That's great because oil threads never seem to end.

 

RTFM? lol

 

Let Kia do all oil changes so you have tracked history. On cars that aren't using a ton of synthetic oil, I'd bargain to say you barely save money doing it yourself. My dealership does oil changes for free.

I can almost guarantee my perfect maintenance history at Kia is what let me get a new engine and what has led me to be taken care of a lot from the dealership. Such as brand new wheels at 60k miles (for an SXL), for free.

 

Well since my dealership (or any of the local dealerships in my area, for that matter) doesn't do free periodic oil changes, I'd bargain to say that I'd be saving a ton of money by doing my own oil changes using high-quality synthetic oil and filter.

Good for you that you have such a wonderful relationship with your local dealer that you can get free oil changes and a free set of wheels out of it.

 

I'd like to see the math, because in almost all cases that I've seen, you save barely any and don't save any after indirect costs. Doing it yourself takes time as well which is never accounted for and is probably worth more than the savings per hour it takes you to change your oil.

It is a good peace of mind for this to never happen.

Most people in this thread are saying it is $30 for an oil change at the dealer.

A 5-quart (which I believe is how much is in the Optima) is $23+tax. So you save a like $5, which you have to then spend on the filter. So you actually come out at the same exact price. But then you have to account for time loss of spending your time on it when your time is more valuable spent elsewhere. Now you're losing money.

I understand changing own oil as I did it when I had a car that made sense to do it in (a car that was $90 in oil costs due to displacement size of the engine), but in a normal/average car, just pay the dealership and they can never dispute anything about maintenance.

In the end, you do what you wanna do, but I just figure I show a different perspective because everyone thinks they save a ton of money by not just letting the dealer do it. Then I always see people get screwed because something goes wrong and the dealership says oil wasn't maintained. Yes, you'll have receipts. But receipts don't prove you actually did the work and you still have to fight it, sometimes legally.

 

I understand that end of the conversation, but I personally change my own oil, so I KNOW it is done right, and the oil I want used is used. Cost wise, it's pretty much a wash - so I don't do it to save money, but I like knowing exactly what was done. I have seen may times where a dealer tech has messed up a car - like not tightening the drain plug and oil is leaking out leaving a line from the dealer to where it stopped. It's personal preference I suppose. In MOST cases, having the oil changed at the dealer is fine. I don't mind spending the 15 minutes to do it myself.

 

Just remember that you can make a mistake too and it won't be covered. Dealer making a mistake means it's covered.

 

Very rarely would the owner make a mistake changing their own oil. I change mine, 5-30 syn blend + Kia oil filter $14. I do it faster than the dealership and no need to drive to there, wait, have them put the wrong viscosity in the car, plus they usually use dino, which I don't mind, but the synthetic would be quite a bit more and then drive back home.

Years ago the daughter purchased a new Jeep Hemi Grand with a service contract and after receiving a call that the oil change was done, my son in law noticed they never changed the filter as he had marked the outside up near the block. Called the dealership and after some time, the excuse was that they were confused in the service area and thought it had been done.

 

That's why I do my own work. As the owner (and enthusiast at that), I have more attention to detail, and am willing to put the extra time and effort to do it right. It's not just another car I need to get out of the bay before I go home for the day.

 

Very well said!!!!!

 

I'm not knocking anyone who prefers to have oil changes done at the dealer; I will say that you'd be hard-pressed to argue that one can regularly and easily get a full-synthetic 5-quart oil and oil filter change done at any dealership or third-party autoshop (e.g., Jiffy Lube) for just $30--not unless they are offering it at such a low price as a loss-leader in order to get you in the door so that they can try to sell you on more profitable auto maintenance services.

As to the *time* element--well if I wasn't so OCD when it comes to doing my own oil changes, I could do it in ~15 minutes. I don't know how close your dealership is from your home but I would argue that for most folks they'll have to spend at least that much time driving to and from the dealership to drop the car off and/or time spent waiting for them to do the oil change.

Finally--as to why *I* would rather do my own oil changes? The few times I've had the dealership perform it (as part as a bundle of other services and/or done as a result of engine-related repairs/services), every single time I drive off after picking up my car I can smell burnt oil because the service techs are almost always about trying to get the job done as quickly as possible so neatness isn't the number-one concern for them. And I imagine you've read anecdotal stories of oil change places either not installing the drain plug at all or correctly, forgetting to put the oil filler cap or dipstick back in place, leaving tools in the engine compartment (I actually found a small screwdriver in the engine bay of one of my cars one time--it was a miracle it didn't find its way into the drive belt area), cross-threading the drain plug, or torqueing the plug so tight that it damages the oil pan to the point that oil slowly drips from the plug.

 

I am an "old" car guy and have done my oil changes for over 60 years. Not to long ago I was building Ford FE race engines for fun and for friends, so doing oil changes is no big thing. I have a nice air conditioned and heated garage, where I can get out of the weather and do the maintenance that is needed. I have folders on all our vehicles and keep good records. Knowing the job was done right and quality parts were used is more important to me than the cost.
I use Mobil one full synthetic for our Corvette. Motorcraft 5w-20 for our Jeep and now will use it for the Kia, and use Rotella T6 5w-40 full synthetic for our F250 6.7 diesel pickup. I use Valvoline VR1 full synthetic for our 1,017 hp Ford Falcon.
When I purchase a new vehicle, the first oil change is at 1,000 miles, then depending on the use, it can be 3,000 mile to 5,000 mile intervals or in the case of our Falcon, once a year which about 100 miles.

 

Wow, I bet that 1017-hp Falcon turns a few heads...

 

To many turned heads. Our local track does not like us running below 10.0 seconds without a NHRA license.

 

I had a NHRA comp license, but with 1000+ HP and the weight of the car, how can you not run under 10 unless you let the car idle down the track.
Just curious, have nitrous?

 

What I did was retard the timing six degrees, and ran it to the rev limiter twice, and it still ran 9.808 at 132 mph. It slowed down six mph and 3 tenths of a second. Yes I have a 250 hp nitrous setup. The engine makes 767 hp without nitrous. I can't run nitrous until I get a NHRA license and full fire suit, because it would put us in the low 9's or high 8's.

767hp plus 250hp nitrous for a total of 1,017 hp.

Here is our engine on Keith Craft's dyno.

 

Changed mine yesterday. Kia filter and Ford synthetic blend 5W-30. If you want it done right, do it yourself.

 

Hey all! We've decided to keep condensing these threads and since we have a massive thread on oil, it's appropriate to keep sending the discussion there.

Please continue this discussion in this thread.