Too old to change oil ?

[Fitzmotor]

62 and still do everything, it hurts more these days though, I dont care for the oil and the mess anymore, it takes me longer as I'm not in a hurry and I try to keep things clean, not to mention the Ranger is not a quick oil change, I'm one of the guys who pulls the left front tire to get the filter.

The techs at the dealer are not the same level of tech from days of old.

The wife and thankfully gear head chick, sees oil pouring out from under the daughters car when she went to pick it up, runs up and tells them to shut it off.

They push it back and tell her it was a defective oil filter, she says "I'm not picking it up now, I will have my husband do that"

I show up and go straight in the shop, (I'm still in my tech uniform) I'm looking in the drain tray at all the filters, no bad filters, but there is one that looks like the gasket was just put back in, I find the service mgr I tell him "I've been a tech for 40 years, it appears the tech double gasketed the filter, I looked at the filters, I dont see a defective one" he starts to stammer and says "what were you doing in the shop?" "looking for the defective filter, that's what you told my wife"

I know their pay is based on customer satisfaction, I said "I'll make you a deal, I wont flame you on the survey, but you need to stop BSing me, double gasket correct?" he finally admits it, I ended up with about $340 in free services and a bunch of free oil changes, I laughed, "whats the chance of it happening twice", I never went back unless it was a recall.

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[Blue Streak]

Just turned 72. Just did my first oil & filter change on our 21 CR V, first 4 were free from dealer. So what's that tell you. Also cabin & air filters are so easy for the super inflated price of having it done. Like others slow and steady just takes longer. I'm in it for the long haul.

 

[Grumpaw]

Just turned 72. Just did my first oil & filter change on our 21 CR V, first 4 were free from dealer. So what's that tell you. Also cabin & air filters are so easy for the super inflated price of having it done. Like others slow and steady just takes longer. I'm in it for the long haul.

Yeah, for oil/filter, air filter, cabin filter, dealers charge enough to pay for my mtg for a month, while I can do it for around $60.00
which includes syn. oil.

 

[Billythekidd]

I am 70... and still do all the oil, filters, wash and waxing and maint. on my vehicles... I notice that getting on the floor is not nearly as hard as getting up off the floor...

 

[meistreguy]

Considered posting as a poll, how old is too old ? Well today there was an ominous sign I am on the cusp, had changed oil in 2 family cars in the last 6 weeks and both non events, that ended today as I badly located the collection pan, positioning it to rear of the drain plug vs to the side and a gusher created a disgusting oily mess on the garage floor, followed by an extended period of profanity. ( our Hyundai has a fumoto) I'm 71 and have been changing oil countless times since around 15 yrs old. Oh and to add insult to injury I had a slight miss with the filter, triggering another period of extended profanity. This change was done at 7k miles, monitor said I had 1.5k miles to go, however if the oil was sent out for an analysis I'd be surprised if there wasn't shearing as it seemed a bit thin - judging how quickly it spread all over the floor, lol.

So who is the oldest grease monkey on here ?

I am 56 and still change my oil. I have sciatica and bad shoulders from calcium deposits so I am not in a hurry. Since I put on the 2 1/2 inch leveling kit it makes it a lot easier to get to the filter and also get underneath with no ramps.

 

[Dgc333]

I am 70 and do all the repairs and maintenance on my vehicles. The only thing different than when I was 25 is it takes longer to get up off the floor.

My wife did me a big favor about 15 years ago when she bought me a lift. ?

As a retirement project I bought a Factory Five Racing 33 Speedstar kit. Here is a picture in its current state. It is running and driving but fitting body parts has been slow going. I walk away when the urge to put a hammer through it starts. I want to paint it myself but the wife insists I have it done professionally and as time goes on I am beginning to agree with her.

 

[emesel]

I'm 70. When I bought my 2019 Ranger in 2019 I decided to buy the Premium Maintenance Plan because I didn't want to be crawling underneath my vehicles any more (been working on cars since I was 15); I'm just not enthusiastic about the up and down on the ground. I had the first oil/filter change near where I worked. When I brought it in to a different dealer for the second, the guy asked me if this was my first oil change. Apparently, the other dealer didn't change the filter the first time the oil was changed (factory filters have different markings).
So, now I mark the date on the filter after they replace it, and I check to ensure they put all the fasteners back in the splash guard.
Fast forward to a month ago. I check after they give me the truck back and I find oil dripping all over the place, a big, oily footprint on the door sill above the rocker panel, and everything that was in the glove box is now on the floor in front of the passenger seat ... along with the mechanic's (I use this term loosely) pry tool (apparently he needed this to change the cabin filter, which is included in my maintenance plan???).
I called the service manager out to look at the mess. He couldn't help but agree these things shouldn't have happened. It took his crew two tries to wipe the underneath to my liking (not that it was good, I just gave up).
When I got home, I looked more closely, and I saw the mechanic just tore the splash guard to access the filter; didn't remove any of the fasteners holding it on. So, I called the service manager and asked him to order me a new one. Long story a bit short, the new splash guard was just installed, but they didn't install all the fasteners that hold it on, which I specifically mentioned to the service manager. So, another 15 minutes later I was able to leave.
So, I don't currently perform my own oil changes on the Ranger, but I wish I did. I do perform my own service on my Accord (oil, filter, brakes, trans fluid/filter, tire rotation).
Mark

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

In a previous life I was on a path to be a mechanic, and after a few years in the working world, decided against it. Since then I have been doing 99% of my own wrenching but never enjoy it. In fact I'd strongly dislike working on cars, but not as much as I dislike paying the exorbitant rates shops charge, and even more so when they do crappy work. I did have the dealer do my lift when I bought this truck, but mostly to reduce any warranty hassles if and when something does fail.

For oil changes I put the truck on 4 stands and do the tire rotation at the same time. Also at 52 I recently bought a creeper because I got tired of sliding/rolling around under the truck. I essentially plan on doing it as long as I am physically able.

My 84 year old father was doing all his own work until 2 years ago when he bought a brand new truck and it came with a service plan.

 

[Old Red Replacement]

I’m 77 been doing oil changes on mowers and cars, and big trucks since 12 yrs old, I changed the Ranger’s fluids in axles, differential and put on PPE pan lying in sand and grass on cardboard in Fl.
Climbing up and underCamper is fun too.

 

[dtech]

Inspiring the no of septuagerians still going strong, in retrospect my issue was largely mental , blindly placing the drain pan behind instead of to the side, hadn't screwed up in previous changes, fortunately garage floor is coated so ready to put it all behind me.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

66 1/2 here and doing my own oil changes yet. Although I’ve farmed out tire rotation’s to Discount as they’ve RoadForce balanced the tires ( Tremor with General Grabbers) So they rotate and check the RoadForce balance for $40. And probably only once or twice a year.
Will be doing first oil change on our 22 Escape PHEV this fall. But will have to rotate tires this week. 5K on it now but just under 2K on the engine and 1400 of that was a road trip back from Florida this spring. The Escape may end up being a seasonal oil change due to lack of engine miles.

 

[Nellieg]

60 - a fumato valve,car ramp, jack stands, creeper... Do rotations and oil changes, battery replacements, not much else needed to do so far... Use a mechanic on brakes and mufflers when needed. Never had much time or work area to develop the skillet to do more...thinking in retirement might spend the effort... Stuff hurts but deal with it. Had a car wrecked in a shop...my ex had a vehicle check engine light for low oil they ran and ran... Block froze up.... I have reasons to not trust many shops

 

[Ninong]

Spent my entire career as a mechanic and have the body aches to show for it. At 60, I am still capable, but prefer to have it done for me. I still add the bolt-ons and general upkeep, but I've done enough oil changes for a couple of lifetimes.

 

[Msfitoy]

At 56 I'm changing own oil and rotating tires! Was laying under the Ranger when the wife came home one saturday.....all she saw was my feet from under the Ranger......she yelled out at me if I was OK......told her I was resting watching the oil run out as I was too tired to crawl out!

I learned a trick to rotating my 33" tires when I watched a Thai girl mechanic mounting tractor tires on trucks...she rolls the tire (almost taller than her!) up close up close next to the hub with lugs aligned...then she tips the tire against the hub, shoved a long pry bar under the tire, jammed a brick under the bar/tire as a fulcrum then stepped on the bar while guiding the wheel against the lugs...once one lug landed, she just shoves the tire home and bolt on...

I've done all the crazy installs on my Ranger with one artificial hip and two arms...the rest of the heavy lifting were done by muscles between my ears lol...

 

[Strokerduster]

73..... I do all the services on my Ranger but take my wife's Edge ST to the dealer. I tried to get under it once and just don't fit......

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