Laziness and convenience doesn't pay. I had my oil and filter changed out two months ago at a Fastlube place (hey, I was pressed for time and whatnot) so I paid thirty bucks for all of that, plus a interior vacuum and they greased all the zerk fittings, too. Well, not long after that (like, JUST after) I noticed that the car was losing oil like crazy. Not burning, just leaking. The ENTIRE underside of the car, from the rear of the engine clear on back to the bumper (as of now, two months later) is coated in oil. (free rust-proofing, good side effect...) Another shop did the ultraviolet dye thing, found the problem to be... old filter seal on block, good seal on still-new filter. So, the NEXT time I hav to change the oil and filter, I'm going to do it myself, even if I bust my knuckles doing it.

 

I would never trust one of those places to change my oil. I've heard too many horror stories. Especially considering it only takes like 15 minutes to do if you're taking your time.

 

funny u mention this today.....
I went under the car to change the oil today, while waiting for it to drain started thinking the starter is just over there, its been giving me trouble anyways and I have the car jacked up might as well change that.
then I decided to change the plugs and wires

needless to say the 15 minute job turned into a little longer..
oh well
-craig

 

You lucked out. My Aunt took her car to wal mart and they did the same thing. Of course her engine blew and they had to pay to replace it. The car hasent been the same since. 2002 lexus, that hurt.

 

The two thing my father pounded into my head as a kid were.
1- ALWAYS make sure that after you remove the old filter the old rubber seal isn't stuck to the block.
2- ALWAYS smear a little oil on the new filters seal so it dosn't stick to the block, makeing the filter a pain the *** to remove.

Sometimes it's the small things (like an oil filter gasket) that will make your life a living hell.

 

wow... yeah ive heard bad about the wal-mart car care center... only thing i would let them do is inflate my tires and let me check it with a gauge

some of those people are just kids that are bored with doing the same thing over n over again and get very careless with their job

a shame i guess

 

Yikes! Is it just me or is there something in this picture that doesn't fit? Lexus and Wal-Mart?

I was in a hurry once to get on a road trip and had one of those lubey-quickie places change the oil in my truck. I raised the hood when I got home and found the dipstick lying on the battery! Top post too!

 

ya, i knew a guy as well that had that happen and he lost his small block just because he was lazy

 

i tried them once(in a hurry) and i noticed they didnt grease anything.....hmmmm......I asked about it and they tried telling me that the front end on my 82 z was sealed and there werent any fittings to be greased I attempted to waste my time and show him but he informed me that customers werent allowed in the pit area

 

Hmmm.... That's how my projects start too... My current project was to do a quickie rebuild on my motor (done in a weekend no problem, right) now it turns out everything is new on the motor except the crank, block and pan and it's still not put together....

As far as the oil change goes, I always do it myself. I don't trust the ya-hoo's that work at those places. Besides it only takes a few minutes and it gives me a chance to fix other things on the car, lol...

 

A friend of mine who owns a repair shop thinks that places like that are great. Why you ask? Because of the business they give him. I stopped by his shop one day to see a new Saab up on the lift getting the oil pan R&R's. Hmm, quickie-lube down the street put the drain plug back in with an impact wrench. Cracked that cast aluminum pan right good! Expensive repair that was.

And that wasn't the only business he has been getting either. Had one story after another. . .

RBob.

 

I had the dealer perform the first oil change on my '02 SS. Had to wait 45 minutes because there was only one hoist for he F-body, and they still got it wrong. They jacked it up in the wrong spot and had my fenders bow out.

Needless to say my oil change was free and they fixed the fenders in about 10 min.

Oh yeah, after that I changed the oil myself and they didn't use the Mobil 1 I gave 'em.

A-holes

 

Makes perfect sense to me. When the buyer realizes he overpaid to have different plastic glued on a Camry, he'd have to compensate by pinching pennies somewhere...

 

Vader, how right you are!!!!

 

I've heard of other stories like that, but I've been a regular customer for them for over two years, they seem competent and all that - it was just my beater I took to them, until I decided to do it myself just before I got the GTA... Wasn't familiar with the GTA yet, wanted to get it changed, in it goes... I'll do it myself now, thanks...

Now I wonder if my nasty knockng sound has anything to do with their "sevice" or not, (started just a few weeks ago) I hope it's nothing big, but I'm sure it isn't helping my Knock Sensor any. The noise sounds terrible, but it goes away after about twenty minutes or so of driving - that or it gets less noticeable. Old gearhead at work thinks it could be a piston about ready to let go, I let him listen to it. I checked the belt just to make sure nothing was rubbing against it, just to be sure, I can't see any exhaust manifold cracks, gee-whiz...

 

How the hell do these ****ed up mechanics get jobs

 

I'm sorry but I think it's funny that you comment how knocking is bad for your knock sensor. That's a bit less expensive than an engine rebuild, don't you think?

 

Think leaving the old gasket on is bad? When my brother got his jeep, we spent a day changing fluids, filters, seals, etc. When we changed the oil filter, we saw that it wasn't even the right part for a jeep - it had just been torqued down real hard. The threads were mangled... idiots!

Needless to say, now I do ALL my car work. If someone else has to touch it, you can bet I'll be watching.

 

Yeah - but what I meant was this - all this vibration is SURE setting off the KS, which totally screws with the timing, trying to get the car to stop detonating, but it keeps knocking anyway, so it kills the timing some more, and well, you get the idea.