Do it yourself oil change

[HomeboyMI]

I changed my oil at 3,000 miles. I find it easier to change my own oil than take it down to the dealer. The service manager told me to keep the receipts for the oil and filter so the warranty isn't jeopardized.

Bought 4 quarts of Toyota oil for $2.50 per quart and a Toyota filter for about $9.00. I think the prices are too high since I can buy Castrol 5w30 at Sam's Club for .88 cents per quart. I bought a couple of cases for future oil changes. It is the same SL rating as the Toyota oil and Castrol is recommended by Consumer Reports.

Consumer Reports also recommends Fram filters as the best. I checked out the Fram filter for my Solara and it is an inch shorter than the Toyota one.
Does anyone know if this shorter filter is comparable to the longer Toyota filter? Wouldn't you think larger filter- more and better filtering?

Anyone know????????????????????

[Hsakuragi]

FRAM sucks....

9.00 bucks for an OEM filter is WAY too expensive...

[Mole]

fram's filters are teh suck!

toyota OEM filters are good. however if you are spending nearly $9 for a filter, might as well go for Mobil 1 which is $10.

within all companies that make oil filters, they should be the exact same height for each car, so there is a chance you may be running the wrong filter.

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

Just don't do fram! As far as oils' go, i don't think even the dealerships use toyota oil, they use bulk castrol oil for their oil changes. You can ask the dealership what oil they use and buy that, but since your changing your own oil, your already saving mulla, might as well spend that on mobil1 oil!!

[cgs0409]

As far as filters go...I ran the Toyota filter for a while but it was too expensive so I changed to the Wix premium filter...about $6. I have used them in my '94 Toyota pickup since the first oil change and it has over 308,000 miles on it and doesn't use any oil between changes. The oil I chose to use in the Solara is Mobile 1...my wife uses it in her car and has gotten good results with it...so what the heck. What I save by doing my own oil changes more than offsets the cost of the Mobile 1.

[crimson blades]

Looking at the prices for oil makes me like one of the few services I let the dealer do. They have $9.95 oil and filter changes. I used to be a change my own oil person, but at that price its not even worth opening the hood.

[Katherine]

Is anyone else waiting until 5,000 miles (as stated in the manual) to change their oil? I put about 3400 miles on the car and didnt change the oil. Now Im wondering if I should...?

[Jewls]

I only have about 6500 miles on my car, and got 2 free oil changes by the dealer, but now am going to do my own. I get K&N oil filters from ajusa.com shipped to my door for about $9 each, and just use a good oil from the store. I don't run synthetic.

[cklinh]

Is anyone else waiting until 5,000 miles (as stated in the manual) to change their oil? I put about 3400 miles on the car and didnt change the oil. Now Im wondering if I should...?

Katherine... I did mine at 5000 miles... I don't see any reason to go against Toyota's suggestion...

[cgs0409]

I change my oil every 4000 miles. I've always changed my oil every 3000 miles until I got the Solara. I know the manual says 5000 but old habits are hard to die...so I split the difference...even if I do run Mobile 1...which Toyota says isn't necessary. I believe the main thing is keeping the oil and filter changed at consistant intervals...and use a good quality filter.

I have a '94 Toyota pickup with 308,000 miles on it and it doesn't use a drop of oil between changes...the transmission has never been gone into...only filter and fluid. Always use Wix filters and Havoline oil...changed at 3000 miles.

[HomeboyMI]

I thought I paid $9.00 for an oil filter at Carlsbad Toyota. They only charged me $7.00 as I check my receipt. That is still way too much!

As I was ordering the door sill plates (another thread on this site) from Toyotapartspeople.com, I checked out their price on Toyota Oil Filter YZZD1. They are selling the same filter for $3.79. I ordered 4 so I will have them in the future.

I am a car hobbyist. I always do the work on my cars if at all possible. I change my oil at 3,000 miles on all 8 of my cars. I had a Chevette go 160.000 miles without burning oil. A Cavalier still going after 180,000 miles and not burning oil. A Corvette with over 100,000 miles etc etc.
I use regular Castrol oil. I buy it when it is on sale. I wouldn't think of letting one of the dealership bozos touch my car. They don't make any money on a $9.95 oil change and they are told to find something to fix on your car. One wrote this site saying they took their car in for the 5,000 oil change and tire rotation. The dealer also checked their fluids and charged them $165.00! That's how mechanics stay in business.

Thank you all for your comments. I will never use the shorter Fram filter on my Solara. Only Toyota filters for me!

[cklinh]

One wrote this site saying they took their car in for the 5,000 oil change and tire rotation. The dealer also checked their fluids and charged them $165.00!

um... I thought they had to get your permission before proceeding with any work? or am I mistaken?

[Katherine]

Hey all,

If you change your own oil or get it changed at a Valvoline place, that doesn't void the warranty, does it? I would rather give Valvoline $20 to change the oil and rotate the tires than $50 to Toyota.

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

Hey all,

If you change your own oil or get it changed at a Valvoline place, that doesn't void the warranty, does it? I would rather give Valvoline $20 to change the oil and rotate the tires than $50 to Toyota.

As long as you (or valvoline) can retain receipts that the intervals were on a timely basis, your warranty is valid. Again all thsi comes to play, if somethign does go wrong and you need to prove your service record. But knowing its a toyota, by the time something breaks and/or needs replacement, it would be well beyond warranty!