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Inspection and oil change



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 22nd 20, 05:37 AM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.autos.tech
Arlen Holder[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14
Default Inspection and oil change

On Sun, 21 Jun 2020 17:26:31 -0500, Jim Joyce wrote:

>>Depends how many quarts and what kind of oil. I've heard of people
>>spending that just for oil change.

>
> I wait for the $9.99 coupon to roll around. If I miss it, there's always a
> $14.99 coupon available.


Wow. That seems inexpensive for sure. What locale do you live in.

I do my own oil changes, where, oh, assuming on average a typical car is
five or six quarts at, oh, what, maybe 2 bucks or so a quart, that's a
dozen dollars just for the oil alone.

Given I don't know what repairs cost (I do my own DIY repairs) I just
googled for prices in the Silicon Valley for a typical oil change.
o <https://duckduckgo.com/?q=typical+prices+oil+change+san+jose>

First hit:
o <https://www.groupon.com/local/san-jose/oil-change>
Sale prices were as low as $17 but most in the 20s, up to over $40.

Second hit (I hate the "dollars off" prices - which are meaningless):
o <https://oilstopinc.com/oil-change-san-jose/>
Five dollars off (off of what?).
"FREE Beverage, FREE WiFi,FREE between service topoffs"

Third hit:
o <https://www.yourmechanic.com/services/change-oil-and-filter/?city=san-jose-ca>
Price range for all vehicles = $92.34 to $157.60

Notice that the "typical" price is astronomical, while the "sale" price
seems pretty reasonable (given the oil itself costs about twelve bucks or
so and the shop rate, in San Jose, is oh, something like $100 to $200/hour
(AFAICR).
--
BTW, adding "rec.autos.tech" where this is the URL to the original thread:
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.home.repair/sChKzO3h5rg>
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  #2  
Old June 22nd 20, 07:00 AM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.autos.tech
Jim Joyce
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7
Default Inspection and oil change

On Mon, 22 Jun 2020 04:37:12 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder
> wrote:

>On Sun, 21 Jun 2020 17:26:31 -0500, Jim Joyce wrote:
>
>>>Depends how many quarts and what kind of oil. I've heard of people
>>>spending that just for oil change.

>>
>> I wait for the $9.99 coupon to roll around. If I miss it, there's always a
>> $14.99 coupon available.

>
>Wow. That seems inexpensive for sure. What locale do you live in.


That was Kansas City and San Antonio.

  #3  
Old June 22nd 20, 05:42 PM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.autos.tech
Arlen Holder[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14
Default Inspection and oil change

On Mon, 22 Jun 2020 01:00:42 -0500, Jim Joyce wrote:

>>> I wait for the $9.99 coupon to roll around. If I miss it, there's always a
>>> $14.99 coupon available.

>>
>>Wow. That seems inexpensive for sure. What locale do you live in.

>
> That was Kansas City and San Antonio.



Thank you for clarifying, where Usenet is a polite discussion that takes a
bit of clarification since it's text only and we don't know each other.

Here's the San Jose "typical" price range (according to "yourmechanic"):
o <https://www.yourmechanic.com/services/change-oil-and-filter/?city=san-jose-ca>
Price range for all vehicles = $92.34 to $157.60

Compared to Kansas City (presumably Missouri and not KCK) ... hmmmmmmm....
o <https://www.yourmechanic.com/services/change-oil-and-filter/?city=kansas-city-mo>
Price range for all vehicles = $92.34 to $157.60

Heck, it doesn't change, so the site I reported is bogus for oil changes:
o <https://www.yourmechanic.com/services/change-oil-and-filter/?city=san-antonio-tx>
Price range for all vehicles = $92.34 to $157.60

So I clicked on the default zip code for each locale...
o And I chose the _first_ vehicle, make, model, and engine in the list...

Which, for San Jose, 95101, Acura CL 2003 V6-3.2L was:
Acura CL 2003 V6-3.2L Change Oil and Filter
Labor $45.00
Parts $42.79
Tax $3.96
Your total price $178.00

Drat. It was the same for Kansas City zip 64101, and San Antonio zip 78201.
So that web site is worthless.
  #4  
Old June 22nd 20, 05:58 PM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.autos.tech
Arlen Holder[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14
Default Inspection and oil change

On Mon, 22 Jun 2020 12:37:11 -0400, Clare Snyder wrote:

> I have no beef with mechanics - I was one half my working life - but
> the shysters at the fast lube, tire, and muffler shops should
> virtually all be in jail.


I agree with Clare that fast-lube, tire, and muffler shop mechanics have
multiple jobs, where one of their most important jobs is to get you to
spend more than you were intending on spending when you came in.

Once I was behind a lady at the tire shop, where I overheard the counter
person say she was within (I forget how much) of the legal limit and she
should get all her tires replaced. As I recall, the amount of tread left
was plenty, where I noticed the lady already had a two thousand dollar bill
(and that didn't include tires). It must have been brakes, but even brakes
couldn't cost that much... anyway...

I whispered to the lady that tire wear is like shoe wear. It's not worn
until it's worn, and they're never new except on the first day, so they're
_always_ worn.

She declined the new tires, but what shocked me was the disdain the counter
lady gave her saying it's "unsafe", which was patently false. That's how
they get people, I guess. They scare them, I guess.

Me? I wait until the belts show, but I agree that's going too far, and, I
usually try to replace those bald tires before the rainy season (here it
doesn't rain even once from about May to about November).

> And that's using the cheapest oily swill they can buy and the
> ceappiest filters made - not to mention only 1 in about 10 get out the
> door without spending another $25 minimum on un-needed stuff.


Here is where I agree and disagree with Clare, where Clare certainly has
the experience, where I try to rely mostly on research (aka "book
knowledge"), neither of which is a foolproof method in and of itself
(IMHO).

I agree on the crappy filters (e.g., Fram), where the best approach, AFAIK,
is to find an oil filter review where the guy cuts open the filters, and
then pick the set of brands that you like best based on those reviews and
on availability (bearing in mind, just as with batteries and gasoline,
there are ten times the number of brands than there are outfits who make
them).

I disagree on the oil, where "cheap" is meaningless in terms of quality
(anyone who says "you get what you pay for" is an idiot, IMHO, since you
get what you get, no matter what you pay for it).

For oil, while there _are_ distinctions that show up in tests where they
rip apart the engine after a stated number of miles to measure stuff, and,
there are tests of contaminants you can run, outside of that there is a
very simple way to get "the best" oil you can buy (at whatever price it
costs).

It's called your owners manual.

If your owners manual specifies, oh, say, API SL quality oil, than you buy
SL or better (the second letter being alphabetical) at whatever price it
costs (usually you buy the cheapest SL you can find, IMHO).

If your car specifies SL, then SM, or SM, etc., will work fine, but the
rule I use is to simply buy the cheapest SL (or better) you can get, where,
if you change regularly, will be no better (IMHO) than the most expensive
SL you can get - which is my point about price.
--
As for viscosity, I won't even go there since it really doesn't matter
except in extremes, and we're not discussing extremes here.
  #5  
Old June 22nd 20, 08:15 PM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.autos.tech
Arlen Holder[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14
Default Inspection and oil change

On Mon, 22 Jun 2020 10:36:33 -0700 (PDT), TimR wrote:

> I quit changing my own oil when the local places
> offered coupons for less than the cost of parts.


To each his own, but I doubt even at the sale price, it's less than what it
would cost at home.

For example, a Mann (Mahle, Hengst, etc.) filter cartridge (with o-ring)
for my bimmer costs less than five bucks online, and, six quarts of the
best quality dino juice you can buy is about 2 bucks a quart.
<https://www.oilspecifications.org/oiltool/oiltool.php>

*Add the local California sales tax of about 10% that's about 20 bucks*.

Plus, I can change my oil with the convenience that I don't have to drive
down to the shop (admittedly, for me, that's a 30 mile round trip), wait,
get the free coffee, and have them do it for me.

> And now with a new car, oil changes are free at the dealer
> (though they always try to get something for you to pay for.)


Indeed, they do!

> But if I were still driving an older car, I might go back to doing
> it myself, and each time draining a some transmission fluid and
> coolant at the same time. it won't all come out, but even without
> emptying, about every three oil changes you've replaced most of it.


I don't change coolant or transmission oil at oil-change intervals, but I
do clean out the power steering filter every once in a while.

> If you're going to drive an older car into the ground that's a way
> to get a few extra years.


Yup.
--
Usenet is a polite public potluck of purposefully helpful advice.
  #6  
Old June 22nd 20, 08:15 PM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.autos.tech
Arlen Holder[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14
Default Inspection and oil change

On Mon, 22 Jun 2020 10:29:15 -0700 (PDT), TimR wrote:

> I moved to a southern state some decades back, '
> with a good car for my wife and a beater for me.
> As I arrived one of the brake lines blew.


It happens.

Over my 60 years of driving, once I lost vacuum on a downslope, and had to
mash the pedal to get any braking; another time I lost a rubber brake line;
and a third, more recent time (couple of years ago), the master cylinder
needed to be rebuilt.

No brakes is no fun, but luckily, the parts are usually trivial to replace.

> The shop said the frame was rusted through


Lots of debate, but what the "frame" is on a modern car is up for grabs.
In the rust belt, it's normal for the underbody to be rusty.

> the next bump I hit it might break in half


Yeah. That sounds like the typical "scare tactics" I heard the tire shop
feed the woman in front of me that her tires were "dangerous", when they
had plenty of meat left.

> it couldn't be repaired or safely driven.


Hmmmm.... sounds like scare tactics, which I think you'd agree.

> He wouldn't let me take it home for fear of liability.


Hmmmm... can someone legally impound your vehicle like that?

> I made him show me, but he was right.


Hmmmmmm.......

> It had been a Wisconsin car driven in heavy salt.


The rust belt exists.
Cars rust.

The OEMs know that, so they design it in, so to speak.

> I sold it to a neighbor for parts, full disclosure,
> not safe to drive. Next week i saw his wife driving it,
> with a new inspection sticker.
> He said you just have to know where to take it.


Seems like the brakes were probably a line or two that needed replacing (it
happens), while the "frame" probably want's necessarily a "frame" but just
the underbody (which rusts as part of normal wear and tear).

In summary, it seems the repair shop tried fed people on fear.
 




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