Bad oil change story

[- kT]

i had a customer come in a few weeks ago with an icbc claim because an employee at a nearby midas or something was backing her car off the hoist and i guess turned the wheel, and put one corner into the pit. too many horror stories to even consider bringing any car that i cherished in the slightest to a quick lube place, much less a brand new german built car

this post though puts things into perspective a bit

You know, thats a good question...only because yes I was definitely planning on just pulling the car forward and going under the car because there were so many clues that something had gone wrong from the guys talking back and forth about the engine oil overflowing to me looking down under the car while the front belly pan was finally taken off and seeing the guy taking out a 1/4 turn fastener from under the car AFTER the belly pan was removed (he likely ripped off the front pan leaving the 1/4 turn fastener still in place. But I think about what would have happened if they had not left so many clues behind... if I had driven away and the engine and tranny failed next week or whatever i'd be screwed.


It was dumb bringing it there. Its one of those things where I am busy busy in the middle of showing our house for sale, closing on a new home, overseeing some renovations on a rental property, and saw the groupon that was cheaper than buying the oil and doing it myself and thought, screw it, why not get an extra oil change if its only 50 bucks? Damn.

Mike

we've all been that busy. which leads to his question, what if they hadn't left so many clues, and he'd driven off only to have the engine/tranny fail days later? there would've been no way to prove the link back to the oil change, which makes you wonder how many times this has ever happened

[Lomac]

Meh. I use quick lube shops occasionally and haven't had a problem. Even though I'm more than capable of doing my own oil, when the weather drops below freezing, the last thing I want to be doing is working on my car. And lest you think a dealership wont fuck up a job, keep in mind a Volkswagen dealership badly messed up my transmission after "repairing" it and refused to take responsibility for it (even after their own technician admitted to what he had done), and another shop almost burnt down my old R51 Pathfinder.

The way I see it is that a quick lube change shop is like a fast food chain. They pump through hundreds of customers a week. All of those people never have an issue. But because of the amount of people who come through, chances are there will be odd person who has a bad experience. However, instead of getting a McChicken when you asked for a Big Mac, you're possibly left with an expensive car repair bill instead.

Also, a lot of these "I heard this story about..." claims are often just myths. A shop wont reuse old oil, plain and simple. Drain plugs that were merely hand tight? It's possible, but hand tight would likely start showing leaks the moment the engine fired up and before the technician wandered off to their next task. That's not to say that some of those horror stories are true. I've no doubt there are people who work there that genuinely don't give a shit or are incompetent enough to drain your transmission fluid instead of engine oil (as this thread has proven). However, those people aren't usually working very long after an issue arises. After all, all those repairs and potential lawsuits can get costly, rather quickly.

[Great68]

Signature Mazda overfilled my Speed 3 by a full liter on my "free first service". Good thing I checked it when I got home.

They also had to replace a piece of hood weatherstripping at the cowl under a TSB, and it looked like the tech just pried the clips out with a fucking flathead screwdriver, which scratched the shit out of my paint around the clips.

So dealerships aren't absolved of fuckups either

Back to the original story, at the very least it should be fucking common sense that you don't CUT something like a belly pan to do an oil change.

[Gucci Mane]

What most people don't realize about dealerships is that it's always the fresh meat in the shops doing the oil changes.

[The_AK]

Update:
Valvoline will be covering any damages

Lazy Idiots At Lube Shop Cut Hole In Audi S4's Aero Pan Instead Of Removing It

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Pidish

What most people don't realize about dealerships is that it's always the fresh meat in the shops doing the oil changes.

Is that supposed to be some sort of excuse?

[a00755836]

not just lazy idiots working, absolute brain dead.

[Peturbo]

Being a tech at a dealer, I occasionally get cars that were serviced at a quick lube location. I've noticed that every time a vehicle previously was serviced at a Mr.Lube, the drain plug and oil filter would have this can sprayer primer or something on it.
Very often the sprayed oil filter is an old filter they didn't change. I know it wasn't changed because it is an OE filter still on there.

[Gucci Mane]

Originally Posted by Peturbo

Being a tech at a dealer, I occasionally get cars that were serviced at a quick lube location. I've noticed that every time a vehicle previously was serviced at a Mr.Lube, the drain plug and oil filter would have this can sprayer primer or something on it.
Very often the sprayed oil filter is an old filter they didn't change. I know it wasn't changed because it is an OE filter still on there.

to be fair, mr.lube has OE filter replacement options and there is quite a few customers who come in with their own filters, either aftermarket or OE filters.

[dared3vil0]

Originally Posted by Peturbo

Being a tech at a dealer, I occasionally get cars that were serviced at a quick lube location. I've noticed that every time a vehicle previously was serviced at a Mr.Lube, the drain plug and oil filter would have this can sprayer primer or something on it.
Very often the sprayed oil filter is an old filter they didn't change. I know it wasn't changed because it is an OE filter still on there.

Spray primer? Anyone know why...?

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by Great68

Is that supposed to be some sort of excuse?

Think he's just pointing out that people who expect Master Tech's to work on their oil change or wheel rotation should probably lower their expectations.

Mundane, simple tasks like those are usually reserved for apprentices and usually not the guy who will be putting new piston sleeves in.

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by Pidish

to be fair, mr.lube has OE filter replacement options and there is quite a few customers who come in with their own filters, either aftermarket or OE filters.

This. With a car I care about, or one that was under warranty, I'd usually ask for an OE filter or bring one with me after buying it online in bulk. No Fram shit for me.



As for the spray paint, can't say I've ever seen that. I've been to Mr Lube, Great Canadian, and Mobil1 in the past and have seen nothing more than a simple paint marker on the drain bolt to indicate if it's been tampered with or not after the fact.

[IMASA]

Originally Posted by dared3vil0

Spray primer? Anyone know why...?

Google says:

Type_S1
Used to work at Mr. Lube many years ago. Had no experience and they had me working as a "tech". Probably some 14 year old doing your diff as I was back then. Take Pictures. Every plug they replace they spray white spray paint type shit on all plugs so if it has been tampered with they are not liable. Take picture immediately and make sure you go get an estimate from a mechanic to fix your vehicle and take that estimate to the owner.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Pidish

to be fair, mr.lube has OE filter replacement options and there is quite a few customers who come in with their own filters, either aftermarket or OE filters.

And if they don't have the correct filter for whatever reason, some places will call and get one brought over.

[StanleyR]

Originally Posted by IMASA

Google says:

this is incorrect.

They spray that stuff on the drain plug to further prevent any leaks. It's a cheap way of avoiding replacing the crush washer

[Gucci Mane]

Originally Posted by underscore

And if they don't have the correct filter for whatever reason, some places will call and get one brought over.

yup. on a few occasions i even had to turn customers away because we didnt have the correct filter or oil for their motor.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Lomac

Think he's just pointing out that people who expect Master Tech's to work on their oil change or wheel rotation should probably lower their expectations.

Mundane, simple tasks like those are usually reserved for apprentices and usually not the guy who will be putting new piston sleeves in.

I realize that.

But earlier in the thread, some people were saying it was the Audi owner's fault and that he should have known better than to take his car to a quick-lube, and calling him a cheapass for doing so.

So then, the dealership, where this Audi guy apparently should have taken his car, because they would have all the expertise on that car, has their lowest man on the totem pole doing oil changes, who can also be prone to fuck ups... And it's been known to happen.

So, contradictory much?

[pintoBC_3sgte]

Originally Posted by Great68

I realize that.

But earlier in the thread, some people were saying it was the Audi owner's fault and that he should have known better than to take his car to a quick-lube, and calling him a cheapass for doing so.

So then, the dealership, where this Audi guy apparently should have taken his car, because they would have all the expertise on that car, has their lowest man on the totem pole doing oil changes, who can also be prone to fuck ups... And it's been known to happen.

So, contradictory much?

So true about the rookies doing oil changes. Brought my truck
To the dealership for a oil change and found out the next day (small puddle of oil underneath) the idiot didn't fully tighten the filter

[AzNightmare]

Originally Posted by Great68

Is that supposed to be some sort of excuse?

Originally Posted by Great68

I realize that.

But earlier in the thread, some people were saying it was the Audi owner's fault and that he should have known better than to take his car to a quick-lube, and calling him a cheapass for doing so.

So then, the dealership, where this Audi guy apparently should have taken his car, because they would have all the expertise on that car, has their lowest man on the totem pole doing oil changes, who can also be prone to fuck ups... And it's been known to happen.

So, contradictory much?

Basically, what you're saying is, whether you go to a cheap Lube shop or a dealership for an oil change, the same type of entry level idiot most likely would be working on your car since it's a low level skilled task assigned for the newbies, regardless of location.

But what most people are saying is, generally, a better shop will have better supervision, training, etc.
And in this particular case, the dealer would know you're not supposed to cut panels to change oil...

Well, any one with common sense knows you're not supposed to cut things.. but you know what I mean. The dealer would always have experience to fix their own cars better than a random shop.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by Great68

I realize that.

But earlier in the thread, some people were saying it was the Audi owner's fault and that he should have known better than to take his car to a quick-lube, and calling him a cheapass for doing so.

So then, the dealership, where this Audi guy apparently should have taken his car, because they would have all the expertise on that car, has their lowest man on the totem pole doing oil changes, who can also be prone to fuck ups... And it's been known to happen.

So, contradictory much?

Yes but I think it's safe to assume, in this case, the junior dealer apprentice would:

- Know which plug is for DSG fluid and which is for oil
- Know not to CUT into plastic in order to access that plug

It's the gigantic scale of the fuck up in this case that is the difference.

[StanleyR]

This thread reminds me of when I worked at an automated car wash in Regina after HS.

My job was to take the code from the car owner, enter it into the machine, and the machine would pull the car along thru the wash. Simple right?

Anyway, since Sask in summer is a shit show for bug splatter. It's a real bitch trying to get an automated machine to clean that stuff off a car that's had bug guts hardening and baking in the hot summer sun. As a result, they had this spray in a drum for us to use on the cars before they went thru the machine. During my training one guy showed me where it was kept, but I was mystified as to which barrel it was, as none of them were clearly marked.

One particular morning I got to work at my usual ungodly early start time of 7 am. I was almost out of this pre-treatment spray when I started my shift so I didn't have time to refull my spray can. I used the intercom to repeatedly ask for help from my coworkers at the front ,but nobody wanted to help. As a result I used whatever industrial cleaner I could find and went to work.

After a day of washing cars I left.

The next day they were flooded with complaints of bleach spots on paint and spoiled windshields. Guess I accidentally used concrete cleaner on those cars that came thru the wash bay that day. Esso ended up having to pay for thousands of dollars worth of paint jobs and glass replacements.

Not my problem. I wanted help and asked for it. Nobody wanted to help so I did my job the best way I could and failed miserably.. and Esso had to pay dearly for my screw up.