Posted by PeteL on July 24, 01 at 15:53:08:
Feeling pressed for time I called a quick change joint (named after a slippery primate) to ask if they had 7 quarts of Mobil 1 5W-30 full synthetic and how long the line might be. No line, lots of Mobil 1. Loaded in my UPF 1218 filter and sample bottle from Blackstone and went. There was a line. They were short on staff what with summer vacations and all. They may have had Mobil 1.
Manager running back and forth to shop, hands me a form to fill out. I say you have this info, you send me a flyer every 3 months, just need to record the new plate number. He mumbles, I fill it out. Stood at counter for 15 minutes trying to hand running manager sample bottle and filter and form. Finally 1/2 hour later truck goes into bay, manager no where to be found. Find manager, interupt him with another customer and tell him before primate cracks drain plug and places cheap crap filter that I need a sample and to use my filter. He says OK, runs to bay with stuff leaving other customer. Good. Fine. 10 minutes later primate arrives proudly and merrily displaying 1/2 full bottle of oil sample as the truck is driven outside. 5 minutes later accellerated manager re-appears and says truck is done. Good, great. $68.36 have a nice day. Ummm, you too.
Drive off, notice steering wheel is hard to turn. Truck is driving sloppy and does not handle well. Think of Ben with 40# of air in the front and realise that slippery primates check tire pressure as part of service. OK, they must have put me back to 40# in the front and 80# in the rear as the door placard instructs. WOW, it felt sloppy. I have been driving with 65 front and 80 rear for quite a while now and this felt terrible! Got home and checked reciept:
Tire presure, Front - Checked 35 PSI
Tire Pressure, Rear - Checked 35 PSI
No, could not be. Grabbed tire pressure guage and checked. YUP right on the money at 35# all around. I can't believe I did not hear all that hot air being removed from my carefully inflated tires, or that it happed so fast - must have taken the better part of the whole 10 minutes it was in the bay to loose 45# from the rears and 30# from the fronts.
Also found on reciept: LUBRICATION POINTS: SEALED CK 0 pts. If I do recall there are 11 points at least to be found, NO?
They did top up the washer fluid for which I am eternally grateful. They also apparently vacuumed my interior which is always good.
So the moral to the story is no time (indeed more time was spent than if I just did it myself) was saved and more money was spent. I did get a $2.00 credit for supplying the filter, but had to pay an $8.50 surcharge for additional Mobil 1 beyond 5 quarts. Sometime between now and Saturday when we begin the vacation and pulling the boat up to Maine I have to fill the tires and find all the grease fittings. I will send the oil to Blackstone and hope they have enough for a test. I also hope that I actually have Mobil 1 installed in my engine. I feel sorry for the poor kids working in this place. It was a nice clean shop, but it was hot as you can amagine on a 95* day with 90% humidity. The manager was obviously challanged by the task of handling a two bay quick oil change joint. Maybe he was a stand-in, as I went here last summer and the service and the Manager were not only good but excellent and knowledgeable. Oh, well thing change - just like oil.
Lesson learned, just do it myself as usual. I will call tomorrow when they open and explain that the tire pressure was dangerous and the grease fittings exist. They will offer a discount on future oil changes which I will decline unless the manager is a stand-in for the real guy I meet last year.
Pete