Quick Oil-Change debacle (Kinda funny)

[toms68cst]

So I take my truck to the quick oil-change place that I’ve been taking it to for a few years. It was run by a few apparent car-guys. They seemed to know older vehicles and they’ve built my trust over the years. I drive up to find out it’s been sold and now run by a chain. I don’t see any of the familiar guys and no one working there looks to be above the age of about 23. I figure heck, how hard can it be to change the oil on my truck and drive up.

First red flag. One of the guys takes a hand-held bar-code scanner and starts looking for the VIN tag on my door jamb. I kindly explain to him here is no bar-code on a ’68 vehicle. He gives up on that and puts my plate number into his computer. OK, one little flag. Let’s see where this goes. At this point it was getting slightly amusing.

Then they guy in the pit starts freaking out about all the oil leaks. Actually, my truck does not really leak all that much so I’m getting slightly pissed. He also insists that my TRANSFER CASE is leaking. Mind you, my truck is a 2wd. I started being a bit of a smart-ass at that point and said if he finds a transfer case down there, I’ll give him a million bucks. Turns out he thought the differential was a transfer case. At this point, I figure, I’ll have them just change the oil and I’ll worry about the rest of it later.

I head into the waiting room. As I was pacing around, worrying about my baby, the guy comes in and says they are out of non-synthetic oil and they’d have to have some brought over. At this point, I’m done with these guys and decide to bail. Luckily, they hadn’t dropped the oil/filter yet. I come back out to the bay to find another guy fiddling with my dip stick as he had pulled the tube out along with the dipstick. I’ve actually done this a time or two myself so I can understand it. After fiddling around with it for about 5 min, we got everything back in order. I think they were happy to see me go. I was sure relieved to be done with them.

Looks like I’ll have to take it to my regular mechanic to get my regular maintenance work done from now on.

[too much stuff]

I can relate. You should have seen the looks when i went into a reputable shop with 5 employees, 4 of which were probably in their 30s and one in his 50s and i asked about getting a Q-jet rebuilt. The 4 didn't have a clue and the last one just didn't want to mess with it.

[truckster]

Over the years I've bought 3 cars for really cheap because their engines seized when oil-change places forgot to put oil back in them.

I wouldn't trust them with my lawnmower.

[chevmn]

I often joke that the last few times I have visited dealerships there is more wrong with my vehicle when I leave than when I enter, but it is often true. All this is not really new at some of those places, and about 25 years ago one of the dealerships had started their practice of "30 minute oil changes", and part of that was a quick wash as well. While at one of the local car shows I won one of their 30 min lubes. I normally do my own, but since I was off one day, weather was not nice, and my truck needed a change I decided to run over and take advantage of it. Big mistake....about 3 hours later I finally drove away, angry with the wait, vowing never to go back. Seems they seem to expect everyone to drop their vehicles off rather than wait. The biggest reason dealerships offer those is to upsell other services, and they make a killing at it. I cringe every time I have to have services done, and about the only services I have done is tire changes (but only aluminum wheels as I have a manual changer and balancer), and the occasional alignment. I even purchased a small diagnostic tool, and have been able to diagnose and repair most issues I have ran into so far.

[Stocker]

I knew there was a reason (OK, more than one) why I do my own light service work.

[toms68cst]

It's such a hassle dealing with the old oil and I don't have a good place to work on it. I do the oil changes on my motorcycle and it's a lot harder than my truck. Guess I'll give it a go soon.

We also had about a 10 minute discussion on what displacement my engine was in liters. Apparently their DB had my engine listed in the system.

I confess, I waited a bit for the kid with the bar code scanner to figure out there were no bar codes. Even my wife knows the difference between a differential and a transfer case.

[Steeveedee]

Changing oil and getting rid of the old is a minor hassle, for me. I only service my truck. The newer vehicles are under warranty and the dealer gets all the work (except that I bought a set of tires for my car and my wife's car at CostCo).

[Accelo]

I had my Silverado serviced at a local fast change.
They did the service ok.
However, they recommend a cabin filter change.
Showed me the filter even.
Has some nuts in it like it may had from where I live with large oaks.
I said yes, they said they were out of the filters.
So I paid and went on my way. Two blocks away is a auto-parts store.
I stopped there and purchased two new filters. looked suspicious as I they looked different sizes than what they showed me.
I Pulled my filters and no nuts were in there. They pulled the bait and switch. Too difficult to pull the filters and show me mine.
What a bunch of Cr**.
Cheers

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by toms68cst

So I take my truck to the quick oil-change place that I’ve been taking it to for a few years. It was run by a few apparent car-guys. They seemed to know older vehicles and they’ve built my trust over the years. I drive up to find out it’s been sold and now run by a chain. I don’t see any of the familiar guys and no one working there looks to be above the age of about 23. I figure heck, how hard can it be to change the oil on my truck and drive up.

First red flag. One of the guys takes a hand-held bar-code scanner and starts looking for the VIN tag on my door jamb. I kindly explain to him here is no bar-code on a ’68 vehicle. He gives up on that and puts my plate number into his computer. OK, one little flag. Let’s see where this goes. At this point it was getting slightly amusing.

Then they guy in the pit starts freaking out about all the oil leaks. Actually, my truck does not really leak all that much so I’m getting slightly pissed. He also insists that my TRANSFER CASE is leaking. Mind you, my truck is a 2wd. I started being a bit of a smart-ass at that point and said if he finds a transfer case down there, I’ll give him a million bucks. Turns out he thought the differential was a transfer case. At this point, I figure, I’ll have them just change the oil and I’ll worry about the rest of it later.

I head into the waiting room. As I was pacing around, worrying about my baby, the guy comes in and says they are out of non-synthetic oil and they’d have to have some brought over. At this point, I’m done with these guys and decide to bail. Luckily, they hadn’t dropped the oil/filter yet. I come back out to the bay to find another guy fiddling with my dip stick as he had pulled the tube out along with the dipstick. I’ve actually done this a time or two myself so I can understand it. After fiddling around with it for about 5 min, we got everything back in order. I think they were happy to see me go. I was sure relieved to be done with them.

Looks like I’ll have to take it to my regular mechanic to get my regular maintenance work done from now on.

My sympathies. Over 20 years ago, I took my '67 K/10 Suburban into a Jiffy Lube for an oil change. Truck had been modded to 454 V8, TH350/NP205 and a B&M hump-mounted shifter. They insisted their ''driver'' take it into the stall. The kid couldn't figure out how to work my Hot Rod Shop shifter [you had to lift up on some obvious finger rings] so he muscle****ed it. No admission of responsibility from Jiffy. I had to put in a Hurst shifter.
Now I change my own oil [None of them have Valvoline VR1 SAE 30 anyway] and no idiots get to mess with my controls.

[weq92f]

.

My truck goes to a shop once a year for a state inspection, I do everything else. They often drive it a bit to check brakes, which scares me every time! This last time, the kid said he was just gonna pass it because it was cool...illegal but I wasn't gonna complain.

My used oil usually ends up at Wal-Mart or Oreilley's. They both take it, no questions asked. I've got two big jugs I fill over time and go dump them both when necessary.

-klb

[67C10Step]

I do all my own oil changes in all my rigs and all turn brake jobs, wheel bearing hubs, etc.

I save up my used oils and they either go to the recycler or one of my neighbors has an oil burner stove and takes a good bit from me. Helps to have a shop to do all that stuff.

[jabborabbo]

The overriding reason I bought my ‘67 GMC was that I need a truck occasionally and as long as I can walk out to the garage, raise the hood, bend over and turn a wrench (or get under the truck and turn a wrench) I can keep that truck running all by myself.

[Jason Banks]

I love teaching a new kid at the quick lube how to drive my 3OTT every year for the state inspection. Many of them can't even drive manual, let alone know what at 3OTT is...

[HalfBrit]

The "Quick Lube" story is the same, everywhere - stripped drain plugs, double stacking filter o-rings, etc. BTW, when it comes to oil disposal, I pour the old oil back into the empty new oil container and take it to the local Autozone/Advance/Oreillys. They all have recycling tanks inside the back of the store.

[jabborabbo]

Originally Posted by HalfBrit

The "Quick Lube" story is the same, everywhere - stripped drain plugs, double stacking filter o-rings, etc. BTW, when it comes to oil disposal, I pour the old oil back into the empty new oil container and take it to the local Autozone/Advance/Oreillys. They all have recycling tanks inside the back of the store.

This^

[Grumpy old man]

The last time I changed the oil on my 95 k2500 it was cold and I just didn't feel like crawling under the truck so I stopped in the local quick change , i run old school Castrol 20/50 . They don't carry it anymore I had to go buy it at Walmart and had them change it , They never greased anything didn't check the transfer case ,Etc Last time I do that , Mrs Grumpy bought a low mile Honda and right after we got it I changed the trans filter and fluid and gave it an oil change using Honda brand 0/20 synthetic . The Honda sits low and is a pain to jack up ,So again I buy the Honda oil and filter and take it to the quick change joint The Honda has a metal splash pan you have to remove to change the oil , Well They took it off and never reinstalled it , A couple weeks later I notice it's gone so I go back and they had thrown it away along with the hardware . I made them replace it at the Honda stealership . I ended up buying a set of low ramps just to make it easier to do regular service on it . I save all my used oil and use it for chain lube on my chainsaws . For as much as the prices have gone up and the dino oil getting harder to find I think I might get a 55 gallon drum and sell it back to the oil companies to refine again .

[RichardJ]

I use old engine oil for chain oil as well, but have very little use for that these days.
I change the oil on all my own vehicles and a couple of others as well. I don't use the old oil containers even the 4 and 5 gt containers. They're tall and skinny and top heavy with a big funnel in them.
I use the Gallon size Apple Juice bottles. They have a bigger foot print for easier filling and the plastic is much thicker than the oil containers.

[don t. - 72gmc]

Last time I took my truck to Jiffy-Lube they didn't have a filter.

I use 5 gal metal gas cans for used oil. Local auto parts place takes it OR I paint it on my firewood storage area as a wood preservative.

[truckster]

I've thought of burning the used oil in my diesel, but I don't generate enough oil to make it economical to buy the proper equipment, and I don't want to risk clogging filters or injectors. I can take it to the auto parts store or our city will take it as well at the city shop.

[CG]

Im sure Ive posted this before ... The good ol days =)

[Steeveedee]

Yeah, the EPA will be on you like a duck on a June bug for that, these days! Just think of all the places this was actually done, and all that guck is slowly working its way into the water table.

[Grumpy old man]

My Father lives in NJ ,He has a mile long dirt/gravel driveway that for the last 50 years the city would spray used motor oil on every spring to reduce the dust on the road , They have recently paved his road and there are less than 5 family members living there now , The swamp we used to deer hunt in is off on one side and the homes they have built there are all over 1-2 million $ and there is no thru road connection to them . One of the NJ housewives just recently bought a 4 million $ 1 1/4 acre home next his 15 acres. People are crazy .

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by truckster

I've thought of burning the used oil in my diesel, but I don't generate enough oil to make it economical to buy the proper equipment, and I don't want to risk clogging filters or injectors. I can take it to the auto parts store or our city will take it as well at the city shop.

What modifications would be required?

K

[truckster]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

What modifications would be required?

K

Some guys run it just by mixing 80% oil with 20% regular gas. I've read engineering reports that say that the larger particles and detergent in engine oil will clog the fuel filters. One website I read talked about running it through a centrifuge and mixer before putting it in with the diesel.

The biggest problem is that my diesel is in my RV, and I tend to only run it during the summer months.

[70cst]

I had a GMC dealership near me indicate they would rather not work on my 70 C10. Reason ... no computer read outs. Luckily, I go to Grilliot Alignment Service who have seasoned techs who are car/truck guys. Bo, the one who works on my truck just bought a 67 C10. Presently they are doing some needed maintenance on my truck. Should get it back today. Life is good.