Experience at Havoline Xpress Lube

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Early this past Saturday morning my brother and I were out and about running some errands. He mentioned that his wife wanted him to take her car (which we were driving) in for an oil change and asked if I minded if he took care of it. Being a BITOGer I felt like a kid at christmas so I said sure. But where were we going?....

So we pull into a Havoline Xpress Lube next to a fairly busy gas station with convenience store and drive up to the garage. Immediately a tech comes out with a clipboard to take information on the car and asked what kind of oil change we wanted. My brother opted for a conventional oil change (the cheapest). I thought to myself that the car had just over 80k miles - so let's see if they recommend HM oil. Nope. No attempt by the tech.

Once the car was pulled in and they started performing an oil change I watched through the glass in the waiting room in a way I'm sure only either a curious 7 yr old or a crazy BITOGer would. The others in the waiting room either watched the college sports on the old tube TV hanging in the corner or read the magazines on the tables that looked like they were 100 years old and had been chewed on.

The techs were young but I was impressed with their methodical procedure. The tech from the pit pulled the filter and plug and the car drained its oil. In the meantime, the tech was working on the other car in another bay as the oil drained for about 5 minutes and the tech below was putting on a new filter. The tech looked under the hood with a flashlight and checked all fluids. They did not try and upsell anything. I think I even saw the tech below lubing the new filter gasket. Impressive.

The one bit that got me was that I saw the tech pop the top off of the coolant reservoir and poured in Havoline Universal 50/50 coolant mix from a gallon jug. He then topped off the washer fluid out of a gun and finally pumped in what I assume was Havoline bulk 5w20 from an oil gun from some drum in the bowels.

They did have 6 gallon boxes on a shelf of the specialty synthetic and high mileage oils. All other oils came from the bulk tanks.

All in all about 20 minutes and it was something like $35 with tax. Now I know how most folks get their oil changed. A few folks came and went while I was there. Some walked across the parking lot to the gas station for I assume coffee or breakfast. It was the first time I have ever been in a quick lube but it was pretty uneventful. The topping off of the coolant with universal coolant I did not like. I could see this causing some issues with some cars with special coolant.

I was shocked to even see a woman pull up in a newer BMW. Must have been a lease.
grin.gif


I will say that the young techs who worked there were a hard working bunch who look like they took pride in their work. Now I know the oil change experience for most of the population. I left the quick lube with a strange feeling...like I didn't get the good whiff of used oil, the scuffed knuckle or happy feeling of pouring new oil into the fill hole. The experience just felt so....disconnected from the joy of working on car. I guess it works for those who don't know what a drain plug is.
 
The coolant top off scares me. I wonder if these techs are smart enough to realize with certain vehicles that mixing OAT and HOAT coolant can be a disaster. Or adding a universal coolant can cause problems for those systems as well.
 
Originally Posted By: GMFan
.Once the car was pulled in and they started performing an oil change I watched through the glass in the waiting room in a way I'm sure only either a curious 7 yr old or a crazy BITOGer would.

New phrase suggested: "More nervous than a bitoger at an express lube."
laugh.gif


Good to hear there are still Havoline Xpress Lubes, someone on here the other day thought that brand was gone.
 
Agreed. My impression up until that moment the tech poured in universal coolant was that the whole process was harmless. Once I saw this it reaffirmed my commitment to be in the minority and change my own oil. Just the idea of bringing my car to a place to have the oil change and have them dump in wrong fluids is scary.

I have to assume a dealership would handle this better. Then again what can you expect for $35 from a quick lube? All kinds of beaters pass through the garage doors of this place. Liquid in the coolant is better than none to most people I guess.

I still can't believe someone brought in a year old BMW though. It had to be a lease. As much respect I have for these young working employees I have to doubt they know the oil requirements and approved oils list of a BMW. If she requested a conventional oil change I probably would have cringed. Too bad I didn't get to know what she asked for.
 
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...at least note on the work order and notify the customer about being low on fluids.

You are not even supposed to service coolant on a hot engine, from what I know.

But then I guess if you want ATF+4 in your Chrysler power steering reservoir or Dexcool in your GM motor then the dealer is the way to go.

But then again, we should be looking out for each other. Maybe the tech is like the rental car folks here at Bob? Some pour in used oil in their rental vans and feel like they are doing a service- then get reimbursed for filling the sump with used oil and consider it good- so some is better than none???



Yes, it is tough to keep a antifreeze for every make and model- but when the coolant jug says AMAM- then can we really know any better?
 
I would just tell the tech to do the oil change and leave my tire pressures and other fluids alone. I've had nightmares about someone putting universal no-name PSF or ATF in my Honda's *shudders*
 
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My dad has had oil changes done at Valvoline for 10 years.

$25 out the door, and never gave him a problem.

They offer free top offs of all fluid for 3000 miles. He takes the oil burning minivan in there for a quart of oil once a month.

I've got the oil changes down to $14 in my wife's matrix, I'm just too crazy to let anyone else do it, and I have zero patience for upselling.
 
Is adding Universal coolant really that bad? With proof (not just BITOG OCD)?
 
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Originally Posted By: GMFan
I still can't believe someone brought in a year old BMW though. It had to be a lease. As much respect I have for these young working employees I have to doubt they know the oil requirements and approved oils list of a BMW. If she requested a conventional oil change I probably would have cringed. Too bad I didn't get to know what she asked for.


Wonder if the Xpress techs even knew Havoline has an LL-01 5w-40 for gasoline engines, and then another LL-04 5w-40 for diesels, and do they stock it?

They might, for the German-car crowd. So the lady might have got the right oil after all!
 
Well at least they did MOST of the work correctly,
HOWEVER unless the coolant fluid was very low they should have left it alone and simply informed the customer about, and if requested to top off ONLY used the correct coolant!

That is UNacceptable.
 
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Is adding Universal coolant really that bad? With proof (not just BITOG OCD)?


This. How would that be worse than them telling the guy that he is low on coolant, him going to Advance, AutoZone, Walmart, etc and picking up the bottle that says UNIVERSAL.
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Is adding Universal coolant really that bad? With proof (not just BITOG OCD)?


This. How would that be worse than them telling the guy that he is low on coolant, him going to Advance, AutoZone, Walmart, etc and picking up the bottle that says UNIVERSAL.


Plenty of vehicle manufacturer owner manuals state clearly that mixing coolants is NOT recommended and could cause serious damage to the cooling system and/ or engine damage.

Is that enough "evidence" for you?
 
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I had this same issue with the new company Transit-they wanted to dump MaxLife coolant in the Specialty Orange, when I told them it wasn't compatible they looked at me like I had 3 heads! Weird thing is, Prestone AMAM (containing 2-EHA) probably would have been fine. VIOC was having a bad day, they actually took air out of the back tires, they didn't believe me that they were rated for 85 PSI cold, being warmed up, they dropped them to like 70 cold. Reminds me why they never touch anything of MINE!
 
Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Is adding Universal coolant really that bad? With proof (not just BITOG OCD)?


This. How would that be worse than them telling the guy that he is low on coolant, him going to Advance, AutoZone, Walmart, etc and picking up the bottle that says UNIVERSAL.


Plenty of vehicle manufacturer owner manuals state clearly that mixing coolants is NOT recommended and could cause serious damage to the cooling system and/ or engine damage.

Is that enough "evidence" for you?


Especially in the case of OAT or HOAT coolant. I'll continue to do my own work, until I physically can't anymore. The risk vs. reward is not worth it to me.
 
Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Is adding Universal coolant really that bad? With proof (not just BITOG OCD)?


This. How would that be worse than them telling the guy that he is low on coolant, him going to Advance, AutoZone, Walmart, etc and picking up the bottle that says UNIVERSAL.


Plenty of vehicle manufacturer owner manuals state clearly that mixing coolants is NOT recommended and could cause serious damage to the cooling system and/ or engine damage.

Is that enough "evidence" for you?


Prestone All Makes / All Models claims that its own R&D scientists/engineers/techs have verified it will play nice with anything out there. I think the warning in Owner's Manuals we see doesn't take that into account, and they are being cautious, even at the expense of being wrong about the universal Prestone product.
 
I mixed two AMAM coolants together in my Rav's radiator. The green AMAM sits on top of the orange AMAM in the overflow reservoir.

Been about 10,000 miles like this. Everything seems fine. I'm not worried.
 
Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel

Plenty of vehicle manufacturer owner manuals state clearly that mixing coolants is NOT recommended and could cause serious damage to the cooling system and/ or engine damage.

Is that enough "evidence" for you?


So a company selling a UNIVERSAL coolant that is not UNIVERSAL is knowingly opening themselves up to tons of lawsuits?

What they mean is don't mix Decool with old school green, etc.
 
No...what they mean is: take it to the stealership to get (over)charged $199.99 for a coolant flush! (And $28 for an air filter, and $18 each for wipers, and...)
 
I only DIY or go to the dealer....I have had the stripped oil drain bolt on a new Suburban courtesy of a Quick Lube.

Never again....never.
 
Just buy your own fluids oem from the dealer..only bitogers will take extra careful precautions. Ive used prestone universal in my rolla with no probs..worst case in my experience at least..my dealer doesnt charge much if any more than a quick lube for oil change..less since they upsell less.
 
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