Had a Jiffy Lube do an oil change on my 2003 Explorer several months ago…took my Explorer to a different Jiffy Lube last Sunday for another oil change.
Service tech shows me my oil filler cap, says I’ve got coolant mixing and he won’t do the oil change unless I sign a waiver fearing that the “increased pressure from the oil change could cause the already failing head gasket to blow”. Um, the oil filler cap looked fine to me and I couldn’t see how changing the oil would increase the pressure anyway so I signed the waiver.
Service tech comes back a second time with another waiver this time for the serpentine belt saying it’s about to fail and when it does “my car will instantly shut down causing a safety hazard”. I told him I realized that I’d lose everything that was on the belt (alternator, power steering, A/C, etc.) but the battery should keep the plugs firing for at least an hour. He said “no, the battery is just a pass-through and everything will shut down the moment the belt fails”.
Service tech comes back a third time saying “the oil drain plug is too rounded off and I need to take my car to a mechanic to have it removed”. I asked him if he could just suck the oil out of the dip stick tube like they do with high-end cars so we could get the oil change done and buy me some time before having to deal with the drain plug issue. He told me “no, his tubes aren’t the right size and by the way, my license plate light is out so I’ll want to fix that as well before I get pulled over”.
Alright guys, what happened…my license plate lights are working fine…I don’t believe the world stops the instant a belt breaks…I’m surprised a Jiffy Lube shop couldn’t suck my oil out if they wanted to…I’m not losing coolant, blowing smoke, or down on power so the failing head gasket claim is suspect besides, wouldn’t you take a moment to inspect the dipstick before giving your customer such bad news.
Thoughts???
I despise jiffy lube. I guess I'm lucky in that there's a good independent shop next to my work that doesn't charge more than jiffy lube typically would for an oil change. And there's another good independent about 10 min from home.
The art of the upsell. That is where they make the majority of their profit.
Now, each location is independently owned and operated, so the quality of service falls squarely on the manager.
I'd use a different location in the future.
Thoughts? Sounds about like a typical jiffy lube experience. Devils advocate here though, as a former service writer, I documented EVERYTHING and always talked to customers about stuff because eventually, one of them will say something is your fault & the customer is always right. A lot of oil change places don't do dip stick changes at all. I know none of the firestones I was at would do them that way, regardless of how many times the customer asked.
Do your own oil changes. Period.
If you don't want to or can't, find a good local shop that isn't a chain.
Many local shops will do oil changes for similar prices as "Stupid" Lube without the upsell.
They are more likely to not screw it up since they are not using "People who can stand upright, breath and can show up when asked" as hiring qualifications and use people who might know a thing or two about working on vehicles or at least are supervised by someone who does (often those jobs go to the newby, but they are watched by the more experienced folks and if it gets screwed up, they'll step in and fix it).
Jiffy Lube is full of E36 M3 and trying to upsell you with BS scare tactics and outright lies.
In reply to MazdaFace :
Hi MazdaFace,
FWIW, the service tech told me he couldn’t suck the oil out of my dip stick tube while we were standing directly next to a turbo diesel Dodge that was getting its oil sucked out of its dip stick tube.
I can’t help but wonder if they were pushing customers away so they could watch the football games.
I'm sorry, I just can't get my head around the phrase, "I'm surprised a Jiffy Lube couldn't suck my oil..."
JoeTR6
HalfDork
1/23/18 1:40 p.m.
Friends don't let friends take their car to Jiffy Lube.
In reply to Stefan :
You’re right Stefan,
I’ve done my own oil changes my whole life but now I’m 53, don’t need to pinch pennies anymore, and I thought I’d start giving myself a little break…big mistake – back to wrenching.
In reply to RX Reven' :
oh well yea in that case then it just sounds like they suck lol
They don't make much on the base advertised oil change, they make money on upselling other maintenance stuff. The HG and drain plug thing is just bizarre though. Every other car on the road this time of year has a bit of milkshake in the fill cap. And they really don't stock spare plugs and/or have a pipe wrench or something to get the rounded plugs out?
I'm done with oil plugs. Takes a bit longer to drain but there's no fuss and no mess. Bonus points for being able to cleanly sample oil if you're into that.
Other than that, it was probably an up sell tactic. Things tend to get interesting when they try that on anyone with mechanical knowledge (or an ASE or A&P). I've reached the point where I'm so tired of it I'd rather joke about trying to amortize the cost of a Lift/QuickJack by doing it myself than deal with the irritation.
In reply to RX Reven' :
Please stop referring to the guy at jiffy lube as a "service tech". I believe the proper term is either "grease monkey" or "quickie lube doofus" or "inmate 74265". Im not looking down my nose at the job, its a service thats in demand, but i wish they quit trying to act like they know something about cars. So your ford had some yellow goop under the cap? Every ford built in that era has yellow goop under the cap. The belt has some cracking? When was the last time you saw a belt fail on its own? Ive seen plenty of them come off because the tensioner or a pulley bearing failed, but belts will go a long LONG time before they brake.
Although I put a new oil drain plug on just two changes ago, it is in fact totally rounded off thanks to the Berktards at the first and/or second jiffy lube. Aircooled has graciously agreed to help me weld a cheater bar or nut onto the plug this weekend.
You know what, I’m not even going to complain to corporate jiffy lube for fear of retaliation since the offending parties (AKA inmate 74265) can easily look my home address up in their system…I’m just going to write this off as a learning experience.
Hi TheOretical,
I’ve been considering those but isn’t there a risk of them getting knocked off since they seem to hang down a fair amount…thoughts?
I work for an independent quick lube and while we would likely point out the belt for the most part we just document issues and go over them to avoid being blamed. We dont suck the oil out of anything, but im pretty profecient at removing drain plugs after other people ruin them. We gain alot of our business via fixing screw ups. We charge a bit more then the local wal mart though.
dropstep said:
local wal mart though.
with my current DD (05 T&C with 214K) I love the Walmart changes. Put the car in line, toss them the keys. Get a little shopping done and come back to a completed car for $17.
I can't buy the oil and filter for that anymore.
My toys? I do the oil changes myself.
I don't let others change my oil, simply because most can't.
After the serp belt shenanigans I'd have gone out there, removed the belt, started the engine, let it run while I dropped a nasty deuce in their bathroom, then drove it out of there, serp belt in hand, laughing all the way.
Nothing to add to the general disdain of quicky lube shops that hasn't already been covered.
I can however inform the studio audience that on MY Explorer (4.0 SOHC) the serpentine belt drives the water pump and when the idler pulley failed I was only able to nurse it about 1/2 a mile before the temp gauge reached "frightening". Just something to consider before playing the "look ma, no belt" game.
***It was also that day that I discovered the utter JOY of buying a replacement belt and struggling for an hour to install it before returning to vatozone in frustration to discover that someone had put the wrong belt in the package and it was 4" too short.
RX Reven' said:
-Snip-
Hi TheOretical,
I’ve been considering those but isn’t there a risk of them getting knocked off since they seem to hang down a fair amount…thoughts?
I'd say the risk depends on where your plug is located. The drain plug of the of the MS3 is out the back of the sump, parallel with the body of the car, and above the front sub frame. I'd have to somehow have something clear the sub frame, the oil pan, and have the debris hit the backside of the pan hard enough to knock it off. If what I hit dragged along the bottom and hit the drain valve it I'd probably have bigger problems.
With a truck in an off-road application I can see where that might happen but I'd assume there'd be a plate to protect the pan and drain plug.
If your plug is at the bottom of the sump closer to perpendicular with the body, it's probably an unnecessary risk.
I also do my own changes because I like to run a heavier Rotella T6 5w40 in the MS3 instead of the recommended 5w30 which is apparently really difficult to comprehend by anyone that services it besides me.
RX Reven' said:
Service tech shows me my oil filler cap, says I’ve got coolant mixing and he won’t do the oil change unless I sign a waiver fearing that the “increased pressure from the oil change could cause the already failing head gasket to blow”. Um, the oil filler cap looked fine to me and I couldn’t see how changing the oil would increase the pressure anyway so I signed the waiver.
it's pretty common for the inside of an oil filler cap to collect moisture, being that it's the highest point in the engine and cant vent anywhere, and cause the 'peanut butter' gunk you see in oil that's been mixing with coolant. i have seen it on dozens of engines, all of which didnt have any coolant/oil mixing. it's just a thing that happens. natural gas engines are especially prone to seeing that build-up of gunk due to all the moisture in the natural gas.
