Long trip tow vehicle maintenance

Heavy Metal Doctor wrote:

This is why any shop can do an oil change for free or less than the cost of even Napa oil / filters -- 2 things: volume discount on supplies and the supplies are the cheapest you can get

They'll cheerfully do the oil changes at or below cost for a few other reasons too: it only takes them about 10-15 minutes AND it gives them a chance to crawl over your car as they do their "courtesy inspection". You go in for a cheap oil change because you have a coupon, then they tell you, that you need a new serpentine belt, windshield wipers, coolant flush, trans flush, brakes are almost worn, your at the mileage where differential fluid needs to be replaced, etc. Oh and you also have a small crack on the sidewall of one of your tires and looks like you need an alignment. All of this is only $2,000 dollars, but we'll give you the oil change for free, discount the labor on the serpentine belt and trans flush, plus we'll toss in a few coupons for $10 off on oil changes. You can also get a 10% discount if you sign up for our store's VISA card.

You can tell I've heard all this before.
I've bought tires at the same place for many years, and I've gotten to know the main man there. Everytime I bring my vehicles in for new tires, he just hands me the list of the things that are "recommended" so I can know what I need to be fixing myself. He even says "I know you do your own work, so here's what you need to looking at doing..."

It's pretty simple on my truck. A 5 gal bucket fits under there without lifting the truck, and I have a Fumoto valve, so no tools are required to drain it.

I too have a Fumoto valve on my diesel truck, and intend on replacing all my vehicle's drain plugs with them. Worth every penny!!!