2nd oil change at 9782 miles, and some thoughts

[Moon]

The other day I was at Walmart and they had oil changes Full Synthetic most name brands for $48.88. I called my dealer and they said between $90 and $100. Guess where I will go? I noticed that some people are making the first change at a few hundred to a few thousand miles. Doesn’t the book call for 7500 to 12,500 miles or one year? I do remember a long time ago when you was supposed to do that but I thought those days were long gone.

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[SparkyUWH]

The amount of effort, bullshit, hassle and thought someone will put into saving $75 is mind boggling to me. My time and sanity for not having to do this in freezing cold, or do something that might jeopardize my warranty is not even close to being worth it.

I like your thinking. However, given the likelihood of a tech screwing up my oil change and causing another $500 in repairs really bothers me. But for the next oil change I might just bring it to the dealer to see what they say about the weld breaking on the skid plate nut on the FX4 frame......

Sparky

 

[clos0791]

As a 2.0EB AWD owner that changes my own oil, I get where you're coming from. We like to do it ourselves more because we enjoy it, and don't trust strangers (IMO). I've had some bad experiences at dealerships and mechanics (no filter change, leaking drain plug, loose lug nuts after rotation). Any money saved is icing on the cake.

I've got the tools, and I enjoy doing it. Early Sunday morning with the radio on, takes me about 30 minutes now.

Yes, I enjoy doing it myself as well. I look forward to it. It is sort of like therapy after a long week at work. To me, it is easier than the hassle of finding the right place and then crossing my fingers they do it right. Plus, something else can happen such as a scratch on the exterior/interior, etc.

 

[clos0791]

I buy my own oil & filter and take it to my local auto shop and it costs me only $18 for them to change the oil & filter, and check tire pressure, and fluids.

You might as well finish the job. Plus you save $18. Unless you don't have the space and tools, then yes, it is totally worth it.

 

[SDakota]

You might as well finish the job. Plus you save $18. Unless you don't have the space and tools, then yes, it is totally worth it.

I have the space and tools, but at 79 years old, I'm happy to pay the $18.

 

[Jman79]

How much time does it take you to buy the supplies, do the work, and properly then dispose of the waste? And you would "imagine" Certainly that could happen. But most Ford dealers or even the better quick lubes can have you done in far less time.

I think I paid about $15 for 5 quarts synthetic and $8 per filter. Stocked up for about 5 changes and I change about once a year (<5000 miles a year)

For me it isn't about $$$, its about too many schmucks doing dumb things like cross threading, breaking covers/guards, etc.

Time wise its a wash, doing a change and taking the oil on my next trip to wally is about an hour or so. Same as it would take me to drive in, have it changed, drive back. Sometimes it saves me time if I have to wait at a place which is common around here.

Its not fun for me but doing it myself does have benefits:
- I know whats going in (had enough garage screw ups in my lifetime to have distrust)
- I know bolts arent going to be stripped etc. Covers will be put back properly
- I dont need to listen to upsell BS. "Hey, do you want our super fudgetastic engine flush?"
- I can do it on my schedule. This often means 10pm on a weeknight vs business hours or my weekend.

FYI, I also cut my own hair primarily for last reason above. It's not too much hassle and very nice to do it exactly when I want in the convenience of my own home.

 

[Poultrygeist]

I have the space and tools, but at 79 years old, I'm happy to pay the $18.

I'm almost your age but if I didn't use a creeper it would be a lot more difficult.

 

[TrailMaster]

FYI, I also cut my own hair primarily for last reason above. It's not too much hassle and very nice to do it exactly when I want in the convenience of my own home.
[/QUOTE]

Me too, but my results tell me I could have it done better at a barber! I wear a baseball cap in public. As far as doing my own oil changes, no garage, a gravel drive, six months winter and some health issues keep me from doing them myself. I do my own m/c fluid and oil changes, but they're easy and can be done in the shed.

 

[r100gs91]

I did my breakin oil change at 4258 miles, with mobil 1 advanced full synthetic. But I did not reset the oil life at that time. Just curious when it's time to change the oil according to onbaord computer.
Yesterday I changed oil again at 9782 miles. This is my second oil change on this maverick awd 2.0. I still used mobil 1 advanced full synthetic. Was thinking about Pennzoil but since I already used mobil1 in my first oil change, I need to have some consistency.
Still hated that 15 screws. It's a pain to align all the screw holes after you did the oil change.
For oil filter I used Mobil 1 M1-102A. The filter is rated for 20k miles between the change.
I'm driving about 3k miles per month.
I calculate my next oil change will happen a little over 3 months from now. I don't plan to let ECU to remind me for an oil change. This time, at 9782 miles, the ECU is saying there's only 24% oil life remain. Since I already did an oil change without resetting the oil life, 24% isn't as bad as it sounds. I will do my next oil change at about 18k~19k, approximately 9k miles from now. By then the oil life will probably be around 30%.
Since it'll be early Jan when I do the next oil change, I think I'll do it a different way. Instead of jacking up the car in snow and crawl under it in bitter cold wind, I will just suck out the oil from the dipstick. I do have an oil pump which I haven't really used.
That way I don't have to remove that 15 screws again. It'll be a pain in the butt if your fingers are frozen.
But with the pumping method I won't be able to change the filter, which is probably fine. Since the filter is rated 20k miles. The next oil change will happen early Apr of 2024 which I will go jack up the truck, crawl under there, remove that 15 screws, drain oil and change filter.

Plan to do this in this alternate method. Once pumping, next time regular oil and filter change, then pumping again.
I will only be removing those hated screws once every 7 months.

Dude, ur way overthinking this. Just do 5k intervals and check back in at 100K

 

[BobR]

I have 2 Mavericks and they are both 2.0 Ecoboost engines.
Use full synthetic. A synthetic blend only has to have 1% synthetic in it to be called a "blend".
Between both my Mavericks I have about 35k miles. I run Mobil 1.
I did my first change at 1000 miles and change at least every 4k and the oil always comes out very dark and dirty when I change it. I think that between the Florida heat, the turbo and the GDI these engines run pretty dirty. I also put the module on both of them to keep the auto shut down from shutting down the engine at stoplights. You don't want to interrupt oil flow to those turbos while hot and coke oil on those bearings.
CRC makes a product called "Intake Valve and Turbo cleaner" that I am using every 10k miles to remove the carbon on the intake valves that is so prevalent on GDI engines.
I usually use it about 100 miles before an oil change that way any carbon that is cleaned gets taken out of the lubrication system with the dirty oil.
My wife's Maverick is AWD and has the FX4 package and yes, there are a lot of bolts and fasteners on that skid plate but I have a shop with a lift behind my house so it is somewhat easier to deal with the skid plates.
My local Ford dealers sell my the correct Motorcraft oil filters for about $8 so I have been using the stock filters.

 

[jpdurr]

The amount of effort, bullshit, hassle and thought someone will put into saving $75 is mind boggling to me. My time and sanity for not having to do this in freezing cold, or do something that might jeopardize my warranty is not even close to being worth it.

if you are doing it right, how "MIGHT" it jeopardize your warranty????

 

[LM42]

if you are doing it right, how "MIGHT" it jeopardize your warranty????

The person I was replying to said he was changing his filter every other service.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

My kid brother was an auto mechanic... Ford Premium... Jaguar/RangeRover/Volvo when they were under the same tent.

About 15 years ago I paid him a visit and they had him filling in on the Ford side doing 4 new tires on a car.. I watched him take all of the hubcaps off and lay them face down on the dirty concrete shop floor. Of course, that was to place the lugnuts inside. Then as he wrestled the tire off, he slid the hubcap with his foot across the floor to get it out of his way. I immediately thought... 4 hubcap face surfaces unnecessarily scratched up becuase a mechanic can't pull his magnetic screw/nut bowl out of his tool box... I pointed it out to him... He was remorseful... He just hadn't given it a second thought as he failed to take a few extra seconds to treat a customers car nice...

Everytime I take my car to be worked on... I always assume there is some underpaid and/or unmotivated schmuck in the shop that's going to do something similar to my vehicle...

Man, I miss the old days when I drove Mk1 VWs, 200 & 700 Series Volvos, and a SAAB 99 & 900 and took them out to two private garages on owner's property in Hoag's Corner NY and Lebanon Valley NY. These guys loved those cars and it showed. You'd pick up your car and notice tiny little details, unsolicited, no charge, like... a lost valve cap was replaced, the little plastic retainer that held the prop rod in place had been replaced, the battery terminals were randomly cleaned, etc...

Conscientousness.... all but gone nowadays... It's a case for doing your own oil changes...

 

[Poultrygeist]

Another reason I DIY oil changes is I've seen too many examples of ham fisted mechanics who over tightened drain plugs and stripped the threads. Then to hide their mistake they'll add a self tapping oversized drain plug to the unsuspecting customer's car.

Now don't get me started on how hard it is to remove an overtightened oil filter that's been done at a jack leg shop. What a mess when I've had to resort to the old screwdriver-through-the-filter trick to get the dang thing off.

Why would I have such experiences if I do my own oil changes? Well I also change oil for three adult kids who too often have their oil changed at dealers and quick-lube shops.

 

[Numbers234]

The amount of effort, bullshit, hassle and thought someone will put into saving $75 is mind boggling to me. My time and sanity for not having to do this in freezing cold, or do something that might jeopardize my warranty is not even close to being worth it.

Agreed.

I save my efforts for things that save me at least $200 to $300 .... Like a door lock actuator or something simple that the dealer massively overcharges for.

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