a different engine. We sort of wiped out all the bearings in the original 327 after the pickup fell out of the oil pump. I blame my brother for that one; he liked to do neutral drops.
My first oil change on my own car would have been in 1981 after returning from school in the spring. Probably was out of dad's stock of Multron 10w40. Don't remember the filter. I did annual oil changes on the '75 Vega, and a couple of them were with Arco Graphite 10w40, and always with an AC filter. The first summer I went to school, I didn't change oil in it because it was burning oil about 1 qt per 100 miles. I just took used oil out of dad's oil barrel by the gallon and poured in a quart every week. Then when I got home at Christmas, we took the engine out and had the block sleeved. That was my go-to-school car up to 1985.
In 1978, my brother and I partnered on swapping a 327 Chevy into a '71 Vega. This would be my first "oil change" in that we drained the oil out of the engine when we took it out of the donor car ('68 wagon of some kind), then poured in CAM 2 20W-50 the next spring after shoehorning it into the Vega. My brother still has that car, but with a different engine. We sort of wiped out all the bearings in the original 327 after the pickup fell out of the oil pump. I blame my brother for that one; he liked to do neutral drops.
My first oil change on my own car would have been in 1981 after returning from school in the spring. Probably was out of dad's stock of Multron 10w40. Don't remember the filter. I did annual oil changes on the '75 Vega, and a couple of them were with Arco Graphite 10w40, and always with an AC filter. The first summer I went to school, I didn't change oil in it because it was burning oil about 1 qt per 100 miles. I just took used oil out of dad's oil barrel by the gallon and poured in a quart every week. Then when I got home at Christmas, we took the engine out and had the block sleeved. That was my go-to-school car up to 1985.
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