How many of you change your own oil?

I bring my oil and filter to the mechanic and he charges me $20. Not buying your own oil and filter is kind of stupid since most places will overcharge you for bottom barrel oil and shit can filter.

Not worth it to me to change but it's pretty easy to do if you have jack stands.

>how good are the walmart techs?
They vary, so there is no one statement that will be accurate at all times of the year for all the years in the future to come.

However, going to a dealer is not necessarily any better. In my previous car which I bought new from the dealer (I bought 3 new cars from that dealer), I had always taken the car to that dealer for oil changes. By the 11th oil change, I was told the oil plug was stripped and I needed a new oil pan. The dealer denied stripping it and said it must have happened when I got oil changed elsewhere. FALSE. I only got oil changes from the dealer. To be fair, I had used another dealer too. Regardless, it was all dealer oil / filter changes. And they refused to use helicoil threading so that it could be fixed. The dealer only does replacements and not repairs.

So that was quite expensive.

The next car was bought new, and I have only used walmart oil changes so far. Fram Ultra filters and full synthetic mobil1 oil. I park outside, not in the admissions line, and walk inside to see who is working there. If it looks like older guys, then I take the car in for oil change. It's open 8AM to 7PM so those are convenient hours and it is the lowest full synth price in the city. They give you a choice of full synth from castrol edge, mobil1, pennzoil platinum, or valvoline for $49.99 which includes everything but sales tax. Other oil change places cheat with their prices because added to the price is shop supplies, waste disposal, and sales tax. Anyways, if some strange kids or meth heads are in the shop, I don't get my oil changed that day.

>Is it actually cost effective?
It depends. There's the cost of buying the oil, buying the filter, buying the tools necessary to perform the change (like jacks and wrenches), and then the time cost of performing the change yourself. When it comes down to it for *me*, I take my car to a mechanic buddy who charges me $25 per change and he finishes a change in 10 minutes. That's extremely cost effective for me.
>Or is it just worth its value knowing it's right because you did it?
I know it's done right because I trust my mechanic to do it right. But I personally wouldn't trust some Jiffy Lube flunky with changing the fucking wipers, let alone changing the oil.

*Just* changing your oil every 3K means, assuming you have a reasonably modern car, that you're ignoring coolant, P/S fluid, brake and about 4 other fluids, all the filters, inspection of the brakes, hoses, boots, etc. Take it to a good indy specialist mechanic and pay the $200 for an interval service. They can find shit that may cost you hundreds or thousands down the line if you're trying to save a couple bucks by just doing your own oil.

Op. If you find it convenient, then go ahead and do it. If you don't have the time to do it, take it to the stealership. As far as, cost effectiveness, you can probably get it cheaper from a jiffy lube/ dealer, than doing it yourself. I paid like $34 for 5 quarts of mobile 1 full synthetic, and a mobile 1 filter from autozone. I usually do my own oil, I wouldn't trust some of my co-workers to do my oil change, those fuckers might drop my car, or underfill it.

The "change your own oil" meme is a good one

I just changed mine this morning actually - easy as fuck.

Just under 4 Quarts Castrol Edge 10W-30 and a K&N oil filter (nicer than you might expect).

>Is it actually cost effective? Or is it just worth its value knowing it's right because you did it?

Both. It costs me ~$23 for a oem motorcraft filter and synthetic blend on my Fiesta. Compared to whatever kitchen grease and cardboard shit they charge $30 at your nearest lube shop.

>Oil's getting muddy so I'm in need of a change, but how good are the walmart techs?

They'll overtorque your shit. Maybe cross thread screws. They care about getting that car out as fast as possible.

>Babby's first oil change and I have all the tools from my buddy so which should I go for?

DIY. You'll learn more about your car in the process.

Last time I paid someone else to do it, they only drained a single quart of the old stuff, put in a quart of new, and charged me for the full job.
Inb4 how is this possible, I have a bisected crankcase with two oil plugs. Both need to be emptied and they only opened the smaller one.

My sister also took her Subaru to jiffy lube and they drained her tranny fluid instead of her oil then tried to charge her for the transmission fluid when they realized their mistake.

>work at walmart
>doing routine oil change
>usually do them in pairs, one under one over
>doing them solo 'cause short staff
>somehow mange to skip the step where I put the new oil in
>start the car to check pressure/leaks
>doesn't get to pressure
>keep looking at the gauge waiting for it to move
>realize my mistake
>instantly shut it off and put oil in it

No harm, no foul, right guys?

This is the case with everything. You take your bike for a "full tune up" to the bike shop? Fuck it, your wheels remain misaligned, your frame is somehow slightly bent, they just washed it at best.

Take your car in for the simplest change? Oil, maybe? They get some middle school dropout who has never been trained to do it. You probably won't notice they forgot to install the filter. They didn't.

Yep. I try not to pay for any service unless it's well out of my ability or requires specialized tools. Not just cars, electrical and plumbing too. We have the internet to learn, and it's better to know how to do stuff yourself and make sure it's done right than let some idiot fuck up or some jew rip you off.

Depends on how well you want to treat your car. A Walmart oil change will use Supertech oil (which is actually a decent oil, not shit tier), and an okay filter.

I do it myself with Valvoline Full Synthetic and a high quality filter. It doesn't cost much more and takes less of my time.

Some user posted the chart of cut up oil filters showing they're interior materials and their quality but I can't find the picture.

Valvoline Full Synthetic has the same viscosity as Mobile 1 and viscosity is really the most important in a daily driven car because you're often not even coming close to damaging temperatures like on a race track. It's also cheaper than Mobile 1 full synthetic.

highperformancejunkies.com/5w30-oil-comparison/

Also Valvoline Full Synthetic performed best in a store bought price range when used on a bearing for x hours in a study. I can't find that study to link it though.

I find that my car runs better with a full synthetic and it should last a lot longer.
I also recently ran an engine cleaner through and cleaned out my oil pan before my latest oil change. There was a lot of crap in there and the oil is staying cleaner looking longer already.

When I worked at Walmart, the oil was dependent on the service ordered.

Pit Stop: Castrol Conventional
Standard: Penzoil Conventional
High Mileage: Castrol Blend
Full Synthetic: Mobil 1 Synth.

We only used Fram filters with all of the different packages. But, you could always supply your own oil, and filter. And you could specify the weight, but otherwise we just used what the engine recommends.

Depends on how long the car was running. If it was idling for under 30 seconds, then it's probably perfectly fine. There was enough oil left over that was stuck to everything to keep it lubricated for that time.

Ah I understand. Fram is shit but if you can specify that's not an issue.
I thought Walmart only uses Supertech now? Which isn't a bad thing, Supertech is honestly the best bang for buck if you just need oil for your mom's car.

I change my oil at work. It costs me about 4$ and I have access to a lift.
Honda charges 79.99$ for a LOF service. Fuck that shit.