Too Lazy to Fail

It is impossible for me to save money by changing my own oil. A local dealership will do it for $12.95, which is about what it costs me to buy 5 quarts of oil and a filter.

However, I can (at least in theory) do it myself in half an hour or less, in the comfort of my own driveway, without having to drive to the dealership and then sit for two hours while my car progresses through the queue of vehicles. I can also make sure things are done correctly: a friend recently had a Wal-Mart greasemonkey leave the oil cap off of her car when finishing up, nearly killing the engine. On multiple occassions in high school I had Jiffy Lube guys short my car by two quarts.

Also, if I do things myself I can rotate my own tires in about 10 minutes with no expense, and save between $8 and $15, depending on the shop.

Finally, it’s a good excuse to get in and under the engine of my car, looking for leaks and worn belts. It’s never a bad thing to have a clear understanding of the state of your vehicle.

I had not changed the oil in any car since I had last lived at a place that would permit it, several years ago. I had never done the deed to a Taurus/Sable, either, though I have done just about everything else that can be done by an amatuer to my Sable, usually out of financial desperation and with a frightened eye toward the repair manual. I figured that, not being familiar with the task, it would take me longer than I might expect it to regularly.

So uh, do you know anyone who has given themselves an electric shock while changing their oil? Now you do. Apparently there are exposed electrical contacts about two inches below the base of the oil filter in 97-2001 Taurus/Sable sedans. Who knew? That, combined with a purpose-bought metal wrench not having room to be applied correctly, resulted in fire moving up my right arm, a shower of sparks, acrid smoke, and oil pouring from the still-attached used oil filter.

I was terribly afraid that I had done damage to the electrical system of my car. A quick trip to the auto parts place in my wife’s car, and I returned with the rubber strap wrench that I would have bought in the first place had I not had a fascination with the unique movement of the metal shock-wrench.

Maybe next time it will be a bit less traumatic. I swore at several points that it wasn’t worth it, and that I’d never do it myself again, but hey, it’s worth at least one more shot, because I already bought the oil.

Here’s a close-up of the hole blown in the filter, presumably heated by the electricity running between it and the contacts through the wrench:

Be careful out there, people.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Home Life, It's All About Me, It's Funny. Laugh.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.