Maybe he meant, "This is your filter on drugs"?

Normally I loathe the why-don't-you-do-it-yourself comments, but yes, changing an air filter really is that easy.

Your link for "changing your own oil filter" is actually for changing an air filter.

I would strongly advise against replacing your air filter with one designed for oil.

@TeeDub: I meant air filter and typed the wrong word. Fixed!

And that's why I wouldn't trust the morons at Jiffy Lube to fill my windshield washer fluid, much less change my oil

anyone that pays $30 for a air filter that isn't K&N should be taken out back and shot.

and teedub, this entire message is about changing AIR filters.

Why the hell would you have your air filter changed every 3,000 miles anyway - they're usually good for 30,000 - you've been ripping *yourself* off.

Yes, Jiffy Lube has had a nice history of screwing people. See the link for one story and I know you can find many more...

One thing they also do... they'll tell you they've replaced your air filter when all they've done is blwo out the dirt on the old one and put it back in your car. Get a $12 Fram at Walmart, and in 30 seconds you can change it yourself.

If you can load a dishwasher or do laundry, you can change an air filter.

@InThrees: I'd move the bar back even further. If you are capable of walking upright, you can change an air filter.

I will say that changing the air filter on some cars is exceedingly difficult for car novices. The air filter on my wife's 2004 Mazda 3 is hidden under two layers of plastic parts you have to remove plastic screws and tabs to reach. Anyone who's ever worked on those cars will agree with me that those plastic parts can break very easily if you don't know where to pry.

Auto Repair for Dummies FTW.

Read it, went through my car with it and my owner's manual, and I can now change my own oil and filtery things, check all my fluids and belts and battery and filters, diagnose simple issues, and avoid getting ripped off.

I can't really be BOTHERED to change my own oil, but I know HOW now, and I know when the repair place/oil change place is making shit up, and I feel a lot more confident about standing up for myself in those situations. And more confident in making decisions when I have a problem or a breakdown without a panicked call to my husband. (I know, it was very 50s of me, I'm better now.)

I know lots of you are advanced way beyond that, but for anyone who's a car novice like me, it was definitely worth the investment of $20 and a few hours of my time. (And I'm sure you can find it dead cheap on half.com.) Before it I would totally have believed the evil filter-switching guy.

I had Jiffy Lube pull this on me after I had moved across the country. I had the air filter changed per the car manual's recommendation prior to the drive, so I laughed when the guy at Jiffy Lube showed me a filter full of seeds and leaves I knew for a fact didn't grow on the East coast. I told him I had just had my filter changed and rather than saying "I mean, this is like your air filter" he simply continued the lie and said sarcastically, "well they did a real bang up job."

That was the last time I went to Jiffy Lube. I really wish there was a list of oil change places that didn't try to sell you air filters, fluids and the like. They're hard to find when you move.

I would say if you can clip your fingernails, you can change your air filter.

Is it any wonder why my circle of friends call it "Iffy Lube?"

@ohnoes: And that's more for understanding how the clips on the air cleaner box work, rather than an indication of dexterity.

I've had Jiffy Lube employee's try to sell me a new filter despite the fact that I have a K&N filter. I even have a sticker on the filter shroud clearly saying so.

I bought the K&N precisely so that I could forget about filters forever (or until I replace the car...).

You also don't need new oil every 3k miles IMHO.

@Claytons: Car Talk has a "find a mechanic" page:

[www.cartalk.com]

We've used it with great success. I hate moving and having to find new service people. :)

@John Joslyn: Agreed. I think my air filter runs about $6-$9, depending on brand, at Autozone. Many cars use more expensive filter models but no air filter should be $30.

Okay, so it's the labor, right? It takes, literally, 30 seconds to change an air filter for most vehicles.

Jiffy Lube is famous for doing shady stuff such as not bothering to replace your oil filter but claiming they did it anyway. I remember something on the news in Las Vegas: an investigative reporter got a complaint about it, so he drew a smiley face on his oil filter with a magic marker and brought his car in for an oil change. Sure enough, when he left the smiley face was still there, even though he'd paid for a new oil filter and was told it had been changed.

Happens quite often.

Why did the OP have to stop at the auto parts store for coolant afterward? They (Jiffy Lube) always top it off and the rest of the fluids when you get an oil change there...

it happens in washington state, too. last year, i had an oil change done before a long distance trip to california. along the way, i actually ran out of oil because they either didn't put the oil nut on correctly, or because they didn't fill the oil to proper levels...

when confronted with their mistake, they blew me off completely. i'll never shop jiffy lube again, and i'll tell everyone i know to stay away from them.

@oneliketadow: depends on the age of the car. my ancient toyota camry really kind of did need it changed more frequently but the owner's manual on my former mazda protege suggested every 5000 miles. check the manual

@Mr_D: What if you don't have arms?

Jiffy Lube also told me I needed my radiator fluid flushed ... just weeks after my mechanic brother-in-law had already done it. I got tired of them trying to upsell me every time I was there, so I found more trustworthy places to go.

have had goodyear try to get me to buy a new timing belt 6000 miles before my owner's manual even recommended INSPECTING it. they were very surprised that i had the manual in my purse while i was at the counter and pulled it out to check. they backed off really fast.

also beware of auto electric places that tell you that your alternator is 'all drained out' and needs to be replaced. i and my friends have heard that one several times.
alternators don't store power and if a mechanic tells you that, get your car and leave.

@oneliketadow: I change mine about every 5k miles; but that's with the longer-life Mobil oil. I change my oil filter every other time I change my oil, and do the air filter at the same time.

@Aeroracere: I use synthetic and typically go 7-8k miles. I have 90k miles on the car now (8 years old) and it's doing well. I started changing my own oil mainly b/c synthetic at a place like Jiffy Lube seems to triple the cost. I've been using Mobil One and made the switch to Mobil High Mileage last year. YMMV as catastrophegirl stated.

@Aeroracere: And since I forgot to mention, I also buy the top of the line oil filters for "heavy duty" use as well.

@undefined: Then you're either not driving, or you're capable of changing an air filter. (Seriously, I am amazed by what people who use only their feet to live their lives can do.)

I switched my paper filter in my Scion xB for one of those K&N non-disposable ones.

I learned a few things. One is that only Toyota air filters (and the K&N one) fit properly. All the others that I could find _anywhere_ were missing a notch in the filter that lines up with a projection in the rim of the filter box. Attempts to put in an aftermarket filter make the box fail to seal, which negates the point of an air filter.

I also learned that you have to actually take some of the intake apart to change the filter.

I usually go to uncle ed's and all they ever do is push those engine backflush things on me, which I say no to. They even see the filter label thing that says "STOP - do not replace my air filter!" and don't push it.

@Eyebrows McGee:

Agreed. After a few bad experiences (really bad), I decided that being a man I should know about the car basics, and so after reading CRFD I now change my own oil and do my own basic repairs, but more importantly, when I can't bother to do them, I know what I'm talking about.

****Also, whenever you get work done, ALWAYS request for the old parts to be bagged up so that you can "take a look at them when you get home." This will help you out tons in the long run.

@Claytons: I've always had good luck with Sears when I'm in an unfamiliar area. Some are better than others, but they've never tried to up-sell me on needless maintenance, etc.

In fact, the only place I've ever been that really fit the "con-artist mechanic" stereotype was..you guessed it..Jiffy Lube. They tried to tell me that my air filter was dirty and my transmission fluid needed to be changed- interestingly, I had done both a week earlier. They must have some kind of clause requiring franchise owners to be crooks.

not to change subject here and so out of touch but i've been seeing this term everywhere and it's been bothering the bloody hell out of me trying to figure it out --->"FTW"

@GretaDandradeine: "For The Win."

It's okay, I thought it was "Fuck The What" for the longest time, which only makes sense in some contexts.

A square is always a rectangle, but a rectangle is not always a square.

I worked at JL for a couple of months during college. I was fired for refusing to fill a customer's engine with regular oil and pretend it was synthetic.

These quick lube places, do this ALL OF THE TIME. They will upsell as much as they can, and lie through their teeth because they can get away with it - the customer's don't know any better. The markup on all the extras is HUGE. The $60 (have not idea what it runs these days) "injector cleaner" is a $3 bottle from AutoZone dumped into your tank and $2 work of "cleaner" that gets plugged into your vacuum line (if they still do that part anyway - it was always good 'show' for them to have the car spewing white smoke, so they could pretend the injectors were dirty).

The coolant flush? They just hook a machine up to your hose and run it - it's not really a full drain, flush, and fill. Most of the techs also don't understand what the difference is between types of coolant and the stuff they use is the CHEAPEST they can buy in bulk. Auto tranny need some new fluid? No dump and fill there, it's just a machine that runs fresh fluid through the line - and many vehicles have filters that need to be changed. Heaven forbid your vehicle require a special kind of tranny fluid - they don't know. That's only if they actually DO the work, which they only do if it's easy and quick. A tough nut on the line or any minor problem and they'll just pretend to do it for 5 minutes.

Don't let them top off the water in your battery, another service they offered when I was there. I refused to do it, because I spent 5 minutes explaining to the manager why you needed to use DISTILLED water. Yup..they just put TAP WATER in the batteries.

Take a look at the inventory wall - if they appear to be low on anything and they still offer you that service, odds are good you won't be getting what you paid for.

The window washing fluid, yeah that's tap too...the same tap they put in your battery.

Here's a thing on the upsells, it doesn't matter whether you just had it done or your fluid looks pristine - they don't know what they are doing, they just follow a readout on the computer for your model, and if it's anywhere near a recommended mileage, they hard sell it.

Find a REAL mechanic that you can get to know and trust.

Ever hear the one about the wife who wanted the air changed in her tires?

Blame the husband for that one. It seems it is an old joke in certain branches of the military to play on the wives left behind when the troops deploy overseas.

@John Joslyn:
The generic fram air filter for my car is $20. I bet if I was using a genuine part it would be close to $30. Should I be shot if I choose to use OEM parts?

This is a stretch, but maybe the mechanic meant it in the same way a health teacher pulls out a blackened lung and says this is your lung after you smoked cigarettes for 20 years. Obviously, he or she doesn't mean it is literally [i]your[/i] lung...

But it is still very shady considering that the mechanic lied because the OP's air filter actually wasn't that bad.

One time they messed my car by doing the service! They did a radiator flush, wich broke my pump. I almost had an engine meltdown, of course they denied it was their fault.

@Oranges w/ Cheese:

Exactly - air filters should be replaced every 30k miles unless you regularly drive through dust/sand storms.

Just to correct something in the story... Typically changing the air filter is as complicated as scratching your ass. Changing your oil & oil filter is about as complicated as hanging a picture. You want some real savings? Buy a $5 drip pan, a $4 filter and $8-12 for some oil. If you can change your tire, you can change your oil.

Jiffy Lube is all kinds of evil. I take my car to the dealership. They charge me $10 more than Jiffy Lube but at least I know they are not only changing the oil but also the filter which is something Jiffy Lube has been caught not doing.

They also check and replace my air filter but only if needed. They top off all my fluids (included in the price) and last time they noticed I had a headlight out and they changed it for free. Now its possible I only get good service for cheap because my car is an Acura and they are pretty good to their customers but I do know for a fact they change oil for $30 no matter what vehicle you bring in to them.

I take my Crown Vic to an oil change place because I don't want to work underneath a car that's on a jack and/or stands. The oil change place the first time I took it there did show me the air filter out of my car. The air cleaner was in fact rotted because the car had sat for four years prior to my buying it at auction. So I agreed and paid $10 which is what an auto parts store would charge me.

Then Advance did their half off K&N filters special and I bought a K&N cleanable air cleaner jsut to get the oil change place off by back about changing my "dirty" air cleaner. Then the oil changes places started telling me I needed to clean my air cleaner and they'd do it for $10. Not a complete rip-off but still, I can buy the K&N cleaning kit for $10 and it'll clean my airfilter dozens of times.

@Eyebrows McGee: I like "Fuck The What" better.

@catastrophegirl: Well it could have been a good idea. Depending on who made your car it could mean you have a no clearance engine which means if that belt breaks your engine is dead beyond repair.

My Hyundai died unexpectedly while I was on the highway because the belt went and the piston heads smashed into the engine block.

@kidnextdoor: A lot of people keep coolant around so they don't have to run back to Jiffy Lube for just a top-off.

@reynwrap582: Maybe you live in a state where it's legal to dump your used oil down the gutter; I don't. It's easier and less trouble to take my car to a reliable mechanic.