Polaris General Forum banner

Cutting the cost of engine oil changes!

1 reading
15K views 49 replies 29 participants last post by  BruceMountain  
#1 ·
Pirate here,
Purchased a quart of 5W50 synthetic as a spare...it as $21.99. Bought an oil filter and that was $19.99.
Holy cow so an oil change kit is something like $75???

Gotta be a less expensive way to go... So did some investigating, and talked with my guy a the NAPA store.
Here's what I found:
This oil is every bit as good as Polaris oil or maybe a little better.
For the month of June 2023 you can buy it for $7.39 a quart or $44.24 for a case of six quarts.
Image

I do recommend keeping the half quart bottle that comes with a Polaris oil change kit.
If it's too late to keep one, then have three quarts on hand and pour half of one into one of the ones you already poured in the motor.
You'll have the half quart for the next oil change.

I took a new Polaris oil filter with me to NAPA (I still have one Polaris oil change kit.)
NAPA guy looked it up, it's actually a very common oil filter.
This is a NAPA Gold, which I was told is made by WIX.
The price is $11.69
Image


Somewhere in my RZR or General years I purchased a 10-pak of the copper compression washers. I recall for about a buck a piece.

So an oil change kit would be $18.48 for oil, $11.69 for the filter and $1 for a new copper washer.
That's $31.17 plus tax. If you happen to be like me and have a AAA card, that gets you an extra discount!

One heck of a lot less than a Polaris oil change kit!!
Just thought I'd pass along what I'm going to be doing in the future!
Pirate
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
KrispyKotex,

There is a guy making an oil filter wrench for the General. I worked with him a couple of times trying to improve the wrench.
But he thought that would cost to much and people wouldn't buy them or he wouldn't make enough to make it worth the cost.
This is a picture of it:
It went on at an angle to clear all the "stuff" in the foreground. It works, but not the best.

Image


I took one of his oil filter wrenches and created this wrench:
As you can see in the photo it fits square on the filter, it clears everything so you can get a full 90 degree, or more turn
of the filter for removal and installation.
I have not decided if anyone would like the design, but it sure as heck works!

Image

Yeah, it's a little rough looking as I did the bends in a vise instead of
in the brake.
Thoughts? Would you purchase one for say, $20 plus the, I don't remember, $10 for a Priority flat rate box shipping?
Pirate
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
You can use a clean terry cloth to wipe the surface and the threads on the filter boss. Blindly of course, but I've ever had a problem doing it that way.
Purchased a Milwaukee inspection scope this Winter. I can probably use that.
Just thoughts.
Pirate