Changing oil

[the tractior vet]

I have been changing my own oil in everything with a motor, starting in 1957 with my 48 Cushman scooter. My tractors have a lot of room to move around to get the drain plug out. My cars are a different problem for me. I use ramps to drive up on, and put down a pieced of cardboard, and wiggle under on my back to perform the oil change. A little higher would a lot better. I see on the internet separate hydraulic ramp lifts for each wheel, that will pump up to 15 inches which would be a lot better for me, made in Chine of coarse. Anyone ever use something like this? I see different people selling them for $60.00 and up, for two. Seams a little cheap. A scam? Any thoughts? Stan

Well since 2021 with the arrival of the new Jeep Cherokee that ended my wiggle under and fight the oil change on todays JUNK . The Cherokee now goes to the dealer and they do the work with the oil i take to them and the MO PAR Filter that i buy for way less then they charge . The 2013 Dodge Avenger we had prior would bring out total GROUCH MODE at every oil change and with the amount of miles the War Dept put on each month that was twice a month ya did not want to be anywhere around me . She was covering five countys for the Girls Scouts spending one day in each county running around like a chicken with it's head cut off do to staff cutting what started off with the lower half of the county to the north and our county morffed into the nightmare and a ton of vary late nights getting home after troop meetings in the distant countys and NOW four lanes to quicken the drive all old narrow windy hilly state and county roads., She was racking up the miles like i did hauling coal each week .

 

[Russ from MN]

I thought ramps would be a great idea.....not so. They are in the way getting to things under the vehicle and tend to slide on concrete floors.

I have had that problem too, so I block them to the wall. I'm going to try my truck in FWD and see if the ramps don't slide.

 

[a49deere]

I have had that problem too, so I block them to the wall. I'm going to try my truck in FWD and see if the ramps don't slide.

OR, you try to get the tire in the depression in the top of ramp and then BAM you're over the top, with a broken mud flap and running to get a jack to get the ramp out from under the vehicle! Ask me how i know!!

 

[Ray,IN]

I have had that problem too, so I block them to the wall. I'm going to try my truck in FWD and see if the ramps don't slide.

Yep, 4WD solves the sliding problem, and 4 LO allows going slow enough to stop at the right spot. My composite 12,000# ramps even have rubber feet and still slide without using 4WD.

tractor vet; measure the distance between floor and frame of your vehicle; I suspect you'll find that 15" doesn't gain much more clearance than the ramps. Then don't forget you must also buy safety stands JIC the jacks suddenly fail.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Well since 2021 with the arrival of the new Jeep Cherokee that ended my wiggle under and fight the oil change on todays JUNK . The Cherokee now goes to the dealer and they do the work with the oil i take to them and the MO PAR Filter that i buy for way less then they charge . The 2013 Dodge Avenger we had prior would bring out total GROUCH MODE at every oil change and with the amount of miles the War Dept put on each month that was twice a month ya did not want to be anywhere around me . She was covering five countys for the Girls Scouts spending one day in each county running around like a chicken with it's head cut off do to staff cutting what started off with the lower half of the county to the north and our county morffed into the nightmare and a ton of vary late nights getting home after troop meetings in the distant countys and NOW four lanes to quicken the drive all old narrow windy hilly state and county roads., She was racking up the miles like i did hauling coal each week .

We have a Cherokee, too. Leased, so the wife took it to the dealer for oil changes just so I didn't have to get the "Well we don't know how it was serviced" BS the end of the lease. Didn't mind bc it's hard to get under, front end won't go on my ramps. Bought it out of the lease bc no new ones were available right then. She still continued the dealer service right up until they informed us it needed a new rear differential......at 50,400 miles. The rim of the case had corroded half way around where the snap ring holds it in. Over $4000 to replace. GEE, that corrosion all happened since the last oil change? They'll never see me again.

 

[Hobo,NC]

We have a Cherokee, too. Leased, so the wife took it to the dealer for oil changes just so I didn't have to get the "Well we don't know how it was serviced" BS the end of the lease. Didn't mind bc it's hard to get under, front end won't go on my ramps. Bought it out of the lease bc no new ones were available right then. She still continued the dealer service right up until they informed us it needed a new rear differential......at 50,400 miles. The rim of the case had corroded half way around where the snap ring holds it in. Over $4000 to replace. GEE, that corrosion all happened since the last oil change? They'll never see me again.

If you are a professional you can be held accountable for items such as this that you missed. It’s starting to show up on garage owners’ groups that perform PPI (pre purchase inspections) The lates a transmission went out 20 miles after it passed a PPI. When the hammer fell they the plaintiff was awarded $5K.

 

[JWA]

I thought ramps would be a great idea.....not so. They are in the way getting to things under the vehicle and tend to slide on concrete floors.

I jack it up with a floor jack, place the ramps under the wheels with the ramps facing forward, let it down and the ramps are not in the way. Takes a little longer but you don't have to work around them or jack stands.

 

[the tractior vet]

We have a Cherokee, too. Leased, so the wife took it to the dealer for oil changes just so I didn't have to get the "Well we don't know how it was serviced" BS the end of the lease. Didn't mind bc it's hard to get under, front end won't go on my ramps. Bought it out of the lease bc no new ones were available right then. She still continued the dealer service right up until they informed us it needed a new rear differential......at 50,400 miles. The rim of the case had corroded half way around where the snap ring holds it in. Over $4000 to replace. GEE, that corrosion all happened since the last oil change? They'll never see me again.

Oh we have been down the route of LAYING service dept's That does NOT set well with me . First off at one time i held the papers and th all the neat patches on my shirt stating i was a master tech with Chrysler and FORD , also i was a parts manage for a large Chrysler Plymouth dealership. Tho i left the automotive world Many of the old guard knew me , That was before the days of the service writers and now those Wiesel make there pay checks by selling unneeded parts and repairs , My first round with them was on our 2003 Dodge Durango at a sorta new Dodge dealer . Back then i did NOT have a top of the line scan tool but i still had my ears and i could hear a miss fire and the battle was on , it was NEW under warranty and the clowns in the service dept could not even work on a Briggs and Stration Not one of them knew me and that was ok the issue stayed and we kept taking it back till the day the new Factory parts and service rep and i got into it a mid 20's girl who told me i did not know what i was talking about i put my hand up walked away from her and went to the phone dug in my little black book and called Detroit a number vary few held and talked to TOBY after a short chat with him i motioned for this CHICKY to come over and handed her the phone . The look on her face was a true KODAK moment then she handed the phone to the service manager and he went pale then he handed me the phone and Toby said i think this will change thing nice talking to you again . The miss on 2 and 7 went away and not long after the lights went out at that dealership , Next round of another dealership who's service manager and i go way back i call Bill and asked when i could get the Durango in for a ft. end alignment and he told me to have it over there on a Monday morning by 8 , ok fine that will work . Sunday i changed the oil and filter rotated tires , checked the brakes , ball joints with a DIAL indicator along with the tie rod ends and replaced all four shocks . Monday i am at the dealership and they take it in and i WATCH them drive it on the rack , the socalled tech gets out walks down in the pit grabs a trouble light shines it around then hangs it up under the Durango comes up out of the pit and walks off thru the shop while i watch thru the glass . He stays gone for a half hour then i see him strolling thru the shop with a monster sized coffee walks back down in the pit shine the litght around sopme more then back up out of the pit and come in and talks to the service writer , who then comes over to me and starts to tell me that i need alll new ball joints and tie rod ends and SHOCKS and i need a oil change with a brand new filter when there is a brand new MO PAR filter on it . and how lucky i was to bring it in NOW as the ft end was about to fall out of it . NO i am not kidding you one bit on this . And i was looking at a couple thousand dollar repair . I looked AT HIM AND SAID show me AND I GET OH we can't let you in the service dept due to insurance . This needs repaired right now , no see no repair . We can't let you go out there , ok back it out and i well take it home , oh we can't let you drive it that way it has to be repaired before it leaves . I looked at him this slimy little weasel and said you either show me or i WILL drive it out myself . He did not know that his BOSS and i were GOOD FRIENDS but Bill was in the usual Monday morning dept head meetings like in most dealership . So he said ok we will go look so we go out and we go down in the pit and this so called tech show me you can twist the tie rod and he tells me these are NOT suppose to twist like this they must be SOLID . I said REALLY and then said what you think i fell off the turnip truck just yesterday ?????? just who do you think your tryen to feed this line to SONNY i have all the neat papers that say i was a Chrysler master tech and YOU never once put any gauge to this ft end and that crusty oil filter you claimed was changed yesterday and those NEW shocks were installed yesterday and I DID put a dial indicator on the tie rods and ball joints and they were in spec's Now do the ft. end alignment and when you tighten the upper control arm bolt i don't want to see and impact used i want to see a TORQUE WRENCH used set to 165 Ft.LBS and i WILL CHECK them when i get home with my own torque wrench . They finished the job i paid the bill then WAITED till Bill got done with his meeting and he and i had a long chat in his Office about what was tried pulled on me then i left . Bill called that afternoon to inform me that he had two new opening in the service dept . The reason i left the being a parts manager was what started to happen in 1974 . The service manager left for a new job closer to his house , ok i can see want to live closer to your work . New guy comes in Buck , And alone with BUCK comes BERNIE and Chuck , we never before had two service writers before as the old service manager Pete came up thru the ranks of Mechanic First and Dealt with the customer one on one in person , no funny stuff . I ran the largest parts dept in our district to the point that sometimes the regional depot would call me when they ran out of a part to get it shipped to another dealer as i stocked parts for ten years back . and i also STOCKED parts for DODGE MOTOR HOME CHASSIS since we sat like four miles north of the Ohio turn Pike and two towing companys would drop off Dodge Campers on our door step . I had my own dept to see over and we were open from 7 Am till 1:30 Am six days a week . The new 74 model year had been out for like six weeks and i had all the new parts on stock for that year already . I did not spend my whole day at the counter as i had a BOAT LOAD of paper work and parts orders to do That is why i had four on the counter two parts runner on day shift and two on night shift and my assistant manage on afternoon shift with no parts runners . This one evening i was playen catch upon a large parts order and i told the afternoon crew if they want to go take a dinner break that i would cover for them so they ALL left . I was in my cage when Bernie came up to the counter and hollered so i went to see what he needed , he told me he needed a power steering pump repair pkg. . So i looked up the part number then checked stock , yep i had 6 so i went to the bin pulled the kit walked back to the counter wrote the part numbner down on the WRO and went back in my cage never gave it a second thought . was a couple weeks later and again i was there the crew went to supper and NOW BUCK comes up to the counter and wants the same thing , HUMMMMMM , but i did not need to look up the part number and just went and got the part and wrote it down on the W R O and moved on . As i went to set down in my chair it dawned on me that wait ah min. WHY was that big filled with those kits i go back and check stock and there is like 8 now in the bin so i go back into my office and pull the org new stock order and when that new part was added i had 4 and my first time i had 6 and now 8 why is the system ADDING , something is WRONG here New power steering pumps just don't start failing . parts only increase in number when they so a trend of need . Next morning my crew and i haave a chat as to anybody on day shift seen and increase of this part going out aned not one of them had so again HUMMMMM . Afternoon crew come in and day people go home and i have a chat with night turn and they tell me yea every week one of two go out . That is strange i am going to look deeper into this as this is not right and i started stayen late only took two night and i did the same thing let the group go to dinner together and BUCK comes in and want anothe kit , so i give him the kit and wqrite it down on the W RO and he walks out across the service bept places the WRO in the car's windshield a car that nobody was working on then walks to the back of the service bay and throws the kit in the trash can . He is billing Chrsler on a job not being done and dragging me into his web of being a thef . Next day i started a massive inventory to get my ducks in a row , called my parts and service rep to come down and he and i went to Dinner away from the dealer ship and i told him what i saw and was not sure how deep this fruad went but i knew my people had no idea what was going on i only knew what i saw and how my inventory on just that one part had doubled before i caught it and saw what i saw . I told Bob that night i was getting out of Dodge before i was dragged under the BUS . The next day at 7 Pm/ i walked into the service manager office i tossed my keys on his desk and said i ain't going down with you and walked . When i left SO did a LOT of others in the service part and body shop . Three months later the lights went out .

 

[Fordy20]

Build your own ramps using 2 x 8's or 10's. Longest on the bottom, then each one six inches or so shorter until you reach the hight you want. If sliding is an issue, a piece of rubber under will solve the problem. I think it's safer and cheaper than steel ramps and jacks.

 

[MeanGene1]

I just had to make a couple road trips with the '01 F350 7.3 4x4 dually, so just before I did a service, oil n filter, put the big air filter back on, and rotated tires etc. I picked it up with the forklift by the trailer hitch, pulled the outside duals off and put half the lugs bck on, sat it back down. Went to the front, and there's a crossmember right behind the bumper, so I laid a 2x4 across the forks and picked the front up a foot, and put my big jack stands under the axle. Pulled the front wheels and then drained the oil and changed the filter with great access, looked over the front end, check front diff and transfer and put the wheels from the rear on the front. Back to the ground and set the first gallon of oil in a funnel, and lifted the rear again, back to the front for the next gallon, put one tire on the back, another gallon, and put the other tire on the back, airing them all up as I went. Rear end back on the ground, and top up the oil (takes 15 quarts for the 7.3, which has 326K on it and uses no oil) add some fuel system cleaner to the tank. Still purrs, cylinder contribution and buzz tests good, starts without waiting for glow plugs, and got 16 mpg pulling the trailer with the +100 hp program and BD exhaust brake. She's had one water pump and one alternator replaced, valve covers never been off. New truck? Not a chance lol

 

[the tractior vet]

Build your own ramps using 2 x 8's or 10's. Longest on the bottom, then each one six inches or so shorter until you reach the hight you want. If sliding is an issue, a piece of rubber under will solve the problem. I think it's safer and cheaper than steel ramps and jacks.

On the Chrysler Sebring i have to use two foot and a half long 2x12 Oak plank to get it up on the ramps and it was the same on the Dodge Avenger . Now the issue is we don't do the get down and back up so well anymore , the getting down is easy , it's the getting back up is the heard part and working on these old knees don't go well now days.

 

[wh]

On the Chrysler Sebring i have to use two foot and a half long 2x12 Oak plank to get it up on the ramps and it was the same on the Dodge Avenger . Now the issue is we don't do the get down and back up so well anymore , the getting down is easy , it's the getting back up is the heard part and working on these old knees don't go well now days.

After having both knees replaced 11 weeks apart in late 2019/early 2020 dr said to NEVER kneel on them again. If I absolutely had to get on my knees to use several thick cushions. So far I can get down and up without getting on my knees but it is interesting. I make sure I have everything I think I will need before getting down.