Transio, I'd have to look for the precise wording, but my covenants and restrictions where I live state that residents are not to perform maintenance on a vehicle in the driveway in excess of 2 hours. Would they enforce that? Nah. They really just don't want cars up on blocks or something for extended periods of time. The 2 hour thing is goofy. BTW, I attended the annual HOA meeting the other night and they elected a new board - that was a circus if I ever saw one. But times are good - I moved in last August and now houses a few doors down from mine, and pretty much exactly the same as mine, are up for sale for $25,000-35,000 over what we paid. Sure hope they get it too. :-)
The very reason I love this site so much is what it has been teaching me about doing everything myself that I possibly can. I avoid the dealers and other rip-off joints like the plague now. Jiffy will drain it and send you down the road without refilling it, drain and refill without changing the filter, etc. I just buy the 5 quart jug of Mobil 1 synthetic at Wal-Mart for around $20, pick up a filter from Napa (they are made by Wix - very good filters), go home and change it in a few minutes, and Napa takes my old oil off my hands when it's done. Except this last time I did go with Royal Purple, also supplied by my Napa store around the corner. I figure if it's good enough for Chip Foose then it's good enough for me.