Oil changes: dealership or generic oil change place? And how often?

[SippinSoma]

Read your car manual.

[Blarg]

The 3,000 miles isn't because your car will really always need it then -- a check of the oil could show it to be relatively clean and non-gritty. But it's still not as good as really fresh, because what you're really doing is not correcting a problem necessarily but investing in what's comparatively really cheap maintenance. Oil changes are unbelievably cheap compared to dealing with the issues that can arise from not doing it when it's needed. Think of it as insurance.

And oil check places generally do lubing and fix other fluid levels in your car, too. For 20 of 25 bucks, it's well worth it.

HOWEVER -- some of the guys who work there can be real jerks, retarded, or both. DO NOT TRUST THEM, but do checks on your own.

I used to go to this Jiffy Lube, stubbornly thinking next time would be different, next crew on my car would be different, etc. I think maybe they were more racist than incompetent. but who knows.

Anyway, 3 out of 5 times, my fuel pump hose wasn't connected properly when I drove away. Very soon after leaving their lot, an overwhelming smell of gasoline came into the car. Such that I was sure if there were a spark, I would have immediately gone up in flames in the driver's seat. Each time, I pulled over(once in the freeway I couldn't pull over for quite a while, it was pretty worrisome) and saw that my fuel pump line was not connected properly or had come loose entirely, spewing gasoline all over the hot engine. I consider myself lucky those guys didn't cause my car to explode or maybe kill me. And they did it over and over. No other Jiffy Lube ever did that, yet these guys did it repeatedly? And it was such a completely bleeding obvious and important thing like putting on the fuel pump hose properly?

Whether they did it because they were racist or retarded(I find it hard to believe anyone is that retarded), they put my car and my life on the line. (By the way, they also cost me some gas.) Be careful you're with good, responsible mechanics. The bad ones will fu__ you up.

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I change my own oil, mostly. It takes about twenty minutes in all and you can ensure the stuff is done right (which may or may not be the case at Jiffylube or whatever).

The 3000 miles or 3 months thing is a great example of (false) marketing actually becoming a popularly accepted "truth." Why on Earth would the engineers at Honda only mention 7500 mile intervals on oil changes if there was some compelling reason to go with 3000 miles.

Basically, for most cars subjected to normal driving conditions 10000 miles is probably a pretty reasonable number. Of course you should do what you feel comfortable doing, so keep the grease monkeys of the world fat and happy, and change that perfectly good oil whenever they tell ya to.

Swede

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3k miles was appropriate back in the day. The newer cars do not need to be changed that frequently, but the industry relies on the past truths to help sell more [censored].

The best way to see how often you should change your oil is to look at the oil. If it still looks rather light, you're changing it too often; if it looks like a Russian Imperial Stout, you're not changing it often enough. Driving conditions determine how often you should change your oil.

Why are they [censored] with your fuel lines for an oil change?

[vulturesrow]

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Why are they [censored] with your fuel lines for an oil change?

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Probably because Blarg is an obnoxious know it all who probably tried to tell them how to do their job. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Blarg]

LOL. Hardly. I sit in the room reading a magazine and don't even see what they're doing. Or walk around outside and find some place to get a coke. I don't even see the guys who are doing it normally or talk to them. I pay my money to the cashier and am polite as hell, and mind my own business.

I am one of the few white guys in the neighborhood, though, and I've received some very hard looks walking into Hispanic-only shops in the area.

[Blarg]

They check the fluid levels and do lubrication of something like 20 points in your car when they do an oil change at Jiffy Lube, and pretty much the same at Jiffy Lube imitators, too. They get all over your car, even vaccumming it and leaving a ton of Armor All splooge all over your dashboard and steering wheel even if you tell them not to.

[kenberman]

I had a buddy who worked at jiffy lube when he was about 16, and he is about the least mechanically oriented guy I know.at jiffy lube, this did NOT make him unique.

he told me some war stories about car's they screwed up...emptying the brake fluid by accident, filling up the wrong container in the car...I mean REALLY basic stuff that they screwed up.

I generally prefer going to an independent gas station/auto mechanic to have it done. maybe a few extra bucks, but they knew what they are doing.