(quoted from post at 16:32:06 10/19/19) STEVE -Your thinking of the Powerstroke 7.3L Fuel filter in the valley aren't you, not the BIG lube oil filter on the back end of the oil cooler on left rear of the engine? Done something over 110 oil changes to my 7.3L. SON's got it now. He gets compliments on what a great looking '96 F250 he has, and people reach for their checkbook to buy it when he says it has a 5 speed, not the E4OD. But nobody says anything to him when he pulls into a gas station with his 2018 Mustang GT with Performance Pkg #2, that's the Torsen diff, electronic shocks, front air splitter, push-button exhaust tone control, and 6 spd manual trans.
Wife wanted to take her 2015 Ford Edge back to the dealer so That's what we do. I started doing the first oil change in my 2018 Ram 1500 with 5.7L Hemi, barely had room in the shop, was a warm drizzly day, garage floor started flooding, new truck was much lower than the F250, wet floor, so I stopped working on it. I had the new oil & filter I wanted to use. Called a small car/truck repair shop with good reviews, told the guy I had my own oil and filter but he didn't say anything. He charged me more than full price that we pay for the wife's car. He did let me walk around inspecting my new truck while it was on the lift. He did NOT have the oil or filter I wanted to use. I was all O-K with being over-charged, him chasing me back out of the shop, but then I asked if He'd install a block heater if I bought the factory heater. Then he ran off the rails and hollered at me, "I'll install ANY heater that YOU don't Buy", I have to sell parts or I go broke." I explained the dealer quoted me over $500 to install the oem heater that I can buy for $135 on-line. Dealer says 2 hours labor, And asked what his hourly rate was. "I won't work on your truck!" Anyhow, I hope he starves to death. I feel sorry for his help. I have cramps, I'll buy my oil and filter myself at Farm & Fleet when it needs changing again. My old F250 I drove 30,000+ miles a year, it got oil/filter change every 4-5 weeks. My new truck gets changed once a year, about every 3000 miles.
Back when I had the shop I did not offer a cheap oil change, typical vehicle it would cost you an hour labor plus materials.
For this you got your oil and filter changed, a proper grease job, your brakes, tires, front end, belts, lights etc checked, fluids topped up as required and a general inspection of the vehicle done by a licensed mechanic who was not getting a commission if he upsold you on something your vehicle did not really need.
Good luck getting that in 10 minutes for $29.99
Was always busy and in most cases if something was found to be in need of repair or replacement you were advised of it and it was your choice to fix it yourself, take it elsewhere or book an appointment to bring it back to have the repairs done.
As far as bringing in your own parts goes I had one customer who brought in his truck to have the u-joints he bought installed.
Truck was up on the hoist, tech pulled off the driveshaft and removed the old u-joints then realized the u-joints the customer had brought were the wrong ones.
Customer asked me what we were going to do, I told him I don't really care what you do, as long as your truck is on the hoist tying up a mechanic the clock is running at shop rate, I then walked off into the office to order the right parts but didn't tell him.
By the time I came back into the shop he was having a fit trying to borrow a vehicle or find someone who could come pick him up to get the right parts.
I told him to calm down and have a coffee the parts will be here in about 20 minutes.
Parts arrived, we installed them and just charged him the normal rate for the job.
He continued to be a good customer for many years after that and always had us supply the parts his truck needed.
As far as the original question goes, being that I maintain a half a dozen of my own tractors, a few heavy trucks and numerous smaller engine driven items that would not be practical to drive or take to town I do all of the servicing on our personal vehicles as well.
