Comments for In Debt Blogger

Comment on New Site Layout by dave

dave — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:38:24 +0000

when is this “soon” you speak of?

Comment on It’s Been a While… by Dave

Dave — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:21:41 +0000

I miss your posts, R.J. I hope you update again soon

Comment on March Madness - Made it through Round One by MasterYourCard

MasterYourCard — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:26:17 +0000

Good luck with March Madness, RJ, and congrats on making it into the second round!

Drop by the forums sometime, I’m sure there are plenty of other bloggers who would love to add you to their blogroll!

http://www.pfbloggers.com/forum

Speak to you soon,

Jonathan

Comment on Saving Money by NOT Changing your Own Oil by In Debt Blogger » March Madness - Made it through Round One

In Debt Blogger » March Madness - Made it through Round One — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:16:42 +0000

[…] year I’m participating in FreeMoneyFinance’s March Madness. I submitted my post about Saving Money by NOT Changing your Own Oil and voting for Round One has ended and my post has made it through to the next round. Hopefully […]

Comment on Saving Money by NOT Changing your Own Oil by JBM

JBM — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:28:23 +0000

I agree with you on the place to go needs to be reputable for me.
Your rebuttal for
#2: R.J. said ” Secondly, there has been study after study done showing that all of the top oils now are all so similar that it doesn’t make a difference what brand of oil you use”
You don’t know how true that is: Castrol buys Exxon Mobil oil and adds it’s own additives.
I have family members that work at ExxonMobil so I gravitate towards their products.
#3: 15~20 minutes, strictly for an oil change. I don’t make a special trip to the oil recycler. I wait till I have to go there for something else. I don’t use jack stands and don’t pre-fill the oil filter. Since I use a 5 quart container of new oil, the catch pan has a front spout that makes it easy to dump back into the original container.
Here’s my process:
Grab socket wrench and I usually have a bag with the oil, new filter.
Grab a few paper towels, for clean up. And oil catch pan. Head out to car (apt living). Position the oil catch pan under the car. Pop the hood. Grab wrench and one paper towel. Once under the car, loosen drain plug and adjust catch pan. Loosen old oil filter and reposition catch pan. Head back to the top and loosen oil cap, put funnel in place, get the new oil ready to fill, open new oil filter and use the new oil to lubricate the new filter. With new filter in hand, go back under car (for me the oil has drained by this time) put new filter in place, and screw the drain plug back in place. Back up top, pour new oil in, put the oil cap back on. Wipe down funnel and wrap the old paper towel around old filter and place it in the box for oil filter. Pour the old oil into the 5 quart oil container. Wipe down oil catch pan, close hood, and head back inside to dispose of the left overs. Put the used oil in a place, for the next time I head to the parts place (mine is about 5 minutes round trip).
04 Chevy Malibu is easy. Everything is right up front.
Civic takes 20 minutes. Just because the oil filter is in the back of the engine and is pretty hard to get to.

Comment on Saving Money by NOT Changing your Own Oil by R.J.

R.J. — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:43:16 +0000

Hi JBM!

It’s true that you don’t know what’s coming out of the hose. If you go to a Nickel and Dime oil change place, it might be something you don’t like. But this applies to other places like gas stations as well. If you don’t trust the shop, I’m not going to recommend you go there.

Secondly, there has been study after study done showing that all of the top oils now are all so similar that it doesn’t make a difference what brand of oil you use; what matters is that you change it regularly. But you can’t put a price on peace of mind, so if you feel better paying more for an equivalent product, good for you.

Thirdly, I can’t imagine it takes you just 15 minutes. From getting all your tools ready and getting your jack-stands to warming up the car to jacking it up to placing it on jack-stands to removing the bolt and draining the pan to undoing the filter to tightening the bolt to pre-filling the new filter to tightening the new filter to filling the engine to lowering your car to the ground to cleaning up? That takes you just 15 minutes? What about the time it takes to meticulously fill your re-used oil containers from your catch pan? What about the time it takes you to drive somewhere to dispose of the oil? Still 15 minutes? Okay.

Sounds like a huge hassle when all the oil change shop has to do is drive the already warmed up car up on the lift undo the bolt and filter at the same time into a huge catch pan, pre-fill the new filter, tighten the filter and bolt and fill with oil.

Comment on Saving Money by NOT Changing your Own Oil by JBM

JBM — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:10:01 +0000

Another self-oil changer here and I don’t agree with everything said.
#1: The oil change depot, does buy in bulk but do you really know what is coming out of that hose?
I use Mobil-1 with WIX oil filter. Makes me feel better.
I buy my oil at Costco. Works out to $5/quart or $6.00/quart at Autozone.
And $4 for the Wix Oil filter.
My Malibu takes 4.5 quarts: $26.50 total.
Civic takes 3.5 quarts: $21.50 total.
It easily costs $50 at Xpresslube or the dealership.
(If I went with Castrol or Valvoline, it would be around $15.)
Time: 1 1/2 hours to change the oil????? Takes me 15 minutes and took me 30 minutes when I was learning how to change my own oil.
Tools: My Malibu and Civic both use standard size wrenches for the oil plugs and you learn how tight your oil filter needs to be, therefore no oil wrench needed. I put mine on till it’s snug.
As for the approved container: I recycle the oil using the original container it was bought in and have my own catch pan.
(By the way, the cost associated with the oil change pan and wrench needs to be factored in the life of your oil changes, you don’t buy a new wrench and pan every time. At least I don’t).
#2: I do more than just an oil change…you have a chance to grease your suspension and clean out your air filter.
#3: Granted, I’m not a professional mechanic but neither is the 16 year old they have changing the oil. I haven’t screwed up the oil change yet and I’ve known 4 of my friends have had miscues at the local oil change depot.

Personally, I’m sticking to changing my own oil.

Comment on Car Trouble by R.J.

R.J. — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:18:55 +0000

Thanks Mom.

Isn’t that funny how it always works out like that? My car was about 500 miles out of warranty when the A/C clutch would no longer engage (made a huge knocking noise) and the mechanic said my engine would eventually seize if I left it.

Comment on Car Trouble by Mom

Mom — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:36:38 +0000

Well, at least it’s fixable! My husband’s car made a “ping” noise at 62,000 miles (2,000 miles after the warranty of course!) and never drove another mile. My brother in law asked “what was that noise?” and I jokingly said, “That is the sound of Mommy getting a new car!” and sadly, I was right.

Look on the bright side… at least you have options on how to pay for it. This definitely qualifies as an emergency.

Comment on Saving Money by NOT Changing your Own Oil by R.J.

R.J. — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:19:32 +0000

Ryan: Good points. There’s no question you can get oil and filters on sale, but most people procrastinate with car repair.

I’m guilty of that myself, and I don’t think I would recommend people wait around for a sale while they’re car is already past due on an oil change. If you come across a sale before you need an oil change, that’s great, but if you’re already due for an oil change you should generally get it changed even if you have to pay regular price at a shop.