The other day I was talking to a friend of mine. He had borrowed his girlfriends car and noticed that the engine seemed louder then it should be ( his own words) . He then checked the oil in it and noticed that there wasnt much showing on the dip stick. He then called his girlfriend and asked when was the last time the oil was changed , and got the oil? change? from her . He then proceeded to call a shop that he has work on his own cars and asked if they had time to change the oil. They told him that they didnt , so he then went to our local walmart and had the oil changed there..and thats where all the fun started . Well he was driveing down the road and all of a sudden the oil light came on , so he pulled over at once..Well he looked at the dip stick and there was almost nothing on it . He then noticed that there WAS oil all over the place and that there was no filter to been seen. So he called the garage that do the work on his cars and explained that the oil light came on . Guess what the first question the tech asked him . Did you get the oil changed at walmart? .well as we all know he did and the tech went on to say that this isnt the first time this had happened ..so the tow truck shows up and gets the car all hooked up and they take off ..about 50 feet down the road was the oil filter! It had fallen oof the engine! Well they fixed the car ..(new oil and filter) charged my friend for the tow and the oil change and then gave him the recipt. In fact they kinda over charged him and walmart reimbursed him plus an extra $20 (that the shop tacked on ) The manager at walmart said that the guy who did the oil changed was fired and that this was'nt the first time it happened . So buy friend got the car fixed , made 20 bucks and got 2 free oil changes from walmart ( the manager said that he would do those so that it wouldnt get messed up , if my friend goes back) Moral of the story Check your oil , if you dont know how find out , show your friends! Dont go to walmart to get it done its easy thing to do and besides walmart uses Fram filters and we all know how "good " they are ! .Oh ya his girlfriends car was a Geo Metro! I though that little thing took quite a beating .
Sorry about the lenth but this was a story that had to be told!

 

one more reason why i always do it my own dam self!!!!!!!!!! ya i no i didnt spell dam right

 

I agree that is why I change my own oil but my friend he just finds it easyer to get the oil changed by the shop that he trusts..

 

It sounds to me like the Walmart employee was intentionally screwing up. I mean, how hard is it to properly screw on an oil filter? I can understand maybe once it happens as a mistake, on a hard to reach type motor or something, but not SEVERAL times on different cars!

 

I think that you'll find that most quik change places have this kind of a bad rep about them.

I'm a DIY'er to the max, but if you were to figure out how many vehicles go in and out of these types of places, and figure in how many people touch the vehicle per visit, I'll bet that the sucess rate is 99% + when human error is factored in.

No offense meant, but your friend should have at least let the car idle for a few minutes to check for leaks before he drove off (I know that this doesn't let walmart off the hook as they should have done the same thing).

After all who changes the oil and then gets in the vehicle and drives away with out checking for leaks before driving.

ok, I'll get off the soapbax now...

 

super, that's a good point. I would also check to make sure the oil fill cap and the dipstick are put back properly, which is another area of screwups by the quick lube places......I know this from experience .

On the other hand, there are many people who go to these places just so that they don't have to worry about those things. They are buying peace of mind, or so they think. I don't feel that their expectations are unreasonable based on the price that they have to pay for a full lube service. And all these companies put out advertising saying "nobody knows your car better" which we know is a bunch of baloney, but many people believe it.

 

No that is not the point the guy that changes the oil needs to check all that its called acountablity..thats like taking you car to the tire store to get new tires put on and then leaving it there over night to make sure they dont do flat..It is also called pride in your work . I just wanted you guys to know whats up ..I do my own oil changes and I'll bet that most of you guys do your own .

 

I am a former ASE certified tech, and guess how I got there? I started w/oil changes! And not once did I have something that assinine happen. It was the Norwich Wal-Mart, I have seen some of the people who work there, and some of them ain't the brightest bulbs on the tree.

 

Absolutely,

I couldn't agree more, I stated that point because I don't think that people pay attention to their vehicles like they should, like bald tires, massive amounts of fluids on the ground, etc, etc.

I've had to have places like that do it once or twice, all i was talking about was starting the motor up and make a quick trip around the car, and maybe pop the hood, i'm not talking a full scale inspection.

Like FordSix said, most of these guys are not the brightest bulbs on the tree. But at the same time, the company should be screening these guys a bit tougher, and maybe paying them a bit more.

I'm just glad to see that your friend got remibursed like he should have an a couple of new changes for free.

 

Why did your friend continue driving the car when he first discovered that it was almost out of oil. Wouldn't it be easier just to pour in a couple of quarts and then get the oil changed instead of driving it to wal mart with the engine knocking?

I guess that is why he doesn't change his own oil.

I think a man that doesn't change his own oil either doesn't know how or he doesn't like cars. Both are bad.

I can hear it now, "honey, your car didn't have any oil in it so I drove it across town to get the guys at wal mart to do it for me" and "on the way there something flew through the hood of the car and it quit running, sorry see you at the house".

 

the engine was'nt knocking when he brought it to walmart ..he callled his girlfriend and casked her when she had last changed the oil ..she didnt know ..I dont know guys ny friend used to change his oil but now that he has a "new car " he would rather have someone else do it ..do I agree with him no ..do I agree with you yes . Thats just the way he is .

 

lol

Not necessarily true in every case. But I see your point.

 

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......a man that doesn't change his own oil either doesn't know how or he doesn't like cars.

I know this is not true all of the time but I do think it is the major reason guys have it done by a shop. I was kind of caught by surprise because every woman I know expects the man to change the oil in the cars. My other half would think I was loosing my mind if I took her car to wal mart instead of doing it myself. Even she understands that a guy that changes oil for a living can't be all that smart.