Right now, The Autopian’s XPEL Nissan Murano Crosscabriolet is in the shop getting a lift kit (!). A technician from Galpin Auto Sports noticed that the oil hadn’t been changed. “Would you like us to do that for you, sir?” the service adviser asked. I — someone with very little time to do pretty much anything these days, as I’m trying to keep both an infant and a media company happy — should have said “yes, please take care of it.” But I said no. And I don’t think that’s ever going to change.
Times are different since this new company and my new family Yoko Ono’d the rust-loving Human Wrench who used to live off Rochester Rd. in Troy, Michigan. I cannot take on multiple wrenching projects at once; I cannot drive across the country in a crap-can and fix it along the way; I cannot get notices from local authorities about my dilapidated cars breaking ordinances. I have, at least somewhat, grown up.
But only somewhat. There are still some things that I don’t see ever changing. For one, I will always own both an “XJ” Jeep Cherokee and a Holy Grail 5-speed Jeep Grand Cherokee “ZJ.” I learned to drive in a ZJ, and the XJ was my first car; these vehicles played major roles in me being where I am today, and I cherish them.
But in addition to always having at least a couple of AMC-designed Jeeps in my stable, there are some things about my wrenching propensities that I just don’t see changing, even if I find myself having to make major adjustments to my overall vehicle maintenance strategy. That’s right: I’ve come to realize that I can no longer do all my wrenching myself. I’m going to have to hand my keys over to a mechanic, and then hand a giant stack of cash to them a few hours later. It’s going to be awful, and a huge hit to my pride.
But there is a line.
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I cannot let someone else change my car’s oil. I just can’t. The job is too easy (especially since I live in a warm climate and have a driveway), lubrication is too important to my vehicles’ longevity, and an oil change is a great way to feel connected to a car without having to break one’s back removing a crankshaft or transmission input shaft or whatever. Fluids in general — engine oil, coolant, diff oil, transmission oil — there’s no reason why I can’t handle them myself, especially if I’m not home alone looking after my infant child (see above; that didn’t go well).
Brake fluid, I’m still trying to decide upon. My BMW i3 has a brake fluid light on, and I can totally do a one-person bleed job. But I won’t lie: It’s going to be a pain in the butt. I have to drive the vehicle up on ramps or take the wheels off and put it on jacks. Then I have to bleed each wheel individually. This is probably at least a few hours’ worth of wrenching, and it’s a dirty job; brake fluid is incredibly corrosive, and the area around brakes is always nasty. Then again, it’s only something I’d do every five years.
Speaking of brakes, there’s another thing I’m never going to farm out: pad and rotor swaps. When I did my now-wife’s Lexus’s rotors and pads, I saved us over $700! Sure, it took me a few hours, but brakes are just too easy, and, at least for me, the job of replacing them is borderline therapeutic at this point, as I’ve done it so many times before.
Aside from fluids and brakes, the other repair I’m never going to farm out is spark plugs. For the most part, this job is painless. Most of my cars are inline-sixes, meaning all the plugs are on one side of the motor; sure, the plug in the back can be a little tough to get to, and the AC compressor can block the front one, but I have 900000 extensions of various lengths, plus socket u-joints — this job just isn’t a big deal, especially since I can order the parts online if I don’t want to run to the store, and especially since I only have to do it every 10 years or so.
There are also quite a few filters that need to be swapped on my cars. The oil filter is, of course, part of the oil change I mentioned before. But there are others; my Jeep Wrangler YJ, for example, has an inline fuel filter underneath, attached to the frame. Plus, all my cars except my BMW i3S have engine air filters that need regular servicing, and my i3 and my wife’s Lexus have cabin air filters near their gloveboxes. These are cheap and, for the most part, easy to do. (The i3’s cabin air filter can be a bit tricky, and the YJ’s fuel filter is a messy and smelly job.)
There are plenty of other regular replacement items that I just don’t think are worth paying someone else to swap. A battery, for example, is something I’d never pay anyone to install. Ditto with a starter motor, as they’re genuinely easy to replace. Yes, they require sliding under the car and getting dirty, but driving onto a pair of ramps, undoing a couple of bolts holding the starter to the bell housing, and disconnecting a connector or two is pretty much all that’s required to remove a starter.
Along with a battery and starter, another thing I’ll try to replace myself is basic electrical connectors and fuses and motors, as these are often fairly trivial to swap, and doing so is usually a rather clean and not very oily job.
One component that’s far easier to replace than perhaps the layperson thinks is the alternator. Obviously, this isn’t true for all cars, but for my Jeeps, loosening the accessory drive belt is simple, and then the alternator usually comes off with a couple of bolts and some jimmying. Other accessory drive parts like power steering pumps are usually an easy swap, AC compressors require a refrigerant recovery that I don’t have any interest in doing, and water pumps … well, on my Jeep, they’re no fun.
I won’t lie; it’s going to be hard to hand off any work to a technician, but I don’t see myself rebuilding a manual transmission again in the near future, nor do I see myself tearing up my Jeeps’ front ends to get to their water pumps. Will I replace the Nissan Murano’s broken CV boot on its front left axle shaft (which the Galpin Auto Sports technician noticed is torn)? No, probably not; I might shove some grease in there, patch it up, and see how long it lasts, but if it goes, a mechanic not named David Tracy is handling that job.
But I’m doing that oil change. I have to, for my own sanity.
I usually change my own oil, when I bought my Mustang in 09 the local dealer had a Quick Change service that I could just pull in and most times no wait so I did that for the first 4 years. Where I currently live they don’t have that, so you need to make an appointment, drop it off & pick it up later in the day I can do it quicker myself.
My current threshold formula for DIY is calculating my hourly income, forecasting the time I’ll spend in the project and then comparing my “quote” with the cost of hiring a professional service. Will the service cost me less than I would “spend” in my own hours on the project? I know it isn’t a true equivalence, but it is a measure of my time’s value.
When I was broke and poor, a week spent saving $ 1,000 equated to two months of my salary, so hell yeah, I’ll do it myself. Nowadays, thankfully, I would be able to afford such service to save my time (and incidentally, my sanity). On the flipside, most of my McGuyver skills were acquired trying to keep things working during those dire straits, so I can’t complain.
This logic, however, doesn’t apply to jobs I would enjoy doing – restoring furniture/appliances? I would PAY to do that, so now I calculate the cost of my folly in my hourly rate, and if I’ll “pay” at most 3x the cost of the equivalent professional service, yeah, I’ll hire myself! Granted, my hobbies tend to be kind of specialised, so often my work is still cheaper (or even the only option).
This is the 100% the way. Anything beyond that, and you have selected car repair as a hobby. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but justifying it as a way to save money is complete B.S. Even something as easy as an oil change doesn’t make sense to do myself.
Plus, since I don’t drive many miles and have fairly new cars, I rarely need any work done other than refreshed fluids based on time rather than miles. The tools needed to do much of anything aren’t an insignificant spend.
Another consideration is whether your car is under warranty. Any work I have done is done by a shop I know that reports the work properly. That way, if there is ever an issue that needs to be covered under warranty, there isn’t any question that all preventative maintenance has been done properly. Changing your own oil on a car under warranty opens you up to potential issues.
Toyota being in the habit of avoiding warranties got me to check warranty fine print every time and walk away when it wasn’t right. Subaru wrote in their warranty that as long as proof of regular maintenance occurs, they will honor a warranty, so if my parents were using a third party shop and not the maintenance package the dealer offered, I’d have them documenting everything!
Proof of regular maintenance is almost always required. It is one reason I selected a local shop that I know does a good job of reporting any work into their reporting system.
Regarding proof of maintenance, I’d always assume so. I’m glad that there are people who go for shops with good documentation. The people I work with tend to be slapdash and keep the customer in the dark. Drives me nuts.
Personally, I keep a spreadsheet of all maintenance items with pretty detailed descriptions, and quantified resolutions for any unexpected repairs (for example, a Tesla Model S 12v replacement dropped overnight milage loss from 10mi/day to 2mi/day).
I probably have some kind of undiagnosed mental disorder. But we all do, we like cars.
I’m occasionally unemployed (irregular work) but I have savings, so I do exactly this, and compare the cost to how many hours at minimum wage.
Almost always, doing it myself turns out to be better, and I often get to know the machine better or find further flaws, or execute a strategy with odd or aftermarket parts that will save money in the long run.
Sometimes, like you, I’m my only option because nobody will install that specific combo of parts. I’m totally with you on this!
The only caveat I give myself is that the amount of work hours is limited, so if I can’t work any more hours, I’m better off spending my time to fix the thing.
“Is an oil change the best use of your time? Not just the change, but dealing with responsible oil disposal, cleanup, etc?”
If you can do the job faster than it would take to drive to the shop, fill out the paperwork, wait your turn, pay the man, and drive home? Yes.
If you can do the job for less money than you’d honestly earn in the time saved paying someone else to do the job? Yes.
If you are confident you can do the job as well or better than a stoned, middle school dropout? Yes.
If you can simply put the old oil and filter out by the curb for your recycler to pick up? Or drop off on your next shopping trip at the auto parts store near your grocery store? Definitely.
If your significant other is turned on by self sufficiency and DIY? Oh HELL yeah!
BTW I’ve mentioned this before but its worth repeating here: Cooking oils are fantastic at removing motor oil and grease I’ve even found this to be true of fresh(ish) motor oil and grease stains on clothing. I had a nasty bike chain stain on cotton khakis that was still there after being laundered but lifted right out like magic by spot cleaning with a copious mix of canola oil and dish soap. When they came out of the second pass through the laundry (cold water!) they looked almost new. I’ve had even better results on synthetic fabric.
Of course YMMV and it won’t help much on old, set stains but it’s worth a shot. As a bonus it’s my go to for getting grease and oil off skin too.
You might improve the flavor and healthiness of the food.
This right here is why I do much of the work I do around the house and on our vehicles.
You’re supposed to be like DT and soak your clothes in oil so they all match
https://www.jalopnik.com/dying-clothes-with-used-motor-oil-is-the-solution-to-yo-1744414942/
I dunno if turning yourself into a potential human torch is such a great idea.
I generally let my mechanics handle the greasy bits on my cars. Where I think I’ve saved a lot of money is in doing fiddly electrical and interior/accessory work by myself. On my Jag I fixed the electronic instrument panel, removed a non-functional aftermarket immobilizer setup, replaced an air conditioning blower and a burnt fuse box (both involved tearing apart much or all of the passenger side of the dash area), and a radio antenna motor. On the Suburban I recently replaced the passenger side mirror. I’m pretty sure I saved hundreds on each individual job.
I can do mechanicals and have helped others do things like plug and coil replacements, suspension repairs, and collision work but I just can’t seem to get motivated to do them for myself. In particular, oil changes would be super easy but a) I don’t want to deal with the mess and the waste oil disposal and b) I have a thorough mechanic that also does all the other periodic maintenance and checks that should occur at that interval.
Lol. Fortunately the Jag is my toy car.
Oddly enough the Jag has been remarkably reliable mechanically and the only things that ever actually kept me from driving it were the third party immobilizer malfunctioning – not a “British car” fault – and a bad fuel leak which technically didn’t stop the car from running but I sent it to the mechanic on a flatbed out of an abundance of caution.
For mechanicals, I had to have the steering rack replaced – not extraordinary for a 35 year old car, I had the front shocks replaced – maintenance item, and when I bought it I found a gorilla had stripped the threads on the oil pan drain so that had to be fixed – not the car’s fault. That’s it in eight years of ownership.
It’s not a fair comparison because I baby the Jaguar and beat the living daylights out of my high-mileage Suburban, but the Suburban has required a LOT more money and work during the same period of time.
Years ago, a college friend of mine had a summer job at a local shop. He was mainly cleaning and answering phones but he knew enough to help with some basic triage and diagnosis to screen customers.
Someone drove up in a V12 XJS and said he was having some issues with the radio. Since my friend had installed a lot of radios, he said he would take a look. He removed just enough stuff to slide out the head unit and, to quote him, “The thing vomited a tangle of smoking wires!”
The shop owner was not pleased. He told my buddy that in order to work on a Jag, they needed to first let the car owner know that any electrical issue may require significant work, including the removal of the entire dashboard, so they would require a significant pre-authorization for work to be done.
So often, a Jag owner would come in with a tiny little issue, and if the shop touched anything during diagnosis, the car owner would blame them for any future issues. The shop owner said they just work well, worth the aggravation.
It’s a 1988 XJ6 Vanden Plas. Being of the unloved XJ40 generation it’s the red-headed stepchild of Jaguars along with the S-type. But it’s in fantastic shape with low mileage and it’s still a pretty car that’s a pleasure to drive.
On the cars I’ve owned, I can get the oil & filter changed in less time than it takes to drive to the shop. So I’m saving the time I would have spent waiting for them to do the job and to drive back home afterwards. I’m surprised nobody has yet mentioned this perk, it makes oil changes a no-brainer for me. Save time, save money, and be 100% sure that nobody is using an impact wrench on your filter or plug.
Jobs where the shop can do the work much faster than I can…those are harder to decide. Sometimes the time is worth more than the money. Sometimes the money is worth more than the time. I won’t issue blanket criticisms of those who value their time differently than I do.
I did a 2GR-FE engine swap in a Sienna last year because multiple shops quoted me stupid prices for what turned into a couple days of amateur labor with a couple buddies. I had planned to hire that job out, until I got a $7000 estimate. In hindsight, I have no idea how they thought the job required that many hours. I went slow, upgraded a few parts, did some other routine maintenance, and still consider 2 days to be well worth $7000.
Other times, circumstances dictate hiring out a job. I won’t say I’ll *NEVER* hire out a job. Life changes, I don’t always have time to do everything myself.
Same deal here. Volvo dealer quoted me $11k to throw an engine with 100k miles into my car after hearing rod knock (previous owners in family neglected oil changes).
A friend of mine had new mains, rods, crank, starter, clutch & flywheel, clutch slave, half-shaft, and a battery in it for $8k. I paid him labor because I didn’t have skills and tools, but unlike the dealer he kept me on the same page every step of the way and tackled every other maintenance item on the car then and there.
I did the next engine R/R for a different car myself.
I know you’re slowly learning this but the time spent on menial auto tasks vs the cost of having someone do them for you will soon be outweighed by the time spent with your kid.
That is of course, until your kid is a little older and then can be your helper. But there is a narrow window of time (4/5 years) where you’re better off letting someone else handle things and you get to be dad.
I just did my first Timing Chain replacement. It was on a 2010 Scion TC. I had to use youtube for a few steps but overall it wasn’t too bad. It did take two long weekends and a few trips to the Harbor Freight… oh, and a $400 bill for parts from rockauto.
I may have told this story here, or at the old lighting site, once, so I’ll keep it brief.
Speaking of alternators being “easy” to swap, the antithesis is a ~2005 Mercury Sable (and probably Ford Taurus) with the DOHC V6. Mine failed on what was supposed to be a ~150 mile drive home, luckily somewhere less than 20 miles in, and close to a friend’s house who had all the tools to diagnose & fix the problem.
After confirming it was indeed the alternator, we called the closest store that was open (about 20 miles away), and secured the new alternator. Then the work began to get it out. It was at the bottom of the engine, closest accessory on the drive belt to the firewall, on the passenger side. We tried for a while to get the damn thing out, but couldn’t figure out the origami needed. Somewhere in the middle of that, someone noticed we had the wrong part. (The guys at the store gave me the unit for the “regular” engine, even after asking, somewhat condescendingly, if I knew which engine I really had…) Luckily, those two chuckleheads stayed late to let me make the switch. In the end, I was heading home about 4 hours later than planned, but I had a new alternator.
Epilogue: A couple weeks after this ordeal, the A/C compressor went out. That sat just ahead of the alternator. When I called some shops, I got an estimate over the phone that was crazy expensive. The tech told me that upgraded engine was packed so tightly in there, that he had to drop the engine to get the compressor out. Immediately it dawned on me that the alternator required the same damn procedure “by the book”.
When I bought my next car, my buddy immediately asked where the alternator was. I didn’t have a good answer for him!
I was intimidated by the thought of swapping the serpentine in my mk7 GTI, for whatever reason. The engine orientation and the amount of space, perhaps? The shop wanted $150. Then I watched a video. You literally use a 17mm socket on a long bar to rotate the tensioner a few degrees, and the old belt slips off. Wrap the new one, give the tensioner another mild crank, and you’re off to the races. It’s a 10 minute job.
Many are. There are some GM cars from the late 90s/early 2000s that require you to remove an engine mount to replace the serpentine belt. Needless to say, it’s less than ideal! (With the exception of the complication of the engine mount, those belts were at least as easy as “normal” to change.)
Thanks for this! My Mk7 GTI is about 80k miles and I think it’s time to replace the belt. I’m similarly intimated by it but now will definitely DIY.
Do your do your own transmission or LSD (if you have it) services? Mine are due imminently and I finally have the space to do it myself. But seems like these services (particularly for the DSG) is a bit involved and I’ll have to spend a decent chunk on tools to complete the job so I think I’ll send it to my local VW shop.
We’re on the same page for tasks worth doing at home once you get a family. One thing I refuse to touch is coil springs. I’ve done them before with the shitty spring compressors you can borrow from an auto parts store. Never. Again. I felt like I was handling a bomb the entire time. I also won’t do fuel pumps or hard to reach freeze plugs. Too messy and time consuming.
I thought the water pump on my old XJ was pretty easy to change?
I still go to a shop for most repairs, since I don’t have the equipment and don’t really trust myself. For smaller things, I’ll take care of it myself, especially if it’s something relatively easy (headlights, wiper blades, air filter, etc.) that I know would be super expensive at a shop. I am tempted to try an oil change, since the local ‘Multi-material Sorting Facility’ has reconfigured and now has a self-service oil disposal tank.
I also don’t have a lot of choice regarding my ’97 ZJ’s air filter – the shop doesn’t stock that size anymore.
The Murano is getting a lift kit?? Hope Galpin has some 22s with spinners laying around the shop.
now enjoy the crap ride.
Maybe it’s a ‘safari’ build which are weak sauce too. Can’t wait to see what they do! Who knows could be like a AMC Eagle Sundancer?
For me, I’ll do jobs that don’t require a lift, air tools or advanced mechanical knowledge… that can be done within a day.
So I do tire rotations, oil changes, spark plug changes, coolant changes and I even did some semi-advanced things like adjusting the valve lash gap on my previous car and did the rear pads and rotors on my current vehicle.
My current vehicle needs new rear wheel bearings, which on the C-Max, comes as a bearing/wheel hub assembly.
I watched videos on how to do it. It’s not a complicated job. However there are aspects to it that are somewhat difficult for someone who has a lift. And for someone without a lift like me? It becomes exponentially more difficult.
So I’m taking my car to a local shop to get them to swap the hub/bearing assembly.
But I bought premium quality replacement parts that should hold up better than the OEM stuff.
And that’s what I’ll often do. If I can’t realistically do it myself, I’ll often preemptively buy the higher quality parts ahead of time for the shop to install.
I’ve got kids and a couple cars, and I’ve still yet to ever have a mechanic do anything on my cars other than tires and alignments. Granted, they haven’t needed engine or transmission work, but I’ve done brakes, suspension, power steering pumps, all the oils and fluids, and a variety of other random things.
Sometimes it’s really stressful since I don’t have a spare car and can’t really afford to have one out of service for long, but I just can’t bring myself to pay the money at a shop.
I also have severe trust issues that things will be done right, especially since seemingly every other oil change my little brother asks to use my driveway and we end up having a terrible time of it because the various shops he’s gone to between stops at my house seem to use impact drivers on the filter and drain plug. I also like to keep all the clips and screws that hold undercovers on…
I used to do my own oil changes, and then I moved to a city where the building I live in really doesn’t like people doing their own car maintenance in the garage. So I started going to NTB and the like. And goddamn, are oil changes expensive. The labor makes it cost twice as much than if I had just bought a 5-qt jug of oil and a filter myself! Plus the last time I got my oil changed, they insisted I needed new tires and I relented, and so I probably spent $700 that I didn’t really need to spend. I think I’ll resume doing my own oil changes, and probably tire rotations and brake jobs too. I’ll just need to go to my parents’ house or somewhere were I’m allowed to do it. There are certainly upsides and downsides to city living.
I’ve been doing everything myself on our vehicles for many years now.
But man, I’m getting tired of it, especially the family’s daily driver when every job comes with short deadlines and it can’t have “downtime”.
It’s also a relatively high maintenance 4×4 SUV with short service intervals.
Because of course, everything we do with it falls under the “severe” use maintenance schedule.
I also have no garage and doing maintenance / repairs on an open driveway in the winter, rolling under cars in the snow is getting really old. Not to mention rusted-out bolts.
I’m getting to the point that I’m actually considering an EV now as a daily, at least to get rid of the oil changes.
And keep a gas car around for the long trips, towing, and whatever else is not optimal for an EV.
It’s not the car’s fault, it’s a combination of me getting lazy and valuing my time differently