Oil Change

I have A 1996 GMC pickup that I use for most everything including pulling the trailer that I haul my Tractors on. Being an old Aircraft mechanic and lot's of years working on cars,trucks and tractors I am A bit fussy about checking and changing oil. Last Saturday I took my truck to one of our fine dealers in this area to get the oil changed.Tuesday I noticed A fresh oil spot on my drive way,so I looked under and the leak seemed to be in the filter area. I started the truck and got under to see what was happening and there was a steady drip coming from the filter mounting area. Iwent and got another filter and proceeded to remove the filter the put on,I already knew it was tight. I had to use all my strength to loosen the filter and when I did get it off all th paint on the mounting rim was stripped off! I put on the new filter and topped off the oil so It's Ok now. I am happy to see these young people at work in these places,but do they ever tell them basic things they need to know to service cars and trucks correctly? I'm going back to see them today,and discuss this situation with them. Sorry for the long post,but I wanted You all to know. Ed PS Running out of oil is not A good THing!!

Hi Ed, you are lucky to have noticed the oil leak. Neighbour had his oil changed at one of those places that advertise on TV all the time.
He had not gone 10 miles on the highway in heavy traffic when his oil light came on, by the time he pulled off to the side of the road, the engine went clunk clunk and stopped. Long story short, oil filter cross threaded, then had to threaten law suit before company would pay for replacement engine.

JimB

I first thought they had left the old gasket on there. This happened to a man at work. He had changed the oil on his Cadillac. They towed to a shop and found the old gasket still attached. Hal

one of my friends went to jiffy lube and they had taken the oil pan off when he went to the store and the whole pan fell off in the parking lot.luckaly the motor didn't suffer any major damage.

-randy-

A man drove his new (12000mi) Subaru from a Quick Type Lube store north on I 25 in Colorado. He noticed at five miles that it had started to smoke. at 6 miles it was making massive smoke. He drove on for a total of 8 miles to our repair shop in Ft Collins. It had lost all oil. Loose plug then no plug.
We put in a new plug, filled it with oil, Primed it with a pump oil can, and started it. It was noisy until the lifters inflated, then settled down and made no extra noises at all. The man took our evidence and statement. back to the shop and got a warranty from them for 50000 miles. It made it no problem, and (Stil operates (as of 2007) JimN

I worked for a ford dealer roughly 9 years ago and the same things happened almost once a month. Even reputable dealerships hire oil change guys in at 7 or 8 dollars an hour who have absolutely no idea what they are doing, My opinion is : do it yourself and you will know that it was done right.

You are exactly right, I did what you suggest for fifty years,and still can,but it is not as easy at this age to get out from under as it used to be.However I may start doing it again. Thanks for your reply.ED

My car, those shops might get to do the oil change one out of twenty that it gets. I do the rest. When they do get it, they're told not to touch anything other than what's necessary to change the oil. And they sure ain't gettin' their hands on my Cummins.

That said, there seems to be somethin' goin' on with filters lately. I haven't changed a thing about the way I change filters in 35+ years of doin' it, and have always a habit of checking the top of the old filter to make sure the gasket came away with it. Until last summer, it had probably been ten years since I'd had a gasket stick. And, whaddaya know, for the first time in the ten years I hadn't looked, and the new filter felt funny goin' on. I spun it back down and, sho 'nuff, there was the old gasket up on the base.

Since then, I've had that gasket stay on the motor two times out of five, once on the car, once on the Cummins. I've been changin' filters (Mopars on the Stratus, FleetGuard Stratopores on the Cummins) on these two vehicles alone for the last 5+ years and honestagawd, I ain't doin a thing any different. Cleaned up the base like I always do after they stuck but still . . . there's something' goin' on.

not questioning your oil changes but i am just wondering about something. do you lube the filter 0 ring with a film of oil,use grease on it, or put it on dry. i lube it with oil and have had none stick. the other two options i have seen them stick and be hard to loosen.not counting over tightening them.this is my experience during the years.

A old man told me once when you put a spin on filter on tighten it tight and then just start to back it off you will never have one stick. I have been doing this for over 20 years and have never had one stick on me. JMO but it works for me. Bob

Ed: I have to agree, lot of folks out there doing oil changes are dipsticks, and don't know how to use a dipstick. Now that I'm older, find it hard crawling under a vehicle, I quite oftem take my car and pickup to service depots for oil changes. Almost without exception the car or truck will come home over full on oil. I once drained 3 quarts off my Buick lesabre, guess that guy couldn't even read. I always thought the use of a dipstick was quite elementary technology. Guess I was wrong.

Taking the oil pan off to change the oil? They do have some dipsticks working at that place.

From working on aircraft as well, I use DC4. Dow Corning 4 Dielectric grease. We used Champion spin on filters and that's what is recommended. So I use it on my cars....no problems. It tends not to scorch or coke up like oil. But oil is better than nothing!