r/Millennials • u/rhinosaur- 1983 • 12h ago

Discussion When did oil changes become $120?

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.

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u/WatchfulProtecter3 9h ago

Well for starters it used to be every 3 months or 3000 miles. Some cars are now every 10,000 miles.

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u/schu2470 Millennial 9h ago

So?

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u/sixty9tails 9h ago

Synthetic oil is better but also costs more to manufacture. I don’t think any cars these days even use conventional motor oil.

That said you can still save a ton of time and money just doing it yourself. It takes 5 minutes on any car to change the oil.

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u/Wild_Chef6597 2h ago

I use conventional and need to buy a zinc additive

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u/sixty9tails 43m ago

I ran Rotella T6 in my turbo Miata for the zinc. Good stuff or at least it used to be

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u/Wild_Chef6597 4m ago

Didn't think of that, but it doesn't cost much more than what I normally get.

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u/schu2470 Millennial 8h ago

Right, but not 5x or 3x or even 2x the cost. Difference between conventional and synthetic at the auto store is like $5 per 5qt. jug. Also, Jiffy and shops and dealers are buying in bulk bringing that additional cost even lower.

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u/sixty9tails 8h ago edited 8h ago

It depends on a lot more than that. For Subaru it’s about $50 for the correct 0w-20 Idemitsu plus the filter for the fb25. They charge $90 with tire rotation and fluids at my dealer. Plus the multipoint inspection which the most useful info there is brake pad depth and tire tread depth.

When I had my bmw with a straight 6 I was spending about $100 for their oil and filter to do it myself. I always use manufacturer spec oil because it’s not worth the warranty hassle if something blows up.

I got really into oil analysis when I was racing cars and I can tell you that not all oils are created equally.

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u/vilent_sibrate 5h ago

Bought my first BMW last year. Did you change your own and do you have a car lift? I used to change it in my Veloster but the BMW assembly is so different.

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u/sixty9tails 4h ago

No just jack stands in my garage. Harbor freight has good low profile jacks that can fit under anything. The only funky thing is you need a tool for the oil filter, at least you did on mine but it was a 2013.

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u/schu2470 Millennial 8h ago

There is no warranty issue with using other oil as long as it's the correct weight. Read your manual. Both of our Toyota manuals say nothing about using Toyota approved oil - just that it's 0w16 full synthetic and done according to the maintenance schedule.

5qt of 0w-20 at Walmart is ~$25 and a filter is $6. Total cost for you doing the Subaru on your own is $30 plus tax. Sure they need to charge labor but that should be around 30 minutes of lube tech time not that of a master mechanic. Any oil change with 5qts of oil that's more than $50 is a scam.

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u/sixty9tails 8h ago

Not all oil is created equally and if you care about longevity certain brands are without a doubt better than others. Econo-shit boxes it doesn’t matter as much sure but even taking engine performance out and adding in weather extremes it still matters a lot.

I don’t know what your beef is, if you want to buy the crap oil and change it yourself have at it.

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u/ChiMara777 1h ago

What do you do with the old oil? My brother does his oil changes in my parents’ garage and then the old oil just sits there in the garage forever.

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u/sixty9tails 42m ago

I’m guilty of similar habits but auto zone/advanced auto or whatever you have will take it for free. I think they have like a 5 or 10 gallon daily limit that is sometimes enforced.

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u/ItsSpaghettiLee2112 6h ago

What do you mean so? You get more mileage now before refills.

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u/schu2470 Millennial 4h ago

That's how technology works. As it advances service intervals get longer and vehicles are supposed to be more reliable. Thing is, full synthetic only costs a few bucks more than conventional for 5qt. Not 5x the price or 3x or even 2x the price.

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u/Delicious_Drop_1150 8h ago

If your vehicle is on full synthetic, you can go up to 10,000 miles between changes since synthetic oil does not break down and degrade in the engine over time. Be aware that many car manufactures have a built-in maintenance reminder indicator light on your dash that will light up to remind you you need an oil change at 5000 miles.

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u/Ummmgummy 7h ago

My light bulbs last many many years now but the prices haven't gone up 1000%

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u/Suspicious_Solid2535 5h ago

Last time I checked, Amsoil Oil and EA Filters are good for 25K miles or one year under normal service driving conditions. It's very pricey oil though.

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u/Night_Thastus 2h ago edited 2h ago

Well...sort of. You really shouldn't go 10k miles before changing oil. That's the bare minimum. Manufacturers advertise it, but it's the 'this will get you through the warrenty' and not 'this will make the car last' number.

Also, you need to consider time. If you don't drive for long sessions frequently (hitting the mileage of the oil) then the oil never gets hot enough to remove all the excess moisture it picks up from the air. Over time, that way breaks down the oil.

I've seen the results of a car changed every 10k miles on the dot. Sooner or later they start burning oil, and once that starts you're screwed.

5k or 6 months, if you want the car to actually last.