Changing your own oil?

[Vigor]

I'm sitting at a pep boys right now with an hour-long wait, to get my oil changed. I know with the Bronco, I want to change my own oil

For those of you planning to change your own Bronco's oil, do you plan to just slide under there and figure it out yourself? Or will you let the techs do it first and pick it up from there on after?

I don't imagine the Bronco being too different than say, a Ranger. But this is coming from someone who has never changed oil before a day in his life

Be gentle... my dad didn't teach me these things

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[El Diablo]

I'm sitting at a pep boys right now with an hour-long wait, to get my oil changed. I know with the Bronco, I want to change my own oil

For those of you planning to change your own Bronco's oil, do you plan to just slide under there and figure it out yourself? Or will you let the techs do it first and pick it up from there on after?

I don't imagine the Bronco being too different than say, a Ranger. But this is coming from someone who has never changed oil before a day in his life

Be gentle... my dad didn't teach me these things

Firstly, I admire your initiative to change your own oil and filter on the Bronco. Wish my son had the same mentality/drive. This along with replacing cabin and engine air filters are the easiest DIY maintenance tasks to tackle in an automobile/truck. If you have the time, certainly do them. Youtube has a plethora of videos on how to change oil for almost any model of vehicle. Changing oil and filter on the bronco should be fairly straight forward.

 

[RescueCheckPT2]

I'm sitting at a pep boys right now with an hour-long wait, to get my oil changed. I know with the Bronco, I want to change my own oil

For those of you planning to change your own Bronco's oil, do you plan to just slide under there and figure it out yourself? Or will you let the techs do it first and pick it up from there on after?

I don't imagine the Bronco being too different than say, a Ranger. But this is coming from someone who has never changed oil before a day in his life

Be gentle... my dad didn't teach me these things

Ain’t no shame in that game. Mad respect for you wanting to learn how to do it. I’ve always done all my own maintenance (except alignments/tire mounting) and can say I’ve saved myself thousands as well as enjoyed the sense of accomplishment in fixing issues.

Personally, I plan on doing my own work from the get go. And for those who aren’t sure how to start, YouTube is a great resource for basic maintenance if you don’t have a friend with a garage/skill set to learn from.

 

[Drex]

The hardest part, by far, is finding containers to store, transport, and find a legal place to dispose of the used oil (always seems to be extra oil in the pan from a lawnmower or something that won't go back in the empty new oil jug.

 

[Used2jeep]

I agree that doing all of your own service is rewarding. However, fluids are a PITA. Not because they are difficult but because you need to dispose of the used stuff. Yes, if a store sells oil and filters they are required by law to take the used stuff back. Not all of them do. Also, you need to transport the fluids and that can be very messy. Those 2 items are why I will have an independent shop do my oil.

 

[Desert_6G]

I do all my oil changes myself. Because I always want to use my oil and my filter w/o anyone giving me crap. And I don't have to wait for over an hour and getting it serviced. Plus its more satisfying

 

[BEM-S4]

For my current cars having it done at the dealer is around $100. Getting the supplies to do it myself with shipping only saves me ~$25. For that it’s not worth the headache.

 

[HotdogThud]

changing the oil is easy, and 100% a good step into getting comfortable working on your own car.

*however*, on a new car, I typically throw them at the dealer and make them do the first couple so they have no room to bitch about warranty. only tricky part being forcing them to do the first one at 1500ish miles, vs waiting 5-10k for it.

 

[Hoofnmouth]

Good on youas long as you have a comfy place to do it you will be fine not hard just messy sometimes.

 

[Mac n Nevada]

I've read somewhere in these pages that one thing to be cautious of is the oil plug on the Bronco. The pan is plastic as are the threads and can easily be messed up/cross threaded.

Apparently, there is a better plug you can buy for the pan that will help protect against this. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong....

good luck and good on ya' for being willing to give it a shot. ( rule one, don't forget to fill it back up with oil after draining it....


as an aside- what oil do you guys like to run? I usually run a blend, but have never had an injected engine before...?

 

[AK SNO RIDER]

I think you guys are making storing, transporting, and disposing of used oil into a bigger deal than it is.

Get ya one of these plastic 5-6 gallon jugs. If you've got a local carwash, see if they've got any they want to get rid of. These are big enough for multiple oil changes and seal up tight. (Or only one if you've got a diesel )

My borough landfill takes used oil free of charge, maybe yours will too. It would be worth checking. Maybe you have to pay a small fee. No big deal.

I will ALWAYS change my own oil. I have to know it was done right, with the right oil, and isn't going to leak, or find a big oily mess in my engine bay. Even on my stupid RS that's too low to fit under, too low to go up any standard auto ramp, and has a stupid undertray blocking access to anything

 

[Jr87mustang]

For me, its just so cheap having them do it. I am not saving very much by the time I go pick up oil and a filter, change the oil, then call around to see who is taking oil, and finally driving the oil to said place. I literally have used oil sitting in my container now because the place that always takes it had a contamination issue. Its also nice during warranty issues when the dealer sees that they are the ones doing maintenance on the vehicle.

 

[Escape Hatch]

Easy peasy, use an extractor through the dip stick. I have done this with the top filter on my GTI as well as my daughter's beetle. Easy, clean, and fast.

 

[AK SNO RIDER]

Easy peasy, use an extractor through the dip stick. I have done this with the top filter on my GTI as well as my daughter's beetle. Easy, clean, and fast.

Ugh I miss being able to do that on my GTI. Ford likes to put their oil filters in really stupid locations where you get the pleasure of crawling under the vehicle and removing panels to access them.

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