My Walmart TLE screw up

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One day when I was working at Napa, a customer came in and told us how the Valvoline Instant Oil Change down the street got one of those tubes broken off in his transmission dipstick tube. They tried to put the dipstick back in and act like nothing happened, customer called them out on it, then they dropped the transmission pan to get it out. The customer came to Napa to buy a trans filter kit so they could button it back up.
 
The plastic tubes used to evacuate oil can get caught on the end of the tube where it enters the oil/trans pan.
It sticks like the barb on a fish hook. Pull as you might it will only break off.
I have seen them melt in the tubes. The metal tubes may work but can easily get stuck, also.
The ones I use on my boat/PWC have a small wire cable that goes through the center of the tube.
I would think this would help in removing a stuck tube.
Good job on doing the right thing.
Integrity rules.
 
Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
So I took it into the bay with the oil extractor. I put the plastic straw down the dipstick hole. The second I did that it just did'nt feel right. I tried to take it out but it would not budge. Well after fighting with it, it broke in half. Half of it in the oil dip stick.

I had a similar experience. I didn't get anything stuck in there, but a plastic tube I tried to shove down a dipstick hole was too wide, and it seemed like the dipstick tube itself was tapered. Yours might have been tapered, so that it went in OK, then got stuck.
Maybe greasing it up beforehand would have helped. Limit the amount of force you use to shove it in, and lube it up beforehand.


excellent advise... always lube it up!
 
Mistakes happen. How they are dealt with is what's important. And not making the same mistake twice. I changed the thread title in this post to better reflect what happened.
 
Stuff happens, the way it was handled with honesty is commendable. Some people may have tried to cut the dipstick and put it back in the hole and act like nothing happened.

Difference with the medical profession is if they screw up, you pay for them to fix it.

If they misdiagnose you, you pay that cost as well.

I have a lot of respect for the medical profession, what I am trying to say is mechanics/lube guys have a hard job, and its not always as easy as people think. After all, if it was that easy wouldn't most everyone change their own oil? There wouldn't be so many quick lubes. So many other professions are such that when mistakes are made, the consumer pays, and pays dearly for them, sometimes the customer or patient dont even know there was a mistake made.

You guys handled it, and that's all you can do.
 
Pushing tubes down a dip stick doesn't always works. I can't get any tubes very far down either my oil or trans tubes before they bottom out or stick. I'm always leery of doing it. You handled your situation well. Now the boss needs to come up with a modified procedure.
 
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Pushing tubes down a dip stick doesn't always works. I can't get any tubes very far down either my oil or trans tubes before they bottom out or stick. I'm always leery of doing it. You handled your situation well. Now the boss needs to come up with a modified procedure.
The problem is, its not a bosses problem. This is a "Walmart Problem". Every Walmart TLE has at least one of these machines, some stores have multiple of them. This is corporate problem. Corporate actually believes these things are better. From what I understand, this is not the first time this has happened at my store.
 
I think that you and the TLE manager handled an unanticipated bad situation well.
This is also another reason that I have zero interest in using an extractor rather than the drain plug.
 
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
The problem is, its not a bosses problem. This is a "Walmart Problem". Every Walmart TLE has at least one of these machines, some stores have multiple of them. This is corporate problem. Corporate actually believes these things are better. From what I understand, this is not the first time this has happened at my store.


If there's one thing WM does well is counting beans. Some actuary somewhere will keep tabs on the minutes of labor saved by these machines vs the insurance payouts for their issues.

Drain plugs have their own liabilities also.

If the machines cost more than they save WM will have them out of there lickety-split.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
... If there's one thing WM does well is counting beans. Some actuary somewhere will keep tabs on the minutes of labor saved by these machines vs the insurance payouts for their issues.
...
If the machines cost more than they save WM will have them out of there lickety-split.
Good points! I'd think that if the machine and tube are used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, and the tube breaks off anyway, then that wouldn't have to happen many times before WalMart seeks compensation from the manufacturer.
 
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