06 Corolla Sludge :: MMO Experiment

[OLAFF]

Here is the story.
My GF's best friend called the other day complaining about her brakes making odd sounds, and asking what it will cost to fix them, she was short on money, so I offered to replace them for her.

The brakes cost 20$ and took 15min to replace... so while the car was on the stands I noticed the oil needed to be replaced, so asked her if she wanted me to do a full tune up on the car.
She agreed and I got crankin.

Pulled the dipstick, and no oil registers, just dry.
Pulled the oil cap out and the filler neck is full of sludge.
I was thinking to myself "oh dear"! I proceed to remove the oil plug and I manage to squeeze around 3qts out of it, oil is pitch black and its very thick.
I go to remove the oil filter and to my surprise there is a date on it back from December 2007 almost 2 years ago.

So I removed and replaced the filter, cleaned things up, and proceeded with the oil.
I decided to dump 1qt of MMO and fill the rest with Mobil1 5000 5W-30 per factory specs.
I had to scrape as much of the sludge as I could in order to fill the oil but in the end the car fired up and it seemed quieter.
I told her to stop by in 2000mi so I can do another change and see how the sludge is in her car.
Next time I will update with pictures, and a report of how well the MMO worked.

Next I go to record the miles and I notice a Jiffy Lube sticker on there, which explained teh lack of filter replacement and the overtightened drain plug.
Turns out she has been replacing the oil there for the last 2 years a total of 4 times, which explains the oil filter part. They just never bothered to change it. I wouldnt be surprised if they even sucked the oil out through the dip stick tube.

Then they told her to drive 5000mi on some off brand oil which perhaps explains the sludge problems, and charged her 50$/change. She was told that they put the best oil in her car... that makes me want to go over there and beat them over the head with a tire wrench... or something heavy.


Told her no more JiffyLube! Oil change cost me under 20$ with the MMO. On her car it takes 15min to do in my garage.

 

[addyguy]

I'd love to hear and see how this experiment works out going forward.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Man, give us a warning that this material may not be suitable for all viewers at the top of the post!

 

[Hokiefyd]

A co-worker used to be a pit boss at Jiffy Lube and told me all sorts of stories about how they'd fill the oil filter with sludge and present it to the customer and recommend a full engine flush, find a fuel filter in the trash and present that, saying that they pulled the filter and recommend replacement, etc. He said they even would ask the ladies with skirts to come out to the vehicle so they should show them something on the engine, and all the guys in the pit would unassumingly make their way under the target for the peep show.

I'm not surprised at all that they wouldn't have changed a filter, and passed it off as a complete oil change.

 

[finalyzd]

Wow no oil on dipstick. Yea been curious bout mmo would like to see update and 20$ for brakes just a pad slap? Did u resurface rotors?

 

[Bill in Utah]

This should be good...

So let's see;

Jiffy Lube does not change oil?

(Yeah the filter is so hard to get to on a Corolla that they would not change it...)

Over tightened drain plugs but they sucked the oil out the dipstick tube?

Off brand oil at Jiffy Lube? Like the industry leader Pennzoil or Quaker State?

Too bad you did not take photos. Since you did not the photo you do take will not show anything that MMo did since there is not a before and after shots too see.

Still have the filter? Cut it open and show us the photos of that...

Let the bashing begin.

 

[OLAFF]

Forgot to mention the car only has 69K on the odometer... way too early for that much sludge.
THe marked filter was a dead give away of their incompetence...
Makes me wonder if the oil was even changed, maybe they just put a sticker on the window, left some dirty marks on the oil cap and wiped the oil filter saying its done.

A while back there was an incident where they never filled the crank case with oil, pulled the car out and the engine failed within 100yards of the oil place...

I guess lesson learned, stay away from Jiffylube.

As far as the experiment, i will keep an eye on the car and top it off as needed with MMO to see where things go.

If sludge is reduced then we will know it works.

 

[OLAFF]

Originally Posted By: finalyzd
Wow no oil on dipstick. Yea been curious bout mmo would like to see update and 20$ for brakes just a pad slap? Did u resurface rotors?


Just pads, the rotors were in good shape, I told her she needs to resurface them or at least get new ones but she decided to go the cheap route and I did what she said.
New rotors run 80$/set, its money she didnt have to spend on it at this point.


I still have the filter and the oil, forgot to take pictures of the oil cap, I guess I can do that next time i see the car.

 

[OLAFF]

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
This should be good...

So let's see;

Jiffy Lube does not change oil?

(Yeah the filter is so hard to get to on a Corolla that they would not change it...)

Over tightened drain plugs but they sucked the oil out the dipstick tube?

Off brand oil at Jiffy Lube? Like the industry leader Pennzoil or Quaker State?

Too bad you did not take photos. Since you did not the photo you do take will not show anything that MMo did since there is not a before and after shots too see.

Still have the filter? Cut it open and show us the photos of that...

Let the bashing begin.

Well I have heard horror stories from that place, with High School students servicing your car.
Mind you the girl has no clue about cars, so if they tell her that the car is burning the transmission oil she will believe them...

Maybe they did a proper oil change the first time, and marked the filter and then after they saw the car come back again and again, they figured she trusts them and they went on with the craziness.

Car does not leak oil, and the oil sticker says 72K for an oil change... thats almost 3K mi away, from the sound of it she has driven 2-3K since the last change... and lack of oil means the car is either burning it badly, or they never bothered to change it last time.

Not sure who is at fault here but I know she follows her oil change schedule strictly.

Can you explain the 50$ price tag for oil change at their super special facilities with their awesome Q and P oils...

Long story short, the motor is full of sludge at barely 70K mi... filter was dated back in 07, and she has replaced the oil 4 times since. What happened to it?

IF MMO works, then we will know its not just Mystery oil.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: Catera
IF MMO works, then we will know its not just Mystery oil.


I'll step out on the limb and say that if it doesn't work, it's because there was so much sludge that the oil pump pickup tube or the filter couldn't handle it all. Keep us posted and show some pix.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: Catera

I still have the filter and the oil, forgot to take pictures of the oil cap, I guess I can do that next time i see the car.


Put the oil filter photos up. Before you open it up and after!

Also more engines down the road with Pennzoil and QS oils than any other brand. And have no issues for hundreds of thousands of miles.

Off brand oil?

Sounds like you are ticked off at them for some reason. I take in my work truck there and while I don't use their services, they do a job and its better than most seem to project here.

What she should have done since she just got a oil change (69k miles and the sticker says 72k would show it was JUST done) is go back to another Jiffy Lube with the sludge in the filler and put in a claim. The instructions are at the bottom of the receipt page she would have received when the service was done.

Charging the customer for automotive service and NOT performing the service is a BIG CRIME in ALL 50 states.

Jiffy Lube would not risk it. Neither would Shell their parent company. Esp in todays live at 6 new crews looking for some "stories".

Bill

 

[OLAFF]

Well I think I will attempt to check the car tonight and i will snap a pic of the oil cap, and filler neck.

Should have done that last night but i was cold and my hands were oily, and didnt want to risk damage to my camera.

To give you an idea of how much sludge was in there... the oil cap had left marks on it when I removed it... so starting about 1" down from the tip it was just like a plug, you couldnt see down the tube, and oil took some time to get through that.

I would love to pop the valve cover on it and peak under to see exactly whats going on.

 

[ThirdeYe]

That's a pretty sad story. What's more sad is that I didn't even know there were Jiffy Lubes in Michigan... I've never seen one here.

 

[OLAFF]

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Originally Posted By: Catera

I still have the filter and the oil, forgot to take pictures of the oil cap, I guess I can do that next time i see the car.


Put the oil filter photos up. Before you open it up and after!

Also more engines down the road with Pennzoil and QS oils than any other brand. And have no issues for hundreds of thousands of miles.

Off brand oil?

Sounds like you are ticked off at them for some reason. I take in my work truck there and while I don't use their services, they do a job and its better than most seem to project here.

What she should have done since she just got a oil change (69k miles and the sticker says 72k would show it was JUST done) is go back to another Jiffy Lube with the sludge in the filler and put in a claim. The instructions are at the bottom of the receipt page she would have received when the service was done.

Charging the customer for automotive service and NOT performing the service is a BIG CRIME in ALL 50 states.

Jiffy Lube would not risk it. Neither would Shell their parent company. Esp in todays live at 6 new crews looking for some "stories".

Bill



Well I am mad at them for not doing what they are paid to do.

Just because you have a customer that will never double check your work doesnt mean you should skim them on their service.

I have heard of procedures where oil is sucked through the dip stick instead of out the drain but never seen it in use.

They advised her to change the oil every 5000mi, her "MAINT REQ" light came on just now, some 3000mi short of that.

The filter thing was a big give away.

Also oil can not be this black in the miles she has driven, and if there is no tail pipe smoke, how come the oil was short on at least 1.5Qts... didn't even register on the stick... and the oil was just done.

Now one of two things, either she is lying and forgot to change it in the last 5-10K miles, or they did something at their shop that wasn't right.


As far as pricing goes what exactly costs 50$? Synthetic oil wtih a special filter? ... or some oil out of a 55Gal Drum, wtih a cheap fram filter?

It just makes me mad seeing a car with 70K be this neglected this early...

 

[OLAFF]

Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
That's a pretty sad story. What's more sad is that I didn't even know there were Jiffy Lubes in Michigan... I've never seen one here.

There are 4 of them near my house, thats near Dearborn MI.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

Sounds like your girlfriend needs you. Might be a good idea to teach her to check her oil or maybe you can check it. That way you can see how much oil it is using and get a baseline. I was going to do an MMO experiment with my oil burning Saturn. Basically, ran out of time to get detailed records and data after adding MMO. Car used more oil but ran better. End of experiment.

Bill, you are much too rational.

 

[OLAFF]

Originally Posted By: MONKEYMAN
Sounds like your girlfriend needs you. Might be a good idea to teach her to check her oil or maybe you can check it. That way you can see how much oil it is using and get a baseline. I was going to do an MMO experiment with my oil burning Saturn. Basically, ran out of time to get detailed records and data after adding MMO. Car used more oil but ran better. End of experiment.

Bill, you are much too rational.

Well its her best friend that owns the Corolla.
I have trained my GF to be a little bit involved in the maintenance process, I dont make her check the oil, but I make sure she reminds me to check it, and thats good enough for me, it shows she is thinking about this stuff.

Her car has 130K and the motor is spotless. Nothing but Conventional oil at 3-4K, sometimes longer but its highway miles.

When is tarted dating her, the car was getting maybe 240-250mi out of a tank of gas ~14gal, now its pushing closer to teh 400mi mark...

Spark plugs were out of wack, filters needed changing... and for about 40$ in parts I got it running pretty darn good.

Pics will be up tonight.

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: Catera
Originally Posted By: finalyzd
Wow no oil on dipstick. Yea been curious bout mmo would like to see update and 20$ for brakes just a pad slap? Did u resurface rotors?


Just pads, the rotors were in good shape, I told her she needs to resurface them or at least get new ones but she decided to go the cheap route and I did what she said.
New rotors run 80$/set, its money she didnt have to spend on it at this point.


I still have the filter and the oil, forgot to take pictures of the oil cap, I guess I can do that next time i see the car.


She's got a newer 2006 Corolla, and doesn't have $80 to do work that needs to be done to the car....I love it. So freakin' typical these days.

Hey honey, if you spent a little less on expensive coffees and shoes, you're car will last more that 100k!

 

[ronrackley]

I'd be careful with that MMO in there. From your description of the degree of the sludge problem, I'd change it and the filter again with MMO in a week or two - or at no more than 500 miles while listening closely to the engine to make sure no knocks develop. If new sounds develop, I'd change it immediately. My concern would be clogging up the filter with the products of dissolved sludge and letting junk bypass it to cause restrictions in the oil passages and/or valve lifters of the engine.

I've used MMO and recommended it be used to resolve sludge problems such as cause lifter noise many times over the past 40 years and I believe in it. It may not help much with sludge in the filler tube, where it does not circulate, but it will be cleaning where oil does circulate. From what you say, I'd check the PVC system for a bad PCV valve or blockages in hoses/tubes.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: Catera
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Originally Posted By: Catera

I still have the filter and the oil, forgot to take pictures of the oil cap, I guess I can do that next time i see the car.


Put the oil filter photos up. Before you open it up and after!

Well I am mad at them for not doing what they are paid to do.

They advised her to change the oil every 5000mi, her "MAINT REQ" light came on just now, some 3000mi short of that.

The filter thing was a big give away.

Also oil can not be this black in the miles she has driven, and if there is no tail pipe smoke, how come the oil was short on at least 1.5Qts... didn't even register on the stick... and the oil was just done.

Now one of two things, either she is lying and forgot to change it in the last 5-10K miles, or they did something at their shop that wasn't right.


As far as pricing goes what exactly costs 50$? Synthetic oil wtih a special filter? ... or some oil out of a 55Gal Drum, wtih a cheap fram filter?

It just makes me mad seeing a car with 70K be this neglected this early...


Ok, let's look at this;

Jiffy Lube would NEVER say 5000 miles. They ALWAYS state 3000 miles or 3 months on their COMPUTER generated reminder sticker.

You must not RUN a business. When you do let me know where it is at so I can get things done at your cost of supplies. Forget the labor since you think Jiffy Lube should not charge for it.

So a Fram filter came off the car? That would be the white can one? Jiffy Lube does not use Fram products.

And Bulk oil is the SAME oil as what comes in the bottles. In fact (please make sure you are sitting down) ALL oil is BULK before they bottle it!

I'm smelling something here. Ask your girlfriend's friend for the Jiffy Lube receipts for all those oil changes.

Bill

PS: When you cleaned up the oil filler tube, what did the top of the head / rocker arms look like?