rant on Oil changers

[newbury]

I seem to have problems with other people changing my vehicles oil.
On my new (at the time) 2009 VW Jetta TWICE they overfilled it way up the dipstick. The first time I didn't notice it until I went 20 miles, I spent about an hour sucking excess oil out with a little Harbor Freight pump. The second time I checked it as soon as they returned the car to me, again way too high.
On our 2019 Ford Escape I did the first oil change due to Covid.
Now at 20,000 miles my daughter had the car, we were 900 miles away. She called me up, said she would take it in. I told here NO. Told her of my experiences.
So she called my wife who told her go ahead and get the oil changed. NOBODY tells me.
We get back from our trip, I go to check the oil, it looked like it's been blowing out the dipstick. WAY to full.
Not just past the hatch marks, up past where the metal twists on the dipstick.
Time to suck again, hope it hasn't ruined anything.
I think some shops just put oil in by amount, without looking to see if it's full on the dipstick. Those people are dipsticks.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Count your blessings. My father-in-law took a Buick Park Avenue to Jiffy Lube to change the transmission fluid. they left it so low it burned up the transmission. I checked it when he started having trouble, and it was four quarts low.

 

[newbury]

Thanks for the mention of Jiffy Lube. I briefly thought of taking it to them for another oil change. I'm due to go on an emergency trip to Mississippi Monday. 900 mile drive one way. Don't need any problems.
With the quality of service in "repair shops" I'm becoming a firm believer in sealed bearings etc.

 

[groundcover]

Friend of nine took his Porsche Cayenne to the dealer for service, on his way home all kinds of alarms and warnings went off. He returned to dealer to find it have been severely overfilled !
Not sure about his Porsche but some of these high end rigs don't even have dipsticks anymore, all
Electronic.
Guess he was an over full kind of guy . He once bought a brand new stainless sander with a Honda motor. Dealer sent a kid to make sure it was fill of oil and ready to go. He brought it home and first time he started it it blew itself apart. Oil had be filled right to the top of the fill tube !

 

[5030]

Never been to one and don't plan on going. Change my own oil in all my cars, trucks and tractors.

 

[WinterDeere]

I do all my own fluid changes, on our vehicles, tractors, and mower. Honestly, why are you taking any vehicle to a garage for something as simple as a fluid change? Pull a plug (or a pan, or a diff cover), let it drain out. Change filter if applicable, fill it back up. I go through more effort than that in making my coffee.

Esp. with synthetics, two of our three vehicles are down to every 12 months. Hardly an enormous hurdle for anyone handy enough to be spending their time on a tractor forum, of all things!

 

[5030]

The only exception to that is the automatic transmission but again, I take care of that as well. If you are going to have the tranny fluid changed (I would always advise against flushing a tranny), you still have to drop the pan and change the tranny filter which is a pretty involved job on a GM vehicle with a V8 motor. You have to loosen the exhaust system to gain clearance to drop the pan to change the filter, something I believe that no speedy oil change place is capable of doing in the first place.

You should never flush an automatic tranny because flushing can dislodge junk inside that can cause tranny failure, always better to change it and change the filter too, plus the torque converter needs drained at the same time.

 

[Oaktree]

Not sure about his Porsche but some of these high end rigs don't even have dipsticks anymore, all
Electronic.

Didn't know they'd eliminated oil dipsticks, but there is none for the transmission in my Jeep, and it's an '06. AFAIK there's no electronic sensors as to transmission level.
My mechanic had to fab up something when he did the fluid change last time.

 

[WinterDeere]

The only exception to that is the automatic transmission but again, I take care of that as well. If you are going to have the tranny fluid changed (I would always advise against flushing a tranny), you still have to drop the pan and change the tranny filter which is a pretty involved job on a GM vehicle with a V8 motor. You have to loosen the exhaust system to gain clearance to drop the pan to change the filter, something I believe that no speedy oil change place is capable of doing in the first place.

You should never flush an automatic tranny because flushing can dislodge junk inside that can cause tranny failure, always better to change it and change the filter too, plus the torque converter needs drained at the same time.

I'll admit the only tranny I've ever changed fluid on is Ford C6's, I had several of them on older hot rods in my 20's. I installed a drain plug in the pan on the last one, to make it less messy to drain down the pan before removing it. Until this current fleet of new cars, every other vehicle I've ever owned was manual transmission, which is quite easy to change. I have two ZF 8HP70's coming due for a change, so I guess I'll need to make a decision there.

But that aside... engine oil changes? C'mon, folks! I can do all three of our cars, including setup and cleanup, in less than two hours. It'd take me more than double that (maybe triple?) to drive each one to the closest garage and wait while they do it. The old oil used to get dropped back off where I buy my oil, but the last ten years I've just been dumping into old gas cans and giving it to a friend who burns waste oil in their shop heater.

 

[5030]

Didn't know they'd eliminated oil dipsticks, but there is none for the transmission in my Jeep, and it's an '06. AFAIK there's no electronic sensors as to transmission level.
My mechanic had to fab up something when he did the fluid change last time.

FCA is real good for that. Started with the defunct PT Cruiser and progressed from there. I think it's a terrible idea. How do you know if the fluid is low or burned. You don't. Probably saved them a few pennies at the owners expense.

Even my Ford Focus ST with it's 6 speed gearbox has a plug with a dipstick attached to check the gear oil in it.