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Thread: Free dealer oil change or DIY

  1. #1
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    Free dealer oil change or DIY

    Having a new Mirage, I get the first 3 oil changes free from Mitsubishi. I don't know if I want to get it from them or do it myself though. When I bought it, I asked the dealer what type of oil they use and the guy said it's a synthetic blend, which wouldn't be 0W-20 from my understanding. I already have way more miles than I would like to have before my first oil change (4000 in a little less than 2 months). I've just been too busy to get it done, wanted to at 1000 miles. I don't want them to screw it up, I've been doing my own for the last 15 or so years. I also don't want to void my warranty by doing it myself (my understanding is it wouldn't as long as I keep copies of the receipts and when I do it).

    I am tempted to get the 3 free oil changes through them, but I have reservations about it potentially being crap oil and service.
    What would you guys do? And is there any possibility it would void my warranty if I do it correctly myself?


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2024 Mirage ES 1.2 automatic: 43.6 mpg (US) ... 18.5 km/L ... 5.4 L/100 km ... 52.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Unless the 'dealership' oil has metal particles in it... it should be just fine. Get what is owed to you. If you want to do 'frequent' changes, say every 5000 instead of 10k, have them do it at 5, do it yourself at 10, and then have them do it at 15 ect ect... and stretch it out a bit. I'm a little leery myself, just bought a used 21' from Florida with 7700 miles, and I'm confident it never had an oil change before... the oil is a bit dark... when it was done at the dealership (I did it so I could confirm warrenty and make sure my local mitsub shop had a record of it incase anything happened to it in the next (2 years) of warranty left... I looked at the oil afterward and I could see dark streaks on my rag, I think that's a little weird but I'll do a change myself in a month when the snow goes away (location northern Maine). You could always take some sort of colored marker or paint and dab a dot on the filter... and if its not there when you get the car back, its 100% sure they changed it. I plan on doing that from now on any time I take the new car to the dealership, but most of the time I do my own when its not wet/cold ect.

  3. #3
    For me I'd do it myself just cause I hate dealers and other people working on my stuff cause they usually eff something up. The only vehicle I ever took to a dealer was my new side by side cause the dealer insinuated that they wouldn't make it easy if I had an engine related warranty issue and they didn't do the first service on it. They made a mess of that, I had to drop all the skid plates and clean up all the oil they spilled everywhere that was dripping onto my garage floor.

    The Mirage is pretty idiot proof though and oil isn't getting any cheaper. And...if they do screw something up like forget to tighten the drain plug or filter then I guess they're on the hook, not you. And it'll look good on a carfax cause most people think dealer is the best place on earth to have a car serviced.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
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    I'll throw this out there...

    The original oil filter from the factory is usually a bear to remove. It's like they don't put oil on the gasket and then over-torque it with a filter wrench. If you do it yourself, a setup like THIS will make the removal process easier. If you use a strap wrench to remove the original filter, you may end up crushing the filter. That's how crazy hard it is to get the thing off. I only needed to use tools to remove the original filter. Now I can do it by hand.

    So if there's one benefit of having the dealer do at least one oil change, it's that they get to be the ones to remove the original filter.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


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  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Top_Fuel View Post
    I'll throw this out there...

    The original oil filter from the factory is usually a bear to remove. It's like they don't put oil on the gasket and then over-torque it with a filter wrench. If you do it yourself, a setup like THIS will make the removal process easier. If you use a strap wrench to remove the original filter, you may end up crushing the filter. That's how crazy hard it is to get the thing off. I only needed to use tools to remove the original filter. Now I can do it by hand.

    So if there's one benefit of having the dealer do at least one oil change, it's that they get to be the ones to remove the original filter.
    Good point. I was taking the the plastic shield off along the bottom of the rad support to get that tiny oem filter off until I got a filter socket.
    We had one car that was serviced at a different city. Someone at some shop took a sawzall to the plastic to make it easier to access the filter. I don't know if they did that to all the cars down there or maybe just did it cause the rad support was pushed back from hitting curbs? I found that out after the car was brought back to me with unrelated problems.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


  7. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chumbo View Post
    Having a new Mirage, I get the first 3 oil changes free from Mitsubishi. I don't know if I want to get it from them or do it myself though. When I bought it, I asked the dealer what type of oil they use and the guy said it's a synthetic blend, which wouldn't be 0W-20 from my understanding. I already have way more miles than I would like to have before my first oil change (4000 in a little less than 2 months). I've just been too busy to get it done, wanted to at 1000 miles. I don't want them to screw it up, I've been doing my own for the last 15 or so years. I also don't want to void my warranty by doing it myself (my understanding is it wouldn't as long as I keep copies of the receipts and when I do it).

    I am tempted to get the 3 free oil changes through them, but I have reservations about it potentially being crap oil and service.
    What would you guys do? And is there any possibility it would void my warranty if I do it correctly myself?
    Consider adopting the following motto: 'If it's free, it's for me."

    That or just go electric.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chumbo View Post
    Having a new Mirage, I get the first 3 oil changes free from Mitsubishi. I don't know if I want to get it from them or do it myself though. When I bought it, I asked the dealer what type of oil they use and the guy said it's a synthetic blend, which wouldn't be 0W-20 from my understanding. I already have way more miles than I would like to have before my first oil change (4000 in a little less than 2 months). I've just been too busy to get it done, wanted to at 1000 miles. I don't want them to screw it up, I've been doing my own for the last 15 or so years. I also don't want to void my warranty by doing it myself (my understanding is it wouldn't as long as I keep copies of the receipts and when I do it).

    I am tempted to get the 3 free oil changes through them, but I have reservations about it potentially being crap oil and service.
    What would you guys do? And is there any possibility it would void my warranty if I do it correctly myself?
    My Mirage came with a free first oil change, but my car was delivered to my home from the dealership 4 hours away. I'm not going to do an 8 hour round trip for an oil change. Easily 9+ hours plus two meals compared to doing it myself in about 15 minutes. Even at approximately 46 mpg, I would have used approximately 10 gallons of gas. I can buy 3 quarts of oil & a good oil filter for less money.


    If I lived near a dealership, however, I would have taken advantage of the offer. I would still do whatever I feel is best for my car, however. If I want to do 5,000 mile OCI & the dealership offers 10,000 mile oil changes for free, I would have them do the second one.

    If they don't care when the three oil changes are done, I would have them do one @ 2,000 miles. The second one would be at 5,000 miles (3,000 mile OCI), and the third one would be at 10,000 miles (5,000 mile OCI). After that, I'm doing them myself every 5,000 miles, because I like simple & easy to remember.

    A former member bought a Mirage that came with free lifetime oil changes. Even though the Mitsubishi dealership itself folded, the owners honored the free lifetime oil changes through their Cadillac dealership. Steve was receiving free 5W-30 conventional oil & a new oil filter every 5,000 miles. The deal sort of fell through for him somewhere between oil change 55 to 60. He was very close to 60 free oil changes. I don't remember exactly when it stopped for him, but his Mirage engine was still doing fine when he sold it @ 307,000+ miles.

    Free is free. They may be willing to do a full synthetic oil if you pay the difference, too. My dad has a lifetime free oil change for his pickup truck. The offer was for 5-quarts of free oil. He truck takes 6-quarts or something like that, & he pays the difference each time.

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  10. #8
    The wife has free oil changes with her korean trash can but the dealer she bought from is on the other side of the city and they don't take booking for an oil change, you drop it off and they might call when it's ready or you sit and wait possibly hours until they get around to it. Because it's free. Had the dealer been 5 mins away I'd let them do it in a heartbeat, you gotta remove this big stupid shield that's held in place with 15 screws just so you can get to the drain plug. Maybe kia did that to keep doug happy about not seeing the ground from the engine bay?

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


  11. #9
    Senior Member sunbeam's Avatar
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    3 free first oil changes so you can use this for a nice short break in interval and not feel bad about it.

  12. #10
    Business Up Front Johnny Mullet's Avatar
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    I bought 2 new Mirages and the dealership will not touch either of them unless a major failure happens under warranty. My new G4 has a lifetime unlimited mileage warranty, so that is good to know if I have a CVT or engine failure, but I would rather do the work myself instead of some lube tech at a dealership.



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