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Author Topic: Getting Oil Leaks fixed is overrated (AKA: Eat shit All Pro Auto Care) Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 08-28-2007 01:34 PM                     My dad gave me his car since he was buying a new one and the one I owned was clearly not going to make the trip from here in Seattle to Houston. And before he gave it to me he, thankfully, got quite a bit of work done to it. But a few days ago I noticed that it had a pretty sizeable oil leak which ended up being from the drip pan gasket being damaged. So I take it to get it fixed. They told me over the phone it'd be ready by 4:30 pm so I walk down there and it's not ready so I'm like "Ok I'll pick it up in the morning" because I had a going away party to go to right then (good thing my theater was walking distance from the place). Then the guy asked me if his boss had called me; I responded "No, why?" Well... It ends up that the car lift's left arm broke and my car fell to the side. They said their insurance company will pay for all the damaged (they better, otherwise I'm going to court). And thankfully all my stuff in my trunk appears to stayed intact (I had it full of my computer gear since I'm moving). So the driver's side door frame is bent and I've got dents/scratches in various places. They also had to unbend part of the door frame because I pointed it out to them that my window wouldn't shut. All things considered, there's a lot less damage than there could've been; but lots more than there SHOULD'VE been.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-28-2007 03:30 PM                     I would still tell them that you're taking them to court just to be sure your problems are properly satisfied. This is unusual but the threat of court action is certinaly justified. You will probably get an out of court insurance settlement offer before its ever heard in court and be sure its for the entire value of the car... you don't know what damage may lie hidden. Mark  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 08-28-2007 06:35 PM                        Always use a lawyer...if you can find an honest one. When the lawyer calls, the settlement will be immediate, the check cashed and you will be on-your-way. Last time I only wanted $400 and said so. They sent me $750 just "in case." Louis  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-28-2007 07:13 PM                     quote: Louis Bornwasser Always use a lawyer...if you can find an honest one. Didn't Groucho used to say that? Mark  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-29-2007 03:23 AM                        That's going to end up being about the most expensive sump gasket replacement the garage ever did! A linguistically challenged relative once had problems communicating with a filling station attendant in France (very few are self-service there), who filled her diesel (as in, top of the range turbodiesel) car up with petrol. Once they'd shipped the dead car back to England, replaced its engine and given her a hired replacement for the rest of her holiday, the insurance bill came to several grand.  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 08-29-2007 03:31 AM                     I'm just glad I don't have a car.  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 08-29-2007 08:54 AM                     I used to own a 1989 Chrysler LeBaron convertable. At the end of the last summer I owned it, I decided to fix the leaking power stearing box. I had been driving around all summer with a bottle of power steering fluid to refill it every few days. It seems the service station did not tighten some fluid line, because 5 miles out of the station, I lost power steering, and when I stopped, the engine caught fire. The car was totaled, and the service station's insurance paid me $1000 more than I was about to sell the car for ($1000 more than the car was worth). No lawyer, just persistance on my part.  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: Boulder Creek, CA. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 08-29-2007 09:03 AM                     Friend of mine took his wifes Suburban into a reputable shop around these parts a while back to have the transfer cases serviced and got it back sans 1 lug nut and all 4 wheels loose with the front drivers side lugs loose enough to turn by hand! This and many other reasons make me not trust mechanics...  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-29-2007 12:07 PM                        Rereading Chris's post, it's a bloody good job the car hoist didn't break while the mechanic was working underneath the car! I've seen them at the garage which does my routine services: one of the reasons I no longer do that myself is that it's just too much time and hassle, with no real cost saving. To change the oil and filter in my car, you have to jack it up to get at the filter and sump plug. For example - cost of a bottle of oil and a filter: around £30. Cost of getting the oil and filter changed at Nationwide Autocentre: £31.99. I guess that one of the reasons they can keep the labour hours down per job is that these hoists that simply lift the car six feet into the air with working space underneath makes it quick and easy to gain access to any part of it. But if I was a mechanic working at one of these places, I'm sure I'd be scared of the thing collapsing while I was working underneath the car. Even with axle stands in place, that's always at the back of my mind when I'm working underneath a jacked-up car.  |  IP: Logged Tim Asten Film Handler Posts: 98 From: Brighton, United Kingdom Registered: Nov 2006 posted 08-29-2007 12:50 PM                     Hi, Leo. £31.99 sounds awfully cheap for an oil change. For 32 quid 10 of that must go for labour and profit at least plus 7 quid or so for a filter - That doesn't leave much for the actual oil. You must always get the best oil you can afford especially if you have a newer car. I put nothing less than premium Mobil 1 synthetic in my car. It costs a fortune (£35 + filter from Halfords) but if you change it your self it keeps the cost down. Nothing will prolong the life of a car engine more than top quality oil changed often. Tim [ 08-29-2007, 04:13 PM: Message edited by: Tim Asten ]  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 08-29-2007 01:01 PM                     When it comes to both lube jobs and break jobs, there are some old (and still used) mechanics scams that one must watch out for. Whenever my Dad took his car in for even a basic lube job, he would always watch the mechanics...and many times they would be annoyed by having their customer watch them. For example, my Dad took his car in just to have the transmission filter changed and new fluid added. The "mechanic" emptied the old fluid into a filthy pan, and my Dad caught him just as he was about ready to pour it back into the the transmission! And this was via one of the MAJOR national transmission service-chains. I always do my own lube jobs, but on one occasion I was in a hurry and decided to stop into one of the quick-lube national chain-type places. The kid on duty did not have the correct type oil filter, and wanted to top off my tranny fluid with the incorrect type fluid. I cought him in the act and did not allow him to touch my car. And to make matters worse, this kid INSISTED that the correct type filter and fluid for my car did not exist! I think that just about anyone on this forum is capable of doin their own lube jobs...and just about any auto parts store will recycle used oil at no charge. As far as break shops are concerned, the biggest scam is in turning rotors and drums, as well as "lifetime warranty" pads and shoes. As far as rotors and drums are concerned: drums have a max allowable inside diameter and rotors have a minimum allowable thickness. These specs are cast into the drums and rotors. By all means a set of drums and rotors should last for many, many break jobs, bucause when you turn them, you want to remove the MINIMUM amount of material...just enough to true and clean them up. What a lot of these places like to do is to remove the MAXIMUM amount of material, so that the customer is forced to purchase new drums and rotors at the next visit. And these places do mark-up drums and rotors!! The other scam is lifetime pads. Many brake component manufacturers like Raybestos automatically have lifetime warranty on their parts...even if you buy them at the local auto-parts store. And pads/shoes are usually dirt cheap. As far as tire and wheel service is concerned: my family has been a customer of Discount Tires for years...and no matter what store has been visited in whatever city...the service has always been competent and polite and the costs reasonable. Cheers K  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-29-2007 01:03 PM                        If you change your oil often, there's no need to spend the extra money for synthetic unless your car's manual calls for it. (At least that's my opinion, but I know there are a few different schools of thought on this.) The biggest thing to remember when changing the oil is, change the filter too. Lots of people cheap-out and don't do this.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-29-2007 01:25 PM                     quote: Mike Blakesley If you change your oil often, there's no need to spend the extra money for synthetic unless your car's manual calls for it. Well, If you change your oil and filter every 3000 miles then a synthetic change every 7500... or if you use the latest synthetics at every 10,000 would actually cost less.... aside from the many benefits of running synthetic your engine will just plain last longer. If you don't want more life out of your engine then use the standard liquified fossil stuff. Mark  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-29-2007 02:48 PM                        I recently changed my car (as in, a couple of months ago): my '97 Mondeo started to show signs of needing some expensive repairs (three of the four tyres probably were borderline legal, the water pump was squeaking and one of the rear wheel bearings was starting to sound knackered), and with 211k miles on the clock and an MOT coming up in October, it simply wasn't worth fixing. The car was by that stage literally worthless (though I managed to sell it for £150 for someone who wanted to take the LPG kit out of it). I know have an '03 1.25 litre Fiesta (the very last of the Mk. 5s), bought with 25k miles on the clock, and it's fantastic. Despite the small engine, it feels like a sports car - REALLY powerful acceleration in second and third, and it easily gives me 50mpg on the commute to work (nearer 55 if I drive gently). The insurance is stupidly cheap, too - only £215 fully comp, and the tax is in the bottom band (£115). To me it combines the good points of a 'boring' car (cheap to run and no-one wants to nick it) with some pretty sporty driving. Nationwide Autocentres claim that the £31.99 oil and filter changes are with synthetic 5W/30 oil. I can only presume that as a chain garage, they buy the stuff in such vast bulk that they don't pay anything close to what I would for a 5-litre bottle in Halfords, and can therefore pass some of that saving onto the customer. I get it changed every 5k miles, and a full service every 10. I ran the Mondeo for over 80k miles like that, and when it did finally die, it wasn't the engine that killed it.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-29-2007 03:31 PM                     Anyone that thinks synthetic oil is hogwash should read the many stories like Leo's or take a look at the Christie Ultramittent. Indy 500 cars could NOT RUN without Synthetics.... Another good example are the many Ultramittents have been running for over 15 years on the same factory installed synthetic oil! Try this with regular oil in your own intermittent and see what happens..... Many new cars shipped today are filled with Synthetic fluids at the factory.  |  IP: Logged

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