Another quick lube negative story and making due..

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Chris142

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I have a new girlfriend! She has an 04 Chevy Tahoe. Before I met her she was taking the truck to a local quicky lube place whenever the OLM told her to get the oil changed.

Truck has 98k on it now. The OLM came on yesterday. Today I dug through my stash and found 6 qts of Formula Shell 10w30. A stop at A-Zone got me an AC oil filter(Champ labs non E-Core).

Put the truck on the lift and immediatly found the source of her oil leak. The filter was loose! I started the truck on the lift and could see the oil leaking out past the filter. A drip about every 5 seconds.

I was able to remove the filter using only my thumb and index finger. Filter was made in Korea. Had to resort to a long 1/2 inch breaker bar to get the oil drain plug loose.

Changed the filter and while the oil was draining I hit the 8 grease zerks with my air powered grease gun.

I don't think that they have ever been greased. I bet I used almost a full tube of my Rotella red grease. The tie rod ends took the most....About 10 squirts each before the rubber boots began to move.

I then went to the rear axle. Pulled the fill plug and nothing came out. Stuck my finger in the hole......Nothin.

I believe that GM wants 75w90 in this rear end along with some of the addative since it has a positraction rear.

Well I only had 80w90 in stock. Throwing caution to the wind I put almost 2 qts of oil in the rear end. I figure that any oil is better than no oil and I plan on doing a full change soon anyway.

The transmission fluid is black. She said that nobody has ever tried to sell her any type of trans service.

Thats on my todo list now also.

I realize that it's been a while since the lube place has seen the truck. But the rear end oil didn't suddenly disapear, grease fitting don't stay clean unless you dont grease them and transmission fluid doesn't get black over night.

IMO the shop is just changing the oil, filter and sending her on her way.

The oil cap says 5w30. I have a few cases of the shell 10w30. IMO it will be fine and I know that it's good stuff vs whatever bulk oil the lube place was using. The rear end, like I said any oil is better than none at this point. We will see if it starts acting weird or chattering in turns.

She has already txt me and said that the truck "Seems to be smoother". I guess "It likes" the Shell oil?
grin.gif
 
Not taking up for the lube shop, but many quick lubes also just sell a oil change service only thing,... and I'm sure many if not the majority of people choose this option.

Taking up for quick lubes etc, local quick lube here has full window viewing while your waiting, and if anything comes up on the (whatever point) inspection they do, before they touch or do anything the take the customer back to show them, and tell them it's their option, and then show them the computer service bulletin on maintenance interval etc..

I will admit that the quick lube does a better job of all around inspection of the vehicle than I do myself.. I have never used their service, the reason I know this is they have a drive thru wash, with a clean-up human service after the drive thru wash that I use them for.. I wonder at times why I change my own oil, but I do.. I enjoy it, it's cheap etc all that good stuff
 
Atleast they changed the filter hehehe. But About ten squirts each on a zerk fitting? They can't hold that much grease. And leak every 5seconds? I think she would have ran out of oil at that rate.

But anyways good job on taking care of her truck. Service that diff! And trans!
 
I come to find many places don'y do everything they say they do. I was with a buddy last week when he stopped at a quick lube place. This was one of those multi point places as such. All they did was change the oil, that's it. And they were going to just send them on his way until I said something.
 
Originally Posted By: finalyzd
And leak every 5seconds? I think she would have ran out of oil at that rate.

I put 3 qts in it a few weeks ago and 2 more in the last week or so.
 
The last thing I ever do will be take up for a quick lube.

However, on that year model Tahoe, I believe if you can touch the rear diff lube, it is overfull.
 
Originally Posted By: MrCritical
The last thing I ever do will be take up for a quick lube.

However, on that year model Tahoe, I believe if you can touch the rear diff lube, it is overfull.


If I recall, it should be 5 to 14mm below the fill hole.
 
This story is getting more typical. Many shops(don't know about fast lubes)will not even try to sell needed maintenance anymore. Regardless of how maintenance free the manufacterers claim them to be, they still have to have service. Try selling that service to the adverage woman or even man that knows little about their car and you'll immediately hears words like crook,sham artist ect... I have some customers that I would not tell them if their engine was about to fall out on the ground. I'll just laugh when it does.
 
Another reason why one should NEVER go to a Quickie lube place. They don't know what they are doing and they rip you off. If you cannot do the work yourself, find a local mechanic that is trusted to do the work for you.
 
At the quick lube I worked for, we tried to upsell EVERYTHING. Trans flushes were cake...fill machine, hook machine up to car, turn car on, turn machine on, walk away and collect $120.

Personally, I always greased the joints on vehicles that had zerks...I know a lot of my co"workers" didn't though.

The filters we used were no-name ones from some unknown source. It didn't help that a lot of the other people never put oil on the gaskets, making them stick.

I am not surprised the vehicle was in need of a lot of maintenance...I am very surprised though that there was never an attempt to sell a trans flush or diff fluid change.

Was the diff wet at all on the outside? Where do you think the fluid leaked out?
 
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl

Was the diff wet at all on the outside? Where do you think the fluid leaked out?
It showed signs of seaping around the cover. No wet oil really, more like old crusty oil and dirt.
 
I have to agree with the others on the diff level. At a certain point, GM did start lowering the oil level. There should even be a tag above the fill hole. I believe it's 10mm. I don't know what this translates to in quarts but 2 sounds excessive. Slightly damp around the cover does not equal 2 quarts low. Better pull the rear drums or rotors and check for leaking axle seals.
 
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