OMG. Kill 'em all!

[Eli]

First, I want to post this here because I want to spread my story, and Off Topic is my 'hood. But if I get enough requests to move it to The Garage, I will.

Second... DIE! BURN! FLAMES! DESTRUCTION! :|

Story:

Back in August, I had my oil changed at Jiffy Lube. Why, you may ask? Damn good question. :roll: The reason was that I had 18,000 miles on my Pennzoil Platinum 5W-20 synthetic and it was a bit past due for a change, yet I was about to drive 1,400 miles. So I said what the hell, and pulled into a Jiffy Lube before I left.

Ever since then, I've noticed a slight leak from the drain bolt. Since it was slow and only slightly annoying at best, I ignored it and chalked it off to them not replacing the gasket. In the back of my mind however, I feared the worst; that they had stripped out or cross threaded the drain pan threads.

I was doing a quick oil and filter change today because my girlfriend and I are going on a long trip this weekend. I wanted to both get the conventional oil from the Jiffy Lube change out of there, maximize fuel economy, and resume my oil analysis by trying out a new oil; Mobil1 0W-20.

As soon as I started wrenching on the drain bolt, I knew something was wrong. Some of you may know it, that horrible feeling a bolt has when it's ripping threads out. I backed it out as gently as possible, held it in my oily hand and gazed upon the worst sight you may ever see while changing your oil - the gleaming aluminum threads of the oil pan contrast against the pink anodized bolt.

Jiffy Lube was closed, but I'm going to call them tomorrow. The one in Oregon was still open due to the time difference, and they said that the one here should help me.

Has anyone gone through anything like this? Will Jiffy Lube bend over backwards for me? They had better. I want a new drain pan and a rental car while my car is up, and I'd really like my car before we leave on Friday. :|:|:| Christ.

/rant

Edit: I decided it wasn't worth the trouble and just got an oversized drain bolt.

Jesus F'in Christ! There must have been a teaspoon of aluminum chips that I cleaned out of that thing and off the threads in the pan.

:|

Fucking stupid. A single one of those chips could ruin a big end con rod bearing.

<--- Is still angry, and no not at myself. I didn't do anything wrong.

 

[Exterous]

What? No cliffs? Please hold while I read the whole thing

Edit: Its always tough to prove blame in a situation like this. I would not be surprised if you have to fight to get them to take care of it

 

[Paladin3]

I'm not sure what Jiffy Lube will do for you, but "back in August"??? You'd be in a much better position if you had done something sooner and not ignored the leaking oil.

 

[rudeguy]

WRONG FORUM!

Just kidding. Please keep this updated. I would be interested to see if they do anything for you.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Jiffy Lube will deny all responsibility because you didn't notice it before you left their garage. Cuz, that's the way THEY roll.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

A new drain pan is overkill, and I highly doubt Jiffy Lube will replace that for you. Get an oversized drain plug and tap the stripped hole to the new size.

 

[SmoochyTX]

Originally posted by: Eli
First, I want to post this here because I want to spread my story, and Off Topic is my 'hood. But if I get enough requests to move it to The Garage, I will.

Second... DIE! BURN! FLAMES! DESTRUCTION! :|

Story:

Back in August, I had my oil changed at Jiffy Lube. Why, you may ask? Damn good question. :roll: The reason was that I had 18,000 miles on my Pennzoil Platinum 5W-20 synthetic and it was a bit past due for a change, yet I was about to drive 1,400 miles. So I said what the hell, and pulled into a Jiffy Lube before I left.

Ever since then, I've noticed a slight leak from the drain bolt. Since it was slow and only slightly annoying at best, I ignored it and chalked it off to them not replacing the gasket. In the back of my mind however, I feared the worst; that they had stripped out or cross threaded the drain pan threads.

I was doing a quick oil and filter change today because my girlfriend and I are going on a long trip this weekend. I wanted to both get the conventional oil from the Jiffy Lube change out of there, maximize fuel economy, and resume my oil analysis by trying out a new oil; Mobil1 0W-20.

As soon as I started wrenching on the drain bolt, I knew something was wrong. Some of you may know it, that horrible feeling a bolt has when it's ripping threads out. I backed it out as gently as possible, held it in my oily hand and gazed upon the worst sight you may ever see while changing your oil - the gleaming aluminum threads of the oil pan contrast against the pink anodized bolt.

Jiffy Lube was closed, but I'm going to call them tomorrow. The one in Oregon was still open due to the time difference, and they said that the one here should help me.

Has anyone gone through anything like this? Will Jiffy Lube bend over backwards for me? They had better. I want a new drain pan and a rental car while my car is up, and I'd really like my car before we leave on Friday. :|:|:| Christ.

/rant

So you knew about the leaking since August and didn't do anything about it? It's on you. You should have got up off your lazy arse and gone back to them and told them about it immediately instead of crossing your fingers and saying prayers to the magical unicorn that things would be OK.

 

[BoomerD]

You used Jiffy Lube and you're surprised that they fucked the job up?

Unfortunately, since it's been so long, I suspect they'll do nothing.

Your failure to deal with this when you first noticed it will cost you dearly.

 

[Bignate603]

I had them install a bad fuel filter, it cracked and was spilling gas everywhere. The one that did it wasn't close (3,000 miles away) and they assured me that the one here would take care of it. The one here gave me a resounding hell no, saying they were franchised and that they weren't going to pay for another franchise's problem.

 

[AlienCraft]

I think your only hope is if the manager from Jiffy Lube is the same as when you were last there. I think though they will use your changing of the oil against you.
Probably the best you can hope for is them installing another, oversized repair bolt.
Good luck.

 

[Squisher]

Oversize bolts, if done correctly, usually work very well. Don't sweat it.

 

[funkymatt]

at least they put oil back in your car the first time they changed the oil. my wife took her car to pep boys once when we first started dating. they didnt put oil back in the car. hell was raised. we no longer go to pepboys.

 

[jpeyton]

They aren't going to do anything. Your best shot is taking them to small claims.

 

[randay]

so i guess youll be changing your own oil from now on huh? huh??!

 

[Howard]

The worst case is simply having to drill and tap to the specs of a new oversized plug. Worse things have happened.

 

[child of wonder]

Last Thursday I hired a paraplegic man with Down Syndrome to watch my kids. When I came home that night I noticed my two kids floating face down in the bath tub, but it was an annoyance at best to step around them while I showered.

Now it is Tuesday and I decided to check on the kids. They are dead! The babysitter is at fault!

lol

Seriously, OP, it was stupid to let it sit like that for so long. The moment you noticed the leak you should have driven it back to Jiffy Lube and complained.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: Howard
The worst case is simply having to drill and tap to the specs of a new oversized plug. Worse things have happened.

:thumbsup:

As others have said, getting Jiffy Lube to do the right thing at this point has almost zero chance of happening.

 

[IGBT]

..I hear their only tool is a gnarly pair of channel locks and they all have to share it.

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: Paladin3
I'm not sure what Jiffy Lube will do for you, but "back in August"??? You'd be in a much better position if you had done something sooner and not ignored the leaking oil.

so everyone who goes to an oil change place has to double check those idiots jobs?

thank god i change my own oil!

 

[LordMorpheus]

Originally posted by: Exterous
What? No cliffs? Please hold while I read the whole thing

Edit: Its always tough to prove blame in a situation like this. I would not be surprised if you have to fight to get them to take care of it

You've waited too long. You should have pulled the bolt immediately if you suspected incompetence.

How about drilling the hole a little larger and tapping some new threads in, and using a slightly larger bolt to be your plug? You'll want to take the pan off to do this, obviously, unless you like metal bits in your oil, but it should be an essentially zero-cost repair.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: LordMorpheus

Originally posted by: Exterous
What? No cliffs? Please hold while I read the whole thing

Edit: Its always tough to prove blame in a situation like this. I would not be surprised if you have to fight to get them to take care of it

You've waited too long. You should have pulled the bolt immediately if you suspected incompetence.

How about drilling the hole a little larger and tapping some new threads in, and using a slightly larger bolt to be your plug? You'll want to take the pan off to do this, obviously, unless you like metal bits in your oil, but it should be an essentially zero-cost repair.

new plug
new tap (possibly)
new drill bit (unlikely)
labor

Would be nice if Jiffy Lube at least refunded him for their job, though.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

For the people that use quick lube places like Jipme Lube and Ezlube etc they are a rip off price wise. My last oil change was like 14 bucks from Discount Tire Center. You can even get better prices just from a local small auto repair shop. I would personally love to see the quicky places gone, but people tend to go for convenience over a good price.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: LordMorpheus

Originally posted by: Exterous
What? No cliffs? Please hold while I read the whole thing

Edit: Its always tough to prove blame in a situation like this. I would not be surprised if you have to fight to get them to take care of it

You've waited too long. You should have pulled the bolt immediately if you suspected incompetence.

How about drilling the hole a little larger and tapping some new threads in, and using a slightly larger bolt to be your plug? You'll want to take the pan off to do this, obviously, unless you like metal bits in your oil, but it should be an essentially zero-cost repair.

eh, time lost + new larger bolt, heh

 

[SmoochyTX]

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: Paladin3
I'm not sure what Jiffy Lube will do for you, but "back in August"??? You'd be in a much better position if you had done something sooner and not ignored the leaking oil.

so everyone who goes to an oil change place has to double check those idiots jobs?

thank god i change my own oil!

So let's just say... after you change your own oil back in oh let's go with August you notice a leak. Would you wait until now to do something about it?

In this case, it doesn't matter who changed the oil. The OP knew about the leak all along but neglected to do something about it.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Bignate603
I had them install a bad fuel filter, it cracked and was spilling gas everywhere. The one that did it wasn't close (3,000 miles away) and they assured me that the one here would take care of it. The one here gave me a resounding hell no, saying they were franchised and that they weren't going to pay for another franchise's problem.

That's kinda what I was afraid of. Maybe corporate then? I'm sure this kind of stuff happens fairly regularly, so I should figure out whether they're going to help me or not quickly.

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser
A new drain pan is overkill, and I highly doubt Jiffy Lube will replace that for you. Get an oversized drain plug and tap the stripped hole to the new size.

I realize that, but it's the point of the matter. It wasn't broken before, and it is now.

As for the leaking oil, I realize its been a long time, but so what? What if I was someone who never even bothers to look under their car? IE: The type that would normally use Jiffy Lube..

This isn't my fault in any way, shape or form. I will understand if there is nothing that can be done because I'm 1,400 miles away from the actual offending store, but I'm still quite agrivated and haven't done anything wrong. This would have been discovered the next time I went in to Jiffy Lube for my regular oil change, if I did such a thing.

Edit: Oh, and to everyone saying I should have taken it back to Jiffy Lube as soon as I noticed the leak - I went to Jiffy Lube as I was leaving Portland, moving to New Mexico. I noticed the leak a few weeks after I got here.

Edit2: And if you didn't get it by the gist of my post, I always change my own oil. The only reason I didn't this time was because I had no place to change it; I was leaving Oregon and driving to New Mexico that day.