Avoiding Problems & Mistakes at the Quickie Lube Joint

When it comes to your vehicles maintenance, the one single most important task that you should NEVER overlook is regularly changing the engine oil.
Prolonging an Oil change will do more harm to your engine than anything.
The old addage “out of sight, out of mind” unfortunately is how a lot of people operate when it comes to getting job done. The thing is, Oil Changes are cheap. Even if you don’t try to do it yourself, there’s always one of those “quickie” oil change places right around the next corner, and they are all in constant competition with each other, and will offer coupons and “added value” services to get your business. Some of them go as far as cleaning your vehicles glass inside and out, and emptying the ashtrays, and some even do a quickie vacuuming of the carpet. All very simple tasks, that the wanna-be mechanic could actually do at home in the driveway with common tools. The engines Oil needs to be changed at least every 2500 to 3000 miles, or every 2-3 months. Check your warranty if your vehicle is newer for any special considerations or types of oil.
If you end up taking your car to a professional to have the Oil changed, make sure you look their work over, before you drive your car off the lot. A lot of these places hire young people, and just because of that, mistakes are often made.
When you go to pick up your car from the Oil Change garage, there are a few things you need to do. Before you pay, go out and take a look under the hood. Make sure your dipstick is there, and then after making sure you are on level ground, pull the dipstick out, wipe it off with a paper towel or kleenex, re-insert it and check your oil level. The oil level should be within the specified range on the dipstick. Take a quick look around your engine compartment while the hood is up, and make sure nobody left a wrench or other tool laying where it shouldn’t be. While your at it, take a quick look at your windshield washer fluid tank and make sure that its full. That's the blue colored fluid, in case you didn't know.
And just for the record, never, ever fill it with straight water. If the temperature drops below freezing, the tank will surely burst.
Then, again before paying, start the engine, then get out of the car, kneel down and have a quick look at the undercarriage. Look for any obvious leaks or drips that might indicate the Oil Plug wasn’t installed properly or the Oil filter isn’t tight enough. The most common screw up at a quickie lube place is when the threads on the oil drain plug get “stripped” upon reinstalling, or similar problem with the Oil Filter. Installing the wrong Oil Filter can create a huge crisis later on. However, usually an oil leak will present itself immediately with the engine running when this happens.
This is one of the reasons that if you do elect to have a quickie oil change outlet change your oil, that you want to stick with that same location for as long as you can or for the life of the vehicle if possible. If an oil drain plug did get stripped, and doesn’t leak right away, the next time you go to the same place for an oil change, there leaves no doubt as to how the thing got damaged in the first place, and, exactly the person that did it. That way if there are any costs involved with repairing it, you won't be the one paying!
Before you leave, you’ll want to make sure and ask if they checked the air pressures in all of your tires. This is a gimme, they are all supposed to do that. But more times then not, they forget to do it. You may want to have a quick look at your wiper blades while your there, because if they did’nt recommend them, chances are they didn’t check them. Most Oil Change places stock wiper blades and will install them for free if you purchase them there.
These are all good tips on avoiding problems after you get an oil change, and by checking the details of a shops work before you leave, and by asking questions about the work preformed, it will let them know what kind of customer you are. And if you take the advice of going to the same oil change place regularly, the employees will get to know you and be more likely to stay on top of things.