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I like the dealer service for the vehicle health report. Once I'm out of warranty, I do my own and rely on the health report once a year through the state inspection.
I hope you have taken that Fram apart and verified that it isn't junk like most of the others they make.
You're gonna hate life then, because it wasn’t that long ago that Racor was making filters for both Fram and Motorcraft. Don’t overthink it and don’t buy a barrel bottom filter.
That one website where that one guy cut open that one low-end filter that one afternoon that one year just keeps hanging around...
I always have done my own basic maintenance. Brakes, oil, belts etc. Changing plugs on the wife's 2012 V6 Highlander was a hoot. I find the oil/filter change on my 2.7 about the easiest I've ever encountered EXCEPT for fooling around with that floppy diaper/pan. I will note that my tinkering days may be numbered however. I have a right shoulder issue that normally requires a "reverse" shoulder replacement to "fix". That appointment comes up on Jan 22nd. I might have set the valves on my solid roller 455 for the last time?
Regarding filters, the MC FL-500S is available on Amazon for $6. If I've depleted my stock and forgot to reorder, I grap a NAPA gold filter from the parts store up the street. I believe napa gold is made by Wix, good enough for me.
8 Quarts of Mobil 1, & Motorcraft 500S Filter at Walmart was $60.00. Then I got busy, so I dropped it of at the Tire Store I use for them to do it. They charged me 3/10 hr which sounded fair ... but at $140.00 hr. thats $46.00 labor to Change my Oil & Filter. $106.00 !!!
At 60 yrs old I'm still learning lessons ...
Regarding filters, the MC FL-500S is available on Amazon for $6. If I've depleted my stock and forgot to reorder, I grap a NAPA gold filter from the parts store up the street. I believe napa gold is made by Wix, good enough for me.
Walmart sells them here for $5 a filter, plus most of the other Motorcraft oil and air filters. They also carry the Motorcraft 5W20 and 5W30 motor oil for $19.68 a 5 quart jug.
Some time ago I met the parts manager for our local Ford dealer coming out of Walmart with two shopping carts full of Motorcraft filters. When I started giving him a bad time he said the truck bringing their stock order had gotten in a wreck somewhere and he had customers to take care of!
I do my own maintenance. It is fairly easy on my 2.7 with the cartridge filter on top. 6 quarts and a filter sets me back about $33-35 bucks. Oil recycle is easy in Texas, if a place does oil changes they have to take it from you. I put my used oil back in the bottle and take to Auto Zone because they are the easiest to deal with and will take up to 5 gallons at a time. I've used walmart, orielly's, advanced auto for my recycle as well. Some will make you sign a log book, others just take it and dump it in the tank.
I do all my own maintenance with the exception of coolant system flushes. The flushing machine does a much better job than you can do in the driveway.
I actually take pride in doing everything for the 4 current vehicles we have. Even on all of the cars we bought the kids I would do all the repairs and maintenance.
I like learning new things and get satisfaction from fixing things plus it's so much cheaper doing things yourself. And as you get to know a particular vehicle you get a lot better at keeping it running the way it should.
I am a die hard Ford guy and I let one of the kids talk me into a VW jetta. Talk about a learning curve! Once sorted out and repaired as needed it has been a great car.
I do my own, no need to go to the dealer for oil changes. The Motorcraft oil is nothing special and the filters are plagued with quality issues / failures. I won't use them on my vehicles.
So with these couple of recent posts I just read.....how many guys on here do there own oil and filter changes?....... I have a 2006 f-250...... and a 2016 f-150...... I change my own oil and filter on my vehicles between 4000 and 4500 miles...... I just bought a 2019 explore so now I'm wondering?...... do I change it or pay the fifty bucks every time and have them do it?..... advice is always welcome.......
I do all my own work. Yes this includes pulling and swapping to a superior motor when required. For as easy as it is, I just do it myself. Have a friend who does oil recycling so its easy to get rid of the used oil, which in the case of a powerstroke happens to look like venom was in a blender and is now out to cover all of you
I take my truck to the dealership for oil changes every 5,000 miles. I had the oil changed and tires rotated last week for $49.00, and that included tax.
As far as that fiber/plastic panel underneath, I took it off and left it off. All of my research indicates that it's just a sound deadener.
I thought about leaving our underneath panels off but decided to keep them intact. They aren't that hard to install and it really does keep the bottom side really clean which is nice.
I had always thought they helped with aerodynamics but I haven't researched it much.
I take my truck to the dealership for oil changes every 5,000 miles. I had the oil changed and tires rotated last week for $49.00, and that included tax.
I have mine done at 6 months or 6,000 miles, on both of our vehicles. Like you I just get the works every time. It's only $49.00 and I don't have to fool with getting ride of the oil and filter, Plus I wouldn't rotate the tires for $10.00 on anything!!
@$49.00 how can you beat that I live in a smallish town and know all the people at the local dealer. They do all the work anyway so why not if the filter is junk its on them if the oils crap it on them plus i don't do tires on anything. I go early on saturdays and I'm out pretty quick.
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