How does walmart make money on a $20 oil change?

thats a good idea! i just use a really wide oil catch bucket to get it all, but i'll have to use a cardboard ramp next time

Don't do it--you'll disable the crossmember corrosion inhibition feature.

P71/CV /Town Car oil changes are so much easier with the steering cranked to either side, if the wheels are straight the linkages make filter removal far more complicated.

I enjoy the crossmember corrosion inhibition feature, wish it made its way to the oil pan

e36. 13 + 19mm wrenches, drain pan, filter/gasket set, eleventeen quarts of Redline 10W40.

In reply to motomoron:

E46 oil change is also very easy to do.

Here is the breakdown at our shop. We do oil changes for $19.99. Our cheap, store brand oil costs us 2.29/qt. The cheap "valu-craft" filters we use cost us 2.09 each.

So... 2.29 x 5qt = 11.45. Plus filter = 13.54. Since oil changes range from 0.4 to 0.6 labor hours (per alldata or mitchell), on the average I have to pay a tech a half-hour labor which is $12 based on the average 24/hr labor rate. 13.54 + 12 means I spend over $25 to provide a customer with a $19.99 oil change.

There is no doubt about it, we lose money. The whole point is to get the vehicle in on a $20 oil change so we can diagnose a leaking valve cover gasket, a torn CV boot, or worn brake pads.

Its the same exact thing with qwiky-lube joints. They are banking on two main things: 1) that you will upgrade to brand-name oil and filter, and 2) that the high-school flunkie they hired to upsell wiper blades, air filters, and transmission fluid changes will be successful at suckering you in to bigger jobs. Then you will still be paying a discounted rate because those "certified" techs at qwicky lube means that they have watched a 1-hour video on how to unscrew a drain plug. Its easy to undersell the larger shops when you are paying someone minimum wage per hour instead of $25 per flag hour.

More oil change math:

I do my own. First change on the 25k, new to me Scion was like this:

5qt jug M1 extended performance 5W30: $26 Gennie Toyota filter: $7

For $33, I figure I'm good for 15k miles, according to Mobil

All other arguments for synthetic aside, I'm saving 2 oil change labors and 2 filters per 15k. It actually seems cheaper in the long run.

poopshovel wrote: +1. I stopped paying to have my oil changed when I got sick of saying "For the last berkeleying time, don't touch the air-box; you broke the berkeleying clips off last time, the filter's good, the PCV's good, my wiper blades are fine, and don't berkeley with the tire pressures!"

Amen! I had an alignment tech tell me he did me a favor by lowering my tire pressures when I took my Brighton in after installing some "crash" bolts ( this is when I autocrossed in STS). I had specified a "custom" alignment; as much negative camber in the front as could be had symmetrically and zero toe on both ends. The tires I used were far from Ideal (195/75-14 all seasons, 620 treadwear FTW!!!) and in an effort to prevent roll-under I ran the fronts at quite high pressures. I figured since I was outgunned either way I may as well be in a class that allowed a few junkyard mods and street tires as opposed to everyone else being on R-comps. The tech came proudly strolling out and informed me that he had achieved 2.7 degrees of negative camber in the front and dropped my tire pressures to 32 all around. He then started to lecture me on how quickly that amount of camber would wear my tires.

The local L/M dealer is doing $21.95 oil/filter changes.

Wally wrote: The 2.2 is the Cavalier. It is the worst oil change I've ever done. From now on any car I buy I'm looking for the filter before I put down any money.

The K24 in my wife's TSX is no damn picnic either, and the filters always wiggle extra tight between changes.

i must be the only guy in the world that likes changing the oil on my 2.2 powered '97 Cavalier- i just put a drain pan under the car, a plastic bag over the exhaust pipe, and reach down behind the engine from the top and unscrew the filter and either just drop it into the pan or pull it out from the top. then i go under the car and pull the drain plug. the new filter also goes on from the top. i think it takes 10 minutes to do an oil change on that car, and i no longer get oil in the braided flex joint on the exhaust pipe. i did, however, leave the oil soaked plastic bag on the pipe once.. that made for a pretty decent smoke show for a little while after i started the car up after refilling the oil.

i think the worst oil change i've ever done was on my brother's 318 powered '92ish Dodge Dakota 4X4. i fought fro about an hour to get that filter out, and then when i went to put the new one in, i accidentally found the hatch that they had designed into the inner fenderwell to make for easy access to the filter. took me all of 5 seconds to put the filter back in. too bad he traded the truck off before i got to do another oil change on it..

You obviously don't have very short arms

my arms are fairly long, but they definitely aren't slender. i'm no Arnold Schwarzeneger in his prime, but i don't have scrawy little girly arms, either. my arm just barely fits between the intake manifold and firewall at a certain point. it sure beats laying under the car and having oil run down my arm and into my armpit..

All this oil change PITA talk and nobody has mentioned a Miata yet? Leaves me with skinned knuckles every time.

I love my neon, filter is near verticle next to the drain plug. And I never need a filter wrench to get it off, very usefull considering I use a larger style filter and Don't have room for a filter wrench

The 3 hondas I have worked on have been fun, filter on the back of the block above the exhaust.

Mom's current taurus is not too bad, on the first oil change I had to pull the starter to use the filter wrench I had, after that I got an end cap filter "socket"

Change the oil on a 5s/3s Toyota motor sometime. It's so awesome.

And no, i'm not being sarcastic. Pop the hood, BAM it's right there. Grab that sucker with both hands and turn.

In reply to neon4891:

My Eclipse RS too. same motor, I believe...

Burned the crap out of my arm once or twice when I was too impatient getting the filter off my 1st gen MR2.