The quick lube place did it again

"Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle" (1500sand535)
05/24/2018 at 19:16 • Filed to: None

My family went on a vacation this past week. Our destination was the great smoky mountains; and it was beautiful and the roads were awesome even in my wife’s hybrid. I took very few photos but here is a spirally thing on top of a mountain for your time:

We took my wife’s c-max which I thought was good until 47,000 miles for its next oil change but all of a sudden when we were half way through the trip, the light came on at 45,000. I do not meticulously track things for my wife’s car; Light comes on I obey. We were planning a stop in a big city anyways for my daughter to play so I dropped my wife and kid off at a coffee shop near a playground and drove to the nearest quick lube.

It took me 1 hour to even get on the ramps. Then the guy who was taking my info tried to sell me every thing known to man that I don’t need (tires rotated, cabin air filter, air filter). Our story gets interesting with the cabin air filter; first off he tried to tell me it came from the factory white(it didn’t, it’s grayish to begin with). Second, what I would discover 1 hour later is the jackass put it back in backwards so it wasn’t sealing or flowing well and most of our air was coming out in our passenger side foot well. Third, the guy was a general asshole about everything.

The cabin filter mistake actually ended up being awful as it was cold and rainy and I was having trouble keeping our window defrosted with the little amount of air that was coming out of the vents. We arrived to our hotel that night and the next morning I used a Swiss Army knife to get the torx screw out flip the filter around and what do you know; the air worked again perfectly.

I called the place right after I got it buttoned back up and they offered me a refund without me even asking. (If they had done so I was not going to put them). However 4 business days later and... no sign of the refund so I’d recommend everyone stay far away from the Valvoline Instant Oil Change place in Knoxville; unless you like taking 90 minutes of your day fo an idiot to be condescending to you and then mess up your car.

Bonus Lexus that made me think, “why are they at this grocery store in this area?”

DISCUSSION (18)

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
05/24/2018 at 19:24

Important question- Did you see any Bears?

ttyymmnn > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
05/24/2018 at 19:30

I’ve been up that tower. My father calls those Ronald Reagan trees—killed by acid rain.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
05/24/2018 at 19:30

On the bright side, reinstalling an air filter upside down is far from the worst way a quick lube place can screw up.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
05/24/2018 at 20:54

$4 of tools, aluminum pan, oil, and a Walmart parking lot have gotten me through many a road trip oil change.

Also, shouldn’t a hybrid be good for like 15000 mile oil changes? Would going over by a few hundred miles really matter?

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn
05/24/2018 at 21:05

That, but mainly the wooly adelgid insect infestations. They’re still fighting it.

That’s such a cool area because in one 30-minute drive, you go from flat southern pine forests to basically Maine or eastern Canada. It’s a pretty drastic change in landscape, even more than most drives out West.

Ash78, voting early and often > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
05/24/2018 at 21:06

Clingman’s Dome is pretty cool. Always windy and usually cold, though. I’ve been up there a couple times.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
05/24/2018 at 21:08

Had to get a change for my GTI on my way out of town for thanksgiving, stopped at a place knowing it was a bad idea. They replaced my drain plug instead of putting on the correct crush washer I game them. By the time I got home it was leaking more than my Triumph and Jaguar combined

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
05/24/2018 at 21:15

5 black bears; 2 adults and 3 cubs. Which was a relief because we told our 3 year old there were bears

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
05/24/2018 at 21:22

My wife will put them off forever so I like just doing it. And 10k mile intervals make me nervous to begin with.

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > Ash78, voting early and often
05/24/2018 at 21:23

It was nice but overcast. The whole area was pretty cool.

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
05/24/2018 at 21:25

Very true but still annoying considering I didn’t want anything to begin with. If it would have been someone else they could have been in for a $50-100 bill from a shop to turn it back!

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > MiniGTI - now with XJ6
05/24/2018 at 21:27

That sucks; really mine wasn’t that serious but really inconvenient and annoying for the 5-6 hours of driving.

XJDano > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
05/24/2018 at 21:31

Last time I was there the clouds were low. Not at the visitors center but buy the time we got to the dome, you could hardly see 50 Yards.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > MiniGTI - now with XJ6
05/24/2018 at 21:49

“Crush washer? What’s that?”~Quick lube guy

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
05/24/2018 at 21:52

Last time a did an oil change on my wife’s car it was literally 3 hours before leaving on a 7 hour trip to camp in Canada. I just happened to have the oil ready to go!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
05/25/2018 at 00:40

I think everyone should just stay away from instant oil change places. Most good independents will accommodate walk in waiters, especially if you’re on a road trip, and most dealers have express service so at least they have the right parts and are familiar with the cars.

Oil change chains have a basic understanding that most cars have engines and that most of those engines should probably have oil and then there’s this list of things corporate makes them try to sell people arbitrarily because money. This is much like how most McDonald’s employees have a basic understanding that people need to eat occasionally and that some foods should be heated prior to consumption and that corporate makes them ask “do you want fries with that?”

I mean you don’t go to Dentist Joe’s Instant Root Canal do you?

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
05/25/2018 at 14:04

that looks like an illinois plate on the LC500 so probably roadtripping in it and needed to stop

razorbeamteam > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
06/26/2018 at 12:01

I had a quick lube place take off my whole intake tubing up to the throttle body so they could try to sell me an air filter. I told them no way, as I had just replaced it. They couldn’t get the tubing to go back on, so just crumpled the tube INSIDE the throttle body instead of outside. Obviously there was a huge vacuum leak and the car would stall out above idle. That was my last time at that place. Now if I do use a quick lube shop for oil changes I tell them I just changed the air filter and do not remove anything but oil/filter.