Yesterday my friend went to Valvoline to get an oil change , the mechanic told him that he should flush the engine since the car had 45k miles , he said they used some kind of machine to blow air into the engine to get the sludge out .. After putting new oil and filter he started the car and it was tapping .. He told the tech why was it tapping ? He said well the car has 45k so it takes a while for the oil to get to the top .. On the way home the car died on him .. He took it to nissan , they told him the engine is shot , he explained what Valvoline did to the car .. The head mechanic @ nissan said Valvoline blew his engine by pressurizing the inside to get the sludge out and cloged or blew something inside the engine .. Now he has a 2011 max with no engine .. He is going to sue Valvoline .. So guys beware when you get an oil change and they try to bait you into pressurizing the inside of your engine... I told him @ 45k miles and changing the oil every 3k there should not be any sludge

 

I had a Valvoline shop leave my oil filter loose which leaked everywhere and re used the copper drain washer causing a leak.

I do my own oil changes now. The people who work at these places do not care.

 

As a general rule, flushing ANYTHING isn't smart. Especially a pressurized flush. Deposits and buildup find a nice home in a corner somewhere inside the transmission or engine and sit there quietly not bothering anything....then you go stirring all the junk up in there and next thing you know, you have it floating around causing damage and failures like this.

It's a bad idea....don't do it.

Late,
Trav

 

What a horror story I did my first oil change and im coming due on my second and im debating if I should continue to do them myself or have Nissan do it because of the whole Ester oil situation, although isnt ester just a different type of synthetic?

 

i use a blend of both ,,,, i do my oil change .. i add a table spoon of Marvel Mystery oil , it keeps the oil clean ... i do not trust those quick oil change garages .. young kids or low life people that cant get a job , like one of our member said they dont care

 

Agreed I will start adding Marvel mystery oil to mine, thanks for the tip!

 

just add a little bit .. It keeps everything loose.. Acts more like synthetic.. I added Marvel Mystery oil way before synthetic came along.. My uncle was head mechanic for GM for 20 yrs .. After his retirement he opened up his own shop for kicks , he was the one that told me in teen yrs .. I've been doing it ever since .

 

Where I live it's $20 for an oil change at the dealer and about 20 mins of my life, so I leave it to those guys

 

I composed a post listing the 68 things my dealer checks and records (at no charge) when doing my oil change, but when I hit 'enter', maxima.org gave me the eternal message I always get during the middle of the night - I had been knocked off the system and my post thrown away.

more coming

So I will skip the list and just say that I enjoy heading to my dealer for an oil change. He has a brand new clean shop, a three part waiting room with movie theater, lots of personal computers available, free fruit, sweets, juices, coffee, hot chocolate, etc, etc, and a large glass wall giving a full view of the service floor from up above. I had my oil changed there Thurdsay Oct 8, and it took around 25 minutes.

more coming

My dealer will also match the price on any tire deal I am offered anywhere else (other than by mail, such as TireRack, which makes sense).

more coming

The extremely knowledgable young lady that has been my favorite writeup tech for eight years (we are now close friends) has just been promoted to service manager, and I am always treated royally. Example - My wife drove her truck with me when I let off my car for the 30K checkup last year, and when my wife's (non-Nissan) truck would not start as we were leaving, my service tech had her best mechanic come to the parking lot in 95 degree heat and work on my wife's truck for around forty minutes, until it was fixed. No charge.

more coming

I think where I am going with this post is that, with a good dealer, using them for your routine service can help build a good working relationship with the folks there, and they will put extra effort into anything you may want done there.