Fast oil change horror stories

[Scimmia]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
cabin air filters are good for 50k miles because the air they filter has already been filtered by the regular car filter. most shop i know charge 175 to 300 bucks to do the change. it is a time consuming process as they don't do it often and need to follow direction step by step just like us.


I don't know what kind of cabin air filter you have, I can't think of any situation where the air through the cabin air filter would have already gone through the engine air filter. As far as being time consuming, that depends on the car, even following directions, mine doesn't take over 15 minutes.

 

[Squishy]

On every car I own I've replaced the standard cabin air filter with a cut-to-fit furnace filter. I don't need it to filter out allergens or anything like that, just to keep leaves from blowing into my face. In cars without a cabin filter I line the entire bottom of the cowl cover with furnace filter.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
JL tells employees to not be pushy, but the way they do bonuses says something completely different. At least at the franchise I am familiar with.

Bonuses are based on sales. Big money makers are the upsells that take little time and get the car out of the bay fast. Trans flushes, air filters (at $30+ a pop), cabin air filters (60+ a pop), etc. are pushed hard. We were told to always try to upsell. A lot of people didn't want to see their air filter or trans fluid, they just said "do everything." Some people would actually look at the air filter and make their own judgement, but they were few and far between. We would do the work though, unlike that shop in CA that flat out didn't do what they said they would and got caught on camera. It was just unnecessary stuff to chase the bonus though. Not all of the blame rests on the employees. Getting paid minimum wage sucks, so it's no surprise they want a bonus.

How are cabin air filter replacements unnecessary?

That's the single most overlooked maintenance item IMO.

When they are replaced every single oil change.

 

[twentynine]

Look guys, you can get bad service from any place. Not just the quicky lube joints. It is fun to bash the 5minute/Jiffy lube places, but really how many of you have had problems at dealerships, private mechanic shops? And let us not forget the times where we have made the mistakes in our own driveways.

 

[John_K]

Originally Posted By: twentynine
Look guys, you can get bad service from any place. Not just the quicky lube joints. It is fun to bash the 5minute/Jiffy lube places, but really how many of you have had problems at dealerships, private mechanic shops? And let us not forget the times where we have made the mistakes in our own driveways.


Our Hyundai dealer underfilled my wife's Sonata by a quart, so all places make mistakes. Think about it, hospitals make mistakes and patients die. Iffy Lube is probably less trained than dealers though from what I have seen and heard.

John

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: css9450
Originally Posted By: V1
I could only picture the worried looks on customers faces as they were led into believing this sort of garbage. I wonder what percentage of people give in.


My dad is the classic example of one who always gives in. He never gets out of those places paying less than $100. Usually its the cabin air filter that gets him, but he's been known to approve a few engine flushes too. His car is a 2002 Impala with 72,000 miles. I've told him a million times to tell them "no" (or better yet, bring it over to me for me to change the oil), but they get him every time.


why don't your old man bring his ride over to you. with your oil stash, a donor like his could use some real quality oil for a complete change instead of the 15 min / 1/4 capacity change the quick lube joint do. and if he is a regular, they may consider changing his filter out every 3rd visit.

 

[BrianWC]

When my wife and I were in college, we took our cars to a quickie wash and oil change. The cars were put on a conveyor belt when they went thru the car wash part. Well, after getting off the belt, the cars were supposed to be hand detailed. A big truck had caused the detailers to take some extra time. So, they still didn't have the truck out of the way when my wife's car came off the conveyor. As a result, that little blue 94 Eclipse (then only a year or two old) went right up underneath the truck like a giant, blue metallic door stop.

Afterward, the quickie lube put up a wooden fence around the area so customers could no longer see their cars.

 

[ChromiumSteel]

I went to Iffylube once. Later in the day I was turning on a freeway onramp from another freeway. Was going probably 45. The car almost spun out of control! The idiots had put 55 pounds of pressure in all 4 tires. I think the car(87 Civic Si) called for 28 lbs per tire. That was it for me. Never again.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: ChromiumSteel
I went to Iffylube once. Later in the day I was turning on a freeway onramp from another freeway. Was going probably 45. The car almost spun out of control! The idiots had put 55 pounds of pressure in all 4 tires. I think the car(87 Civic Si) called for 28 lbs per tire. That was it for me. Never again.


come on, you punished them for giving you a free tune-up, making your car ride rough like a race machine while adding 3-5 additional mile to your mileage.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: Scimmia
Originally Posted By: M1Accord
cabin air filters are good for 50k miles because the air they filter has already been filtered by the regular car filter. most shop i know charge 175 to 300 bucks to do the change. it is a time consuming process as they don't do it often and need to follow direction step by step just like us.


I don't know what kind of cabin air filter you have, I can't think of any situation where the air through the cabin air filter would have already gone through the engine air filter. As far as being time consuming, that depends on the car, even following directions, mine doesn't take over 15 minutes.


mine requires the glove box to be taken out and part of the dash removed. i was charged 200 for replacing 2 filter. i am doing it myself this time but stick to the 50k miles interval as the filters are still relatively clean when done at 30k.

 

[00AccordLX5spd]

I am a commercial property/casualty insurance adjuster and my insurance company insures a lot of "Quick Lube" type oil change places. Believe me, after seeing the damage done by so many of these places, I opted to never again take any of my cars to one.
Here is a list of "accidents" by quick lube places I can remember off the top of my head from the last 3 years I have been employed here:
-drained old oil out, but forgot to add more oil. Gave vehicle to customer. Engine dead
-double gasket on oil filter. Oil slowly leaked out. Engine dead
-forgot to re-install drain plug. Gave to customer. Engine dead
-re-installed drain plug incorrectly. Oil slowly leaked out. Engine dead
-installed oil filter too tight. Gasket squished out the sides. Oil slowly leaked out. Engine dead
There are also numerous others where the oil change place employee said they did nothing wrong. We investigate, and of course, the claimant brings the vehicle back to the oil change place as soon as they have trouble. Guess what: the oil change place monkeys around with the car by adding more oil, swapping out the filter, etc.. so our investigation is ruined. In those cases we usually have to just pay up. When the oil change place gets mad that we paid and their rates went up, we have to explain to them what a jury in a court room would think: person brings car to oil change place - car runs fine - oil change place admits car ran fine - person drives off after oil change place changes oil - engine suffers catastrophic failure due to lack of oil - what do you think a jury is going to say?

As an insurance company, we will pay for a replacement engine "of like kind and quality." That is how insurance works. Insurance is not there to leave someone better off than they were before the loss. Its purpose is to bring the person as closely as possible back to their pre-loss condition. When people profit from insurance it is called insurance fraud. If someone suffers an engine loss in a car in with 100,000 miles on the engine, we will replace the engine with a used one with a similar number of miles. or sometimes a "like kind and quality" engine is either unavailable, or it will cost more to put in than the car is worth. Then the car gets totalled and we pay the Actual Cash Value of the car based on the market at the time of the loss. That's the law. Ask any lawyer.

My advice is as follows for anyone who ever asks me where to take their car to get their oil changed: As soon as the oil change place tells you they are finished, ask to see your dipstick. Watch them pull it out of your car. If anything appears questionable, ask to see a manager and never return to oil change place.

 

[Cutehumor]

perfect reason why I started to change my own oil, not only does it save money, but makes sure the engine isn't damaged by those jibby boobs

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
perfect reason why I started to change my own oil, not only does it save money, but makes sure the engine isn't damaged by those jibby boobs


if only they were jibby boobs i would gladly bring my car in and have them change my oil. instead, they're mostly redhead pimple kids or amigos.