I am considering the Dark Side. Quick Oil Change shops.

Kurtatron said:
I changed the oil in my civic today. I also changed the oil in my Toyota Van a few weeks ago. I literally did not spill a single drop of oil changing my Van's oil and filter. The civic? It has a detestable oil filter mount location. It's one of those filters on the firewall side of the transverse engine. So when the filter comes undone, oil drips down the side of block and in this Civic's case, onto the exhaust pipe. I spilled about a teaspoon of oil. Not horrible compared to my past spill disasters, but still frustrating. The used oil coated my arm, and stained a jacket. I'm just about fed up with these sort of oil filter locations. I believe I am ready to concede. Most of my life, I have been a devoted DIY addict, but for something as mundane and as cheap as an oil change, I believe I am ready. Ready to discard this infuriating chore to a quick oil change shop. I know there is risk of error, but the risk of occurrence seems so low. I will remain DIY for big jobs, but a simple oil change? I think it's time to throw in the towel. Who else has crossed the line from changing your own oil to enlisting oil change shops to descend into the oily abyss?
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I have a 97 civic and I hear you, the oil filter location sucks. They do make oil filter relocation kits, maybe you could install that and connect the bracket near the firewall. I use a Fram Ultra and I've kept the filter one for two years which is a about 12-13k miles distance.

The one good thing when the filter is off is that you can look around and check the front suspension etc.
 
I worked in and managed "quick lube" shops for roughly 12 years. My very 1st job...ever...was at a Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealership. I saw way more shady activities at the dealership than I did in the entire time I spent in the quick lube industry. For instance, my position at the dealership was a lube tech. No ASE factory certified techs changing oil at a dealership...ever. I got zero training or even questions if I knew how to do the job or anything. Basically a tour of the service department and "have at it".

As a matter of fact, even the local independent repair shop will have the low man on the totem pole changing oil...unless it's a one or two man operation.

When I quit the dealership, I started out in the quick lube industry working for a local independent quick lube. Left there and went to work for Q Lube (the Quaker State owned company). Q Lube was a VERY well operated company. From the top executives to the guys vacuuming floorboards. Their focus was on speed and precision. Just an occasional air filter and wiper blades here and there. Mostly OLF's, fluid topoffs and tire pressures. We averaged under 4 min per vehicle. Never saw any shady or dishonest practices at Q Lube.

When Pennzoil acquired QS, Jiffy Lube absorbed all the Q Lube stores...things went to hell under the new company. Our daily car count at Q Lube averaged 75 or so per day. That dropped to around 35-40 cpd in less than 6 months after Jiffy Lube took over. They wanted add-on and ancillary services as a priority. Went from under 4 min per vehicle to nearly 10 and beyond. Customers noticed and weren't happy. I went to managers meetings and saw "managers" from around the market that I wouldn't even consider hiring to wash windshields at my store.

I then applied and was hired to manage a brand new Havoline Xpress Lube franchise in town. Had a LOT of clientele follow me there from Jiffy Lube. Built that business on good ol fast, honest, and dependable customer service. Then the owners decided they wanted a higher ticket average. I told them that was fine, but be prepared to lose some customers...certainly not a lot...but some. I was right...and they sorta blamed ME for it. Their attitude towards me changed because I was never an @$$ kisser and I proved MY way was better for business than theirs. I decided to leave.

Left there to go be an assistant mgr at another independent quick lube who offered me more money than what I was making as a GM at the last place. The owner of that shop was one of the top brass at Q Lube back in the day who had been cut as with most corporate takeovers. I was back in an environment that focused on quick oil changes just like the old days. He built a great reputation and now has 3 lube shops in the state running on good old fashioned "fast" oil changes.

There were 2 things that I truly excelled at in the business. One was "repairing" threads in oil pans. Nearly 90% of every stripped oil plug I had to clean up the threads and install a new plug was serviced at a dealership prior....or Walmart. The other thing I excelled at was that I never met an oil filter that I couldn't remove. I literally had vehicles towed TO my shop just to get a stuck oil filter off. Some were from local repair shops while some were DIYers who mangled theirs up in their driveway.

I said all that to say this. Quick Lube shops as a whole get a bad rap because of the few that make the spotlight in primetime news investigations. Then you have to consider...when most people find it necessary to go out of their way to provide feedback for a business...it's usually people with a complaint. There are certainly some good quick lube facilities around. Just need to do your research and find out which shops have good reputations and reviews. It comes down to how they're managed. All the ones I ever managed ran like fine tuned machinery.

If they paid better...I might still be in it. If I had the coin to start my own, I might consider that route too...but it takes a LOT of coin to get one of those started. But on the flip side, I really enjoy driving a fuel tanker for a living now.
 
I had always went to the Pennzoil quick lube up until about 2 years ago. They once pulled my 09 fusion out of the bay for me to get in, and i noticed oil pouring out the bottom. I pointed it out before the tech was out of the vehicle, he got out, looked, backed it back up and fixed the leak..I assume they forgot the plug but my car was running the whole time. The straw was when i took the Cruze up there. I assume they spilled some oil so they sprayed it off. I took off and immediately got a check engine light and car ran like crap, turned around and had some words with the manager...That's when i began my journey of DIY and bitog. When i get too old to fool with it i'm going to pass the torch to my Son...granted were not all driving electric by then...my 2 cents
 
Walmart would be my only go to as they charge 60 bucks for Pennzoil Platinum or Mobil 1 granted with a cheapo Fram filter but no upsales or other bologna and it appears they don’t use the obligatory 1” impact wrench for the drain bolt like most quick change places. Personally not worth it. I change my oil because it’s convenient I can do it anytime during the week that I need to do it with my procrastination buffer since my garage is available to me 24/7. Yeah spilling a tea spoon on the exhaust is annoying but you know what’s more annoying? Driving somewhere sitting around in a waiting room with coffee that resembles used motor oil, up to date periodicals such as the January 1998 edition of golfers digest, and entertaining accoutrements like the Monroe strut display that they’ll use to try and up sell you on struts you don’t need. Also why are you wearing nice clothes when working on your car? I always wear some old tee shirts, old jeans (extra points for the big ole hole in the crotch variant of garage jeans that you forget have a big ole hole in the crotch until you get to the parts store and are glad you didn’t free ball that day) and some ratty old sneakers.
 
The company I worked for would hire temp workers from time to time to do simple production tasks when things got busy. One guy just wasn't mechanically inclined, was flat lazy and prone to coming late. Didn't last long. He went on to work in the local Walmart ACC for years. No thank you.

I've not done 2 OCs in my life, the 2 freebies with the new RAV4.
 
Not I. Not yet anyway, maybe when I am old and don't want to crawl under the car anymore. Hopefully that is still a long ways off. If you are going to have it changed for you, I would suggest using a good independent shop with good reviews. Someone you would trust. Avoid "quick lube" type places IMO.
 
I freakin' love Hondas, but the oil filter location on so many of their cars is stupid.
Back of the block mounted horizontal? Messy. Stupid. And worse.

So... Get a MityVac. Use a 20K mile filter like those $8 Frams.
Change the oil with the MityVac and service the filter every 2nd or 3rd time.
Perhaps take the passenger tire off to swap the filter and go in from the side?
And don't overtighten that filter!

Or buy a Tesla. They ain't got no stinkin' filter. No earl neither.
Just change the cabin air filter cuz that's all you can do.

Good luck.
 
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I had to take my Jeep to our local Walmart for an oil change. I had broken my leg and wasn't able to do it. They actually did a good job. Even hit the two zerk fittings on the upper ball joints. I talked to the guy a few minutes and he told me that the whole crew had been working there for many years. It did give me an uneasy feeling though.
 
TheLawnRanger said:
You don't hear about it because people are too embarrassed to admit they got jammed by the old quicky lube.
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No-it doesn't happen often. The Jiffy Lube and Valvoline Quick lube here are both very busy. I don't see vehicles blowing up either. And there ARE PLENTY of $60,000.00 and $70,000.00 trucks/SUVs around here.
 
CKN said:
No-it doesn't happen often. The Jiffy Lube and Valvoline Quick lube here are both very busy. I don't see vehicles blowing up either. And there ARE PLENTY of $60,000.00 and $70,000.00 trucks/SUVs around here.
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It all depends on who runs the franchise. The people that owned mine cared about money and nothing else.
 
I hear you on the Civics..... Both my daughters drive mine and both use VIOC. Always a decent coupon, low low pressure upsells, and will put in 10w-40HM I ask for if they have it in stock.
 
The oil is gonna run down the block no matter who changes your oil. Will the quick-change place do anything to mitigate this? No. Will they clean it up like you would? Definitely not. My last two experiences with letting someone else do it were both bad (and years apart) so until I become physically unable to do it myself, you'll find my vehicles up on ramps in my garage getting the oil changed. Stripped / cross-threaded drain plugs, over-tightened or under-tightened filters, and wrong oil aren't on my menu.
 
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