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No More Quickie Oil Change Places For me

2K views 11 replies 11 participants last post by  Teep 
#1 ·
i got my oil changed yesterday at one of the quick change places...never again! they get started, then i see serious smoke, i said "that doesn't look good". the guy tells me "it was a small oil fire, but the guy under the car beat it out with a rag". he goes on to tell me "it's an issue with all subarus, they ALL need to be recalled. the oil filter is right above the exhaust and when the oil comes out and hits the exhaust, instant fire". i said "this is my second subaru, i put 125,000 miles on my outback and that has NEVER happened before". he says "we see it all the time and whenever we change the filter in these cars, we spin it and RUN".

has anyone had this happen before? i've changed my oil myself, had it changed at the dealer and had it changed at many different quick change places and it's never happened to me before.
 
#3 ·
I would never......ever let one of those monkeys (not being racial) touch my WRX. My ford work van, sure because its not mine and I don't want to crawl under that thing anyway.

Other than the 1st oil change when I took it to the dealer just to make sure everything was ok with the car I have done all of the oil changes. You don't even need to put the car on a lift or ramps to change the oil. I have never gotten oil on the exhaust manifold. On the plastic undertray sure but I wipe that up.

Save yourself some $$ and do it yourself.

p@
 
#4 ·
LOL!

It should definitely tell you something when a guy who works at Jiffy Lube tells you not to take your car to Jiffy Lube!
 
#5 ·
i can attest to that! i went to a jiffylube and got the wrong oil filter and soon after developed an oil leak - duh.
 
#6 ·
The quickie oil change franchises like Jiffy Lube do blow...however, I can rightfully defend one local place in New Jersey called Lubeworks (in Voorhees)...the owner and all the people know their **** and will not screw up your car (maybe it's just me, I was his personal banker for a while haha). Then again, this is one quickie oil change place that's good out of about 1000 that are not. ah well,

-slim
 
#7 ·
Ecruz said:
"it's an issue with all subarus, they ALL need to be recalled. the oil filter is right above the exhaust and when the oil comes out and hits the exhaust, instant fire
:rolleyes: What a load of BS. :mad: I've changed my oil probably 50 times on 4 different Subies and never once has the oil hit the exhaust, let alone caught on fire.

When I got my first oil change on my first car they put in too much oil and I had to figure out how to drain the excess. After that I learned to do it myself.
 
#8 ·
I just bring it into the dealer where I request the same cool mechanic everytime. It is definitely a guy I can trust.

chris
 
#9 ·
You should really learn how to do an oil change yourself. It is VERY easy. And buy yourself a fumotovalve from:

http://www.fumotovalve.com

It makes oil changes 100% easier. Although, it does nothing to combat the oil coming out of the oil filter. But I have read, when doing an oil change, drain the engine oil, and before taking off the oil filter, puncture the bottom of the oil filter with a screwdriver and let it drain out from the bottom. That way the oil doesn't spill from abover and get all over the exhaust and the mud guards in that area.

Kurlee Daddee
(THE ORIGINAL)
 
#10 ·
They all suck!

The quickie oil change places and the dealer aren't too much different aside from the fact that the dealer will use the right parts. The dealer by me ALWAYS overfills the oil. I even told them to take their time and put in the right amount and lo and behold where is the oil level? Going up half the dipstick.....rediculous! If I had the time to double check them and bring it back in to have them drain some out, I would change it myself! I usually change it myself, but sometimes you just don't have the time...I'll make the time now, too many instances of this kind of crap from dealers and quickie joints :mad:
 
#11 ·
KurleeDaddeeWRX said:
You should really learn how to do an oil change yourself. It is VERY easy. And buy yourself a fumotovalve from:

http://www.fumotovalve.com

It makes oil changes 100% easier. Although, it does nothing to combat the oil coming out of the oil filter. But I have read, when doing an oil change, drain the engine oil, and before taking off the oil filter, puncture the bottom of the oil filter with a screwdriver and let it drain out from the bottom. That way the oil doesn't spill from abover and get all over the exhaust and the mud guards in that area.

Kurlee Daddee
(THE ORIGINAL)
If you have the time...(based on my old Toyotas)...let the undo the oil drain plug....and come back after a 1 or 2 hours, then do the filter. you'll get less oil spillage. The longer you wait...the less spillage you get.
 
#12 ·
smoke from the engine bay @ valvoline

Ecruz said:
they get started, then i see serious smoke, i said "that doesn't look good". the guy tells me "it was a small oil fire, but the guy under the car beat it out with a rag".

[...edited for brevity...]

has anyone had this happen before? i've changed my oil myself, had it changed at the dealer and had it changed at many different quick change places and it's never happened to me before.
This just happened to me. I usually change my own oil and couldn't get to it this weekend (and I'm past due and it's my commuter car) so I took my lunch break to hit a Valvoline quickie place.

It's a 10 minute drive (up onto the freeway and down again) from my parking spot to the place. I pop the hood and they get started.

POOF

...smoke-a-doodle-friggin-doo, I jump out of the car and around to the hood as they are damping it all out... dumbfounded, they are not sure what happened, "something under here was WHITE HOT when you pulled in" we don't know what happened.

I'm thinking... you're quick changing the oil, it got splashed/spilled up somewhere hot...

Needless to say it freaked me out, I have a pretty much stock wrx, 10K miles.

From reading other "smoke from the engine bay" posts I'll keep a close eye on my oil levels and the turbo feed/return.

But 1 question... after 10 minutes of driving (quick on/off freeway) is it possible for synthetic oil to come into contact with something hot enough for the oil to catch FIRE? (not just smoke)

I suppose a trip to the dealer is in order regardless.

Thanks,
-tp
 
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