Well if we got robbed I suppose it wasn’t too bad. I guess I feel less bad now. I’ve got a good independent mechanic for my car, but he only does european cars. Maybe I could ask them for a rec?
Also, does the size of the car/engine matter? Does a minivan need more oil than a smaller vehicle? Although I suppose if it does, that can’t account for more that $10 of difference.
Bigger engines typically require more oil but minivan engines are more often on the small end. $100 for synthetic isn’t price gouge territory but you can find cheaper. Second the recommendation to avoid jiffy lube. They just churn through techs so you’re almost certain to get someone who barely knows what they’re doing and doesn’t particularly care about their work. And it’s not hard to find old, reliable, shop owner mechanics to do oil changes. It’s high margin work, it’s what keeps them in business.
That seems pricey but fuck do I know inflation is bad.
Throw the sticker away though. Your vehicle has an automatic oil change indicator and will tell you on the dash when to change the oil again. Only do it when it says to. Not at 3000 or 6000 miles. The algorithm in the engine controller tracks how the vehicle has been driven and tells you when to change it. As long as you aren’t towing or driving up mountains you are good for 9500 miles. The actual interval is 10k but there’s a 500 mile buffer.
I think per our social media policy I’m supposed to say that I’m a stellantis (when we changed our name to this I thought about some sort of space bug like from starship troopers) employee. Anything I say is my opinion not the companies blah blah.
Anyways I calibrate the engine controller software and have done nothing but work on that 3.6L engine for the last 10 years. If you ever get a check engine light drop me a line, that’s my speciality.
We have only taken it in for oil change when vehicle tells us to. That has happened twice in 13.5K miles. No towing or driving up mountains. Lots of small hills around, I suppose. Is that unusual?
Really? That’s awesome. I have terrible luck with cars, so you’ll be the first one I turn to when that happens. I’ve got the 2022 AWD Pacifica (not hybrid, because I wanted the captain’s chairs that fold into the floor).
Is this advice less true for older vehicles with heavier mileage or does it just not matter if it has the appropriate engine controller software? (I have a 2007 CRV with around 256k miles.)
I can’t speak for that vehicle/engine, other than Honda knows how to make a good one. Follow the manufacturers recommendation for the oil changes.
I have been in two major accidents in my life, both times as a passenger. The first was thirty years ago and most recently last week, and I’m pretty lucky to not be seriously injured or dead, having unnecessarily crossed a median into oncoming traffic at highway speeds. Let me say this: not only should you try to be a safer driver, you should also judiciously choose who you agree to ride with as a passenger. Amazingly there were no major injuries this time, and I do mean amazingly.
Also, here’s the USA#1 twist of fate. Once I was satisfied that my party suffered no major injuries, I informed the 911 dispatcher that we did not require medical attention (because in America, the appearance of the white van with lights means somebody pays $$$$). As luck would have it, a good Samaritan who witnessed the accident called it in for us (!) 
. We were not evaluated by EMT, but there was discussion about who would be billed for their mere appearance, and eventually it was determined we would not be billed but heavily implied they were doing us a favor. I was completely calm up until that point and then became enraged.
Yeah. Completely agree. Driving a car is fucking dangerous.
Mrs R doesnt drive. It’s a pain, but might be safer for us both long term to just leave it that way.
The AWD is nice. I’ve actually thought about the hybrid for us because it’s pretty practical. It can go about 20-25 miles on charge only. Probably 95% of our drives are within that distance, and we have a garage where it could be plugged in. It would probably save us some decent money on gas. But you do lose the stow and go seating because that area was re-purposed for battery storage. Hopefully you have no issues with it. If I did my job well your check engine light won’t come on unless something is obviously broken and easy for the technician to find. But making the car diagnose itself can be tricky, and just like with a human illnesses, conflicting symptoms can point us in the wrong direction.
One piece of advice I will give is that overall the check engine light usually isn’t as scary as most people think. It’s not some prognostic that your engine is minutes away from certain death. 95% of the time it’s just something emissions related that makes no real difference to the overall health of your vehicle, you’re just emitting more than you should due to some issue, and you probably won’t even notice if not for the light (that’s the purpose of it). Overall just listen to your car. If something sounds wrong or feels wrong, that’s much more concerning than a warning light. But if you get a light and can get the code pulled with a reader (auto-zone usually does this for free) I can probably explain what is wrong and what it means for your car.
Since this discussion was lightly revived, I wanted to add I have been in one accident ever and it was a situation just like this - attempted to turn across traffic and didn’t see that there was a third lane of cars that hadn’t stopped for me. The other driver jammed on her brakes and luckily my side door took most of the damage - had a friend’s dog in the car and he was just fine. A little time later the other driver complained of injuries, which I think was BS but since it was established that the accident was my fault they probably figured they’d get some easy $ out of it - I guess it’s possible they had some light whiplash or back soreness but definitely nothing serious. My insurance premiums went up slightly for a few years but that was the extent of it, my insurer (GEICO) was surprisingly helpful through the process of getting repairs and a rental.
Anyone have any info on detailed common reason for accidents?
I’ve had a quick look and it’s super dominated by known stuff. Like being distracted by your phone or drunk driving. So not so helpful in trying to understand what else to do to be safer.
Sometimes not. I had a check engine light on an Audi A6 that I no-big-dealed that was for a clogged pcv valve. That valve being clogged led to my main seals blowing out. $4k fix because I ignored the failure of a $6 part.
Yeah, my car (wife drives the minivan) has a check engine light on and it has been determined to be either due to the catalytic converter or O2 sensors. I don’t notice a thing when driving and there certainly isn’t any change in visible exhaust. I’m not keeping the vehicle long enough to bother to address it. It’s been ongoing for at least a year.
Also what is your opinion on my Pacifica saying I need 2 oil changes in the first 13.5 K miles? That seems like a lot for just routine suburban driving. I am wondering if when I get the oil changed the shop can just change a setting that tells me I need another one in X miles regardless of what the vehicle thinks.
In 2000, of the 6.1 million lightweight motor vehicle collisions in the US, 1 million involved animal-vehicle collisions. Deer–vehicle collisions lead to about 200 human deaths and $1.1 billion in property damage every year.
Deer collisions are huge in the upper Midwest, I’m kind of shocked I’ve never had it happen especially since I’ve done a lot of driving in northern MN
Can one assume that most of these deaths were due to sudden breaking or swerving? I just assumed that unlike hitting a moose, most cars can just blast through a deer.
I have no idea, but given my recent near-death experience due to breaking and swerving a deer-induced accident, it seems reasonable to me.
Does deer or moose matter? I thought the advice in either case was to slow down, but just drive right through it if it doesn’t move.
No one with a normal size vehicle is just “driving through a moose.”
Moose are way more dangerous because of their height they often end up coming through the windshield.