2

I'd appreciate any suggestions on comments on the following.

My prepaid vehicle maintenance expired my last service visit. I've decided I want to learn and perform the basic maintenance on my car and save a couple bucks in the future (things like replacing air filters, oil, oil filters)

I think the next actions will be to perform an oil and oil filter replacement. Reviewing my service records it looks like the last time the oil and oil filter was replaced was ~7000 miles ago. For reference, my car is less than 3 years old and less than 35K miles total. I've read the oil and oil filter should be replaced every 10k miles so I guess I have a few months to wait. From what I can tell, changing the oil will require a special tool I can order off Amazon. The oil filter can be similarly procured. The oil grade I figured I would use what is recommended in my car's user manual.

One other side note. Last time my car was serviced the technicians/mechanics must have forgotten to turn off the "Maintenance Required" indication. Does that matter? Should I just reset myself?

Nukesub
  • 131
  • 1
  • 2
  • 2
    Welcome to the site. What is the year/make/model/engine of the vehicle in question? – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Apr 16 '17 at 17:42
  • 1
    I would suggest that you see if there is a car club in your area, either for your kind of car, or one that has members doing maintenance. You can learn allot helping someone with experience, and you will likely get all kinds of guidance and help from the group. – mongo Apr 17 '17 at 13:49
  • Can you ask a more specific question (including Make/Moel/Year)? As is, the question is hugely broad. There are thousands of resources for learning to do an oil change, and a quick search on this SE should pop up a few. – Hari Apr 24 '17 at 01:00

3 Answers3

2

There's 2 reasons that the maintenance required light will come on in most cars:

  1. The car is designed to put the light on after a certain amount of time and/or mileage past the last service. The car may still be fine, it depends a lot on how you drive the car and its general condition
  2. The car has detected a problem which requires some sort of attention. This could be many things, you'd need to check the car's diagnostics to see

Assuming this is not some sort of classic you can almost certainly get a diagnostic reader and check the codes/reset the maintenance required indicator.

As for performing maintenance yourself, you will need specific tools, a place, and time. Taking something simple like an oil change, you will need jacks to get below the car, or a lift of some sort, a pan to catch the oil, and the tools to spin off and replace the oil filter. You will get a bit messy, and really should take the used oil for recycling. It's generally a simple job which most people can do, however if it's not done right your engine could seize up.

You can definitely do many basic service elements yourself, changing air filters is very easy. However, oil changes and basic services are cheap on most cars. You won't save a lot of bucks doing that yourself, and it will take 4 times as long for you to do it as a pro. Dealers often charge far more than an independent mechanic or chain like jiffy-lube, so it may make sense to avoid them. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it yourself, if you like mechanics it's a great way to start.

Where you can save some money are jobs where there's lots of labor involved, those jobs vary depending on the make and model of the car. Fixing wipers, window mechanisms, brakes, engine sensors, and many other jobs can usually be done relatively easily with the right tools and knowledge, these often are time-consuming, so labor intensive, so a way to save some money. It may be worth getting a workshop manual for your car to find the things you can do.

GdD
  • 16,650
  • 3
  • 34
  • 61
  • I disagree on the oil change cost. A full synthetic change at most garages around me is $50-$75. I can do it myself in 30 minutes for about $40 ($35 for the oil, and $5 for the filter). – Spivonious Apr 17 '17 at 14:42
  • That all sounds about right to me @Spivonious. To me a savings of $20 isn't worth the time involved, to others it may be. – GdD Apr 17 '17 at 15:56
1

You can absolutely do those maintenance tasks yourself. A new air filter costs $10-$15 and can be installed in under 15 minutes even by someone who has never done it before. You shouldn't need any special tools, just a wrench or screwdriver to open the air box.

As far as oil changes go, they are more involved, but still very easy. You'll need jack stands or ramps, a wrench for the drain plug, an oil filter wrench, a funnel, and a drain pan. I'm sure you can find instructions on the web for your specific vehicle. The basic procedure is open the filler cap, remove the drain plug and oil filter, and wait while the oil drains into the pan. Replace the drain plug, install a new oil filter, and pour new oil into the engine until the dip stick reads full. Your manual should have the recommended amount of oil.

The first time I changed my own oil, it took about an hour. I can do it now in about 30 minutes, or less if I'm in a hurry. With a 10k mile oil change interval, you'll probably require a full synthetic oil (e.g. Mobil 1). Your manual will tell you what it requires and what they recommend.

Spivonious
  • 972
  • 2
  • 9
  • 24
  • This is good stuff. I'd just add a few tips: 1: When replacing the oil filter, run a ring of oil around the rubber seal. It will make it easier to remove next time. 2: Tighten the new filter with your hand only, no tools. 3: Clean your drain plug before replacing it. On some cars these are magnetic to attract metal fragments that may be floating around. Good to clean them off. 4: Take your car off the jack stands when refilling with oil so as to get a level reading on the dipstick. 5: When the dipstick reads full, let your car idle for it bit to circulate the oil, then check again. – MeltingDog Apr 18 '17 at 22:58
1

You didn't say what make and model of car you have. Are you sure oil change is 10,000 miles? That seems way too high to me. Have you personally checked the owners manual for your car to verify that?

Personally I use 5000 miles for oil change intervals. I write a little paper tag that gets scotch taped to the upper left corner of the windshield. That paper has three things on it. Date of last oil change, mileage of last oil change and mileage for next oil change. ( Why can the retail oil change shops provide those simple pieces of information?)

First tool you need to buy is a Chilton or Haynes style service manual. Get a paper manual... cost is approx. $20 or so.

Good luck on your journey. We've all started there.

zipzit
  • 6,539
  • 16
  • 35