got an oil change 3 weeks ago, checked my oil yesterday and it was 1 1/2 quarts short, usually burns 1/2 quart so I checked for leaks . Dumb "techs" at the local mrgoodlube forgot to tighten my drain plug. I replaced the missing oil and tightened the bolt.should I be worried?those lovable chimps really scerewed up and I feel like I can't really trust anyone to do such a simple task.

 

you absolutely can't trust anyone these days even with such small jobs..

 

Call and let them know, they'll probably offer you a freebie (that is if you ever wanted to let them try again), but at least let the manager know so he can avoid this in the future.

But otherwise, just DIY, it's worth the dirty hands for the peace of mind!

 

You should go back to them and let the manager know first hand, (for the record), what his "skilled techs" did. Tell them that you will be monitoring your cars performance and if your engine fails from their stupidity you'll have a leg to stand on in case you have to take legal action against them. Of course a reasonable length of time to monitor should be discussed when you meet with the manager.

 

next time, keep driving until the plug falls out and you blow the engine. Then sue them for it because they were the last ones that touched your car. voila. new engine.

 

This has actually happened to a friend of mine... they got a free engine out of some "fast oil change" place

 

always change your own oil

 

I hope you're kidding.

 

I am never surprised at what or what is not done at places like that. I've been tempted recently to bring my car for an oil change because of it being so cold/snow on the ground and I don't have a good place to do it myself with the snow around, but I'm going to force myself to do it to avoid nonsense.

 

If they're stupid enough not to put the drain plug in properly and my wife got the oil changed, that's exactly what would have happened. she only checks her oil if I tell her to... and 95% of the time it's me doing it for her because she forgot.

same with 98% of the drivers on the road. they go to Jiffy lube because they don't want to mess with it. VERY rarely does the average Joe check his oil. They just watch for the sticker that says it's time to take it in for a change and go.

 

and then there are those grease monkeys who over-tighten everything, so when you get around to doing stuff yourself, you end up cursing so loud cuz you can't loosen the bolt.

 

+1. The first job i had was at Fast Lane car wash cleaning cars and i specifically remember numerous cars coming out of the lube to get washed with oil trails from them forgetting to put the drain cap back on. It is worth the time to do it yourself and guarantee it is done correctly.

 

Well I always take my car to Mr. Lube. I've never had a problem with them. I periodically check my oil level too. I just don't have the time to do an oil change myself. I'm also a bit of a clutz so I'll probably make a worse mess of it then the staff at Mr. Lube.

 

I hate Mr. Lube. They always harass you to change some other kind of fluid besides the oil.

"Uh...sir...when was the last time you changed your ATF fluid? It looks REALLY bad".

Wtf...I just changed it a week ago!!!

Not to mention my cabin air filter needs to be replaced every year...

 

the first problem is that you took your car to a place called "Mr. Goodlube.." change your own oil if you can... much better peace of mind knowing the job is done right, and some clown wasnt messing around with your car

 

when i do have to take my car to jiffy lube, i stand right outside the door in front of the car and watch them do everything. if someone is watching, they do the work well. i dont understand the people that sit inside without a care in the world and read a magazine. they clearly dont care about their car.

 

Yeah I know. I got my oil changed yesterday. They tried to get me to have the coolant changed as well. Technically they were right about it needing one since I still have the coolant that came with the car from the factory. Honestly though, I've checked the level, colour and smell and all seems fine to me. I'll get it done eventually but they wanted $84 to do it and I don't think it included a flush. I don't mind paying $40 for an oil change but $80 to have the coolant replaced sounded a little too much. I'll shop around before I get it done.

 

The shop I periodically go to allows the owners to stand in the service area. They even let you stand right under the car as they're working. Although it may not be the best idea because of insurance reasons, it definitely gives you the utmost confidence in their work. It may be difficult to find such a laid back shop local to you (that actually employs skilled technicians), but you should at least do what Soonerfan does and stand right outside the bay and watch. That's what I do at all the other places I'm forced to bring my car to (like to change tires or get an alignment, etc.) The technicians might not be happy having you look over their shoulder, but it gives you peace of mind when you drive away.

 

I double check Kwik Kar's work when I get home and check for leaks. Never had a problem in the last 12 years there. Before that, I used to change my own oil but with the time it takes to do it myself, plus having to take the oil down to an auto parts store for recycling, it isn't worth it to me to do the work. It is $59.99 for a synthetic oil change, if I were to buy the oil and filter myself, it would be around $35 so the extra $25 for them to do the work isn't bad.

 

Two words - Minimum Wage. If you expect any quick lube place to have 'Experienced Tech's', you are only fooling yourself.

 

I wrote this out several months ago when someone else was making a similiar complaint...

It could have happened at ANY oil change shop, even a dealership, sad but true... It is a combination of low paid, under trained, non-motivated workers, and a very $hitty senior management staff that usually cause the problems. Take someone, stick them under a car for 8 hours with no lunch break, scream at them to pick up the pace in crappy work conditions, and pay them minimum wage, and how good of a job do you think they will do? How do I know all of this? I used to manage a Jiffy Lube. I tried to change things around while I was there, but my general manager would come by and take over and start yelling at my guys, using a damn stopwatch, and ruining moral. He would not approve raises for my best guys, and would not let me fire the $hitty ones who didnt work. After 8 months, I quit. I only took the job because I had gotten laid off and I needed the money. I helped implement a double check system to eliminate any errors, but again, my district manager would come by and complain we were taking too long to get the oil changes done. I made the pit guy pass up the new oil filter to the top man to verify it was the right one being installed, he would then put his initials on it and pass it back down. Then he would check to make sure the old gasket was on the old filter, and the top man would watch the pit guy torque the drain plug. Believe it or not, the torques are loaded in the computer system they have. I didn't come up with all of it on my own, but the system worked great when we were allowed to use it. The only time we would not change the filter is if it came in damaged. We would tell the customer they had to take it to a dealership to be changed, and would not charge them anything, this was for liability reasons of course. I was constantly pressured to sell, sell, sell, but I continously resisted, and would not offer services unless they were truly needed, and my paychecks suffered for it, since we were paid a partial commision on our sales. I'm sorry, but I'm not doing a radiator flush on a car with 7k miles, I don't care how easy it is to convince the customer they need it. I finally got an opportunity to go back to school again and put in my two weeks notice, left, and never looked back. I once let a Nissan dealership change my oil. I was having my auto tranny replaced under warranty on my old 4th gen, and I was at 4500 miles on dino oil, so I told them to do it while they were replacing the transmission. I picked the car up, paid for my oil change, and drove another 4500 miles before going to change the oil again. Only it was not again, they had never even changed it, so I racked up 9000 miles on conventional oil with no change. Dealer offered me a free oil change, but I told the service manager to just give me my money back, I did not trust them to change it. Point is, if you don't have time to do simple maintanance yourself, at least double check everything after you take it in. Until they figure out a way to have machines do all our work, it will be done by people, underpaid, overworked, and uncaring of your $20k+ machine. Thanks for reading.

 

^^
good read. I think it highlights the biggest problem - profit motive. They really don't care about your car and even the few that do aren't allowed to because that interfers with profit of the company. If it's a job you can do yourself, there's no reason not to do it - this goes especially for oil changes since they're so easy and not time intensive.

 

Your first mistake was taking it to somebody else to do such an easy task.