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Oil change rant

K

KTJMcG

Member
For the past 4 years my wife wouldn't let me change the oil in either car. She had the big one last summer when I put the new brakes on the Magnum because the doctor gave the ok at the time to start moving around again. Every time I've taken the cars in I've told the guy "Don't use an impact gun on the bolt" because it just seems like it rounds off quick. We get a call from the guys wife a couple of weeks ago saying that he's in the hospital with an apparent heart attack. He is a nice guy and I make sure if somebody needs work done to go and see him. Last couple of oil changes that were done were by his new employee. I figured he passed on what I said. Guess what,Today I go to change the oil in the Magnum,Get the car in the air,Get the plastic skid plate off, Look at the bolt and it's silver. I feel around the bolt and guess what,It's almost round. Put everything back together and head to Sears and pick up a set of the sure grip sockets. Go to the Chrysler dealer only to find out that the parts department is close on saturdays during the summer. On to NAPA,They stock the bolt but don't have one in inventory and the earliest they can get it in is Monday morning. Ok,So now we wait till Monday to do a job that should only take about a 1/2 hour tops. What a way to kill a Saturday.
 
might write a note on the pan with a silver sharpie over the bolt "do not use impact". then you won't have to worry about anyone not getting the message in the future...
 
An impact gun on an oil plug, dang, he must use a sledge hammer to drive nails with. This dude would scare me........... :hide
 
My wife bumped into the guy this morning at the supermarket. He was there with his wife. My wife told him I wasn't happy with his employee right now. He replied "What did he do to your car?". When she told him about the rounded bolt,He shook his head and said that soon as he reopens,He won't be bringing the guy back. He's gotten one too many complaints about the guy and should have canned him then. He then said "Tell Kevin to either get the job done elsewhere or to do it himself and drop the bill off at his house" and he'd pick up the cost of it. I'm going to still do it myself tomorrow. Thought it was cool that he stepped up like that and covered it. I am going to take Sellersrodshops advice and use this:
DSC02154.jpg

To write on the inside and outside of the plastic skidplate(The oilpan is finned) not to use any type of impact or air ratchet on the bolt. Thats a great idea.
 
It's almost like it's taught at the trade schools up here. 21 years ago when I moved up here was the first time I encountered it. My wife had a Plymouth when we got married and the first time i did the oil change I saw the bolt was rounded off. We took it to the dealer where she brought the car and they removed the bolt. When they replaced the old bolt, the guy went to put the new one in with an impact gun. I stepped in and stopped him.The more people I got to know around here,the more these stories came out. A guy I used to work with had the replacement rack and pinion slide out the side of his old celebrity because the supposed mechanic did have an 18mm socket or box wrench to tighten it up with. Used a couple of ajustables. When one of the heads had to get pulled off my dodge, I was relived when I found out the mechanic was trained elsewhere.
 
Last time I had a shop change my truck's oil, they used an impact. Since then, I change it myself. Damn near threw my back out trying to break the plug loose.
 
I can't say that an impact has never been used on one of my vehicles but I can say I have never witnessed it---not good.
 
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