Why did they do this?

[Jimmy9190]

I changed the oil in a friend's Accord tonight. She had it done at Jiffy Lube the last few times. They had put an orange colored silicone around the drain plug which I thought was very strange. At first I thought maybe it was just to mark the drain plug to either verify it was tight or to see if it had been changed somewhere else the next time she brought it in. Then I found that when I put the plug back in, it was not the correct thread pitch and it wobbled a good 1/8th of an inch in the plug hole as I screwed it back in. I happened to have a couple of old plugs off other Hondas but they would not tighten in the plug hole. Since it was after 10pm I had no choice but to reinstall the Jiffy Lube plug with a sealant I use on my rear differential cover. It's like silicone but sets up a lot faster. The plug did tighten down and there were no leaks or anything. I checked it very well before I let her have the car back.

My question is why? Why did they use the silicone instead of the correct plug? Were they that worried it would leak and this is part of their quality control process? Was it because it was not the right thread pitch and they didn't want it to leak? Or was it really just a way to mark the plug as being checked for tightness? And if so why not just mark with a yellow marker? The filter had 2 guys' signatures on it in magic marker I guess to verify it had been replaced and was tight.

I looked at the threads in the drain hole on the oil pan. They did not look stripped. Why did JL do such a thing?

 

[bdcardinal]

its most likely tamper seal. they use it because it will break when loosened to prevent people from draining their oil and then blaming them for not adding oil.

 

[Pablo]

I never heard of such a thing. It sounds like a terrible practice. The threads don't match?? Walter-Tango-Foxtrot???????

 

[Shannow]

Probably stripped the thread on it, and used gunge to avoid repairing it.

Seen it a couple of times on cars that have been exclusively mechanic repaired.

 

[Quest]

+1 to shannow's observation.

Possibly a stripped tread that a quicky 5-min RTV silicone job to keep it running.

Q.

 

[moribundman]

RTV sticks so well to greasy threads.

 

[oilboy123]

Nice way to Half arse it.

So is the plugged stripped or the pan? They should have repaired it right.

Plugs are normally softer, which is good. Buy a new plug and try installing that. Should be able to do it without losing much oil. If you still have a problem the pan threads could be toast.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Neither one was stripped, at least as far as I could tell. But it was definitely obvious the plug they used was not the right one. I have never in my life seen anything like that. If the old plug was bad why not just get the right one from the parts store?

 

[mechtech2]

I would bring this subject up with the manager there.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

Probably a tamper resistant seal. My independent mechanic put a hard sealant over the fill and drain plug. It cracked and chipped off the first time I drained/refilled the transmission.

 

[Westerly]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Probably stripped the thread on it, and used gunge to avoid repairing it.

Seen it a couple of times on cars that have been exclusively mechanic repaired.


Pretty sad times these days when you pay reasonable money for a simple oil change and get a damaged car in return.

I would DEFINITELY call Iffy Lube HQ and ask what they recommend you do to remedy the situation. Wait until you get a reply from the corporate office BEFORE you return to the shop.

 

[Jimmy9190]

My friend does not really want to pursue anything with JL. She brought the car over again today for some other things it needed and there still were no leaks or any problems with the oil. She has already bought a correct oil pan plug for it to use on the next OC and will bring it here to me for future oil changes. Now she knows I enjoy the work and I don't mind helping her out. Single mother, not a lot of money.

Other than the plug with silicone fiasco, this 01 Accord V6 was a very easy car to change the oil on. The filter was right next to the pan, mounted vertically, no special tools needed to remove it and I didn't have to deal with hot oil or exhaust pipes burning my arm. Another friend's Civic is not so oil-filter-removal-friendly.