Inspection and oil change

Wow. That seems inexpensive for sure. What locale do you live in.

I do my own oil changes, where, oh, assuming on average a typical car is five or six quarts at, oh, what, maybe 2 bucks or so a quart, that's a dozen dollars just for the oil alone.

Given I don't know what repairs cost (I do my own DIY repairs) I just googled for prices in the Silicon Valley for a typical oil change. o

First hit: o

Second hit (I hate the "dollars off" prices - which are meaningless): o

Third hit: o

Notice that the "typical" price is astronomical, while the "sale" price seems pretty reasonable (given the oil itself costs about twelve bucks or so and the shop rate, in San Jose, is oh, something like $100 to $200/hour (AFAICR).

And I still have not changed my air filter on the ranger in 8 years - or the serpentine belt in 7

That was Kansas City and San Antonio.

And that's using the cheapest oily swill they can buy and the ceappiest filters made - not to mention only 1 in about 10 get out the door without spending another $25 minimum on un-needed stuff.

I have no beef with mechanics - I was one half my working life - but the shysters at the fast lube, tire, and muffler shops should virtually all be in jail.

Thank you for clarifying, where Usenet is a polite discussion that takes a bit of clarification since it's text only and we don't know each other.

Here's the San Jose "typical" price range (according to "yourmechanic"): o

Compared to Kansas City (presumably Missouri and not KCK) ... hmmmmmmm.... o

Heck, it doesn't change, so the site I reported is bogus for oil changes: o

So I clicked on the default zip code for each locale... o And I chose the _first_ vehicle, make, model, and engine in the list...

Which, for San Jose, 95101, Acura CL 2003 V6-3.2L was: Acura CL 2003 V6-3.2L Change Oil and Filter Labor $45.00 Parts $42.79 Tax $3.96 Your total price $178.00

Drat. It was the same for Kansas City zip 64101, and San Antonio zip 78201. So that web site is worthless.

I agree with Clare that fast-lube, tire, and muffler shop mechanics have multiple jobs, where one of their most important jobs is to get you to spend more than you were intending on spending when you came in.

Once I was behind a lady at the tire shop, where I overheard the counter person say she was within (I forget how much) of the legal limit and she should get all her tires replaced. As I recall, the amount of tread left was plenty, where I noticed the lady already had a two thousand dollar bill (and that didn't include tires). It must have been brakes, but even brakes couldn't cost that much... anyway...

I whispered to the lady that tire wear is like shoe wear. It's not worn until it's worn, and they're never new except on the first day, so they're _always_ worn.

She declined the new tires, but what shocked me was the disdain the counter lady gave her saying it's "unsafe", which was patently false. That's how they get people, I guess. They scare them, I guess.

Me? I wait until the belts show, but I agree that's going too far, and, I usually try to replace those bald tires before the rainy season (here it doesn't rain even once from about May to about November).

Here is where I agree and disagree with Clare, where Clare certainly has the experience, where I try to rely mostly on research (aka "book knowledge"), neither of which is a foolproof method in and of itself (IMHO).

I agree on the crappy filters (e.g., Fram), where the best approach, AFAIK, is to find an oil filter review where the guy cuts open the filters, and then pick the set of brands that you like best based on those reviews and on availability (bearing in mind, just as with batteries and gasoline, there are ten times the number of brands than there are outfits who make them).

I disagree on the oil, where "cheap" is meaningless in terms of quality (anyone who says "you get what you pay for" is an idiot, IMHO, since you get what you get, no matter what you pay for it).

For oil, while there _are_ distinctions that show up in tests where they rip apart the engine after a stated number of miles to measure stuff, and, there are tests of contaminants you can run, outside of that there is a very simple way to get "the best" oil you can buy (at whatever price it costs).

It's called your owners manual.

If your owners manual specifies, oh, say, API SL quality oil, than you buy SL or better (the second letter being alphabetical) at whatever price it costs (usually you buy the cheapest SL you can find, IMHO).

If your car specifies SL, then SM, or SM, etc., will work fine, but the rule I use is to simply buy the cheapest SL (or better) you can get, where, if you change regularly, will be no better (IMHO) than the most expensive SL you can get - which is my point about price.

I moved to a southern state some decades back, with a good car for my wife and a beater for me. As I arrived one of the brake lines blew. The shop said the frame was rusted through, the next bump I hit it might break in half, it couldn't be repaired or safely driven. He wouldn't let me take it home for fear of liability. I made him show me, but he was right. It had been a Wisconsin car driven in heavy salt.

I sold it to a neighbor for parts, full disclosure, not safe to drive. Next week i saw his wife driving it, with a new inspection sticker. He said you just have to know where to take it.

I quit changing my own oil when the local places offered coupons for less than the cost of parts.

And now with a new car, oil changes are free at the dealer (though they always try to get something for you to pay for.)

But if I were still driving an older car, I might go back to doing it myself, and each time draining a some transmission fluid and coolant at the same time. it won't all come out, but even without emptying, about every three oil changes you've replaced most of it. If you're going to drive an older car into the ground that's a way to get a few extra years.

I'm not that, Frank, you mention but living here in nearby DE many PA residents near the border kept their registration in DE if they move there from here.

In DE a new car goes 5 years before inspection and you can tack on two more years without inspection at the end of that period just paying the $40/yr fee. Then it is inspection every 2 years. They look at lights, wipers etc and do a brake stopping test and plug in the computer to check emissions. On a good day you can be in and out in 15 minutes.

Also just got my drivers license renewed late last year for 8 years for $40.

To each his own, but I doubt even at the sale price, it's less than what it would cost at home.

For example, a Mann (Mahle, Hengst, etc.) filter cartridge (with o-ring) for my bimmer costs less than five bucks online, and, six quarts of the best quality dino juice you can buy is about 2 bucks a quart.

Plus, I can change my oil with the convenience that I don't have to drive down to the shop (admittedly, for me, that's a 30 mile round trip), wait, get the free coffee, and have them do it for me.

Indeed, they do! :)

I don't change coolant or transmission oil at oil-change intervals, but I do clean out the power steering filter every once in a while.

Yup.

It happens.

Over my 60 years of driving, once I lost vacuum on a downslope, and had to mash the pedal to get any braking; another time I lost a rubber brake line; and a third, more recent time (couple of years ago), the master cylinder needed to be rebuilt.

No brakes is no fun, but luckily, the parts are usually trivial to replace.

Lots of debate, but what the "frame" is on a modern car is up for grabs. In the rust belt, it's normal for the underbody to be rusty.

Yeah. That sounds like the typical "scare tactics" I heard the tire shop feed the woman in front of me that her tires were "dangerous", when they had plenty of meat left.

Hmmmm.... sounds like scare tactics, which I think you'd agree.

Hmmmm... can someone legally impound your vehicle like that?

Hmmmmmm.......

The rust belt exists. Cars rust.

The OEMs know that, so they design it in, so to speak.

Seems like the brakes were probably a line or two that needed replacing (it happens), while the "frame" probably want's necessarily a "frame" but just the underbody (which rusts as part of normal wear and tear).

In summary, it seems the repair shop tried fed people on fear.

On Sun, 21 Jun 2020 13:48:14 -0700 (PDT), Thomas posted for all of us to digest...

Was the sticker fee & emissions included? Actually not bad 1/2 hour for inspection while under the car for the oil & filter (most likely low end products) and plug in the emessions test. Drive in & out of bay for major clunks. My guess is they couldn't find anything, so you made out.They are looking for the no maitenance hooptie crowd. I forgot does your area have emissions inspection?

On Sun, 21 Jun 2020 17:55:07 -0400, Ed Pawlowski posted for all of us to digest...

Don't have to pull wheels with disc brakes.

On Sun, 21 Jun 2020 19:50:15 -0400, micky posted for all of us to digest...

Baloney...