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07-10-2005, 09:22 AM | #1 |
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The great oil change debacle
I was lazy and took my car to a local Merlins to have the oil changed. When I got home I checked the oil. Do you want to talk about overfill?! The oil was half way up the friggin dipstick!!! I ended up draining about 6 qts out before I put the plug back in... and there was still more in there. I ended up taking too much out and had to put 2 qts back in. But with 6 qts taken out and then 2 added, that would roughly mean the meathead at the shop put in about 8.5 qts. Thankfully, I caught it right away and only drove about 20 miles like that. Guess who'll be changing his own oil from now on.
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07-10-2005, 10:06 AM | #2 |
Trust no one
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This is a perfect example of why you should avoid quick oil change places at all costs.
You should check your transmission right away, BEFORE you drive the car again. Knowing how these places operate there is a very good chance that they drained your transmission and filled the engine. |
07-10-2005, 12:53 PM | #3 |
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Good advice, Mulder. That would make sense, as I can't imagine someone being dumb enough to put 8.5 qts into an engine. If that were the case, wouldn't he have had some issues with the transmission by the time he got home (20 miles)?
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07-10-2005, 12:58 PM | #4 |
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A tranny can go longer without oil than an engine. But I agree check it right away!
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07-10-2005, 01:00 PM | #5 |
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If they did drain your transmission, you could always go to subaru and purchase one of the new torx style drain plugs for your tranny. That should gaurantee it doesn't happen again... although who knows.
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07-10-2005, 02:04 PM | #6 |
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I enjoy servicing my cars. I would never think of taking it to a quick-lube place. Our dealerships lube-rack even makes mistakes. Usually a lube tech isn"t the best trained or payed guy and they really don't like their job. In 12 years in service, I've met only one career lube tech(he knew oil capasities for all Toyota motors, air pressures for all models) basically made it a point to know all he could about Toyota's basic maintenance requirements. He wasn't interested in being a mechanic, said it was too stressful, just wanted an easy job. He was good, but not the norm.
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07-10-2005, 04:31 PM | #7 |
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No, the trans is fine. The fluid level is exactly where it should be. The drain plug for the oil pan was definitely the one he removed. I could tell when I got under there yesterday that it had been removed. (This was the car's FIRST oil change, btw). That kid must have really been a complete moron to put 8+ qts in.
Lesson learned - DIY |
07-10-2005, 04:35 PM | #8 |
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i would go directly to that place the next opportunity and tell their manager exactly what happened. after that, if it is a chain, send letters (not emails) to their corporate office and let them know what happened. if you would not have caught that it would have been detrimental to your engine, and they would have squirmed out of it. that is truly rediculous and a place like that should be shut down.
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07-10-2005, 04:36 PM | #9 |
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What Damon said. Do something before it happens to someone else.
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07-10-2005, 04:57 PM | #10 |
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Man. . that sucks. I have been changing mine since 7000K when I put REDLINE OIL in. Cant trust anyone. What a bunch of friken clowns. I had some BFG KDW's put on. .and the *%$!#@ clowns put the weights on the outside on 2 and hid the weights on the other 2. OKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK KKKK!
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07-10-2005, 07:49 PM | #11 |
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Of my 15 years of vehicle ownership, in the last 10 years I've taken in one of my cars to a place to have the oil changed exactly once. And that one time ensured I'd always service my vehicles myself from then on.
Let's see, it was about a half quart low when I picked it up. It had been sitting for a couple hours when I picked it up, so I checked before I left and made them fill it up, which, despite my supervision, they botched and overfilled. I noticed they were using 0W-30 oil "because that's all we have left today". It was July! At that point, I just said leave it and I'd drain out the excess myself when I got home. I made sure I pointed out the problem to the manager who just shrugged it off and walked away, guaranteeing I'd never bring my car back. At next oil change, which I was doing myself, I noticed the oil filter installed wasn't the correct one, but by some miracle happened to fit. Because my car ('95 Eagle Talon turbo) had a large diameter mounting flange for the oil filter, it was able to seal adequately. I suspect the bypass valve on the filter was open from the start. I went to take off the filter and it wouldn't budge. I've never done anything more than hand tighten my oil filters myself and never had one leak. This one was on incredibly tight. I tried the old screwdriver through the can trick. I hammered a #3 philips through (yeah, the big one) and it snapped the shaft! Luckily it was a Craftsman and I got a free replacement. Oil filter still didn't budge. I tried large channel locks and a pipe wrench to no avail. When I finally got a good grip to apply a whole lot of torque, it would just crush in the canister. By this time, it was good and mangled. I cut the entire can off with tin snips so that all that was left was the threaded steel mounting ring that you can see when you look at the end of the filter. A friend suggested I take a punch and wedge it in one of the holes around the periphery of the threaded mounting hole and try to hammer the punch and drive the ring around. No luck. Wouldn't budge. I took a flat sided chisel, and managed to wedge it between the rubber seal on the mounting ring and the mating face of the filter mounting flange. I then pried the mounting ring away from the mounting flange a couple of places and reduce the friction between the rubber seal and mounting flange. Using the punch and a hammer again, I was finally able to drive the mounting ring around and get it off. Took me most of a day to do it. When I did it myself on subsequent oil changes, it took me all of 15 minutes, and that included jacking the car. My STi takes a little longer because I usually remove the black plastic cover. But that experience was plenty. God willing, I'll be changing my own oil when I'm 80! -Michael |
07-10-2005, 09:54 PM | #12 | |
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07-10-2005, 10:20 PM | #13 |
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so how many quarts should go in for an oil change? im about to take mine in .. i have 1200 miles
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07-10-2005, 10:24 PM | #14 |
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WRX takes 4.7. Put in 4.5 and check it though. Some take less, some take more...
Mika |
07-10-2005, 10:38 PM | #15 | |
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07-10-2005, 10:46 PM | #16 | |
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^^
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07-10-2005, 11:53 PM | #17 | |
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omg... too true. |
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07-11-2005, 02:18 AM | #18 |
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a buddy of mine took his 91 Eclipse GSX to Jiffy-Lube to get a oil change and tranny service. They drained the transfer case and filled up the tranny without emptying it. They wrote on the maintenance report that the tranny was low on fluid, but they never drained the tranny just the transfer case.
Subsiquently the transfer case burned up and cost like $2000 to replace. You could tell because there were tool marks on the drain plug of the transfer case which had never been drained before. Jiffy-Lube accepted no responsibility for this. And there was no real way to prove it was their fault. No offense to young people that know about cars, cause I learned everything I knew in high school working on cars, but they hire young schmucks that don't know snot about cars, and have them do oil changes. I always do regular maintenance myself, and only do major services at the dealer or with a trusted mechanic. |
07-11-2005, 03:31 AM | #19 | |
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Quote:
The manual states oil capacity as being 4.2 qt, which is what I poured in during my last oil change (which is, incidentally, my first time changing the WRX's oil -- first two changes were done at the dealer). However, after starting the car and checking the oil level, the dipstick was dry! So, I added another half quart, which showed oil at the low mark. So, I did the "sensible" thing and added the rest. So, 5 quarts total. Oil reads full, all seems well, so I take the car to run some errands. I come home, check the oil again, and lo and behold, it's measuring a good 1/4 inch over the "F" on the dipstick! What gives? And where is everyone coming up with the 5 qt (some say 4.7, some say 4.8) number? I've since checked the service manual (I have an '05 WRX, BTW), and it states: Oil capacity (no filter change): 4.2 qt Oil capacity (w/ filter change): 4.5 qt Oil capacity (at overhaul): 5.3 qt I'm thinking that if I'd used 4.5 qt, as you first suggest, it would have been just right. So where does the 4.7 qt value come from? Personal experience? Just curious... - Fromage |
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07-11-2005, 09:17 AM | #20 | |
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That's exactly what they said. I actually have a buddy there who knows his stuff. They've always helped me out in the past swapping exhausts on and off. But the goon who did my oil change was like 18 and they said he'd only been there for 2 wks. I told them they better give that kid a talking to! "Well why don't you come by and we'll give you some coupons for free oil changes." |
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07-11-2005, 12:12 PM | #21 | |
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Quote:
I always use what the manual says then get the car fully warmed up and add any additional oil needed to get to the F mark. Filling it to F when cold is wrong because the oil is going to expand a bit when hot. After a couple changes, you can get an idea of just how much more/less you actually need to put in to get it spot on when hot. I think the number depends on how long you wait for the oil to drain out. The longer you wait, the more oil will come out. There's probably a little bit of oil in there that takes a while to come out if you just let the majority of the oil drain and then start refilling the engine. |
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07-11-2005, 12:49 PM | #22 |
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I fill my 2.5L NA and my wifes 2.2L NA with ~4.7qts.
Start the car and let the oil get everywhere (I prefill the oil filter before installing). Shut it down and let it sit 10+ minutes on level ground. Pull the dipstick, wipe it off, recheck. It is usually right on. If you skip the above steps or change the order, you may see a misleading dipstick reading. |
07-11-2005, 12:53 PM | #23 |
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my dad owns one of those quikc lube oil change places, we do a good job but i totally understand why people are against them.
anyways.... i just do my won oil changes here and i can see where the mechanic could make a mistake... i was filling the oil, put 4.5 in and i could hardly see anything on the dipstick. you really have to wait a while, start it up and let it idle a bit before you see the true amount. it made me so mad, i was underneath checking for leaks and everything. anyways. just my story. |
07-11-2005, 02:15 PM | #24 | |
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Quote:
This true. I just changed the oil in my XT and noticed that even after 4.5 quarts, it barely registered on the dip stick. I could see where someone checking someone else's work might get confused and throw an extra couple of quarts in. |
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07-12-2005, 01:23 PM | #25 | ||
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