A couple of days before Christmas I hit the 7,500 mile mark. I did the maintenance myself, which is just an oil/filter change and tire rotation, for $25 and an hour of my time.
I picked up a 5 qt. jug of Mobil 1 5W-20 and a Fram filter while on a trip to Wal-Mart. Total cost was about $25. I saved the receipt and stapled it into my maintenance handbook.
Now for the car . . .
1. Park the car on a hard, flat surface (
e.g., in the garage).
2. Loosen all lug nuts.
3. Lift car and support it on four jack stands. I have a good floor jack and stands. I put a block of wood on the jack and lifted the car a few inches forward of the rear edge of the front door. This lifted both wheels on one side about evenly. I then placed jack stands under each wheel near the jacking points. Lower car onto the stands, repeat on the other side.
4. Put pan under motor, drain oil, and remove filter. This is so easy on this car. God bless the engineer who decided on the location of the oil filter. (Well, it's easy the second time. I changed the oil/filter at 3K miles, and it was a ***** to get the filter off. Not too bad with a filter wrench.)
5. While oil drains, rotate the tires. I also took some time to vacuum the interior and hit it with a Swiffer. I used the following pattern for tire rotation:
LF to LR
LR to RF
RF to RR
RR to LF
6. After oil has drained, replace the drain plug (with new crush ring) and install a new filter (put a bead of fresh oil on the seal and
hand-tighten!).
7. Lower the car and tighten all lug nuts. Don't forget that last step!
8. Add oil until it shows the proper level on the dip stick. Replace the oil filler cap and run the car for a couple of minutes to get oil through the new filter.
9. Put away all of your tools except your rag and funnel.
10. Check the oil level, and add oil to the proper level. Put away your rag and funnel.
11. Drink one if you've got one.
This took about an hour; maybe 70 minutes. I could have saved a few minutes if I skipped the vacuum. I figure it would have taken nearly an hour of my time to go to a
dealer, or even a Jiffy Lube to have the work done. So, I don't see that this really cost me any time.
The big bonus--I know the work was done right and that I'm getting the oil I paid for. It wouldn't surprise me for a shop to charge for synthetic and put something else in. Who could ever tell??? Also, I won't get B.S.ed about needing a fuel-injector service or any other crap.
At future oil changes I'll probably check the CV boots, ball joints, etc. while I'm under the car. I didn't bother at 7,500 miles.
Free yourself from the shackles of dealerships and mechanics--join the ranks of the do-it-yourselfers
