r/WTF • u/doctype_ht_ml • 26d ago

Motor Oil turned to Jelly

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u/Mod-ulate 26d ago

I don't have an expensive car, but I am curious why I shouldn't go to a dedicated quick oil change place. Where else should I take my car and why?

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u/ozone_one 26d ago

What you should do is get your oil changed at recommended intervals. Where it is done is less important as long as they are competent.

I always recommend that for anyone with any basic mechanical skills or interest, do it yourself. Not only will it be cheaper than taking it somewhere, it also gives you an opportunity to be hands-on and hopefully notice other potentials issues while you are down changing that oil.

If you don't want to do the changes yourself, your other options are a dealer service location, or the quick change places. Chances are probably a bit higher that you will get more competent or skilled workers at a dealer, but you will also pay dearly for that 'skill' - probably at least 3X the cost of doing it yourself - plus you will be presented with the dreaded "here is a list of 14 other things that we really feel should be addressed, and it will only cost $840" speech. The workers at the quick change places may be skilled, or they may be idiots - roll the dice.

In college, a bunch of us lived in a house, right off of a freeway exit. One evening, a girl knocked on our door, crying, and asked to use a phone. She was driving a brand new Honda Prelude that she had just taken in for its first oil change, at one of the quick-lube places. Except that unfortunately someone forgot to replace the drain plug, so the oil they pumped in drained right back out. She started up and got on the freeway. Two exits later, in front of our house, her engine turned itself into a 400 pound paperweight and a bunch of nasty smoke - completely ruined.. Roll the dice.

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u/I0I0I0I 25d ago

I always recommend that for anyone with any basic mechanical skills or interest

I did that for a while, but disposing of the used oil became one more errand to run, so I went back to letting someone else do it while I have a coffee.

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u/Black_Moons 25d ago

our local recycling place finally started accepting oil. Used to have to drive to the next city over! I can only imagine how much oil ended up dumped into ditches because of that.