Re: Continued Fraud At Jiffy Lube??

In article <pan.2005.07.25.00.05.23.126897@xxxxxxxxxx>, keith wrote:
>On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 09:03:41 -0700, jtnospam wrote:

(I snip here)

>> BTW, you don't need to change oil that often, that is Jiffy
>> propaganda. The API admits every 7000 miles is OK for "normal driving
>> conditions, with the 3,000 mi.
>
>Look at the manufacturer's specs. I've never driven in "normal
>conditions". Changing oil ever three or four thousand is cheap insurance.
>I get it done (with the lube and all the rest) for less than $20. Screw
>Jiffy Luse.

I do have some suspicion that manufacturer recommends oil changes at
intervals that are best for the manufacturer - as in having the car
require replacement after the warranty expires, but as soon as possible
after the warranty expires.
Since engines should nowadays generally be good for much more than
warranties are when oil changes are adequately frequent, I would get oil
changes substantially more frequently than recommended by the manufacturer
if such "excessively frequent" oil change is no more frequent than either
twice a year or once per 3,000 miles (with highway miles counting half).
Doesn't cost me much more to change by the time the odometer counts 3,000
more miles, regardless of how many miles on which roads have more or fewer
engine revolutions per mile!

I do agree with this concept of "cheap insurance"!

<SNIP>

>Fine, then you shouldn't be to unhappy to pay a little more to have it
>done right! I'll pay $19 every 3K mi to have it done right too. Forget
>Jiffy Lube and that ilk!

Find a decent mechanic. Change mechanics every time you have one bill
you for work not done or fixing something that does not need fixing, and
you will soon enough find one to stick with until the mechanic retires!
And if the mechanic works on your car(s) for 6 or more years billing only
for work known to be done and fixing only what needs fixing and not
breaking anything to bill for fixing and then retires, ask that mechanic
for recommendations!!!

Helps to have family members and friends that you can trust for mechanic
recommendations...

And if you get your oil changed 2,000 miles before it actually needed
changing and your mechanic is a good honest one, the mechanic could be the
one to tell you that your transmission fluid needs a change, your
transmission needs work, you need new tires (get your mechanic to do this
even if $75 more!), you need new brake parts, your brakes need a bit of
other work to keep brake pads from dragging on the rotors, etc... Have
the same mechanic do your state inspection!!!

Now some additional bits:

1. I do some of my own work. Best example: In a car that I previously
owned, I found a fuel leak from the fuel filter. I changed that one
myself! But next time I had my car in, I told the mechanic that I changed
the fuel filter myself - please check that everything is OK! (He said
evrrything looks OK and did not bill me for checking that.)

2. My current car is a particular Oldsmobile that has quite a bit of
things being "slightly off" electrically. Multiple issues, some solved by
my mechanic (replacement of a failing ignition coil to partially correct
rough engine running and misfiring), some solved by me (replacement of
ignition cables, some of which I can detect to be bad but sparking through
enough to make their failure subtle)...
And my two different dashboard indicators indicate usually low voltage
most but not all of the time, worse in hotter weather and with slower
airspeeds, with most worse cases noticeably improved (but still noticeably
"off") from me getting my mechanic to replace the alternator (which he did
not recommend to be done). I suspect the main problem here is wire sizes
determined by bean counters forcing engineers to do design work that "the
company can get away with" as opposed to wire sizes that the engineers can
take pride in for another dollar or two extra cost of each car produced.
Looks like I will get the repair manual for my Oldsmobile to help me
identify wires that are undersized and I replace them with ones 2 AWG
bigger myself!!!

- Don Klipstein (don@xxxxxxxxx)
.