hotfudgedetroit.com

Random Douchebag wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

No. 2. Getting the oil changed in his car at 8 a.m.

Now you might wonder why Leyland insisted on getting his car serviced on such a potentially momentous day. But you don't know Leyland if you are wondering.

"The light was on, and I was worried about it," he said. "One guy at the restaurant asked me if was I nuts, wondering why I didn't have someone to take it in for me.

"I said, "No, I don't have someone else do it. I take care of stuff myself."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2012 ... z29bKMeSec

No, if you took care of stuff yourself, you'd change your own oil.

Of all the mechanical tasks, I don't think the ROI is there on changing your own oil.

Walmart does it for $10 less than I can do it myself but I still change my own oil for some reason.

RoryKasel wrote:

Random Douchebag wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

No. 2. Getting the oil changed in his car at 8 a.m.

Now you might wonder why Leyland insisted on getting his car serviced on such a potentially momentous day. But you don't know Leyland if you are wondering.

"The light was on, and I was worried about it," he said. "One guy at the restaurant asked me if was I nuts, wondering why I didn't have someone to take it in for me.

"I said, "No, I don't have someone else do it. I take care of stuff myself."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2012 ... z29bKMeSec

No, if you took care of stuff yourself, you'd change your own oil.

Of all the mechanical tasks, I don't think the ROI is there on changing your own oil.

Walmart does it for $10 less than I can do it myself but I still change my own oil for some reason.

How much is that oil change? When a shop buys oil in bulk (barrels) they can usually mark the price way down. Cruddy oil filters facilitate that as well, and it's not hard to imagine Walmart being able to find/extort the cheapest of the cheap.

I bang out my own oil changes for around $15 or 20 in material cost, and I'm sure that I'm saving money each time. These days I have my oldest kid doing the job. Part of his training, you understand. But I wince every time he gears up for a run up the ramps. Hasn't happened to date, but I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before he drives right over and off, and then he'll have to learn how to use the floor jack.

There's a wide range of prices for oil changes out there. Predicting when an LOF, as we call 'em, will come due and when & where the driver will have it done is one of the voodoo things that keep me up nights. Anyway, ten bucks or 9.95 is about at low as they go, and in some places and for some vehicles you'll pay 80 bucks, but you're getting your ass kissed and full synthetic oil for that price. Generally, expect to pay around $30 for an oil change at a dealer, or bring your own materials and a beer over to my place and I'll have the kid do it for nothing.

We have a dealership in town that advertises a ten-dollar oil change. Ten bucks. Part of the reason that I do so much of my own work, be it on the car or making things for around the house, is because i want things done my way and I don't want to sink an unnecessary amount of time & agony into failed shot at convenience. This dang store, though, attracts old guys by the dozen, maybe even the hundreds, and so on the days where they have the special you'll see a double line of cars running out of the garage, across the parking lot, and into our equivalent to Grand River. This is what I've found to be true of things offered well below market: madhouse lines and huge timesinks. Counting only the dollars, well, ten dollars is cheaper than what I can do. But when I do it I don't have worry about some dunce stripping the oil pan plug, and I'm done and cleaned up in less than 30 minutes.

RoryKasel wrote:

Random Douchebag wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

No. 2. Getting the oil changed in his car at 8 a.m.

Now you might wonder why Leyland insisted on getting his car serviced on such a potentially momentous day. But you don't know Leyland if you are wondering.

"The light was on, and I was worried about it," he said. "One guy at the restaurant asked me if was I nuts, wondering why I didn't have someone to take it in for me.

"I said, "No, I don't have someone else do it. I take care of stuff myself."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2012 ... z29bKMeSec

No, if you took care of stuff yourself, you'd change your own oil.

Of all the mechanical tasks, I don't think the ROI is there on changing your own oil.

Walmart does it for $10 less than I can do it myself but I still change my own oil for some reason.

It is a very slim financial savings. I can change the oil in our two cars for about $30. I'm not even going to get started on the 3k mile oil change scam.

Roquefort Robert wrote:

RoryKasel wrote:

Random Douchebag wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

No. 2. Getting the oil changed in his car at 8 a.m.

Now you might wonder why Leyland insisted on getting his car serviced on such a potentially momentous day. But you don't know Leyland if you are wondering.

"The light was on, and I was worried about it," he said. "One guy at the restaurant asked me if was I nuts, wondering why I didn't have someone to take it in for me.

"I said, "No, I don't have someone else do it. I take care of stuff myself."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2012 ... z29bKMeSec

No, if you took care of stuff yourself, you'd change your own oil.

Of all the mechanical tasks, I don't think the ROI is there on changing your own oil.

Walmart does it for $10 less than I can do it myself but I still change my own oil for some reason.

It is a very slim financial savings. I can change the oil in our two cars for about $30. I'm not even going to get started on the 3k mile oil change scam.

Most manuals for the new cars suggest that you just watch the dashboard lght and change the oil then. The car's computer counts the number of engine revolutions and then sets off the light when a threshold has been crossed. There's variance across the vehicles, segments, and OEMs, but between 7 and 9k isn't uncommon. Most drivers ignore the light. I do, too. 5K, baby, and yes I of all people should know better. 3k does no harm to the vehicle, but usually it's way earlier than necessary.

Roquefort Robert wrote:

RoryKasel wrote:

Random Douchebag wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

No. 2. Getting the oil changed in his car at 8 a.m.

Now you might wonder why Leyland insisted on getting his car serviced on such a potentially momentous day. But you don't know Leyland if you are wondering.

"The light was on, and I was worried about it," he said. "One guy at the restaurant asked me if was I nuts, wondering why I didn't have someone to take it in for me.

"I said, "No, I don't have someone else do it. I take care of stuff myself."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2012 ... z29bKMeSec

No, if you took care of stuff yourself, you'd change your own oil.

Of all the mechanical tasks, I don't think the ROI is there on changing your own oil.

Walmart does it for $10 less than I can do it myself but I still change my own oil for some reason.

It is a very slim financial savings. I can change the oil in our two cars for about $30. I'm not even going to get started on the 3k mile oil change scam.

I can rebuild an engine, but I take the cars to Walmart for the oil changes. Their bulk oil meets the current API SN standard. There's no value, IMO, to more expensive oils for the typical car engine. Sure, there's benefits to the synthetics and blends, as well as extra cost, but I've got two cars with over 180K miles each and haven't seen a meaningful drop in oil pressure or compression test values.

I'll do the more involved repairs where I can save real money, but I'll let the lube monkey do the LOF.

thunderstruck wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

RoryKasel wrote:

Random Douchebag wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

No. 2. Getting the oil changed in his car at 8 a.m.

Now you might wonder why Leyland insisted on getting his car serviced on such a potentially momentous day. But you don't know Leyland if you are wondering.

"The light was on, and I was worried about it," he said. "One guy at the restaurant asked me if was I nuts, wondering why I didn't have someone to take it in for me.

"I said, "No, I don't have someone else do it. I take care of stuff myself."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2012 ... z29bKMeSec

No, if you took care of stuff yourself, you'd change your own oil.

Of all the mechanical tasks, I don't think the ROI is there on changing your own oil.

Walmart does it for $10 less than I can do it myself but I still change my own oil for some reason.

It is a very slim financial savings. I can change the oil in our two cars for about $30. I'm not even going to get started on the 3k mile oil change scam.

I can rebuild an engine, but I take the cars to Walmart for the oil changes. Their bulk oil meets the current API SN standard. There's no value, IMO, to more expensive oils for the typical car engine. Sure, there's benefits to the synthetics and blends, as well as extra cost, but I've got two cars with over 180K miles each and haven't seen a meaningful drop in oil pressure or compression test values.

I'll do the more involved repairs where I can save real money, but I'll let the lube monkey do the LOF.

My thinking is somewhat along those lines. Except I figure that with my 180k Jeep 4.0 that is still smashed to hell from the wife three years ago, I don't give a shit about regularly changing the oil. I'll drive that thing until I absolutely cannot do it anymore and if that time is measured in years or days it makes no difference to me. Of course the muffler fell off today so what the hell do I know? On a related note, I'm paying Tuffy to put a new muffler on it tomorrow because they can do the whole thing for $103. I can't do it myself for a whole lot cheaper and I need a car to get to Comerica tomorrow.

frank - up in grand blanc wrote:Counting only the dollars, well, ten dollars is cheaper than what I can do. But when I do it I don't have worry about some dunce stripping the oil pan plug, and I'm done and cleaned up in less than 30 minutes.

Not dealing with the sales tactics of quickie lube places is another reason to do one's own oil changes. I recently took my parents' car to an Uncle Ed's, where I spent the whole time fending off upsells. They were relentless -- upgrade the oil, filter, install new air filter, coolant flush, transmission fluid replacement ... and on and on. I was exhausted from saying no by the time I left.

thunderstruck wrote:I'll do the more involved repairs where I can save real money, but I'll let the lube monkey STRIP THE THREADS ON THE OIL PAN.

Fixed it for you....

Toolbox wrote:

thunderstruck wrote:I'll do the more involved repairs where I can save real money, but I'll let the lube monkey STRIP THE THREADS ON THE OIL PAN.

Fixed it for you....

That's what the oversized, 2X and 3X oversized drain plugs are for. Never had it happen though, nor the classic "put AFZ in the master cylinder" or its various cousins of lube monkey ineptitude.

Roquefort Robert wrote:

thunderstruck wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

RoryKasel wrote:

Random Douchebag wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

No. 2. Getting the oil changed in his car at 8 a.m.

Now you might wonder why Leyland insisted on getting his car serviced on such a potentially momentous day. But you don't know Leyland if you are wondering.

"The light was on, and I was worried about it," he said. "One guy at the restaurant asked me if was I nuts, wondering why I didn't have someone to take it in for me.

"I said, "No, I don't have someone else do it. I take care of stuff myself."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2012 ... z29bKMeSec

No, if you took care of stuff yourself, you'd change your own oil.

Of all the mechanical tasks, I don't think the ROI is there on changing your own oil.

Walmart does it for $10 less than I can do it myself but I still change my own oil for some reason.

It is a very slim financial savings. I can change the oil in our two cars for about $30. I'm not even going to get started on the 3k mile oil change scam.

I can rebuild an engine, but I take the cars to Walmart for the oil changes. Their bulk oil meets the current API SN standard. There's no value, IMO, to more expensive oils for the typical car engine. Sure, there's benefits to the synthetics and blends, as well as extra cost, but I've got two cars with over 180K miles each and haven't seen a meaningful drop in oil pressure or compression test values.

I'll do the more involved repairs where I can save real money, but I'll let the lube monkey do the LOF.

My thinking is somewhat along those lines. Except I figure that with my 180k Jeep 4.0 that is still smashed to hell from the wife three years ago, I don't give a shit about regularly changing the oil. I'll drive that thing until I absolutely cannot do it anymore and if that time is measured in years or days it makes no difference to me. Of course the muffler fell off today so what the hell do I know? On a related note, I'm paying Tuffy to put a new muffler on it tomorrow because they can do the whole thing for $103. I can't do it myself for a whole lot cheaper and I need a car to get to Comerica tomorrow.

There's an oil change place across North Line from my office that decked out in Elvis shit and does a basic oil and filter change for $21. They throw in a free car wash, too.

frank - up in grand blanc wrote:

RoryKasel wrote:

Random Douchebag wrote:

Roquefort Robert wrote:

No. 2. Getting the oil changed in his car at 8 a.m.

Now you might wonder why Leyland insisted on getting his car serviced on such a potentially momentous day. But you don't know Leyland if you are wondering.

"The light was on, and I was worried about it," he said. "One guy at the restaurant asked me if was I nuts, wondering why I didn't have someone to take it in for me.

"I said, "No, I don't have someone else do it. I take care of stuff myself."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2012 ... z29bKMeSec

No, if you took care of stuff yourself, you'd change your own oil.

Of all the mechanical tasks, I don't think the ROI is there on changing your own oil.

Walmart does it for $10 less than I can do it myself but I still change my own oil for some reason.

How much is that oil change? When a shop buys oil in bulk (barrels) they can usually mark the price way down. Cruddy oil filters facilitate that as well, and it's not hard to imagine Walmart being able to find/extort the cheapest of the cheap.

I bang out my own oil changes for around $15 or 20 in material cost, and I'm sure that I'm saving money each time. These days I have my oldest kid doing the job. Part of his training, you understand. But I wince every time he gears up for a run up the ramps. Hasn't happened to date, but I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before he drives right over and off, and then he'll have to learn how to use the floor jack.

There's a wide range of prices for oil changes out there. Predicting when an LOF, as we call 'em, will come due and when & where the driver will have it done is one of the voodoo things that keep me up nights. Anyway, ten bucks or 9.95 is about at low as they go, and in some places and for some vehicles you'll pay 80 bucks, but you're getting your ass kissed and full synthetic oil for that price. Generally, expect to pay around $30 for an oil change at a dealer, or bring your own materials and a beer over to my place and I'll have the kid do it for nothing.

We have a dealership in town that advertises a ten-dollar oil change. Ten bucks. Part of the reason that I do so much of my own work, be it on the car or making things for around the house, is because i want things done my way and I don't want to sink an unnecessary amount of time & agony into failed shot at convenience. This dang store, though, attracts old guys by the dozen, maybe even the hundreds, and so on the days where they have the special you'll see a double line of cars running out of the garage, across the parking lot, and into our equivalent to Grand River. This is what I've found to be true of things offered well below market: madhouse lines and huge timesinks. Counting only the dollars, well, ten dollars is cheaper than what I can do. But when I do it I don't have worry about some dunce stripping the oil pan plug, and I'm done and cleaned up in less than 30 minutes.

Our Walmart offers $17 dollar oil changes which I believe is an effort to crush the two local oil change places since I think other Walmarts charge about $24. 6 quarts of Quaker State and a Fram filter ran be just under $27 last week. I like to look for other things while under there so I suppose that's why I do it myself. The fact that I have access to a hydraulic lift and can do the job while standing is a big plus. The $17 special would be pretty hard to refuse if the alternative was scooting around on my back.

But I wince every time he gears up for a run up the ramps. Hasn't happened to date, but I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before he drives right over and off, and then he'll have to learn how to use the floor jack.

My dad still thinks that when I was 16 I thought the ramps went under the rear tires, which is why they were jammed under the car. He ran to get a filter while I got everything ready. When he got back, I had my story and I was sticking to it.

Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr's first report to the state on Detroit's restructuring is expected to reveal the city is in much worse financial shape than previously thought, his spokesman said Wednesday.

City leaders are bracing for the plan, which Orr is expected to deliver Monday as required under Pubilc Act 436, the state's emergency manager law.

Spokesman Bill Nowling said Orr was finishing up a draft of a roughly 50-page plan expected to be "a detailed look at the depth and breath of the financial crisis we're in" after "we've had a chance to pop the hood and look around" since Orr took office March 25.

"It's really going to be a very accurate snapshot of the situation from a financial standpoint and a need-for-restructuring standpoint for the city," Nowling said. "The depth of the financial crisis is steeper than we thought… "Anyone who reads it will have a pretty good picture of the situation the city faces."

The report will be Orr's first since he was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to overhaul Detroit's finances. He is required to file the document 45 days after his appointment. State Treasurer Andy Dillon began the countdown from March 28, when Public Act 436 officially came into law.

A spokesman for Mayor Dave Bing said his administration has not seen the report and declined to comment.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2013 ... z2SmpsJd6M

I guess this goes without saying but seems like the state and the city have some communication problems.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says a new report about the city's crumbling financial condition is consistent with his administration's findings.

The report was released late Sunday by bankruptcy attorney Kevyn Orr and is Orr's first on Detroit's finances since officially taking the job in March.

Bing said in a statement Monday that a complete and comprehensive evaluation of Orr's report is planned over the next day, and he's reserving further comment until that time.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/detr ... index.html

Andy wrote:

"It's really going to be a very accurate snapshot of the situation from a financial standpoint and a need-for-restructuring standpoint for the city," Nowling said. "The depth of the financial crisis is steeper than we thought… "Anyone who reads it will have a pretty good picture of the situation the city faces."

I guess this goes without saying but seems like the state and the city have some communication problems.

Or whoever typed that used voice-to-text software.

Pilot episode of Preachers of Detroit:

The preachers were in the pulpits of mostly empty mega-churches.

But still driving Bentleys and living in Oakland county mansions.

Cross to HFD Irony, Three People I couldn't Party With, and Unwritten Rules of Detroit.