Does Valvoline instant oil change centers change your oil filter?

Pit in the floor. The Valvoline places around here have screens so you can watch the work being completed. I miss Oil Change Henry's. The owner retired and sold all of his quick lube places to Valvoline. The oil change prices went up quite a bit when valvoline took over. One time one of the lube techs invited me into the pit to watch the tech change my oil. Thinking back on it, that probably was against the rules.
 
Do a search for MityVac. Theirs is obviously heavy duty.
My point is, that might work with brand new cars where that entire section is sealed airtight. In my foxbody (which is in great shape btw), the dipstick tube is simply a feeder sleeve into the oil pan.

A pump would struggle to pull much oil out that way with it's setup and would more than likely create a colossal mess...
 
That's pretty surprising to me that they use lifts. It's so much safer and quicker to use the "pit" like most oil change places do. This was standard 30+ years at quick-oil-change places too.
Faster to use the pit too.
This guy one time had a pit in his garage at home.
 
Hey guys,

This is my second time driving by the Valvoline instant oil change centers and I'm wondering how they change the filter?

I see that they drain the oil through the dipstick but ive never seen them lift the car to get to the filter...

I don't go there myself but anyone know if they even change the filter?

I worked for one a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. I can't speak for any other VIOC but yes, we changed the filter using Valvoline marked ones. The liability of a potentially clogged filter alone was enough impetus to do so and if your engine grenaded with a "Pennzoil" labeled oil filter after visiting a VIOC for an oil change, do you NOT think you might have a giant lawsuit potential?

Yeah, a filter that cost maybe $1.XX in bulk was a good thing to replace to avoid bad press and lawsuits, so one would be batsh*t insane to not change an oil filter to the "brand"...
 
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Hey guys,

This is my second time driving by the Valvoline instant oil change centers and I'm wondering how they change the filter?

I see that they drain the oil through the dipstick but ive never seen them lift the car to get to the filter...

I don't go there myself but anyone know if they even change the filter?

My god, what did they charge you? The last time I checked they got $72 for MaxLife....
 
Do a search for MityVac. Theirs is obviously heavy duty.
I've heard of that pump, but never seen one used at a quick lube. I would have an hard time believing they would use that? All that I a have seen around here have a pit. I haven't been to one for years.
 
My VW Passat had a skid plate. Twice they (NOT a Valvoline shop) failed to properly secured it. (Charged me extra because it had a skid plate!) Two skid plates lost. They replaced them after a couple of months waiting for the parts each time. My daughter while driving without the skid plate managed to crack the sump. Nice puddle of oil on the driveway, but fortunately I spotted it before she drove it again. Had to pay for a new plate plus parts at the local indy - $$$.

Finally, after having the oil changed regularly at the same shop for almost ten years, they told me they could no longer change my oil/filter as the oil they carry is NOT to VW spec. Yes, after almost ten years. Took that as a clear sign from above. From then onwards I have always done my own oil changes, including new still under warranty vehicles.

Never looked back. Well worth the couple of hours of work for peace of mind to know it's done right. Right quality full-syn. oil, right oil filter, and drained from the oil drain plug! Incidentally current vehicles don't even have a dip stick. Do they now drain from the fill hole? 😩
 
Valvoline used to do transmission services with a fancy pump machine, don’t know if they still do or not. It was dependent upon a transmission dipstick which unfortunately has become rare.
 
Valvoline used to do transmission services with a fancy pump machine, don’t know if they still do or not. It was dependent upon a transmission dipstick which unfortunately has become rare.
I think those were flush machines and they tied it into one of the fluid lines and it acted as bypass machine to replace all the fluid.
 
I once serviced a Nissan Maxima that had the factory engine oil filter installed. It had ~30k miles. Owner went to various quicklubes and none ever changed the filter since they couldn't remove it. He wanted to learn DIY. And, he did learn a few things that day.

Local VW dealer here lost various under panel screws after the last warranty repair, and scavenged some from the bumper. That same panel is removed for every oil change.

Local Hyundai dealer here lost the oil drain access cover EVERY time. I made them order and replace it. They eventually figured out that I did not want their 'complimentary' oil/filter services at every warranty repair. Missing various other parts over the years had to be ordered and replaced. Techs just like to make cars lighter after each service.

If you don't watch them like a hawk, you have no idea what they are or aren't doing. Reputation means nothing. Trust is a fool's choice.
 
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Not necessarily they may have stores with both. But other than driving by the front of the store I'm not likely to be using their services soon knock on wood!

Over the past few years, Valvoline has built 4 new VIOC stores from the ground up within 12 miles of my house. Every single one of them uses lifts and none of them have underground pits. I think it is because I am in coastal Virginia where groundwater can occasionally be encountered within 8 to 10 feet of the terrain's surface in certain areas.

Out of curiosity, I recently accompanied a co-worker to one of the VIOCs during an oil change. On his Honda Accord, they removed the drain plug to drain the old oil and did not use an extractor pump. I did see an extractor in the facility, so they may use it to perform oil removal for certain (e.g., Euro) vehicles.
 
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