I'm sure it mixes with lots of other liquids, but I choose to want to use the RainX full strength.
If I'm really low when the oil change guy tops it off, I might end up with more standard than RainX. Then I have to either wait until I use it up or waste what's in there before I can get back to full strength.
I'd rather just tell the guy not to top it off. I called it a downside, but it's really not hard to remember to tell them. I also tell that I don't want air filters, wiper blades, a tranny or coolant flush, etc. I save them the trouble of having to cross sell. While I'm telling them what I don't want, I include not topping off the washer fluid.
The first time I read that, I said to myself "He's putting RainX in his crankcase?" My bad!
Makes sense. Arthritis won the battle of doing my own oil change and making sure that a new aluminum washer is used on the crankcase plug and that the oil filter is spun down properly and not cross-threaded or over or under-torqued. Out of the many things I have to trust others to do, this one bothers me perhaps the most because of the catastrophic failure that a bad job can cause and how often I hear of it going awry. For 20 years a co-worker and I spent a Saturday every few months helping each other do oil changes, brake pads, etc. It made the task so much easier for us both to have a helper and we could use parts/fluids we *knew* were top-of-the line or manufacturer-made. Now it's GippyLube and say your prayers. )-;
Last oil change I did was on my 1991 Buick Regal. I bought two filters so I did the first two. Drove the car up on the ramps, slid under with removal tool in hand. Looked for the filter. Looked for the filter. Looked for the filter. Found the filter but could not reach it.
What a PITA to get too. On a lift, it was reachable from the wheel well but very difficult from under. Since I had bought two filters I did the second one too, but that as the last ever.
I find it much easier to pay $20+. I found a one man shop by work where I have little wait time and the guy knows what he is doing. It is a radiator shop and he does the oil changes but does not try to sell the extra BS.
Since that last time, the joints don't work as well and getting down on the ground is not fun.
As I think back on the cars I've owned, the only one that had a truly accessible oil filter (and just about every other engine component) was a Volvo 142-144 (it had parts from both but I assume from its two doors it was really a 142). The tiny four cylinder engine was mounted on struts in the middle of the engine compartment with an unbelievable amount of room around the engine.
My Chrysler mini-van, however, has no room under the hood and has a rear set of V-6 cylinders that can only be reached by tiny elves or dismantling the engine compartment. The Honda's engine compartment was crowded but most things were accessible. After a while you learned to wear a glove with a long wrist guard. That's because if you were pulling the filter off a moderately hot engine, when the wrench kicked free your hand would often fly right into the exhaust manifold. yeeeEEEEOOOOWWWW! Sometimes it would be the back of your hand, sometimes your knuckles.
Can't recall when I quit, but changing my own oil always gave me a sense of security. I got under the car, inspected stuff while I was down there and knew that I was getting Mobil One in the car and not "dealer's choice." Worse still, I've seen shop workers lift a car using the wrong lift points (very messy) and actually accidentally roll a van off the lift. That reminds me, it's time for an oil change. I think I'll ask around for that one man shop.
That's good. I've yet to find such a mechanic and so rely on the chain shops where I can watch them work on my car from the customer waiting area. Doesn't stop the upselling but it's been a long time since someone squirted clean drops of oil on my shocks to try to sell me new ones.
I remember a long time ago one of the TV news shows drove up the NJ Turnpike with cars that had hidden cameras under the hood and a simple defect they created. The amount of hanky panky they caught was amazing and sickening. Partial insertion of the dipstick to show that oil was low when it was full, a handful of metal shavings under the fan, etc. As I recall, they pulled a single spark plug wire and only one shop fixed that. The others went to town with unnecessary repairs.
I keep a pair of knee pads in the pantry and in the van. Can't get down without them. If there's anything that says "Hey, you're an old man now!" it's my damn knees. I hate it. I don't know if there's an afterlife, but if there is, I hope they roll back my odometer to about age 21.
The first time I went to change the cabin air filter in a 2004 Honda Odysse y, I looked it up in the owner's manual and all it said was to take the veh icle to the dealer every X miles to have the filter changed. Well, that's w asn't going to happen, so I went looking for it on my own.
I first looked under the hood for an access door on the fire wall. None the re. Then I dropped the glove compartment and found what appeared to be an a ccess door, but it was blocked by a metal bar which was blocked by a plasti c cross member which was part of the molded dashboard assembly. The metal b race as well as the plastic cross member ran the full width of the glove co mpartment. I could see the bolts for the metal brace, but they were blocked by the plastic cross member. Well, that can't be it either.
OK, let's try YouTube.
1999-2004 Honda Odyssey: Remove the glove compartment to access the Cabin A ir Filter door. Using a Dremel tool or other cutting device, cut out the en tire plastic cross member in front of the metal brace. Discard the plastic cross piece. Remove the bolts holding in the metal brace, open the access d oor and remove the old filter.
The plastic cross memeber is actually scored where it is attached to the ma in dashboard assembly to make it easy to know where to cut it. Ever since t hen I've often wondered what those lube places would do if someone said "Ye s" to their cross sell of the cabin air filter. Would they cut out the plas tic cross member if it was the first time the filter was going to be change d? I keep meaning to ask them but never have.
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