Fast oil change horror stories

[Shannow]

I sold (well sort of if you believe a sale involves both goods AND payment) my 4Runner to my brother in law just before Christmas.

He's interstate, so they have to do a one off roadworthy (his state doesn't have annual inspections like mine does).

He rang me with the darks, as he'd been given the list of "defects" and costs.
* Radiator didn't have a fan shroud, which is illegal (yeah right), cost $300.
* Windscreen was sandblasted and could not be seen through, cost nearly $400.
* Rear brakes needed to be completely rebuilt (I'd done them 6 months prior, and got my mechanic to check my work when I got new rear tyres. Another $200.
* Battery not secured, another $50.

I asked him who on Earth did the inspection. "TyrePower" we get our tyres from them, and they are really cheap.

I asked him if this cheap tyre place ever found any extra safety issues while on his cars...turns out every time he gets cheap tyres, he has a few hundred in emergency repairs as well.

Got him to try a mechanic. A mechanic with a name out the front, and certified MTA. Not a franchise. Try to establish over the long term a relationship.

Said mechanic picked up an issue with the kerb side balljoint, and charged him under $100 to replace.

 

[Cutehumor]

these oil change horror stories is the reason why I alone am the one who changes oil in my car, my wife's car, and my dad's car. Not only do I save money by doing it myself with free after rebate oil and buy one get one free house brand oil filters. But I also save potential oil change catastrophes from Jiffy boob

 

[Dave Sherman]

I've had enough bad experiences with quickie lubes that I avoid them like the plague. Not as bad as some, but enough to keep me away from them. They nearly always try to sell me an air filter on the grounds that you can see dirt in them (no kidding! That's what they do!). Tires were invariably over-inflated. Our old '88 Pontiac had the wide drain plug with the filter inside the engine, so stamped on the drain plug were the words "Tighten 1/4 turn after gasket touches". But would they? Heck no. They would lean on that sucker, making the gasket distort and start leaking. So they make it tighter. One time they got it on there so tight we had to chisel the thing off because the 12-point socket rounded off the head. After that, I'd carry the wrench around with me and warn them that I was going to check to make sure they tightened it correctly, or I was backing in to have them loosen it again. The last time I took that car to one, I could see the yutz underneath the car leaning on the wrench with both hands about to bust a gut. I went to the guy at the counter and told him to go tell the guy down below to do it right. No way, he's just at a bad angle, so that's why it looks like he's making it really tight. Pulled out of the bay, put my wrench on it, and I couldn't budge it with both arms. Back in it goes, they loosened it, and they even let me down to watch the guy tighten it correctly. Of course they made sure to give me an earful about how I shouldn't come back complaining when it falls off or starts leaking. Funny, in 190,000 miles the plug never fell off and never leaked.

I took my Saturn to one, and the yutz tells me they are out of 10w30. I looked at him a little funny, because it quite clearly says 5w30 on the cap. "Oh, it does?" I think that was the last time I ever went to any quickie lube.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

I took my new 2000 Sentra to Jiffy Lube for it's FIRST oil change, and they didn't tighten the oil filter enough, so shortly after leaving, oil began to drip on the exaust pipe. Clouds of smoke billowed from the car at stop lights and the smell was non-stop.

I went home and crawled underneath to see oil dripping from the filter. I took it back, and after they drove it over the pit and took a peek at it, insisted that there must be some sort of leak involving the engine block, or some seal, and that they had done nothing wrong.

I drove my smoking car home and installed a new filter. Never another ounce of trouble from the oil system....because I did all my own oil changes going forward.

 

[M1Accord]

it costs me $4.50 to rent a full service bay and do the work myself. i usually tip the manager $1.5 since i only use the service twice a year. anyway, i get the thing on lift, use the tools (1 wrench) and change my oil. while the oil is draining and i do let the oil really drain out, i check around to make sure nothing is leaking, cracking, or whatever. money well spent as it is the safe way to change out. my days of crawling under the car is over; that is just plain dangerous.

 

[ThirdeYe]

I haven't had any "real" horror stories, just the usual overfill. When I first bought my car the seller told me it needed an oil change, so the next day I went to the local Buick/GMC/Pontiac dealer up the road to get the oil changed because they said they service all makes and I had a coupon for a $15 oil change. So I take it home and check the oil a few days later (yeah, I wasn't very good on maintenance back then) and saw that they overfilled it by a quart. Even saw on the receipt that they had 5 quarts on there, when it's supposed to be 4 quarts for my car. It didn't hurt anything, but that's one of the things that got me into changing oil myself. That was the last time I've taken my car to an oil change place.

Back when I first started to maintain my mom's car, the drain plug was on so tight that I had to use a pipe wrench to get it off, wrecking the plug in the process and had to buy a new one. Apparently the people at the last place she took it to thought it needed the same amount of torque a lugnut needs.

 

[MrCritical]

Dealer oil changes are on a "menu" price for up to 5 qts of oil. 5 quarts gets billed on every oil change whether it's 3,4, or 5. The exception is over 5 qts, which is an extra charge.

That's still no excuse for overfilling your oil.

 

[V1]

Yesterday I went to JiffyLube on behalf of my girlfriend. Usually I'm the one to do maintenance. This JiffyLube visit was a VERY rare exception. What amazed me was their persistence in selling additional products and services.

The g/f's car is a '91 Plymouth Sundance with 160,000 miles. This vehicle falls deep into the category of 'beater'. It gets nothing other than standard, keep-it-running, maintenance. It had been 8,000 miles since prior oil change. JiffyLube was the answer since we had plans.

The employees rushed over to begin their Signature Service just as quickly as they could. Not more than 2 minutes later, one of the workers approached me with a very concerned look on his face.

"Sir, look at this," he said as he pointed to the dirty oil filter. "You need an engine flush very badly! Look how dirty the oil is!"

I almost laughed out loud, but politely declined the offer.

"But sir, if you don't flush the engine...."

"No." I reaffirmed.

A few moments later, his supervisor confronted me. He says this: "Sir, do you realize how bad your oil was? The new oil cannot do it's job of protecting your engine without completely flushing the old oil out! You might as well just keep the old oil in there!"

Again, I supressed a laugh. I said to him in my most polite tone, "Listen, I can tell that you're very concerned about my car, but it's a '91 Sundance, ok? It's gonna be alright."

He was clearly frustrated. He tried a couple more times, but I eventually got the message across. It took every nerve in my body to avoid a bona fide oil debate with this guy, but as you know, that would have been absolutely pointless.

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.

 

[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.

 

[PF52]

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.

 

[javacontour]

V1, perhaps if you shared with the young man trying to upsell you that the car was likely about his age, he would have understood better.

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
my days of crawling under the car is over; that is just plain dangerous.


racing isn't?

 

[Hermann]

I really do believe for some perverted reason, some people like to be taken advantage of.

 

[M1Accord]

women are their easiest preys. can you imagine a look on some girl or old lady with a very nice car being approached with that scare tactic. for that very simple reason, i do my own oil change. if there is ever a time in a distant feature that i grow too lazy or old to do it, i'll have my kids do it.

 

[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.

 

[V1]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
V1, perhaps if you shared with the young man trying to upsell you that the car was likely about his age, he would have understood better.


Yeah, pretty much. I could have also reminded him that the car scores a 0 on the "bling" index.

 

[Audi Junkie]

QL should strike a balance between preforming usefull work and "upselling". That is, do stuff that is really needed and charge as much for as much work you really feel it needs. (and actually do the work, not just charge)

QL should perfect their database and be able to say, oh, there is a service item indicated that ~really~ is an issue in these cars, like fuel filters etc. The real problem is they just don't do heavy work. They might notice a loose suspension componet, but will drain the owner dry with cabin filters and air fresheners etc, so much that the guy can't now afford the heavy work that is actually needed. The sad part is they WON'T tell or warn the guy, because he might deny the light work they want to do in favour of needed stuff. This makes a place like Firestone, that does axels, suspension and wheel bearings the best single choice for lame-os.

My last QL change was at WalMart with the Volvo. The shop guys gave us a new IMPROVED drain bolt, free and I saw him flush the engine out from above with the bulk oil before installing my Havoline Synth. What am I gonna do, complain they didn't drain the bottles enough?

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
How are cabin air filter replacements unnecessary?

That's the single most overlooked maintenance item IMO.


I have owned 17 vehicles, and not one of them has had a cabin air filter.

There are next to no cars sold in Oz that have them. Like with my 4 year old Nissan. The local filter manufacturer recently introduced Cabin Air Filters on their filter search list

http://www.rycofilters.com.au/catalogue/application/make/Nissan/model/Navara

Just another service item/practice added to the 10,000 mile invoice rather than the up front cost of the vehicle.

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
How are cabin air filter replacements unnecessary?

That's the single most overlooked maintenance item IMO.


A new cabin filter at every (or almost every) oil change is a little excessive, which was what my elderly dad was paying for.

 

[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.