Changing your own oil?

[BossMann]

I have never paid for an oil change a day in my life. From Honda's, VW's, MB's, Ford's Toyota's... not one. MB's and VW's being the most difficult (had to pump the MB).

That said in KY all you have to do is save milk jugs or old oil containers and take it down to AutoZone, they recycle the oil for you, no charge. There are Government Centers too here for the recycling.

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[DonM]

I'm going to have the dealer do it. Just not really worth my time to screw with it. Even my mechanic doesn't like to do oil changes as a stand-alone job, not worth his time. Plus if dealer screws up the Bronco they'll be on the hook to fix it!!

 

[BossMann]

To give you an idea of how difficult it is to change your own oil, I started teaching my son at 12 how to do it. Now, he's 17, and now he does all of the oil changes in our household. For the last 2 years, I haven't gone behind him to double check his work.

My Dad was the same. I'm no mechanic, but self sufficiency is a lesson every Dad should teach their children.

I've changed water pumps, CV's, countless brake jobs, replaced struts, installed lockers among other things and it all started with oil changes.

 

[King Luis]

I'm sitting at a pep boys right now with an hour-long wait, to get my oil changed. I know with the Bronco, I want to change my own oil

For those of you planning to change your own Bronco's oil, do you plan to just slide under there and figure it out yourself? Or will you let the techs do it first and pick it up from there on after?

I don't imagine the Bronco being too different than say, a Ranger. But this is coming from someone who has never changed oil before a day in his life

Be gentle... my dad didn't teach me these things

there will be how to's in no time for simple stuff like an oil change. i always keep aside old oil jugs and juice jugs, etc (milk jugs in the US) for old oil. There's a landfill not to far from my house and they take hazardous liquids for free. so oil, paints, etc you just drop off and they take it and dispose it for free.

when it comes to do the oil change, i get my cars up on a couple ramps to give a bit more space. i run the car for a bit because warm/hot oil will move faster than cold. (especially when it's in the negative celsius.) under the oil pan/container that catches the draining oil, i put some cardboard boxes under incase there is any splatter or spillage, the card board will get it. the first change from the factory or from the dealer will usually be a huge pain because they always over tighten it. i've had a couple filters that were destroyed because 20ft-lbs they probably read as 200ft-lbs.

watch for how to's on the forums. there are great people here that are excellent at doing it.

 

[etmccaus86]

Just don't over torque the oil pan drain plug.

Last shop I ever had change oil on my truck woefully *under* tightened it.
As in I could literally spin it out by hand - didn't even need a tool to start it.

 

[Mainerunr]

The hardest part, by far, is finding containers to store, transport, and find a legal place to dispose of the used oil (always seems to be extra oil in the pan from a lawnmower or something that won't go back in the empty new oil jug.

This is one of the reasons I stopped changing my own oil when I got my first F150...it takes nearly 8 qts, my drain pan does not hold that much (yes, I know, get a bigger one). Plus my F150 does not fit in my garage. Once I stopped changing oil on my truck, it followed that I stopped changing the oil on my wife's vehicles (currently a '19 Tacoma), my son's car I did once to show him (was an '11 Sentra, now a '16 Jetta that I haven't bothered with, daughter drives the Sentra now)

For my current cars having it done at the dealer is around $100. Getting the supplies to do it myself with shipping only saves me ~$25. For that it’s not worth the headache.

This is the other reason I stopped. It just isn't worth the hassle. I mean on the truck its easy, no jack needed but the dealer charges me $54. $45 for the Sentra (goes the same place as my truck and I think $65 for the Tacoma (at the Toyota dealer, its still under warranty)...the expensive one is the VW...same place my truck goes and it's $95, if it wasn't a VW it would be $45 like the Sentra but since they're a VW dealer too they charge VW rates for the VW (even better is they recommend changing brake fluid every 20k miles...).

So, it will depend on how well the Bronco fits in my rather small garage (width will be an issue). The Tacoma fits fine, the F150 can get through the door if I fold the mirrors but I can't close the door because it's too long.

 

[Beachin 74]

When I bought my new 2015 F-150 I swore I was going to let the dealer change the oil as they had a deal $300 for lifetime changes on the vehicle.
After the first one I noticed 5w-20 on the slip, my ecoboost uses 5w-30.
They assured me the correct oil was in it, but they would changed it again anyway.
Same thing as the first one, 5w-20 on the slip but they swore they put 5w-30 in it as the slip is just a typographical error.
Not having a warm and fuzzy feeling after the conversation I spent the $30 and sent a sample to Blackstone Labs and the viscosity was in the 20w range.
I've been changing my own oil now.

 

[JT58Bronc]

I change my own oil and have been doing so for 44 years now. It's so super easy and you probably will not even have to jack the Bronco up. When I owned a MazdaSpeed 3 a few years ago I used to travel long distance on the weekends to see a girl was dating. So I would have to do my car maintenance during the week. I had a 1 hour lunch- I used to drive home from work (about 10 minutes each way), change the oil, eat lunch and drive back within the 1 hour time frame. And I had to jack the car up. I figure it tool me a total of 15 minutes for the actual oil change.

I bought my 2016 Camaro used. First oil change I could not get the drain plug loose- it must have been tightened by an impact wrench. It was a very low profile hex. I stripped it. I had to use the biggest vise grip pliers I could find and fortunately got the drain plug off. And the pan threads were not stripped. So I re-machined the hex on the original plug- problem solved.

I don't like anyone doing my oil changes- too tight drain plugs, filters too tight or loose, double gaskets, etc. I heard of them all and experienced some too.

 

[351HO]

Good for you @Vigor for wanting to do this yourself. Welcome to the wonderful world of vehicle maintenance!

As others have said, Youtube is your friend when it comes to getting familiar with something like an oil change.

If you have a friend or family member who can show you the basics the first few times, it would be a tremendous help.

IMO, the hardest part about no experience is not having a feel for fastener torque. The advise of "don't over torque the drain plug" means nothing if you have no reference of what the proper torque feels like.

Now I'm not saying you need a torque wrench to tighten your drain plug, but having someone show you what "too loose" and "just right" feels like will help you build a lot of confidence.

One thing I will say is make sure you use a quality filter and choose an oil that meets the requirements for your engine. Oil quality is much more important with these turbo EcoBoost engines. Most of the inexpensive filters at the local parts store are absolute garbage. I run WIX filters in my vehicles when available because they are good quality at a reasonable cost.


To all of you complaining about the oil disposal being a hassle must not have any good auto parts stores or waste facilities near by.

I live in rural NC and I have at least 4 locations within 10 miles that will take my oil with absolutely no hassle. The closest is actually a county run location where I also drop my trash weekly.

Just remember that this is a service that you pay taxes for so take advantage of it!

I use empty 5 gallon purple power buckets for waste oil but the drain pans with built in oil storage work well. That way you drain the oil into your pan, then empty that at the waste oil location.

And to those of you who'd rather sip on your coffee and have someone do it for you:

The lube techs at most dealerships are usually the newest and most inexperienced. Just consider that when you take your brand new hard-earned Bronco in to get serviced.

At least you are at a dealership if they screw something up. This is exactly why I have never paid someone to change my oil but have been paid countless times to fix other people's oil change screw ups.

And lastly to those who think you are getting a "deal" getting your oil changed at a non-dealer quick lube style place:

They use very poor quality filters and bulk oil and it's not unheard of them to charge for a certain type of oil but then just use the no-brand 5w30 out of the bulk tank. Also these techs are usually the ones who couldn't get the lube jobs at the dealership and you don't want them working on your vehicle when they're having a bad day. I have seen people fill an engine with antifreeze just to say f you to their boss. Don't trust just anyone with your Bronco.

Anyways, congrats again on wanting to do this yourself. It will be the start of a beautiful relationship between you and your vehicle!

My qualifications:
Grandson of a farmer (some of the most underrated and resourceful people on this planet), son of a farmer turned mechanical engineer, husband to an electrical engineer / software developer, ASE Master+L1 certified and I can even check the “some college” box on surveys.

 

[BlueBronco]

Dealership in town is a joke...1-2 hours for an oil change, and that is with an appointment! Fuq, I don't have time for that.
$43 for oil and filter, full synthetic. Have the job done is 2 beers.

 

[KyTruckPlant]

My Dad was the same. I'm no mechanic, but self sufficiency is a lesson every Dad should teach their children.

I've changed water pumps, CV's, countless brake jobs, replaced struts, installed lockers among other things and it all started with oil changes.

Yep! That's how it starts. My grandfather owned a service station when I was kid, so I learned my way around basic maintenance at a pretty young age.

I gave my son my 05 F-150 FX4 when he turned 16. Together we have changed the struts, shocks, brakes, ball joints and put a lift under it for him. Hopefully he will end up doing for himself instead of waiting for others to do for him.

 

[Vigor]

Lol I was thinking the same thing!

 

[eatworksleepdie]

whatever you do, do not use power tools to screw the oil pan plug back in. That's a great way to cross-thread it, and then you have a whole new mess on your hands. I've never done that, but I took an old car to a quick oil change shop many years ago and the young wannabe oil change kid jacked up my car by doing so.

 

[Tilzbow]

Disposal is a non-issue. I’ve been using one of these for years. Drain pan and storage container in one, it holds six gallons and has never leaked. Take it back each time I buy oil and drain in at the auto parts store. This version and smaller versions are widely available at auto parts stores near you.

About warranty? Save your receipts and record the date and mileage of the change and there will be no issue.

 

[Mainerunr]

Disposal is a non-issue. I’ve been using one of these for years. Drain pan and storage container in one, it holds six gallons and has never leaked. Take it back each time I buy oil and drain in at the auto parts store. This version and smaller versions are widely available at auto parts stores near you.

About warranty? Save your receipts and record the date and mileage of the change and there will be no issue.

I don't think that would fit under 2 of my 4 vehicles...(that Jetta is low...)

Do they just have a drum that you can empty that into? I used to be able to drop containers at the transfer station but they stopped taking it several years ago.

(maybe I'll start doing my own maintenance again when I'm done running around to baseball and softball games, practices, etc in a few years).

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