My truck is in for service at Tommie Vaughn Ford in houston. Oil change time is near and they wnat 69 bucks to do it. They have a separate Deisel/Truck shop.

What do you think? SHould i let them do it? I normally do oil changes myself, but this will be the first one, and if the newsacane Rita comes to visit this weekend, i probly wont be able to change it anyway.

 

It's easy to DIY, but all depends on how much your time is worth to you.

Mine's at Ron Carter this morning getting recall issues done.

 

Well, it will cost pretty close to the same if i do it myself. Still have to get one of those wrench things for the oil filter cap. I dont HAVE to but it would be best probably. Its not the money, its whether they will screw something up.

 

I know the feeling. I've had to re-do too much myself.

But in all seriousness, if they screw up that oil change, they should have their access to tools permanently denied for life.

Go buy the socket. It's a good excuse to go to the toy store, er, hardware store.

 

you can get the 36mm socket at advanced auto parts for around 7 bucks. i buy the oil at costco (shell rotella) for $37 for 6 gallons. the prices for filters from fleetfilter.com are $10.76 for wix oil filters, and around $33 for both fuel filters. this oil change is by far the easiest i have ever performed compared to all my vehicles. you can do it in about 15-20 minutes yourself with zero mess. i just can't have some wrench monkey screwing with my truck if i can help it. i would basically have to go in right behind him and check to make sure everything was done right(proper amount of oil put in, everything tightened up good). may as well save the time, money and heartache and do it yourself.

 

I have had many oil changes done at the dealer and I watch them do it. I stay there and they do it while I wait.

I make sure they loosen the oil filter first, drain oil all the way, replace filter and fill with proper weight oil (my dealer uses Motorcraft 15W-40 and I check to make sure it was the newer CI4+ rated bottles. I then watch them fill and check the level when the "guy" does.

I am swithcing to Rotella Synthetic for winter benefits (year round use), but the dealer should be fine. Make sure it is the diesel tech that does it and not the "$5.00/hour lube guy" that does cars too.

Good luck, but you should be fine... but it is an easy job to do yourself.

Jeff

 

Part of the deal when I purchased my truck was free oil changes. I do pay for the filter.

 

Do it yourself. It is the easiest oil change you can do. Get the Fumoto value and it is even easier. I also just changed the fuel filters this past weekend and it was also extremely easy thanks to the notes on this forum. I just don't trust the dealer to put the right amount of oil back in. Of course, $69 was pretty reasonable.

 

I am ready for my first and was going to have the dealer do it just because it was the first. and it will be in there for repairs anyways...

 

Where can i get an oil filter ? I dont want to order it. Napa?

 

Walmart, Fram, $15.76, Motorcraft, $19.97. They are the same filter, open the boxes, and see for yourself.

 

I see alot of people sending an oil sample off to have it analyzed. Is this a good idea and why are you doing it. For self knowledge> Isnt it true ford doesnt recognize oil analysis from outside vendors or period?

 

ive never done, nor seen a reason for it. I guess if you run it hard, race or chip it or something, it is useful to see what you have torn up or are tearing up. It just gives a good inidcation of what parts of your engine are wearing by giving an element by element report, like copper, silicon etc....at least that is what i gather. Then you can maybe fix it before some catastrophic failure occurs. I could be way off.

 

id do it yourself but i would find a goof filter one with relatively low micron rating. for the fuel system get a micron rating of less than 5 if you can the oiling system youll probabally have to settle for a 15 since that would be your best bet for a full flow is you want you could always but a duel filtering system on it and have a bypasss filter and full flow so you have the flow and your oil is still filtered pretty good.

 

If the dealer I use would do it for $69. I'd be happy.... This the first vehicle I have let the dealer change oil. Perhaps it's my paranoia (sp) I have with the warrentee after being on this site for 18 months. I definately do not want to jepordise it. I keep a book on all my vehicles every expense, gas, oil, filters, tire rotation, etc. Only way I can keep up with 4 vehicles. When I get to 3 years I'll do it myself and just keep the records and reciepts and hope for the best. Getting my 05E15 recall today. Good Luck 01-21-04 build.