Out in LA for a couple days, and came across this report on Stiffy Lube..

http://www.nbc4.tv/video/9152183/detail.html

f'in crooks...

 

And people call folks like me crooks, and that I work for a "stealership."

 

You may work at a stealership, but at least you do the job you overcharge for.

This gives a bad name to good reputable places, and makes it more likely that people will simply neglect their cars. They won't pay the stealerships, but they think that decent small shops are trying to shaft them since a bunch of crooks do work in the industry. Just today, I saved a lady from being charged $350 for a single CV shaft on a nissan. Who the hell charges $350 for a single shaft? At an average price of $179 each around here, she could have gotten both for almost that price.....and man was she pissed when I told her that.

 

Being an independent small garage, this just frosts me.

It gives my entire industry a bad name.

I don't understand why they do things like this. There are so many cars out there that need work....why steal from the customer??? Heck, I can't keep up with all the work.

Just a quess on why so many Jiffy Lubes do the same thing is.....they are paying a spiff [cash incentive] to their employees to sell these services and not do them because the average customer doesn't know if it was done or not. Dumb, really dumb....

 

Talking to one of the investigators out here, he does a lot for the CARB. He says he's not surprsed. You go past Jiffy Lube and they have their grease monkeys out waving the $19.99 oil change signs but the average ticket at a Jiffy Lube is around $85 because of their "upsells".

 

Classic

 

I couldn't get to the link so I don't know what it is about, but wait till someone tells you that the lube in your positraction rear end is milky or cloudy, telling you that you need to change it.

I wonder if some of them even know it is OK for it to be that way?

 

I had this happen to me a couple of times. One time at a NTB place. I asked them to change my radiator fluid and do an oil change and rotate my tires. Make a long story short, they did not do the radiator change but charged me for it. When I found out about it not being done, I took it back and there excuse was they must have forgot, so they did it right there in front of me the next day.

Second time was at a LUBE STOP. All I wanted was an oil change. Well, they flushed the oil out, put the oil plug in, and charged me for an oil change. Later 10 miles down the road, my engine locks up and smokes like no tomorrow. Turns out they charged me for oil but did not add the oil to the engine! Damn foockers had to buy me a new engine.

 

With your luck, I can honestly say there's a good chance that might happen again... So here's some advice. There's usually a little gauge for oil pressure in the IC. After getting your oil changed, ALWAYS watch for it to come up. It should take no longer than 30 seconds... And on todays vehicles, even if there's no oil press gauge, there's a low oil light, which alarms b/c of no oil pressure. So either way, you should have known and shut it down long before any damage was done.

 

at a local Jiffy Lube a few years ago, the changed the oil in my dads friends car. about 20 miles down the road the engine started to make noise so he pulled over, checked the oil and found it full of trans fluid. he called the shop and they basically said " oh another, we'll send a tow truck out" he got a new engine out of it. the problem was the bulk oil tanks were filled incorrectly.

Dealerships do cost more, but you get what you pay for. i cant even count how many times customers bring in a piece of equipment to get fixed after they tried to fix it themselves, took it to an independent and finally after it still wasn't fixed brought it in to us. At dealers (caterpillar dealers) we have all the training, tools and current information. our shop labor rate is only around $80 an hour.

 

Beats the marine industry, thier shop rates around here are from $90-$150 an hour (depending on the shop), then most have 3 hour minimums. First quotes I ever got was to pull the engine, change the engine coupler that is held on to the fly wheel with about 10 bolts then reinstall engine. Qoute was for 16 hours of labor. I did it in less than 16 hours my first time, with out the proper tools, no idea what I was doing and that was only working on it 3-4 hours a night hten having to pick up tools and clean up each night. Yea, if I can't fix it..... I'll set it up with some explosives, blow it up and just buy a new boat.


Milky means it's got water in it.... I'd change that ASAP. Cloudy is just broke down and a good idea to change soon to keep your clutches covered. If indeed it has either or both those qualities, look for your self.
It shouldn't be milky unless you drove it thru a deep mud puddle and water was over your vent tube or if one of the seals are bad. Water is thinner than grease, so a wore seal can let water in and still keep grease in too. It's not a hard job and it's cheap too, to change either or both of the seals and the grease. It is messy, but not hard.

That's why I dont like lubes... they'll fix the symptoms but don't know that it is an indication of a problem.

 

Then I must be mistaken, sorry. When I used the words milky / cloudy or whatever I used, I meant when they come to you to show you the whitish (as in not pure oily black) look (that I have always otherwise been told is normal for a Ford posi rear end) and tell you the rear end needs servicing to upsell when in fact it does not need servicing.

Anytime I have been told that, then go back to the Dealer or other reputable mechanic, those I have gone to down here have told me that the Ford positraction fluid is normal when it looks like that for a positraction rear end.

Is there not some kind of (Ford) additive or lube for Ford rear ends that is not totally black in color???

If I was wrong, sorry to mislead, but that is what I have always been told, always gone with it, and never had a rear end break down mechanically because of that.

 

Honestly I dont know, I have never seen Motorcraft brand Trac-Lock gear oil on the shelf. I don't know what they use from the factory.

Just so you know, Posi-traction (AKA Posi) is GM's name for a Limited Slip.
Trac-Loc is Ford name for a Limited Slip.
Posi has just been the most recognized name for limited slip differentials. Just make sure that if you have a limited slip diferential to get Limited Slip gear oil, I don't trust adding additives to regular gear oil when you can buy differential specific lubes.

Non of it in any brand that I have seen is tottally black. More of a dark gold, Imagine motor oil, only non transparent and stinks really really bad. LOL
I can't change it in a shop or be in a shop where it's being changed, it gags me. I have to do it outside and hold my breath while handeling it.

Edited to add:
Rule of thumb is change every 30K miles. Unless there are indications of water such as white or milky. Most people dont and many dont ever change it. It will still roll and pull the vehicle at 200K miles but the clutches went out before 100K essentially lost limited slip and it started working as an open diff. (aka single drive).
My open diff will still spin both tires 60%-75% of the time as long as traction is equal to both wheels.

 

Back before I met my fiance, she said she had the oil changed on her Kia Rio at a Kia dealership and really goofed up. She had it changed and went home and was going back to work the next day and all the sudden the entire car just started leaving a long trail of smoke. She pulled off the interstate and a state trooper pulled over and of course tells her she blew her engine. She had it towed back to the dealer and they had overfilled the oil by at least 5 quarts. She almost had to have a new engine at the time. I think it did do some damage to the engine because now it runs like crap. They didn't even want to fix it and wanted to charge her for a new oil change. She finally got them to fix it.

 

Unless it's got water in it (as if you're launching or retrieving a boat), an axle with 75W140 in it should never have to be serviced. Ford XL-3 friction modifier is (depending on what batch you get) either a dark green or a light amber color. Smells like *** too.