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My Experience with "Lube Pros"

G

greasemonkey1489

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Messages
1,568
Location
Bloomington/Normal, IL
I was going to do an oil change last weekend because my car was about half a quart down and about 200 miles overdue.. Well I sprained my wrist leaving me unable to do such a task..

Anyways, I only put Mobil or Valvoline products in my car (though I have found some better synthetics lately) so I had to go to an oil change place that used either product. Lube Pros happened to be vacant and a Mobil1 dealer.

Pull my car into the stall, pop the hood and the guy asks what I'd like done. "Just an oil change please, 6.5 qts of mobil1 synthetic." Another guy reads off the plates and the engine code. Pulls up the info for the filter and oil capacity. He says "It calls for 5.8 qts." me: "Yeah, I know but I'd like 6.5 please." "So, do you want all 6.5 in the engine? or some to take with you?" "Yes... I would like it all in the engine please."

Other guy: "What is this, a contour?" "Yep." The manager chimes in "Yeah it's a contour with a cobra motor." :rolleyes:

Tech: (touching my engine plaque) "Special. Vehicle. Team. SVT... That's not what SVT stands for. It stands for Supplemental Valve Timing." (Now I am thinking: shoot.. these are the guys that I am supposed to trust for the next 3000 miles?" Then he repeats his last statement for the third guy followed by "It's just a contour with a cobra motor." So finally I couldn't take it anymore and had to chime in, "Yeah, SVT stands for special vehicle team." He looks at me and says "No, it stands for supplemental valve timing." A little annoyed that he just argued with me.. I reply "No, this engine doesnt have any sort of variable valve system.. maybe hydraulic lifters but that's all." "Ok, whatever you say man."

The guy from the pit "Damn this is the worst place for a filter.. How does the have a cobra motor and be front wheel drive?"

In my head "Please let this be over soon..."

Price was reasonable for all the stuff they topped off. Then they left my MAF disconnected and I drove like that for about 5 miles. Choked and died a couple times before I had to pull off and figure that bish out.
 
lol, could have been worse. you get a mobil1 filter too? why did they disconnect the MAF in the first place?
 
I hope you find a buddy to help next time. I would be so paranoid driving into one of those places. Places like that need to be shut-down and never reopened.
 
wow i would have walked out of the place. you say you use synthetic oil? well 3000 mile oil changes are way over kill with synthetic oil. you can go much longer. you may not have had to change it at all then just wait for your wrist to get better.
 
I would have walked out of that place after the first statement you quoted. I'm sure they did disconnect the MAF so you'd have to bring it back. Shyster places like that should be burnt to the ground, seriously. I'd have called them back and messed with them a bit, asking why your car was not running right and when they told you to bring it back in for a diagnostic I'd just be like "no, actually I know what you did and I fixed it, I'm going to call the BBB and tell everyone I know/work with to stay away from you". Probably futile but maybe getting caught will make them think twice? Also, are you SURE they actually used Mobil 1? Did you see them actually open up the bottles and put it in or did they use oil out of a big barrel with a pump? Most oil places just use "bulk oil" which is the cheapest possible stuff they can get.

Man, going to a quick lube is one of the worst things you can do IMO. I'd have taken it to Ford if I absolutely could not do my own change. They'll at least use the Ford blend and the MC filters are pretty good. You can always add .5 qts right in the parking lot after they are done.
 
As soon as they started talking about the motor, I would have asked for my keys back. I also would have gone back and got real nasty up in their face about the maf. WTF are they doing putzing around disconnecting things. At the very minimum alert the BBB.

my .02 of being a humongous confrontational a$$hole when my shiz gets messed with
 
ScottyDsntKnow said:
Man, going to a quick lube is one of the worst things you can do IMO. I'd have taken it to Ford if I absolutely could not do my own change. They'll at least use the Ford blend and the MC filters are pretty good. You can always add .5 qts right in the parking lot after they are done.
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Don't bet on that unless they are pouring it out of a Motorcraft bottle.
 
Depends on the dealer. When I was in Dover my bud with his 04 GT always got his oil changed at the dealer and they always used MC oil. They'd actually make you buy the case of oil at the counter and then they'd change it for you while you waited.

Again, I always always ALWAYS do my own oil and I kept telling him to do it himself too even if they really did use the MC oil. I haven't had my own oil changed ever IIRC.

Scratch that, my Honda tech father in law changed the oil in my CR-V for me for free when he took it to work with him for a once over inspection right after I bought it. Not really the same thing as some yahoo at a Jiffy Lube just draining and re-filling the oil with "bulk oil" and then either forgetting or just being too lazy to do the filter too.
 
ScottyDsntKnow said:
I would have walked out of that place after the first statement you quoted. I'm sure they did disconnect the MAF so you'd have to bring it back. Shyster places like that should be burnt to the ground, seriously. I'd have called them back and messed with them a bit, asking why your car was not running right and when they told you to bring it back in for a diagnostic I'd just be like "no, actually I know what you did and I fixed it, I'm going to call the BBB and tell everyone I know/work with to stay away from you". Probably futile but maybe getting caught will make them think twice? Also, are you SURE they actually used Mobil 1? Did you see them actually open up the bottles and put it in or did they use oil out of a big barrel with a pump? Most oil places just use "bulk oil" which is the cheapest possible stuff they can get.

Man, going to a quick lube is one of the worst things you can do IMO. I'd have taken it to Ford if I absolutely could not do my own change. They'll at least use the Ford blend and the MC filters are pretty good. You can always add .5 qts right in the parking lot after they are done.
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YES. I stayed in the stall the entire time and watched everything. I saw the sythetic oil which they had to open individual quarts. Well, up until I had to pay which took about 3-4 mins. This is probably when the MAF was disconnected. Then I was back out to see them shut the hood and send me on my way.

Zorrex- The car died when I was pulling out of a parking lot. It felt sluggish and hesitant but still ran. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, the car would die if I even touched the gas pedal. Then I found myself saying "What the heck could have happened to this car??" Then I pop the hood, look around and you guessed it- MAF was disconnected.

Scotty- As soon as I plugged it in, drove it and cleared the code I called the place back. I told them that I was in earlier and now my car wasn't running right. They had recommended I get a fuel filter while I was in there for $45.99 (Hell no.. I went to Advance and got one for $10) The guy goes "Yeah I remember you, bring it in and we'll have to take a look at it. Oh, did we recommend a fuel filter? You might need that bud." I said "No, no I don't. And I won't be bringing my car back in because I found out that the Mass Air Meter was unplugged." Guy "Oh, well I'm not sure why that would be disconnected, maybe it jiggled loose." Me "No, I dont think so. And There's nothing related to an oil change located there that you would have to disconnect it. So I'm just letting you know that you guys better watch out. You can't be sending people out the door with stuff disconnected under the hood." Guy "yeah.. ok?" *Click
 
At least you know where NOT to go.

I like to change my own oil in my vehicles whenever possible. However I wont change it in my driveway during the middle of a Maine winter. If I do a synthetic change in the fall, it will last me through the spring.
 
Was anybody working there out of high school yet:shrug: Cobra motor:rolleyes::nonono::laugh: because it looks sooooo much different than a regular Duratec :crazy: Maybe they never had any other v6 contour in there before:confused:
 
Most "kwik lubes" hire either 18 yr old seniors or dropouts and the manager was too stupid to get a job as an actual mechanic. It just makes me sad that it is so hard to find anything close to quality work done by someone who cares these days. The compounding factor is that 90% of the population doesn't know jack **** about anything mechanical makes it very hard to hold these shyster shops accountable. At least greasemonkey is in that 10% who can pop a hood and see anything as blatantly wrong as a disconnected plug right away.

I've already resolved to force every child I have to learn to at LEAST do their own basic maintenance.
 
ScottyDsntKnow said:
Most "kwik lubes" hire either 18 yr old seniors or dropouts and the manager was too stupid to get a job as an actual mechanic. It just makes me sad that it is so hard to find anything close to quality work done by someone who cares these days. The compounding factor is that 90% of the population doesn't know jack **** about anything mechanical makes it very hard to hold these shyster shops accountable. At least greasemonkey is in that 10% who can pop a hood and see anything as blatantly wrong as a disconnected plug right away.

I've already resolved to force every child I have to learn to at LEAST do their own basic maintenance.
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my local midas is mostly older guys who are very very helpful, probably because I'm out of the city. I've gone there 4 times with different cars and they always do good work and stand by it.
 
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