Oil Change Tips for Men and Women (non se-r)

Peter Grell grellp001@hawaii.rr.com
Sat, 10 Aug 2002 21:02:36 -0500


Yeah, a half-hour is a pretty good estimate for my car (a LOT faster for my
jeep though!), and the peace of mind is worth much more to me than the cost
advantage.  Although... the freakin' oil filter on the SR20DE, especially if
you have A/C, is just about the biggest PITA I've come across so far.  If I
get frustrated with my car, I can just imagine how THEY will respond to it
(forcing things, banging on valve cover with filter wrench, etc.).  Plus, I
don't care for the filters they use.  I've personally had bad experiences
with both Wal-Mart and Jiffy Lube, but JL was by far the most consistent in
their incompetence (last time my wife took her van there, it had about 6
quarts of oil stuffed in a 4 qt engine.  Luckily, they left the filter so
loose that some of it had drained out by the time she got it home.  The
drain plug, on the other hand, felt like they put it on with an impact
wrench... I still don't know how it wasn't stripped!).  I wish my wife would
just wait until I get home, but I tend to procrastinate and she has no
patience, but even she will not take the car to "Sucky Lube" anymore.  I'm
sure that there are decent ones around, but I'm not going to find out with
my car...  If I was in a hurry, or couldn't do it myself (or didn't want to)
I'd take it to a local shop with my own oil and filter and have them do it,
but then you always run the chance of them filling it up from the big drum
of mystery oil they have and re-selling your Mobil 1 ; )
Pete
'99 Sentra SE Limited