Unfortunately most people do choose to have their oil changes done by aftermarket companies, such as jiffy lube. Companies such as this do not use factory authorized oil filters which are specifically designed to maintain the life of the oil and protect it from being "filtered" through a clogged filter. The reason these places can provide such cheap oil changes is that they use cheap part (i.e oil filters) Which is also why most vehicles these days have required maintinence lights to alert the driver if there is a need for an oil change before the recomended 5k. I see vehicles come through our service department everyday with over 200k miles on them and they have always had their oil changes done at 5000 schedule. They have also had all of the work done by factory certified maintinence shops.[/quote] I agree with Jennydawn as I also run the Service Department for a Toyota Dealership. Going to Jiffylubes and other aftermarket garages may seem cheaper but in reality those garages use poor quality parts and the technicians do not have the same diagnostic equipment as the Dealerships so when thinking you are saving 5 or 10 per hour on repairs you will actually spend more since the aftermarket shops will take longer and cost you more.
That is not true. Testing was conducted testing filters from every manufacturer a few years ago and not a single one was still filtering past 4000 miles. Every single one clogged and used the bypass valve. Interestingly enough the best filter tested overall was made by STP. The best OEM filter was a Mitsubishi filter. They used a Toyota pickup truck engine (22RE) with a remote filter system and adapters for different filters. The truck was run on an engine dyno to simulate daily city driving. The oil and filter was changed as soon as the bypass valve was detected opened based on oil pressure. A new filter and new oil was installed and the engine was run for 5 minutes to flush any contaminates before starting testing with another filter. They put approximately 220k miles on the engine if I remember correctly. Search google for oil filter testing to find the report. In my personal experience I have never had a filter last past 3500 miles on cars that I have monitored. You can tell when the bypass valve opens by watching oil pressure on an accurate oil pressure guage. I would bet that if you talked to the owners of those 200k mile cars most of them do not change at 5k miles. I know the owners of those cars at the Toyota dealer I used to be a mechanic at changed every 3k. Though I honestly believe that if you changed the oil every 10k miles on a Toyota 4 cylinder it would still last 200k miles.
Oh and the differences between generic $1 oil filters you can get at WalMart and OEM filters are mainly the quality of the builtin bypass valve and the filter media. A good quality non oem filter is basically the same as an OEM filter. The media within the filter can only do so much. If the media filters finer particles it will clog faster. There is a line where they all hover around to balance filtering quality and filtering longevity. They are all basically equal not including the super cheap ones which use media that large particles can go through. Of course the size of the filter matters as well. A large filter has the ability to filter longer. If you put a filter designed for a heavy duty pickup truck on a Corolla it could theoretically filter for a much longer period before clogging. Bypass valve pressure and oil pressure prevent this from being feasable but you get the point. There is a company that makes a fleet vehicle style filter that keeps the oil so clean the oil can be used indefinitely. The filter must be changed at regular intervals. I use one on my 93 Toyota Pickup. I installed it at 89k miles when I bought the truck. The truck was treated poorly and I wonder if the oil had been changed more than twice in the 89k miles. It had a blown headgasket and a spun bearing when I bought it. I replaced the one bad bearing and the headgasket. The truck currently has 194k miles on it and I have only changed the oil out twice. You can search google for Frantz Oil filter to learn more. I'm not gonna pimp their website on here.
I have NO CLUE what JennyDawn, Aaaron, etc are talking about with respect to oil changes, oil filters, etc. :lol: *laughing* I'm the gal that drives up to the dealership at a specified time, stands in the waiting room for 15 minutes, pays the bill and off I go. I come back when they tell me to. :lol: Funny joke too!
Yes Blondie we need more customers like yourself, just get the work required, not many questions and really hot.
Thanks! Makes life easier being THAT customer *laughing* :lol: I may pay a bit more every few months, but I can get my vehicle serviced at the same time as oil changes, etc. I LOVE convenience. (Thanks for the compliment by the way f355969! :wink: )
