Oil change question

[boxcarbill]

My dealer does the oil changes right, not getting any waste oil on the cowling under the oil filter.
Once while visiting out of state another Nissan dealer made an unbelievable mess with their oil change. I had falling drops of old oil under the car for 5 days, not to mention oil on everything inside and out the goon touched, including the steering wheel, shift knob, and door handles. http://www.lougheadnissan.com/

What luck have any had with having others do your oil change?

[chompsticks]

I usually never go to the dealership, mainly because I do not know if they can get my car through or not....

I usually go to Kauffman tires to get my oil change and it's been great most of the time... I do tend to find that they leave oil prints on the hood and fenders sometimes. And once, only once, they did not tighten my oil cap all the way and I was leaking oil. I'd do it myself but its a PITA.

[boxcarbill]

I take the plastic cowl off when I do it.

[frankoV]

taking that cowl off the first time was a pain . . . easier with experience -- I guess.

[Promise Land]

i cut the cowl around the oil filter location.

[boxcarbill]

Next time I hope to replace the plastic clip plugs that hold the cowl on with speed nuts and bolts.

http://c1385762.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspac ... -83709.jpg

Cutting the cowl is an interesting solution but I think I'll pass on that for now at least. I once saw the dealer mechanic use a piece of cardboard to deflect waste oil into the waste oil container thus keeping it off the cowl.

[sooner4x4]

What luck have any had with having others do your oil change?

I have had no luck with others doing my oil change, that is why I do it myself. Anyone with a high expectation of an oil change being done correctly, that has taken their car in for an oil change has been disappointed. If you are not familiar with oil changes and don't check stuff after getting it back from the shop, you just won't know what all was done poorly.

I do 99% of my own oil changes on four differernt vehicles. On the rare occaision I have done an oil change after it was previously changed by a shop or dealership, I have usually encountered some type of problem; oil pan drain plug too tight or too loose, same with filter, lots of splashed oil from previous change. I have checked the dipstick after a dealership oil change and seen seriously overfilled crankcases. At the dealership you would expect the correct oil weight and proper filter, but that is not always the case at a shop.

An oil change is so easy to do correctly, saddly it is often done with no attention paid to detail, probably because someone was in a great hurry and/or just didn't care.

[boxcarbill]

BINGO!

[08versailles]

It sure is challenging to change that filter cleanly when it never drains properly. I gotta try the cardboard trick, but I change it on the gravel so a few drips are ok.
Until my powertrain warranty ran out, I used an experienced local wrench. No problems