Clodhopper story time (BEWARE OF MR. LUBE)

Howdy fellers, So I thought Id share a story with you guys about how you should never ever get any of your shit done at Mr. Lube or any express oil change places. I know most of you probly either do the oil changes yourself, and I dont really need to tell you this but in case there are people on this forum that may be new to their truck, I really dont want what happened to me to happen to you. So a couple years ago, I owned an 07 F-150 with maybe about 90,000 kms on it. Great truck, had it payed off, never was a prbm at all and all was well. Myself and the ex GF figured that we would drive from Edmonton (where I live) to Banff for the weekend just as a get away. I knew that I needed to get my oil changed but because it was kind of a last minute decision to do a road trip, I swung into Mr. Lube to get it done. Now I knew at the time that the 5.4 Litre Triton V8 that came in the F-150 NEEDED to have an OEM oil filter, otherwise the Cam phasors would become plugged very easily. So I got the oil change done, and made damn sure that they understood that I needed an OEM filter, after assuring me that they did use one. So the whole way there, the truck ran smooth, no prbms. we spent about two days in Banff everything went as expected. Before we headed home, I needed to fill up but when I pulled up to the pump I noticed a god awful loud ticking sound coming from the engine when the truck was idling. Although it did concern me, the ex and I were tired and wanted to head back home, so I thought nothing of it and we hit the trail. I was in cruise going about a buck 20 until we got maybe about 2 minutes outside of Canmore. I noticed that the truck started to back off, almost felt like the wind was blowing towards the truck so much to make it slow down, so I took it out of cruise. When I hit the gas to see what the prbm was, the engine sounded like it was running on two cylinders, just a brutal sound, so I pulled over. Of course the engine wouldnt crank over when I shut the truck off, and I had a few choice words for it needless to say. I phone AMA and got the truck towed to the Ford dealer in Canmore which fortunately enough was not even a minute away from where we broke down, but because it was a Sunday, we had to leave the truck parked and get her parents to pick us up... A couple days later I got a call from the dealer in Canmore, he told me that BOTH cam phasors were plugged which made the engine run dry as a bone at highway speeds. And on top of that, he said that there was no way that the oil filter that he pulled off was new. He said that it was old as shit and clogged up meaning that Mr. Lube didnt change the filter AT ALL. which was the most wonderful news that I ever heard.... So after a hefty 2500 dollars to replace both, the truck was drivable, but just barely. I got it driven back to Edmonton but when I drove it, almost everywhere I went, the whole truck was shivering when I gave it gas, and when Id stop and put it into reverse, it would randomly drop a few cylinders, and sputter like crazy until I turned it off and started it up again.... I took it to Koch Ford to get it checked out further. They pulled the engine apart to find that the inside of the engine was scored to shit, and would need to be replaced.... Because I didnt want to spend another 7 grand on this thing, I decided to trade it in on my Taco. I wrote a pretty strongly worded email to Mr. Lube requesting any kind of compensation because of their screw up, but because they carry the OEM filters on a regular basis, they said that there is no way that I could prove that they didnt change it (except for the filter being covered in shit). So just goes to show you that getting your oil changed by 15 year olds is a bad idea. Obviously I was sceptical to get the change done in the first place, and for good reason....

 

That sucks. Sorry to hear.
Years ago i had a camry that i would take to jiffy lube cause i was too lazy to do the changes. My wife worked at a toy store and they had fired this goof up who couldnt do anything right let alone show up on time. Well not long after that, i show up at the jiffy lube and there he is doing oil changes. I was terrified. Luckily he didnt work on mine but i never went back there.

 

Good thing man, thats the problem too. The kids that most of these places hire couldnt give a shit about our trucks, because they most likely dont even have a vehicle of their own... I worked at Kal-Tire for two years and whenever I brought someone's car or truck in to the shop, I drove like a baby because it wasn't mine. I actually respect other peoples vehicles regardless of the make or condition, but too many kids carry the attitude that its not their problem if anything happens.

 

oww my eyes...
Many people mark mileage and/or date their oil filters. Easy to prove if they changed it or not.

 

No one cares about your vehicle with the exception of you and a few true professionals, like you when you worked on tires. Just ask the people who slam their f&$@ing doors into your truck in a parking lot. Or those who let their kids do it without saying a word to them!

 

My advice is find a small local garage to do your oil changes or do them yourself. There are millions of horror stories with the big chains. A few of them I have seen are stripped oil pans from using impact wrenches to loosen and tighten oil drain plugs and forgetting to put oil in after they drain the old oil out.

 

I would have done the trip w/o stopping at stupid lube :/

Deal with the service afterwards

 

Took my old Ranger to a goodyear place and got the oil changed cuz like the OP, I was in a hurry. I ALWAYS used a ford filter. They used some junk filter, and the next time I changed the oil, the filter gasket from their filter, came out of the filter and stayed attached to the engine. When I put the new filter on, it didn't seal right, and oil ran out all over the ground. Luckily, I always crank the truck and run it for a minute to check for leaks, so I found that problem quickly. Since then, I have always changed my own oil. I'd rather do it myself, than have someone screw it up.