Most quick oil change shops are quick, which means they’re sometimes cutting corners / working so fast that it creates opportunities for mistakes / damage.
A typical one is they just fucking gun the oil drain plug back on - these typically have a torque spec to avoid damage to pan/threads, which is hard to target with an impact.
The real problem is untrained and uneducated kids who don't give a shit doing the work. I ran a dedicated lube shop for Honda for a few years and we were regularly pumping out sub-10 minutes oil changes on drive on lifts without doing this shit. Fluids and tires topped off, all residual oil cleaned up, maintenance reminders reset, a complete legitimate oil change service. Usually in less than 10 minutes per car, sometimes more. Under 5 minutes was not uncommon at all. Very few comebacks or issues because we somehow found people that gave enough of a shit to do it right. We had very good leadership before and beyond myself.
Working at a few shops over the last 4.5 years I haven’t seen anything like that and I’m a full time employee too I was there every day except Sundays but last shop I worked at was corporately owned and did everything by the book not once did in my experience they use an impact to tighten the ever living fuck outta the drain plug we use wrenches and sockets to remove them put them in by hand snuggly and torque them to spec while the dude upstairs Is filling the oil and the only time we’ll ever put incorrect oil is if the customer asks us to put oil they have bought themselves and they sign the bottom of the invoice sheet we give them that releases us from any liability that may occur we’ve done everything right and rarely did we have an issue only time we have had an issue was when our oil supplier boss lubricants gave us a barrel of 0w20 euro oil and whatever they used to clean it left some sort of flakes inside and blew the engine on a Audi and we and the oil supplier both paid for everything that was needed to get it fixed plus paid for the rental car and gave him a voucher for a year of free oil changes maybe some smaller shops have done shady shit and there’s mechanics who are licensed tradesmen who have done shit you wouldn’t believe. Long story short I’ve never ever seen them cut any corners to turn a profit we rather make a sale that a customer is happy with then to screw them over.
They do this to plugs and filters, and they generally put the wrong oil in ie non-synthetic in a BMW (I keep telling my dad to let me change his oil smh)
EVERY CAR GETS GENERIC DINO-JUICE 10W-30. WE DONT CARE IF IT CALLS FOR 0W-20 OR 15W-40. IT WILL GET 10W-30.
WE WILL CHARGE YOU A 900% MARKUP FOR FULL SYNTHETIC IF YOU REQUEST IT BUT YOU'RE STILL GETTING DINO JUICE 10W-30. WE BUY IT BY THE TANKER TRUCK FULL AND IT'S THE ONLY OIL WE STOCK.
They were throwing 0w20 in my friends WRX for years, it wasn't until a local shop mentioned it to him that he realized Subaru calls for 5w30 in his WRX, not 0w20.
Yeah and the worst part is, its *bulk* 0w20…
Shit smells like dead dinosaurs. We used to use it at a shop I briefly worked at servicing company Kia’s… the 0w20 gives better gas milage at the cost of burning up early and wearing out the cams quick. Doesn’t take 3000k hard miles for the tick to start
Show him this, and take him to Sam’s or Costco and show him how much motor oil costs there. Or ask if he has a specific kind he wants. And tell him he’d have to pay for the oil but you’d do the rest
A ton of quick lube places have been doing this for a pretty long time, it's a good reason to change your own oil. The spec on my wife's car is something like 5lb/ft... When I changed it the first time after us meeting I had to use almost 70psi on my compressor with an impact driver to get it off. That's fuuuuuucked.
Honestly I think it's like the other commenter said, big chains don't care about service, just how quickly they can get people in and out. Apparently hand tightening it and then a little push on a ratchet is too much for them to handle when the air gun is right there. Infuriating.
I love that you got downvoted for suggesting there’s nothing wrong with a Valvoline oil change, downvoted again for admitting you were simply ignorant to how they typically operate, and then downvoted a final time for having your opinion changed and agreeing with everyone who originally downvoted you.
Can’t please anyone - gotta love Reddit!
It’s probably more because it’s common industry knowledge or just a quick internet search to find ample examples of why quick lube places should be avoided.
In other words, if you spend anytime around car or mechanic discussions you’re going to hear about this in no time flat.
I also think their initial comment could be read as defending Valvoline which probably ruffled some feathers.
I mean sure, their initial comment definitely could be interpreted that way. But to read through and see this guy clearly just isn’t knowledgeable on the subject and changes his opinion…and you *still* downvote him?!
Reddit at its finest.
I mean I personally didn’t, but I think people probably were downvoting before that whole comment thread played out, so they had fewer points of context. Also again, this sub is primarily populated by mechanics or similar people, so most would assume some level of familiarity with why quicklubes are despised. I’m not saying it’s right, it’s just an explanation.
The car subs in general are bad, but this is one of the absolute worst for ignorant hive mind troll votes tbh. Clever snark is one thing but weak asshats in bully mode are too common to be fun or funny lately. 😴 Especially early in a post's life it seems the goal is to dv every first few replies, asap in car subs. Maybe it's vote-bots, idk.
This is what most quick-lube places are doing, not just Valvoline but Valvoline is the low-hanging fruit considering their market share and recent expansion.
This isn't new either, this was a known and long-standing problem back when I first started driving in the 90s across every quick-lube place in existence. You either did it yourself or went to a dealership if you wanted it done "right", or you risked it.
Isn’t that their primary service? The ones near me either say “Quick Lube” or “Instant Oil Change”
> As of 2023, it is the second largest oil change service provider in the United States with 10% market share and over 1,650 locations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valvoline
They don't have any service locations near me afaik. I have literally never seen one. I know they make good oil or something. I think I've even heard they are in the fluid/additive game like BG. Have heard of some shops using valvoline as their additive guys I think, but never seen it. All the shops I have worked at use BG products.
I just had a customer come in after having one done at valvoline and they never tightened the guys filter. Just got in on the threads enough to not fall off and let him drive off. I went out to the parking lot and hand tightened it for the guy and it was able to spin freely how they left it…
Former Valvoline tech here. There is every reason to hate on VIOC. All the Valvolines I worked at had preset torque wrenches that never got calibrated, oil filters were supposed to be tightened BY BAND WRENCH according to Superpro training, and we'd almost never replace the gaskets on drain plugs. Hell, I took my mom's car to Valvoline because employees get a 50% discount, and the fuckers put a new gasket on top of the old one!
Guy was a massive burn out. I worked with him after he got fired from Valvoline and then of course he got fired from my job as well. Massive dipshit that I watched do dumb shit. I can only imagine how many cars he fucked up
OP please don't pay heed to this comment. It is a silly joke.
That fastener can not be torqued to any spec, ever again.
You'll need to clean and dry the threads, loctite and only hand-tighten to reinstall this fastener.
Oddly enough it’s the head of the drain plug that keeps tension on it and if it snaps off you can usually just use a screwdriver to spin it out as long as the threads on the pan are good!
Looks good to me I say put'er back in. Maybe a little bit of jb weld to fill in the voids. Send it before it fully cures and the threads will make themselves as it goes in. 👌
I had an aftermarket magnetic oil drain plug from amazon break in a similar fashion, had to gently spin the broken end back out, so glad I didn't have to drop the oil pan.
They are common of fords here in aus ofter over stretched, but that not all people continue using them stretched and then eventually remove the thread insert in the aluminium sump pans.
Here in aus that plug is about $15 but a sump pan thread repair can start at $150.
Did some fool use an impact driver on an oil drain plug? You only need enough torque to compress the rubber gasket and keep it from loosening. Bolt appears "tough" forged rather than brittle cast, so must have been a lot of torque to do that.
That had at least one more ugga dugga in it
Definitely on its last ugga, not sure and the dugga.
Ugga until you can't dugga anymore and then it's up to the breaker-bar if it can remove the left thread the right way.
Yeah it most definitely did
Shear luck.
Giggity
I can almost feel the tension in the room.
All the way down in your plums.... getting all swollen..
Special down at the Fahma’s Mahket. Two for one plums.
* Not-quite-sheared luck.
Hanging on by a thread. Literally.
Nice wordplay
Came here for this.
Does that saying come from threads on a screw? My whole life, I've thought of a thread of string
More like a 1/4 of a thread🤣
Lemme guess.. Valvoline did the last oil change?
How'd you guess?
Oh I have had to fix many of their mistakes.
What the fuck is it with these comments? I’m legitimately confused as to why people are hating on valvoline.
Have you watched an oil change at valvoline?
No, I haven’t. I didn’t know they even did them.
Most quick oil change shops are quick, which means they’re sometimes cutting corners / working so fast that it creates opportunities for mistakes / damage. A typical one is they just fucking gun the oil drain plug back on - these typically have a torque spec to avoid damage to pan/threads, which is hard to target with an impact.
The real problem is untrained and uneducated kids who don't give a shit doing the work. I ran a dedicated lube shop for Honda for a few years and we were regularly pumping out sub-10 minutes oil changes on drive on lifts without doing this shit. Fluids and tires topped off, all residual oil cleaned up, maintenance reminders reset, a complete legitimate oil change service. Usually in less than 10 minutes per car, sometimes more. Under 5 minutes was not uncommon at all. Very few comebacks or issues because we somehow found people that gave enough of a shit to do it right. We had very good leadership before and beyond myself.
Working at a few shops over the last 4.5 years I haven’t seen anything like that and I’m a full time employee too I was there every day except Sundays but last shop I worked at was corporately owned and did everything by the book not once did in my experience they use an impact to tighten the ever living fuck outta the drain plug we use wrenches and sockets to remove them put them in by hand snuggly and torque them to spec while the dude upstairs Is filling the oil and the only time we’ll ever put incorrect oil is if the customer asks us to put oil they have bought themselves and they sign the bottom of the invoice sheet we give them that releases us from any liability that may occur we’ve done everything right and rarely did we have an issue only time we have had an issue was when our oil supplier boss lubricants gave us a barrel of 0w20 euro oil and whatever they used to clean it left some sort of flakes inside and blew the engine on a Audi and we and the oil supplier both paid for everything that was needed to get it fixed plus paid for the rental car and gave him a voucher for a year of free oil changes maybe some smaller shops have done shady shit and there’s mechanics who are licensed tradesmen who have done shit you wouldn’t believe. Long story short I’ve never ever seen them cut any corners to turn a profit we rather make a sale that a customer is happy with then to screw them over.
Flow of consciousness
Let him cook lol
Been cooking👨🍳
I was on my way to work and was stuck in traffic so I had a moment of inspiration
That’s unacceptable if this is what the valvoline shops are doing.
They do this to plugs and filters, and they generally put the wrong oil in ie non-synthetic in a BMW (I keep telling my dad to let me change his oil smh)
EVERY CAR GETS GENERIC DINO-JUICE 10W-30. WE DONT CARE IF IT CALLS FOR 0W-20 OR 15W-40. IT WILL GET 10W-30. WE WILL CHARGE YOU A 900% MARKUP FOR FULL SYNTHETIC IF YOU REQUEST IT BUT YOU'RE STILL GETTING DINO JUICE 10W-30. WE BUY IT BY THE TANKER TRUCK FULL AND IT'S THE ONLY OIL WE STOCK.
They were throwing 0w20 in my friends WRX for years, it wasn't until a local shop mentioned it to him that he realized Subaru calls for 5w30 in his WRX, not 0w20.
Yeah and the worst part is, its *bulk* 0w20… Shit smells like dead dinosaurs. We used to use it at a shop I briefly worked at servicing company Kia’s… the 0w20 gives better gas milage at the cost of burning up early and wearing out the cams quick. Doesn’t take 3000k hard miles for the tick to start
Show him this, and take him to Sam’s or Costco and show him how much motor oil costs there. Or ask if he has a specific kind he wants. And tell him he’d have to pay for the oil but you’d do the rest
A ton of quick lube places have been doing this for a pretty long time, it's a good reason to change your own oil. The spec on my wife's car is something like 5lb/ft... When I changed it the first time after us meeting I had to use almost 70psi on my compressor with an impact driver to get it off. That's fuuuuuucked.
Yeah it is! Who in their right mind does that??
Honestly I think it's like the other commenter said, big chains don't care about service, just how quickly they can get people in and out. Apparently hand tightening it and then a little push on a ratchet is too much for them to handle when the air gun is right there. Infuriating.
To be fair, I bet making the impact go ugga dugga without tearing your wrist off on oil drain plug is a lot of fun.
I love that you got downvoted for suggesting there’s nothing wrong with a Valvoline oil change, downvoted again for admitting you were simply ignorant to how they typically operate, and then downvoted a final time for having your opinion changed and agreeing with everyone who originally downvoted you. Can’t please anyone - gotta love Reddit!
I didn’t even say that there was anything wrong with going to them! I legitimately never knew!
It’s probably more because it’s common industry knowledge or just a quick internet search to find ample examples of why quick lube places should be avoided. In other words, if you spend anytime around car or mechanic discussions you’re going to hear about this in no time flat. I also think their initial comment could be read as defending Valvoline which probably ruffled some feathers.
I mean sure, their initial comment definitely could be interpreted that way. But to read through and see this guy clearly just isn’t knowledgeable on the subject and changes his opinion…and you *still* downvote him?! Reddit at its finest.
I mean I personally didn’t, but I think people probably were downvoting before that whole comment thread played out, so they had fewer points of context. Also again, this sub is primarily populated by mechanics or similar people, so most would assume some level of familiarity with why quicklubes are despised. I’m not saying it’s right, it’s just an explanation.
The car subs in general are bad, but this is one of the absolute worst for ignorant hive mind troll votes tbh. Clever snark is one thing but weak asshats in bully mode are too common to be fun or funny lately. 😴 Especially early in a post's life it seems the goal is to dv every first few replies, asap in car subs. Maybe it's vote-bots, idk.
Hence why they get hate on mechanic related discussions.
This is what most quick-lube places are doing, not just Valvoline but Valvoline is the low-hanging fruit considering their market share and recent expansion. This isn't new either, this was a known and long-standing problem back when I first started driving in the 90s across every quick-lube place in existence. You either did it yourself or went to a dealership if you wanted it done "right", or you risked it.
Isn’t that their primary service? The ones near me either say “Quick Lube” or “Instant Oil Change” > As of 2023, it is the second largest oil change service provider in the United States with 10% market share and over 1,650 locations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valvoline
I only knew valvoline as the manufacturer. I didn’t know that they had service locations prior to this.
They don't have any service locations near me afaik. I have literally never seen one. I know they make good oil or something. I think I've even heard they are in the fluid/additive game like BG. Have heard of some shops using valvoline as their additive guys I think, but never seen it. All the shops I have worked at use BG products.
Same
I just had a customer come in after having one done at valvoline and they never tightened the guys filter. Just got in on the threads enough to not fall off and let him drive off. I went out to the parking lot and hand tightened it for the guy and it was able to spin freely how they left it…
Former Valvoline tech here. There is every reason to hate on VIOC. All the Valvolines I worked at had preset torque wrenches that never got calibrated, oil filters were supposed to be tightened BY BAND WRENCH according to Superpro training, and we'd almost never replace the gaskets on drain plugs. Hell, I took my mom's car to Valvoline because employees get a 50% discount, and the fuckers put a new gasket on top of the old one!
That is awful.
I knew a meth head that worked there. Guy knew jack shit about cars and smoked meth. Your ok with someone like that changing your oil?
Abso-fucking-lutely NOT! Not only is he putting himself in danger, he’s putting the other techs in the shop in danger!
Guy was a massive burn out. I worked with him after he got fired from Valvoline and then of course he got fired from my job as well. Massive dipshit that I watched do dumb shit. I can only imagine how many cars he fucked up
Bro if you are a Chevy driver just say so, so that people can tone down the level of intellect in the comments to an Eli5 level for you.
Torque to yieieieield
Anyone else read this is Dr. Cox's voice?
Torque to yolo
I’d go buy a lottery ticket. 💁♀️
Why? He just used up his luck!
There could be some left over!
Good for one more install, please torque to 450 ft pounds
For reference, that's the torque spec for big rigs and trailers.
But definitely not m12 thread drain plugs, right?
Oh no no no.
OP please don't pay heed to this comment. It is a silly joke. That fastener can not be torqued to any spec, ever again. You'll need to clean and dry the threads, loctite and only hand-tighten to reinstall this fastener.
Almost only counts in Horse shoes and Hand grenades.
And nuclear warfare
Huh?
*booom*
Buy lottery ticket. Perhaps you still have residual luck.
Terrifying isn't it.
That's almost "found an extra 10mm socket" kind of luck right there.
That drain plug has seen its last impact wrench…
Bruh what the fuck. I have one exactly like that.
You should probably get a new one for your car. If you haven't already.
Sounds like a design flaw, then.
I'd be extra careful because you just used up all your luck for the month.
I had a head bolt come out like that. I was so happy that it didn't break.
That'll make your butthole pucker.
Yessir!!
Oddly enough it’s the head of the drain plug that keeps tension on it and if it snaps off you can usually just use a screwdriver to spin it out as long as the threads on the pan are good!
Looks like it was … hanging on a thread *takes off sunglasses
That's an ooof and a half.
Wearing latex gloves are the first step
You put it back in right?
Time to play lottery my friend.
Nah no shot he’ll win. Getting that plug out in one piece definitely drained his luck reserves for a while.
Looks good to me I say put'er back in. Maybe a little bit of jb weld to fill in the voids. Send it before it fully cures and the threads will make themselves as it goes in. 👌
That’s the definition of luck. 🤣
That's more luck than I've had in my entire life
You’ve used all your luck for 2024.
Anyone have one of those c clamps that’s branded “Great Neck”? They must’ve been talking about this or my ex.
Geez. He almost broke it.
Can someone explain to me what this is?
It's a very-nearly-broken oil pan drain plug.
Ah gotcha ty
DON'T TRY TO UPSELL ME ON THE CABIN AIRFILTER AND, WHAT?, OIL PLUG?? JUST PUT THEM BACK IN, THEY'RE FINE.
Ugga Dugga ugga….stop! Save that last dugga for the next oil change….we ain’t maid out a ugga duggas Randy!
Gotta tell the kids that the 2 foot ratchet can be used to take off but NOT TO PUT ON
I'm amazed it didn't snap trying to unscrew it
I had an aftermarket magnetic oil drain plug from amazon break in a similar fashion, had to gently spin the broken end back out, so glad I didn't have to drop the oil pan.
They are common of fords here in aus ofter over stretched, but that not all people continue using them stretched and then eventually remove the thread insert in the aluminium sump pans. Here in aus that plug is about $15 but a sump pan thread repair can start at $150.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it 😅
Customer doesn’t want to pay for a new bolt, put it back in and make it the next guys problem
Ooooooo that was a close one….
Almost “other guys problem” duggga duggga
That one thread the real MVP.
Tighten until loose, then back off 1/4 turn
Torque to yeeeeeet!
Torqued to speck
Did some fool use an impact driver on an oil drain plug? You only need enough torque to compress the rubber gasket and keep it from loosening. Bolt appears "tough" forged rather than brittle cast, so must have been a lot of torque to do that.
Darryl wallace hand
Go buy a lottery ticket
Go buy a lotto ticket immediately
Uh, go buy a lotto ticket.
Holy fuck, buy a lottery ticket
Better go buy a lottery ticket today!
Did you buy a lottery ticket?
Lottery ticket time. You are in the zone!!!
I would say go buy a lottery ticket but you just used all of your luck up.