Who does their own oil change?
- Thread starter sant6236
- Start date
Last night I did an oil change on my 2004 V6, with mobil 1 synthetic and a Mobil 1 filter. Easy to do on a v6 but the POS oil collection pan I bought made a bit of mess. Cheap ass china crap. Oh well, garage floors are supposed to be dirty
ANYWAYS, I had a friend come over too, to do her oil change as well. She has a mazda tribute (aka ford escape) and I figured as long as Im gettin dirty, gettin tools out, and cleaning up a mess I might as well do hers as well. After we jacked up her front end and secured it with stands, she proceeded to remove her drain plug. After the oil was drained and the plug cleaned off, we realized that in the threads of the drain plug were filled with metal. She stuck her pinky in the drain hole and sure enough - no threads left. Her car is now sitting in my garage, sans oil, until we can retap the hole, and find a corresponding matching drain plug. The dealer was the last one to change her oil. They undoubtedly used an impact wrench or other power driver, and drove the drain plug in cross threaded. The stealership has caused us both a huge hassle - way more time than doing the oil changes ourselves.
We are pretty much having to decide between trying to retap the threads (never done this with this size hole) or finding a cheap used oil pan from an auto wrecker. I know this has been said a billion times but Im going to say it again - if you want it done right, do it yourself.
ANYWAYS, I had a friend come over too, to do her oil change as well. She has a mazda tribute (aka ford escape) and I figured as long as Im gettin dirty, gettin tools out, and cleaning up a mess I might as well do hers as well. After we jacked up her front end and secured it with stands, she proceeded to remove her drain plug. After the oil was drained and the plug cleaned off, we realized that in the threads of the drain plug were filled with metal. She stuck her pinky in the drain hole and sure enough - no threads left. Her car is now sitting in my garage, sans oil, until we can retap the hole, and find a corresponding matching drain plug. The dealer was the last one to change her oil. They undoubtedly used an impact wrench or other power driver, and drove the drain plug in cross threaded. The stealership has caused us both a huge hassle - way more time than doing the oil changes ourselves.
We are pretty much having to decide between trying to retap the threads (never done this with this size hole) or finding a cheap used oil pan from an auto wrecker. I know this has been said a billion times but Im going to say it again - if you want it done right, do it yourself.
peter78
Super Moderator
Actually, during the time were Toyota had a problem with sludge in some of their engines, they said If you did the oil yourself, they could not verify that and they would not cover your problem if you had sludge. No mention of an after market filters. Later, they changed their mind and allowed coverage of owners who did their own oil change.riverider said:If your not worried about your Toyota warranty use any filter you want.:
I still believe in changeing mine every 3-5k too. It cannot hurt. Although I stick to 5k these days. I am however going to change the filter every other time now that I am using Amsoil's 25K filter. I figure at 12 bucks a shot it should do the job that long with clean oil every 5k. BTW I use the more expensive Amsoil that's also suppose to be good for 25k. I consider this as cheap insurance. Of course I put less than 10k miles a year on my 4runner anyway. So twice a year I change oil and once a year filter. BTW the info on the internet is NOT alsways right. :O)
hoggy said:
do u replace batteries when they've only been used to 1/3 of their capacity? i don't rely on the internet, i rely on my UOA results.
u should probably be skipping that 2nd oil change and using the money to diagnose what's going on in ur engine instead. besides, there's a difference between studies that happen to be published on the web, and good ol' fashioned internet hear-say... riverider said:The real way to know if your oil needs any changing is to do as the Major Truck Companies have done for years, have a sample checked at a Lab. to see just what it's real condition is.This would really give you some insight as to the condition of the engine also.
+100!
Do you wait to change your batteries until they leak acid all over the equiptment ruining it to get the last proton of juice from it? (Just being funny here). What your saying is fine. But if you have an engine part/engine failure and you are not folowing what Toyota says to do in their maintinace schedule you take a chance of having warrantee work rejected no matter what the studies say. I believe in Amsoil products. I've been using them for over 25 years but just because Amsoil says their oil is good for 25,000 miles (and it may be) I doubt Toyota's going to agree if you don't change your oil every 5000 miles or 3000 miles under severe service. That's one hell of a long ways from 25000. It's your choice. And BTW we used to send our oil out to be analized all the time. I think that can be worth the money if you use your vehicle for extreme off road use. For evey day use I wouldn't waste the time. The engine oil analysis is not fool proof. A magnetic drain plug and close visuallization of the oil can say a lot of what's going on in your engine. Steel flakes will stick to the magnet and bronze/babbit bearing material will have metal flake appear (sparkle) holding the oil to the sunlight. Either way, you do it your way and I'll do it mine. In the 46 years I've been driving I've had one engine failure and that was a racing 427 L88 engine that we kept oil analysis on. Even that failure was due to negligence when we built the engine. Some one (could have even been me) had accidently put solid lifters in with a hydraulic cam causing a valve spring to break. The valve hit the piston went through the cylinder liner.
I am not going to fight with anybody. My first car I changed the oil every 3k miles. Now that car has 242k on the clock and still running strong. The engine is starting to destroy the tranny and the body has it signs of abuse, but that is another story. That was even a turbocharged car.
I mean long mileage oils are meant to lubricate for extended miles and I know there are tests to prove it, however I like to think of it this way. Do you wash your car with a bucket of dirty crappy water? Well you do then you get scratches and swirls. Now we all know the longer the oil is in the car the dirtier it gets, I prefer to keep it clean. As much as I drive what is $30 (4) times a year.
I mean long mileage oils are meant to lubricate for extended miles and I know there are tests to prove it, however I like to think of it this way. Do you wash your car with a bucket of dirty crappy water? Well you do then you get scratches and swirls. Now we all know the longer the oil is in the car the dirtier it gets, I prefer to keep it clean. As much as I drive what is $30 (4) times a year.
I don't know how all you people drive so many miles. You must eat driving them, and spend all your non working time driving them. Or your work is driving your Truck. How can anyone have a real life driving 50K+ miles a year?
I guess I just have some other things in my life to do besides many of you night and day driving people.
I guess I just have some other things in my life to do besides many of you night and day driving people.
I drive a Scion xA 150 miles a day, 750 miles a week or 39,000 miles a year just commuting to work. Then I manage to put another 16,000 miles a year on my 4runner. So it is possible to clock 50,00 plus miles a year with no problems. I do oil changes on the Scion every 7500 miles using Mobil 1 and Napa Gold (WIX) filters and 5,000 miles on the 4runner using same oil and filtrer brands. All oil changes are done by me in all kinds of weather from 10 below zero and above.
Bruce
Bruce
Last edited:
hoggy said:
i understand what ur saying, but it would be pretty hard for toyota to not honor the warranty when i have consistent records of healthy oil analysis reports... and they would have to prove that the failure was oil related in the first place (which is pretty uncommon these days). i've already talked to the head of service where i purchased the car and he said these reports are even more "rock-solid" than anyone who changes their own oil every 5k with a toyota brand filter and lube.
snowbizx said:
After going to my Toyota dealers Service Dept. sales pitch a few Months ago, I made up my mind I could care less about any Toyota warranty.
I plan on doing just like I have done with all my other Autos and Trucks. Do my own service work when I feel it's needed. If something fails if I can't fix it I find a shop to do it.
If I find like I did with my 03 Sorento that only had 12,200 miles in five years, that was a real POS I got rid of it. If my 08 4Runner fails to many times, it also will also be history.
Just did a quick search on eBay, what do you think of this??
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Toyo...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Toyo...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
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