Cazuelada Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Just blowing off steam plus we always hear horror stories from places like Jiffy Lube. I take the wife's Outback Sedan H-6 in for an oil change and look over before she takes a little trip. A few days later I notice a stain from dripping oil on the driveway then look in the garage and there's a nice pool under the car. Of course, she's oblivious to the whole thing. I take it up to my buddies garage and while it's on the lift he unscrews the oil drain plug 'with his fingers'! SWEAT! So we tighten everything up and check the oil level because it has to be down from the couple days of leaking right... nope, not only is it not down but it is over filled! A half inch over the full mark and this is after leaking oil for at least two days. You know the service manager is going to get an ear full but who knows if I'll be compensated for the whole thing. I can't wait to fill out that survey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrigueing Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Same thing happened to me at a dealer on a brand new car (first oil change), except the oil filter was not tightened, and the car was down over 2 1/2 quarts of oil - called the place and asked to talk to the manager - told them what they did , and the manager jumps in "oh no problem just bring it in and we'll tighten the filter and add the oil". Can't believe he advised me to drive the car after hearing the car was virtually out of oil. One week later and multiple calls to the car manufacturer the dealer calls me with a sweet deal - free repairs for however long I own the car up to 100K and if I decide to sell they will buy it for full retail - but they wanted confidentiality on the problem - sure fine by me. Free repairs and 85K later I cashed in and sold the car to them - full NADA retail. Never really had many problems that were related to the low oil - but several other things that were nicely taken care of for free:D PS it wasn't a Subie - starts with a H and ends with an onda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remarcable Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 This is quite common. Nobody will pay as much attention to working on your car as yourself, and I now do all my oil changes that I can myself. I once found over 6 quarts of oil in my subie after a dealer visit, which is strange because I only gave them 5 quarts to put in, yet when I drained it all it overflowed out of my 6 quart catch pan. It also wasn't the Mobil 1 I had given them to put in. Something as simple as an oil change I suggest doing yourself. For warranty purposes you should keep the receipt for the oil & filter and mark the mileage on the receipt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrigueing Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Every oil change since my experience has been done by "yours truly" - it is hard to believe someone could screw up something as simple as an oil change, but it does happen quite frequntly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forester2002s Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 I do all of my car maintenance now. What prompted me to stop using dealerships was a loose distributor. This was not a Subie, but a Ford (a long time ago, in the days of distributors and contact-points). In preparation for a long trip, I took my car in for service; the dealership adjusted the timing, but failed to tighten the distributor clamp-screw. 100 miles later, on a dark highway, the engine died! Fortunately I had a flashlight, and found that I could rotate the distributor by hand. I restarted the engine, and adjusted the distributor timing for fastest idle-speed and tightened the clamp-screw; when I got home, I checked the timing and found that I had managed to set it bang on. I haven't let a dealership touch any of my cars since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickb21 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 seems to be a common theme.. i wonder if there is that much pressure to get more cars serviced, and enough attention isn't paid to quality control.. when i picked up my car from the dealer after they "serviced" it, I drained 1.5 quarts of oil out, and noticed there was about a quarter inch of coolant in the resevoir, needless to say I wasn't too impressed.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ma-fia Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Originally posted by intrigueing Same thing happened to me at a dealer on a brand new car (first oil change), except the oil filter was not tightened, and the car was down over 2 1/2 quarts of oil ... PS it wasn't a Subie - starts with a H and ends with an onda. Well, maybe Hondasucks is right? Just kiddin'. It can happen anywhere and any time: the same idler that changed your oil at Jiffy Lube may miraculously appear working for a dealership or any other place later on. Being a grimly suspicious individual, I try to do everything I can myself. Jiffy Lubes are for company vehicles that you happen to drive and don't care too much about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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