One of the casualties of the hope and change economy for us was having someone else change the car oil. When I first mentioned to Mrs. Loudmouth that I was going to start changing my own oil she wondered if it was worth the time to do so. I reasoned that when was the last time that we got an oil change at a shop done in under a half hour plus how fun is it sitting with little kids in one of those places while they do it. Plus at the time I had two high mileage vehicles and the cost to put in the high mileage oil for one of them was more than the supplies to change it myself.
Now I will admit the first couple of times it took me a while but I finally figured out how to do it in 20 minutes. The first problem I had was the space to get my large American farm kid frame under my Japanese designed vehicles. I solved that problem by putting a rock under the tire to give enough space to get an oil pan and an arm/hand underneath.
The next issue was the roughness of the ground and keeping oil stains off my driveway and the street. The answer? A campaign sign.
Any oil that drips is easily wiped off with a rag and disposed of properly instead of winding up running into the storm system. I also achieve some traffic calming as people slow down when someone is hanging out into the street on the ground or they just look and wonder why someone who lives in the city would change their own oil when Lubes R Us or whatever up on Barry Road.
Besides, you never know who might be changing your oil....
Clip credit to Mike Judge and Viacom™.
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