When the time comes to change the oil in your RV or tow vehicle, will you do it yourself or will you take it somewhere to have it changed by the “professionals”? Do you change it in your tow vehicle but not your RV, or vice versa?
Please tell us your answer in the poll below. If you have any advice for others about changing the oil in your RV or tow vehicle, please leave a comment. Thanks.
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Use to do it myself when younger Now it easier to let someone else do it for me.
Its a Mercedes diesel class c. I’ll pay to make sure its done right.
I have a GREAT local mechanic that does this for me! Sure keeps me from a messy headache!
Till I am too old to slip under RV and other vehicles. I figure I paid myself $50, to change my own oil.
Free oils changes at the dealer for life.
I have a 2006 Ford F-150 with a 5.4 Triton 3V motor.
I do it myself to save the money. It’s easy and quick. Make sure you change the filter too, or it’s like taking a bath in dirty water! Despise of the used oil at any auto parts dealers where you buy your oil.
Not to be a smart ass but I also change the transmission oil and filter periodically too! Especially if you are doing a lot of mountain driving!
Yep, class A diesel that holds 7 gallons. I can change the oil and fuel filters in about 30-45 minutes without spilling a drop. The used oil then goes to my local mechanic and is used to heat his shop! Why pay for something that is so easy to do.
I used to change all of my own vehicle’s oil. Then the oil-change joints got so cheap that it didn’t cost much more to have them do it than to buy the stuff to do it myself. At that point, why crawl around under a truck?
Being full timed, it is almost impossible for one to change his/her own oil! At close to 41 quarts of oil in our diesel pusher, the question becomes, where do you put the oil????
I am to fluffy and no zerk fitting in the joints to make it easy. Good mechanic, does a great job.
For many years I changed oil and filters but when it became almost impossible to dispose of the used oil I quite…with 8 gallons of oil on our Class A …I’ll let the service center deal with it…..
Not to mention an annual service on a Freightliner chassis requires much more than just an oil change!!
I agree disposal of used is the problem where I live. Let service center do it.
8 GALLONS? what size engine do you HAVE?? my Cummins 6.7 is 12 US quarts or 3 gallons
My dealer offers oil change specials. My truck uses 8 quarts of dexos synthetic and I only pay around $60 for oil change, filter, tire rotation and multi-point inspection. At $24 a gallon at Walmart, not including the filter, why would I do it myself.
I started my working life as a gas station ‘pump jockey’ and have.been doing oil & filter changes for 55 years so it’s in my blood. I’ve done the fluid changes on our ’15 Ram 6.7L Cummins every 15k miles since we bought it over two years ago. After the first time, I went to two separate dealers and asked what it would cost for them to do synthetic engine oil, oil filer, both fuel filters, synthetic oil in the.transfer case, and synthetic oil in both differentials. I was quoted $675 at one and $825 at the other. Buying the oil, three filters, and fluids cost me maybe $250 and an hour under my truck. Besides the almost $400 to $600 savings, I get to know my truck. I do this service every 15,000 miles (according to the owners manual).
I’m 77 years old and wouldn’t ever trust anyone to change my oil. Many of the big oil change franchises are well documented cheats and dealers are no better. Do you really have any idea what’s actually in that big oil tank they pump from? No! but when I buy the correct oil & filter and when I do it myself I know it’s done correctly.
I farm it out. My job is to make sure service gets done at the right interval, and keep track of it. I discovered you can feed the info into Carfax so there’s a ‘permanent record’ which is nice when it’s time to sell.
Dealer serviced since it is under warranty until 100,000 miles. If they screw it up its thier responsibility to repair.
I have changed the oil in my RV myself just because the shop that I would like to take it to said that they wouldn’t have their employees working on the ground in the rain, they were too busy to take my RV and I decided to just do it myself. Quite easy and lots of room under there but make sure you spread plastic underneath the engine compartment because dripping oil is messy.
I had stopped doing oil changes on our vehicles because I didn’t like having to jack them up and put jack stands under them. With both our motorhome and my jacked-up Jeep that isn’t the case so now I do the LOF changes on both these. I also get a good look at what’s going on under the vehicle and being retired, I do have the time.
I have been serving all of the vehicles that I had and now have since 1956
Just retired after 50 years as a semi/fire truck mechanic. I’ll be taking care of my coach, thank you.
I just don’t trust others to be as meticulous with it.
We’re not full timers, so I change oils and fluids at home because I have places to get rid of waste oil.
Still able to slide under there on a creeper and get up off it when I’m finished working!
“Yes” because my husband does it. He’s a retired auto mechanic. For a while, before we met, I did my own oil changes & repairs. Makes me appreciate his work even more.
Rather than crawl around under my truck, I take mine to the Ford dealer and let the professionals do the work and worry about what to do with the old oil. A little treat for myself.
Looks like the “poll below” didn’t get a link…
Yes, I do it all.
Yes because the local Ford dealer North Bay Ford in Santa Cruz, CA refuses to work on my 2016 Ford E450 Lazy Daze because it’s an “RV and we don’t work on RVs.” Super annoying and they have lost a potential buyer because of it. But, changing the oil is the E450 is an easy job anyway it turns out.
I take my 40 ft to a shop which has a 35000 lb hoist .I get more than an oil change as crawling around under it to do the lubing is not fun.
Yes, I change oil on all my vehicles. Including brake, engine and g tire maintenance. This gives me a good opportunity to inspect for leaks and damage which my occur.
Yes, and it’s due again:( No poll for me either.
Yes I do and greases too! No poll here either.
There was no question section to answer??????
No poll, but yes. Well, my husband, with me assisting. Also the fuel filter (which he’s done a couple of times, pulled off the road…eye roll), fluid changes and the generator maintenance. On occasion when we want a full maintenance we take MH to a truck shop. Living in Silicon Valley we have to drive hour or 2, depending on who we use. So just easier to do the basic maintenance. At least until he can’t of get up once he’s down on the ground!
No poll. We hired it done the first time.
In my RV YES, plenty of ground clearance. In my toad, 1986 Mustang GT, zero ground clearance, NO.
Yes
Retired tech, all of my rigs.
No to all vehicles. I wouldn’t know what to do with the old oil if I did change it. I also don’t want to crawl around with a grease gun to lube it either. I’m not rich, but I can afford to pay someone better equipped.
used to do most light maintenance on all our vehicles. back in the day my BIL and i spent one sat. afternoon rotating the tires m both of our cars. i never enjoyed any of it and did it only because of economics. these days we are financially secure and i happily leave virtually everything regarding vehicle maintenance to professionals.
At age 86 I don’t crawl under vehicles any more. While in the shop they also change the fuel filter, check the belts, and rotate the tires. It’s expensive but only needs to be done every 10,000 miles.
Yes, I change the oil, oil filter, fuel filters and air cleaner filter on my diesel pusher. For a grease job, I take it to a truck tire & service facility for that ($45 for grease job.) I also change the oil & filter on my toad – jack up and place on four jack stands so I can rotate the tires at the same time (have to remove right-front tire to change the oil filter, so motivates me to do the tire rotation.)
I changed oil and all filters on our Diesel Pusher, recently downsized to Class C and I do the same.. change my own fluids until I’m unable to accomplish the task. I’m a bit of a maintenance nut!
I do my own oil changes & service work, that way I know what goes in my RV & Truck. Also I know that the work is done right. When someone else does the work you have no idea if it’s done right, or what they have put in your vehicle. I like the peace of mind knowing it’s done right, with the best quality products.
I used to do it myself on my car and pickup but, as I am turning 76 in January, its getting too difficult to crawl around under a vehicle like I used to.
I change my cars but not the diesel pusher. I take in, they charge me $150 for 5 gallons of oil, filters, and grease job — can hardly do it myself for that and they let me watch.
Being a retired mechanic that has a 43 year old motorhome, I do all my maintenance and repairs. That gives me an opportunity to look the whole rig over for other issues that may need attention in the near future. So far, so good.