Change Your Own Oil?

You better check the amount of oil you need and buckets to store the oil.

And how much it will cost.

Lots of rags and 5 gallon buckets.

Some trucks require a CPU to reset the change oil indicator most do not.

Oil changes may vary on where and what weights you are hauling.

1000 miles in the woods from anyone could be a problem.

 

Nothing to it. Pay someone $300 or DIY in about an hour saving $150. No different than a car other than it takes more oil and you also have a fuel filter. Get someone to show you where all the grease fittings are.

 

Disposing of the old oil can become a hassle

 

If you are pretty mechanical (and it sounds like you are) you should be ok. You'll need a method to deal with 10 gallons of oil that's going to come pouring out when you pull the plug.
You can get a drain gizmo that lets you stop and start the flow, so that you don't get a big mess. They work well. Before I had that, I used what I called my "oil-o-boggan" I bought a cheap plastic toboggan specifically for catching the oil. It worked well so that I didn't get a big mess on the shop floor, then I just had to transfer it to pails after. Tip 1: use care that you get the drain plug snug without overdoing it, and for pete's sake don't crossthread it (easy to do on a lot of them, fine thread). You'll need a big filter wrench to get the oil filter off. Be sure to lube the gasket good or it can be a stinker to get loose next time, you might end up destroying the filter and using chains and boomers to get it off. (How do I know this?. Greasing is important too, I make sure to get under and do the 5 u joints every 1000-1500 miles because if one of them lets go do to lack of grease, it's a bad news day, which was preventable. Nobody is going to take an interest in your truck the same as you will, and it's good to be under there frequently so that you can keep an eye on things and maybe catch problems ahead of time. That's my thoughts. (Welcome to the world of being an o/o BTW).

 

That's a typo, I hope? I did mine every 15K and all the original joints were still in good shape at 800K miles.

 

And don't forget, if you drain, store or sell 50 gallons or more of waste oil, the EPA considers you a class one generator, and you had better be registered for such actions. Then you better have the required equipment to do it by their standards. Yeah, it's really simple, until they show up at your door. Now why do businesses have to charge an environtmental surcharge? Don't forget you must have an EPA approved catch basin around your waste oil storage as well. There is no limit on the size of approved containers, only mandatory criteria in relations to spillage of containers. Also know that anyone can report what you do to the EPA without repercussions. Then there is the regulations on how to properly dispose of your filters. Guess you better stay off the radar, and don't make your neighbors mad. Then there's the fact of being on an international forum declaring what you're doing and some with their location. I forgot to mention the amount of liabilty insurance you need in case of spillage clean up.

 

Why do it yourself when by the time you spend your time on your labor and buying the oil, filters, grease, etc, a local reliable reputable lube shop will cost you the same. I use to do all the work myself, now to a point you learn through out the years as an O/O, when it either more cost effeceint to do it yourself or not, UNLESS you buy in BULK then I might say it might be worth doing yourself. Good example: I will do all my brake work. there you would save a enough where it would be worth it doing it yourself, among other jobs.

P.S. It cost me around $230.00 for full service with CAT filters.

 

dave that's my usual cost, also for a cat. if I do my ownthe chepest here I get my mobil delvac is 10.87 a gallon for mobil delvac, filters 2 fuel and 1808 oil run around 60 to 65 dollars, then two tubes of grease , I got 180.00 in materials and ten gallons of used oil. I only save 50 to 60 bucks doing it myself, I rather save it for on the road in downtime, not doing that at home.