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Why would anyone change their own oil when you can get a better job - ACTUALLY CHEAPER than doing it yourself.

For decades I bring in my own oil and filter into the dealership - including when I owned a diesel 7.3 Ford.

They have oil change special at times for $29.00, then they take off dollars for my own oil, so they charge me $15.00.

Now for that $15.00 I get my battery checked, tires checked, multi point inspection, BY A QUALIFIED Ford employee. I get my vehicle lubed, all the fluid checked and topped off, vacuumed inside, and a free car wash. Tire pressure checked. A documented list of what is GOOD and what needs attention.

There is no way anyone can do all this for $15.00.

Plus I get some "fee time" I read the newspaper, magazines, get free coffee, free cookies etc.

Now for what I get for my $15.00 that none of you get by doing your own oil changes. I get DOCUMENTATION that I never touched my vehicle and ALL SERVICE was done by an authorized Ford dealer.

I've gone through two lemon law buy backs and trust me when I say this, if you ONLY have the dealer touch your vehicle, you will win your case MUCH QUICKER.

When you do any oil changes on your own, you need to PROVE every container of oil you ever purchased, ever filter, prove when, where, etc.

For my money - I will never ever change the oil on my own.

Lastly, now when you change your fluids you need to carefully pour the fluid in containers, clean up the mess, get in your vehicle, drive to a wild recycler, so how much is that worth NOT DOING - a lot more than $15.00.
 
Why would anyone change their own oil when you can get a better job - ACTUALLY CHEAPER than doing it yourself.

For decades I bring in my own oil and filter into the dealership - including when I owned a diesel 7.3 Ford.

They have oil change special at times for $29.00, then they take off dollars for my own oil, so they charge me $15.00.

Now for that $15.00 I get my battery checked, tires checked, multi point inspection, BY A QUALIFIED Ford employee. I get my vehicle lubed, all the fluid checked and topped off, vacuumed inside, and a free car wash. Tire pressure checked. A documented list of what is GOOD and what needs attention.

There is no way anyone can do all this for $15.00.

Plus I get some "fee time" I read the newspaper, magazines, get free coffee, free cookies etc.

Now for what I get for my $15.00 that none of you get by doing your own oil changes. I get DOCUMENTATION that I never touched my vehicle and ALL SERVICE was done by an authorized Ford dealer.

I've gone through two lemon law buy backs and trust me when I say this, if you ONLY have the dealer touch your vehicle, you will win your case MUCH QUICKER.

When you do any oil changes on your own, you need to PROVE every container of oil you ever purchased, ever filter, prove when, where, etc.

For my money - I will never ever change the oil on my own.

Lastly, now when you change your fluids you need to carefully pour the fluid in containers, clean up the mess, get in your vehicle, drive to a wild recycler, so how much is that worth NOT DOING - a lot more than $15.00.
If you NEVER let a dealer mechanic touch your vehicle, you will be far less likely to start a lemon law action in the first place.
 
My other car is a turbo subaru that has been extensively modified. Mobil 1 is known to be a bad oil for Subarus and they have essentially been known to drink the stuff.

That said I use a 0w40 castrol European spec oil available at Walmart for less then mobile one.
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
My other car is a turbo subaru that has been extensively modified. Mobil 1 is known to be a bad oil for Subarus and they have essentially been known to drink the stuff.

That said I use a 0w40 castrol European spec oil available at Walmart for less then mobile one.
Are you suggesting that Mobil 1 might be incompatible with the Ford turbos or am I reading too much into your comment? :s
 
Why would anyone change their own oil when you can get a better job - ACTUALLY CHEAPER than doing it yourself.

For decades I bring in my own oil and filter into the dealership - including when I owned a diesel 7.3 Ford.

They have oil change special at times for $29.00, then they take off dollars for my own oil, so they charge me $15.00.

Now for that $15.00 I get my battery checked, tires checked, multi point inspection, BY A QUALIFIED Ford employee. I get my vehicle lubed, all the fluid checked and topped off, vacuumed inside, and a free car wash. Tire pressure checked. A documented list of what is GOOD and what needs attention.

There is no way anyone can do all this for $15.00.

Plus I get some "fee time" I read the newspaper, magazines, get free coffee, free cookies etc.

Now for what I get for my $15.00 that none of you get by doing your own oil changes. I get DOCUMENTATION that I never touched my vehicle and ALL SERVICE was done by an authorized Ford dealer.

I've gone through two lemon law buy backs and trust me when I say this, if you ONLY have the dealer touch your vehicle, you will win your case MUCH QUICKER.

When you do any oil changes on your own, you need to PROVE every container of oil you ever purchased, ever filter, prove when, where, etc.

For my money - I will never ever change the oil on my own.

Lastly, now when you change your fluids you need to carefully pour the fluid in containers, clean up the mess, get in your vehicle, drive to a wild recycler, so how much is that worth NOT DOING - a lot more than $15.00.
When I do my own oil changes, I know that someone that knows my car and knows it's requirements and knows it's history and is someone I can trust is working on it. I know if there is something that I need to look at regularly and I can judge how things are wearing because I look at them every 10,000 miles. Take it to Random-Lube and different people that don't really care about your car will be looking at it and they won't know anything about the last time it was in other than what is on the computer. I can be the judge of if something needs attention rather than someone whose mantra is, upsell, upsell, upsell.

I have a shelf with filters from Random-lube places and I cut them open and look at them and they are JUNQUE. Cheap parts, cheap assembly. On some I have seen where the media is torn away from the glued ends. Even the ones that the Ford Service Lane uses is a cheap brand. It's not the standard Ford line. It might even say "Ford" on it, but that doesn't mean that it's the same quality as the factory filter. They may come from the same plant in China, but they have the 10-12 year olds building the cheap ones while they leave the factory ones to the experienced 14-16 year olds. (OK, that may be a bit of humorous hyperbole, but the fact remains that just because they come from the same plant and have the same name on them, it doesn't mean that they are the same.)

It's not about saving money; it's about knowing that the job was done right. And if you think that everything on that checklist was actually done every time, I've got a bridge to sell you.

People bring their cars to me for service, not to save money, but rather because they trust me to take care of their vehicle and let them know when it needs attention. Not that the world will end if they don't do this $150 service. They bring their cars to me because they know that I care about their bottom line and when I care about theirs, they will take care of mine.


I don't give a **** about certifications. Certifications mean that you passed a test, it doesn't mean that you have any experience. Trust me, I have a bunch of certifications from my John Deere days and some of them I passed the test and haven't hardly worked on them, if at all.
 
Are you suggesting that Mobil 1 might be incompatible with the Ford turbos or am I reading too much into your comment? :s
You are reading to much into it maybe

IMHO castrol is a better oil.

But turbo Subarus don't like mobile one so I will stick to castrol for me

Google subaru mobile one turbo problems

Castrol European grade oil available at Walmart in 0w40 is a true synthetic, not all full syntheitics are a like

http://autoviews.blogspot.com/2007/11/there-are-only-two-real-synthetic-oils.html
 
The oil type is a debatable till you are blue in the face kinda thing. Check out bob is the oil guy dot com they have tons of info.

All that said here is the oil I use because it's a true full syntheitic and it's a 0w40 which has a great pour point for winter of something like -76 degrees and is a 40 weight so when it gets sheared down it still is in the neighborhood of a 30 weight.


http://www.walmart.com/ip/Castrol-E...um-Protection-0W40-Motor-Oil-5-Quart/35931146

This combined with a factory filter is what I use to keep my turbos happy
 
From 2007??? Written by a software engineer??? Really???
Also from his bio:

I am also a retired semi-pro racing enthusiast, having won the 1996 SCCA Northeastern United States Divisional Hillclimb title in Rally class.
Just because he is a software engineer, that doesn't mean that he doesn't know anything about cars or engines or oils.

No, I didn't read the article yet, but there is no reason to dismiss his knowledge of oils because he is a software engineer. If you want to dismiss his knowledge of oil, discuss his ideas and what he has written, not who he is.
 
I just picked that article randomly as I said this can be researched and talked about until you are blue in the face. Mobile one is known as a thin oil in the Subaru turbo community and that's where I have gleaned my info.

That and the fact that I own my own oil change business which makes me understand the lingo of full synthetic vs other oils.

Not trying to start a debate about oil, as I said it was IMHO.

As long as you change your oil regularly it probably doesn't matter frankly.
 
I just picked that article randomly as I said this can be researched and talked about until you are blue in the face. Mobile one is known as a thin oil in the Subaru turbo community and that's where I have gleaned my info.

That and the fact that I own my own oil change business which makes me understand the lingo of full synthetic vs other oils.

Not trying to start a debate about oil, as I said it was IMHO.

As long as you change your oil regularly it probably doesn't matter frankly.

I'm sorry. I was too abrupt, and rude.
 
And for those of us with diesels- we have limited oil choices- I'm forced to use 5w-40 because of biodiesel adulteration* of fuel available in my area. All 5w-40 oils are "synthetic".
Lots of different 15w-40 diesel rated oils out there but Ford doesn't approve that for the 3.2.
Diesel "oil thread" debates are somewhat self limiting as we don't have many to pick from- in fact Castrol is off the list automatically, for me, as I've never seen their 5w-40 diesel oil in stock anywhere.

*It really is a crap shoot here as to what you get- SC does not require specific labeling of biodiesel content- the pumps say between 5 and 20%. You have no idea if you are getting 5%, in which case Ford allows 5w-30 oil or 20% which requires 5w-40. I suspect fuel economy would be slightly better on 5w-30. As biodiesel content rises it also drops fuel economy. I have no issue with 5% but wish the state regulators would require proper correct labeling so I could purchase fuel accordingly.
It is easy to measure ethanol content in gasoline yourself but not easy to measure bio content in diesel.
 
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