I'm having a hard time fending off these arguments posed by my brother:
1. %26quot;Currently oil changes on cars are necessary. I'm not arguing against that. However the reason for this is that manufacturers are specifically building cars to need a certain level of expertise for regular interval oil changes.%26quot;
2. %26quot;If changing oil is as easy as everyone says, how do shops that perform oil changes make business?%26quot;
3. %26quot;Why don't manufacturers build cars that are intended for absolutely everybody to change their own oil as they change windshield washer fluid?%26quot;
4. %26quot;When our grandmother can change her own oil, only then is it *easy*.%26quot;
5. %26quot;The dealerships that change oil are the ones benefiting from the cars' design for requiring professional oil changes. And when the dealership is more successful, the manufacturer is also more successful... hence co hoots%26quot;
He's not giving up on this! He's truly convinced it's a conspiracy. I need some help, I HATE losing arguments!!Need more help to convince my brother that oil changes are not a conspiracy?
1. No real expertise required. An Oil Filter Wrench to loosen and remove the oil filter, and oil pan to drain the oil in and a wrench or socket to remove the oil pan drain plug.
2. They do the things most people do not do. They check the oil level in the rear end also and the transmission, fill your windshield washer check radiator level, grease your grease fittings, and have the facilities to dispose of the used oil.
3. Anybody can change their own oil if they want to get dirty and oily and greasy. It is a personal choice.
4. Grandma could change her oil and take care of the car. It is just hard for her to crawl under the car and then get back on her feet to stand up, and it breaks her nails and gets grease in her gray hair.
5. A dealership can pull it in on a rack and have your oil and lube job done within about 1/2 an hour because of their power pumps for oil and grease and reservoir to drain oil into. You would be good getting it done in an hour and you would still have to drive somewhere to dispose of the used oil and oil filter as you cannot just dump the oil or throw the filter in a trash can.Need more help to convince my brother that oil changes are not a conspiracy?
even Wal-mart can do oil changes. the reason they make a profit doing it is because they do a hundred a day.
most people don't do it themselves because they don't want to get all oily.
shops charge more for oil changes because they don't have the volume of Jiffy-Lube or Wal-mart. but we also do a better job and check for other safety issues that might ariseNeed more help to convince my brother that oil changes are not a conspiracy?
Oil changes are required on any mechanical unit that hs moving parts that require lubrication (i.e: an engine / gearbox) and after the combined unit does a certain amount of work, i.e: mileage, hours etc, the lubricating oil loses is lubricative / cooling purposes due to life expiry / old age. Its not a conspiracy, Thats a fact of life.
Ask your brother if he would you expect his body to function over 80+ years on the same blood/oxygen it had from day 1? I think not! The same goes for an engine, an engine does not have an oil purifier or replenisher, it needs fresh oil and a filter, approximatey every 6,000 miles. and If it aint changed, then it deteriorates! Changing an oil filter (and the oil!) is easy, once the person who is doing it knows what they are doing. To some people, its as simple as changing a lightbulb, ONCE YOU ARE PREPARED TO GET VERY DIRTY!!! For most people, a service means you drop the car to your mechanic. Simple as! It takes about an hour to do a DIY oil %26amp; filter change, and if its done right, its as good a job as a mechanic would do. But f your not sure or unwilling to get dirty/hands-on, then its a mechanics job andyou'll pay for the privelidge.
Oil change shops are in business to supply a service for those who work 9-5, Mon-Fri, and either do not know how to, do not have the time to, or will not do an oil change themselves. Oil changes can get become VERY dirty and you will not walk away from one with clean hands or clothes. Take note! Sometimes you have to obtain specialist tools to remove the oil filter as they get very, very tight. The bottom line is that if you know what your doing, then DIY. If you want someone else to do it, then you pay them for the service provided. Nuff said folks! Its as simple as that!
The mileage recommendation between service intervals depends on manufactuers and wether your vehilce has a turbocharged engine or not. My own service interval advice FOR A NORMALLY ASPIRATED petrol engine is every 8,000 miles, its 6,000 miles for a diesel (non turbo) and 4,000 miles for a turbodiesel. Best advice is that **IF** your vehicle has a turbocharger (most diesels built 2000+ have turbo's), then I would strongly recommend that you change the oil at the extreme most every,5,000 miles without fail, otherwise after a few years of of intervals of 12,000-17,000 miles per service, you may end up causing premature wear/damage, which will possibly result in buying a new turbo, and at worsta whole new engine, because turbocharger bearings may fail due to proper lubrication and the engine can race beyond red-line revs running solely on the engine oil (@ 9,000-11,000rpm,, and as a result of such high revving without oil will without a doubt seize the engine, the engine may also ingest shredded metal filings from the failed/damaged turbine and may cause the engine to ingest metal filings/pieces of failed parts, possibly renderring the engine beyond economic repair. Thats not taking into account the main bearing / crankshaft and piston damage caused through a lack of oil. Not a very nice thing to happen to anyone - and you wont have much change out of $3,000 as a result of an episode like this, due to the %26quot;saving%26quot; of a $100 service every 4,000 miles
Whilst I would agree to some extent that manufacturers like to extend their %26quot;recommended%26quot; service intervals further than an industry recommended oil change average of every 10,000 miles, mainly to to make their products sell better as they %26quot;require less servicing%26quot; (and therefore less cost to the consumer in the short-medium term) which to a certain extent would be a debatable fact perhaps contributing to the argument that there is a %26quot;conspiracy%26quot;, in actual fact some cases some manufacturers have recommended service intervals up to 17,000 miles - this is insanity - because a turbocharger has oil feed pipes, the same as arteries in your body, and like cholesterol develops in arteries, once the oil becomes inefficient through lack of changing, the gunge and slime generated from the old oil forms against the side of the pipework - and eventually chokes your turbocharger of fresh oil, causing it over time to fail, which in effect is the engine equivalent of a fatal heart attack, in short words the turbocharger is the heart any turbocharged engine and without it, the engine cannot survive
Your brother quite frankly, doesnt know a thing about cars or servicing!!! Tell him to buy a reference manual for Petrol Lawnmowers, then he can start quoting bout the finer points of motor mechanics!! Otherwise he's better to keep quiet!!!
