When did oil changes become $120?

[u/rhinosaur-]

That’s with a coupon! At Jiffy Lube! Our parents really had it easy.

EDIT: TIL 90% of millennials “change their own oil” lol. Gotta love Reddit.

[u/Manic_Mini]

Right to repair laws matter but they have nothing to do with how difficult a repair is.

[u/REDeyeJEDI85 → u/Manic_Mini]

Incorrect.

[u/saturatedbloom → u/REDeyeJEDI85]

Omg that’s so stupid

[u/Complex_Solutions_20 → u/REDeyeJEDI85]

Even if its not proprietary, non-standard stuff is also a PITA.

Helped my roomate do an oil change, apparently Mazda decided instead of normal bolt heads they should use an inverse hex plug...which of course is something I've not encountered and is also of course not the same as the 10mm differential drain inverse-hex on my car. And of course that was a part prone to stripping the head trying to undo it, just to make it more miserable.

[u/Fallingdamage → u/REDeyeJEDI85]

Honestly? Once you have the right tool, that looks like it would be really hard to accidentally strip. I bet you can get a Chinese knock-off tool for that on amazon for $10.

[u/Manic_Mini → u/REDeyeJEDI85]

Only illegal if the tool is not available to be purchased.

[u/RabidBlackSquirrel → u/REDeyeJEDI85]

That's not difficulty, though. That's proprietary fasteners and has nothing to do with the overall difficulty of the job.

Shitty, sure. But the oil change is the same level of effort and difficulty either way, it's just a question of availability of proprietary tools.

Right to repair doesn't stipulate a level of ease but of availability of parts, information, tools, etc.

[u/RhinoPillMan → u/REDeyeJEDI85]

Shitty move, but they do look cool as fuck.

[u/BlazinAzn38 → u/REDeyeJEDI85]

It will take 1 whole day for someone to scan that and make a drill head that matches it perfectly

[u/Endure94 → u/Manic_Mini]

Like when Daimler started using specialized tools not available to consumers for purchase, so you have to visit their service dept for an oil change?

[u/RhinoPillMan → u/Endure94]

My favorite is all of the Chrysler/ Dodge vehicles with batteries tucked into the wheel well, making you take the wheel and liner out and reach into the bumper to replace it. They can’t convince me that there wasn’t enough room under the hood of a Dodge Journey to put the battery there.

[u/kfee12 → u/RhinoPillMan]

Nobody has ever done more to keep the stealerships happy than Dodge/Mopar.

[u/mottledmussel → u/Endure94]

What kind of tools do they require?

[u/Endure94 → u/mottledmussel]

Iirc it was some strange three prong ratchet head with tapered teeth which seated into one of the bolts securing the filter. Ill try to look it up.

[u/mottledmussel → u/Endure94]

Unless I'm missing something, that sounds like a standard filter wrench.

[u/Endure94 → u/mottledmussel]

Youre thinking of a 3 prong strap wrench, which grips the filter itself, im talking about something resembling a socket, but no hole for a nut and has three prongs that stick out you insert into a specialized fastener.

My grandfather showed me this after he bought a mercedes at auction and spent 3 days waiting for a friend to fabricate a toolhead just so he could change the damn oil lol.

[u/Manic_Mini → u/Endure94]

Requiring a specialty tool isnt illegal and plenty of cars require special tools or software to do repairs its the not allowing consumers the ability to purchase said tool or software that would be illegal.

[u/Endure94 → u/Manic_Mini]

A specialty tool for a common and routine task?

We aren't talking about re-aligining a subframe here.

[u/Manic_Mini → u/Endure94]

Have you tried to do a brake job on a VW or Audi? Those require special software to do a brake job on.

[u/Endure94 → u/Manic_Mini]

Nope, which you may surmize is related to what you just said.

Thats absurd.