Oil changes take 10 minutes. I do them on everything except my wife's car. I buy oil by the case and filters 2 at the time so everything in on the shelf when I need it.
Washes are the same and don't take long.
As far as spending time with the kids, if I'm in the shop, they usually are too. Learning valuable skills, so they aren't sheep to the service wolves when they grow up.
Wall-e wrote: In reply to Joe Gearin: I don't wash my cars at home because it turns the driveway into a mud pit but I do usually do it myself at the place that does my oil changed. I only do the automatic wash in the winter. The wife will drive through it more often since I won't wash a car more than once a week and she likes hers extra happy in bad weather.
To be fair....I live in FL, where washing a car year-round is no problem. When I lived in colder places, I'd use automated car washes in the Winter----well, at least for my daily drivers. I'd always use the "brushless" kind though---as I've always been paranoid about getting scratches from the big nasty floppy curtain kind.
I have a power washer and hot/cold water in my garage. I just spray the cars down in my driveway in the winter with it
Toyman01 wrote: Oil changes take 10 minutes. I do them on everything except my wife's car. I buy oil by the case and filters 2 at the time so everything in on the shelf when I need it. Washes are the same and don't take long. As far as spending time with the kids, if I'm in the shop, they usually are too. Learning valuable skills, so they aren't sheep to the service wolves when they grow up.
^This^ I think it is imperative that my kids not only know how to drive a manual(The first three all have three pedal cars), but how to do all the basic maintenance. They can make their own decisions later on about who changes their oil, but they will know how to do it themselves.
I have never been offended enough by a single article in a magazine to make me consider canceling an entire subscription.
1988RedT2 wrote: It's a desperate attempt to preserve what is left of the American economy. Our workforce, which was once technically proficient, is now largely made up of minimum wage burger flippers with Liberal Arts degrees. If we can't put some of these geniuses to work changing your oil and installing batteries, what else would they do but live in their parents' basement, play video games, and collect welfare?
some of us liberal arts degree holders live in the attic and collect unemployment! how dare you assume basement!? im above that!!
D2W wrote: ^This^ I think it is imperative that my kids not only know how to drive a manual(The first three all have three pedal cars), but how to do all the basic maintenance. They can make their own decisions later on about who changes their oil, but they will know how to do it themselves.
im half tempted to start the whole stick shift argument here...
AUTOS > MANUAL
In reply to SilverFleet:
lol, in all seriousness i used to get scared by the whole 'new cars have computers!' narrative. i concur, its almost easier for newer cars if you can use google and find all the little work arounds.
I've had an idiot ruin an oil pan by running the drain plug on with an impact set to 'kill'. Because of that and the fact that I like to use the time it takes the oil to drain to give everything a good once over are why I do my own. And it takes less time overall to DIY anyways. Never had a car where the plugs and/or battery were hard enough to consider farming out.
I loathe washing cars, however. Spend at least two hours making it look perfect, and 5 feet out of the driveway it looks like E36 M3 again. So even in the warm months, I'll visit the touchless car wash at double or more the frequency I hand wash.
I remember the author from when I used to read Car and Driver with some frequency. He did a story once on doing a 7.3 Powerstroke swap into his OJ era Bronco. And by 'doing' the swap I mean he basically wrote the article about hanging around a shop, being annoying while the mechanics did the actual work (not even joking.)
He may be getting told what articles to write by an editor.
Maybe the average readership of Popular Mechanics is up into their 60s and the article is a way to give them a cognizant exit from feeling the need to do their own basic maintenance?
Also, I assume by "car wash pros" you're all talking about your children. I send them under the car in old clothes with the hose and a short brush to do my undercarriage wash.
The oldest is just about old enough to be a lawn care pro, too. I can't wait.
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