I would rather delay my oil change until I'm back at my parents house where I have the stuff to change it myself, rather than take it to a quick oil change place like that.
I would rather delay my oil change until I'm back at my parents house where I have the stuff to change it myself, rather than take it to a quick oil change place like that.
RogerB wrote: I guess I was just lucky. I used to take my Integra to JL all the time and never had a problem. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't take a car near that place. I do all the maintenance on the Contour myself and the Sienna goes to the dealership for service, at least until it's out of warranty.
God bless you if it's that f'ing contour with the oil filter up in the passenger side wheel well basically lol. I absolutely hated those things.
I took my cars to the local quick change place for a few years when I lived in an apartment and didn't have the room, I always watched them and when I saw them do something wrong I said something (and never went back).
Weirdest thing I saw them break (on someone elses car) was the dip stick on a big Mercedes ... Guy pulled it out to check the oil and the handle popped off the stick, stick went into the oil pan. The maneger claimed "I've never seen this they must not want anyone checking the oil" ... "I think you should take this to the dealership"
I worked part time at the local Greasy Monkey in Mooresville, NC. I worked down in the pit, doing the actual oil changes. I was probably the only person there without a criminal record, with all of my faculties, and with any automotive knowledge at all. Let me tell you now that everything you have read above is true, and more so.
You name it, I saw it done there. I lost track after a while of the number of times they attempted to start cars without oil, or the number of radiators they bought because loose tools combined with spinning fans translates to holes in radiators. The number of engines that got treated with some mystery oil for a "cleaning" that then sounded like diesel death rattles. At least once a month somebody would attempt to drive the car into the pit. I got real good at diving off of the ladder type thingy down there.
The owner used to allow us to service our own cars there. I had a standard rule if I brought the Miata in - nobody, but nobody, touches my berkeleying car unless they are looking to die. Thanks, I don't need your help. After a while even the lure of a free oil change wasn't worth it to me.
The same thing happened to me. I think it's worth the 20 bucks (student discount) just to have someone else do it, if they did it right. I was about 2 miles for the JL and started to smell oil burning on my exhaust. fortuanately I was right near a different JL location so I brought it in and had them look at it. My oil filter was only hanging on by one quarter rotation!!!! How the berkeley does that happen? The manager at the second location was pretty nice though, he called up the other location and bitched out their manager and refunded my money. Did a pretty E36 M3ty job of cleaning up the oil though
It sounds like these people would make me location manager if I walked in and told them I've changed the clutch in my car by myself...
Wow. Just wow. This thread makes me frightened to drive my car within 500 feet of one of these places.
I do virtually all of my own work, due to stories like these and the neighbors kids Jeep when the tire shop forgot to tighten the lugs. It dropped to the ground at 40 mph, grinding the undercarriage and disk rotor flat as it stopped.
I do have an independant shop that I trust for those few tasks I don't like or won't do, but I'll check their work when they are done too.
Jack, insecure about mechanics and a bit cheap too
These type of shenanigans aren't just for the JL folks. When I was in drivers ed we took the instruction car to the dealership to have the oil changed. As we were about to pull away, one of the mechanics came running out yelling to shut off the engine. They of course forgot to put oil in the engine.
seann wrote: These type of shenanigans aren't just for the JL folks. When I was in drivers ed we took the instruction car to the dealership to have the oil changed. As we were about to pull away, one of the mechanics came running out yelling to shut off the engine. They of course forgot to put oil in the engine.
Someone should have noticed that the oil pressure warning light never went off 
seann wrote: These type of shenanigans aren't just for the JL folks. When I was in drivers ed we took the instruction car to the dealership to have the oil changed. As we were about to pull away, one of the mechanics came running out yelling to shut off the engine. They of course forgot to put oil in the engine.
Happened to an old Highschool bosses truck. Pep boys removed the oil and forgot to refill. He got all the way home, 15 miles before that old 300 6 gave up. Guess who got a new engine.
ignorant wrote:seann wrote: These type of shenanigans aren't just for the JL folks. When I was in drivers ed we took the instruction car to the dealership to have the oil changed. As we were about to pull away, one of the mechanics came running out yelling to shut off the engine. They of course forgot to put oil in the engine.Happened to an old Highschool bosses truck. Pep boys removed the oil and forgot to refill. He got all the way home, 15 miles before that old 300 6 gave up. Guess who got a new engine.
But if it was a mopar slant 6, it would have kept going, Or so I have been told
neon4891 wrote: But if it was a mopar slant 6, it would have kept going, Or so I have been told
True. A college friend drove a slant-six Dart with bad rings. He would drive it until the oil light came on, pour 5 quarts in and repeat. After three years of watching this go on, he drove off into the sunset with a cloud of blue smoke trailing and I never saw him or the car again, but even money says it is still going to this day.
I heard about this from a friend who runs a reputable shop and did the repairs after a discount chain screw up. They drained the lube out of Miata transmisssion to change it. They couldn't get the fill plug out so instead they pulled the shifter out and tried to refill it from there. The shifter on a Miata 5 speed is not connected to the trans case for lubrication. Two days latter, gear oil was leaking out around the shifter boot and the transmission was howling from lack of lubrication.
In my parts store days, a Midas called up and requested an expanding universal oil plug (mushroom plug). I sold it to them--they're the mechanics. Later that day, the manager called me back to complain that the plug didn't stay in the oil pan, and he wanted our store to help with the cost of the (latest) repair, which I assume was a new engine.
I firmly told him that these plugs have no warranty, especially since I had no idea if they cleaned the (stripped) threads before installation. This shop only bought from my store (NAPA) when Autozone was out of stock, and there is no way I'm going to help some joke of a repair shop that only uses me as second call.
I've done that before while doing my own oil change. I never noticed that the o-ring didn't come out with the filter. Fired it up and away went $16 of 10w-30 synthetic.
Pissed my sister off real good too.
I'm always careful when doing oil changes on the AE92. When you have to hang the front of the car over a ledge and remove at least one skid plate to get to the drain plug and oil filter, plus your oil and all the parts involved cost an arm and a leg, and you know your shredded engine will give up the ghost if it doesn't have just the right mix of 25W-60 and Bardahl #2, you make sure you get it done right the first time.
This weekend I'll have to change the oil on the Samurai...getting the oil to land in the drain pan from such a height is gonna be hard, but at least the oil filter can be easily reached from above 
FWIW, the only oil filters with which I've ever had the problem with the o-ring staying on the block are Fram ones. I love the textured end as much as the next guy, but for my $ Wix or the NAPA store brand (also WIX) are the only way to go.
Changing oil on most cars is so simple that I barely comprehend that some people pay others to do it for them. I understand, I just don't identify with it. I've changed the oil in most of my family's cars since 1971.
Normally I wouldn't have much of an opinion on the quick change places, but since this thread is specifically aimed at Jiffy Lube, I feel compelled to share the one story I do have about them..
Just down the street from me lives the stupidest man in this country, if not the planet. Last fall he tried to fix a washing machine in the his front yard; when he was unable to repair it after several weeks he raked up leaves from his yard and stuffed it full of them (mulch pit?). The machine is still sitting there, as I suspect it will until it returns to the earth on it's own. His wife is almost as stupid as him, and loves to sit on the front steps and yell at him while he hangs around in the front yard. When he gets tired of listening to her nagging, he will crank up his lawn mower to drown out the noise she's making. He doesn't push the lawn mower, he just lets it sit there and run so he can't hear her nagging. The amazing thing is that she never misses a beat; she tries to out-yell the mower. Many people would be horrified by such behaviour in their neighborhood, but i've decided to consider it a humorous cultural display, and tolerate it as such.
Now to my point: In the 20+ years I've known him, he has had only one real job..
You guessed it: Manager at a Jiffy Lube.
NYG95GA wrote: Changing oil on most cars is so simple that I barely comprehend that some people pay others to do it for them. I understand, I just don't identify with it. I've changed the oil in most of my family's cars since 1971.
Two reasons I can see. Its hard to reach the drain on some cars that are low, so those of us without lifts/pits have a hard time. Second, oil disposal is quite a challenge, especially transporting it without a mess.
Huh, the trash company picks up my used oil with my recycling every week. I guess maybe those limp-wristed, nut-eating, hemp-wearing, envrio-nazi's got something right here in the NW 
For those of you who don't have a recycling program, could ya get with it already? Good grief, we in the NW can't do it all for ya
Seriously many auto parts stores will also take the used fluids, provided you bring it back in a container that isn't leaking. I use gallon-sized juice or milk containers, works well and unless I'm completely uncoordinated that day, I rarely spill much oil on the ground.
In the last year a survey of these oil change businesses was done by the American Petroleum Institute (API) to check the quality of the oil used. They wanted to be sure the oil meet their service standards (the "donut" SL, SM etc.). The results were eye opening to say the least. Few places allowed them to take a sample so they had to be somewhat clever to get clean samples. Some places (don't recall the % but it was significant)had oil that did not meet any API standards. They were selling the cheapest oil they could get. Whether this is a problem due to their bulk oil suppliers or the oil change shop itself is unknown. So not only can they damage your sump plug thread but you could be receiving poor quality oil
oldopelguy wrote: FWIW, the only oil filters with which I've ever had the problem with the o-ring staying on the block are Fram ones. I love the textured end as much as the next guy, but for my $ Wix or the NAPA store brand (also WIX) are the only way to go.
FRAM strikes again....
i'm to cheap and lazy to let someone else do the oil change for me... ramps make it SO easy... unless your car is to low or has a long overhang... go for a drive, get home and roll the car up on ramps... slip under and pop the plug out and let it drain... whenever i feel like it i come back out pull off the filter (which always comes off with out issue... i put it on last time and know it doesn't take 82ft/lb to properly seal ;-)... toss on the new filter and plug, fill oil, look for leaks... roll off the ramps and go on my way...
I used the Fram Sure Drain one one car (when the 1st came out)... and it made the oil change a completely tooless job.. along with no getting oil all over my hands when removing the drain plug...i loved it...
stories like this keep me changing my own oil... it's to easy not to... the only hassle is getting rid of the oil... i had a 5 gallon water jug (think culligan)... it takes a lot of oil to fill one of those...
donalson wrote: ... i had a 5 gallon water jug (think culligan)... it takes a lot of oil to fill one of those...
Parts/car collecting for the challenge can fill 2 of those pretty quick.
ignorant wrote: I will say that now, 5 years later.. I would have freaked out on the people in the store and would threaten to take a dump on the floor right in front of all the people unless they fixed it... and I got no problem with poopin in public.
Submitted for Quote of the month...
You guys have to put that in the magazine.
LOL
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