Why I should learn to change my own oil...

[Rockytfox]

At 17, I had a 1977 Chevrolet Malibu Classic. I bought a Haynes manual and learned how to do just about everything by myself. I even replaced the transmission in my driveway using cardboard between me and the concrete. The point here is that when I was 17 and broke, I took the time to learn how to do those things that prevent me from being taken advantage of today. In my opinion, this is perhaps one of the easiest and most important lessons someone can learn at a young age because it helps lay the foundation for a lifetime of dealing with people who will try and take advantage of those who in the majority of cases are unaware they are being taken advantage of.

Ryan

 

[ChrisAU]

^ Well said

 

[Regency]

On a side note, I did have a rather funny experience there today... When I was little, like 5th grade, there was this kid on my bus who always bullied me, he was an absolutely terrible human being. He now works at QuickChange. The look on his face when I rolled up in my truck was absolutely priceless....

Haha that's awesome I hate bullies I've never been bullied but there absolute ***** who have no life good for you bro!

 

[drroy]

$179 for synthetic oil change, wipers and diff fluid change isn't bad.... +/- "oil system cleaning", whatever that means.
you should learn to change your oil, then move on to brakes, then as you tool collection grows and your knowledge base and confidence expands move on to larger jobs. nothing wrong with paying to have things done, when you know you are getting good value and not getting ripped off.

 

[R_Sharpe]

Well then... You guys aren't telling me what I wanna hear, but at least I'm getting the truth of the matter... I KNEW that I was being upsold, but I was also afraid that if I didn't get these "important" services, that my trucks health would just get worse... I will definitely be doing my own maintenance from this point forward... My cousin is a beasty-A mechanic, so I'm sure that he can show me the basics... My plan was to do a self-change this time, but I was just afraid of messing something up...

Here are the charges:
FULL SERVICE SUV/HM OIL $46.99
PZ167 OIL FILTER $ 0.00
PENNZOIL HI MILEAGE 5W30 $29.34
22" RAIN-X LATITUDE WIPER $21.99
22" RAIN-X LATITUDE WIPER 21.99
OIL SYSTEM CLEANER $12.99
REAR DIFF. SERVICE $29.99
PENNZOIL 75W90 SYN G.O. $ 0.00
SPECIAL GEAR OIL CHANGE $25.00
TOTAL: $163.84 + $15.16 (TAX) = $179.00

And yes, sadly, I'm still using conventional oil... I was told that switching to synthetic would potentially "clog" my engine? WTF... The more I think about this, the more angry I become, because it's embarrassing that I got ripped like this... Plus, because I just blew $179 on potentially unnecessary maintenance, my CAI purchase has been delayed again... I'm seriously growing tired of this vehicle....

 

[Regency]

Maintenance happens on every vehicle it isn't just your ltz don't worry

 

[07Burb]

Robby....don't beat yourself up too much man. Live and learn and move forward brother. For all the stuff you got in return you didn't get screwed too badly but yes could have been done on your own. Like you said, just get together with your cousin dude and learn as much as you can. We all start somewhere

 

[R_Sharpe]

Maintenance happens on every vehicle it isn't just your ltz don't worry

I mean, I know that every vehicle needs routine maintenance. When I say I'm growing tired of my car, I mean just in general. It's getting up there in mileage (~132K), and I'm just afraid that something major is gonna happen to it... I love my car, it's just ideally, I'd love a newer, low mileage, warrantied vehicle, that way when something serious happens, I don't have to drop the coin to fix it myself... I've been looking at 09+ Silverado LTZs actually, I dunno... I guess I'm just in a bad mood right now, lol.... We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds as for my car...

Robby....don't beat yourself up too much man. Live and learn and move forward brother. For all the stuff you got in return you didn't get screwed too badly but yes could have been done on your own. Like you said, just get together with your cousin dude and learn as much as you can. We all start somewhere

I'm trying not too man, lol. And I mean, I'm not THAT worried about it, because I did get quite a bit of stuff, still got screwed, but like you said, not TOO bad, it's just annoying, haha. And I WILL definitely be getting with my cousin in the near future! Thanks for the words of encouragement, lol. .

 

[Regency]

I mean, I know that every vehicle needs routine maintenance. When I say I'm growing tired of my car, I mean just in general. It's getting up there in mileage (~132K), and I'm just afraid that something major is gonna happen to it... I love my car, it's just ideally, I'd love a newer, low mileage, warrantied vehicle, that way when something serious happens, I don't have to drop the coin to fix it myself... I've been looking at 09+ Silverado LTZs actually, I dunno... I guess I'm just in a bad mood right now, lol.... We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds as for my car...

Makes complete sence now 132k is high but I've heard these engines run to 300k may be wrong so noone yell at me haha silverado's are nice I say get a avy though if you really insist on getting rid of the tahoe because you will always have the newest avalanche

 

[07Burb]

My burb has 125k on it and runs perfect. I'm personally not scared by mileage as long as they are well maintained miles. We plan on keeping our burb for at least another 13 years until the kids are out of high school. By then it'll probably have 300k on it but I'm good with that these LS motors will run forever if taken care of properly. The transmission may be another story but we will cross that bridge when we come to it LOL