Routine Maintenance

Russ came in from college today and it was time to change the oil in his truck. Proper maintenance on your vehicle or any other asset you own pays great dividends as it extends the life of that piece of property.  We like to change the oil ourselves. From growing up on the farm, I learned at an early age to change my own oil.  I can't recall ever bringing a vehicle to an Oil Change Service.  Changing your own oil allows you to save some money and it also keeps you grounded.  There's something about honest work and getting oil under your fingernails that keeps you from getting 'too big for your britches.'  So today I purchased 5 quarts of oil and the proper oil filter, got our ramps out, tools, and oil drain pan and popped the hood.

Shade tree maintenance

We got the ratchet and correct socket, loosened the plug and dropped the oil.  The oil was black and dirty. We write down the mileage on the inside cover of the Owner's Manual and change it according to the manufacturer's recommendations.

Dirty Oil

While we're allowing the oil to completely drain out of the oil pan, we check all the fluid levels in the truck, including radiator coolant, brake fluid, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, and windshield washer fluid. Then we inspect the belts and hoses.  Finding problems in your driveway is waaaaayyyyy better than finding them on the side of the road somewhere.  We found several places on the upper radiator hose that were rubbing on the fan shroud and had almost completely worn through.  Good thing we caught this.

Gotta get this fixed!

Once the oil finished draining, we put the plug back in, removed the old oil filter and put a new one on and then begin pouring oil back in.  We then lubricated the vehicle.

See how filthy the oil is?  It was certainly time for a change.

Black Gold

We pour the old oil through a funnel and back into the oil jug.  We'll bring this back to the store where we purchased the oil so that they can recycle it.

We drove to the local auto parts store and purchased a new hose, pulled the old one off and put the new one on.  Now we're good to go.

New upper radiator hose

The price of an oil and filter was $19.77, while the price of an oil change was priced at $26.88 at a local discount oil change shop.  Saving $7.11 is not a great sum of money, especially considering the fact that I didn't add the cost of my labor in, but every penny saved adds up AND who's to say that the attendant at the Oil Change Shop would've caught the radiator hose that was about to burst?  More importantly, it teaches my boys a good lesson about taking care of your stuff and not being afraid of getting your hands dirty.