The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Truck and walmart

Got up early this morning to take my 52 to have the oil change and lubed..got there about 6:50, two others in line . at last they get to me to write the ticket,, it is now 7:25 and the first car is still not in the bay,, at any rate I tell the greeter that I need oil change, 4 quarts of 30 weight, has no filter,,check rear end and transmission, do not clean windshield or vaccum.. he ask if it is an automatic, no it is a five speed, sir , we can checked transmission fluid unless it is an automatic, I responsd, but you can check the rear end,, he says yes,, I told him I did not see any difference but,, I tell him I will wait,drive the truck in and sit in it while you are doing your thing, He says, I cant let you drive it in, customers not allowed in the bay, but I wont be walking around, I will be in my truck..I lost this one too and left, will do it my-self later.................why is it so hard to get anything done?..I take my wife's car there all the time and it is so easy...........Fred

Sounds like they didn't know what a bolt was, and were afraid to touch it..Went to place up here, NOT WALMART, needed to get all my new zerks greased, they let me drive it in, invited me to come down underneath to show them all the fittings, and when they were done, I asked them how much?..They said no charge, so I gave them a ten and told them to get some burgers..I think they liked the truck, Steve

Some guys can't tell what a drain/check plug is & have removed shafts or keepers for internal shift linkages from manuals. Prolly why they don't do manuals. Brian

Yeah Fred -- if it doesn't have all the oil inputs and outputs highlighted with bright yellow caps, then they can't work on it. They handle only the cookie cutter bubble cars and soccermom minivans that the masses (sniff!) drive. Golly, you actually asked them to THINK??? What's wrong with you!??!!!

When I got the little german car with the American badge, I took it to a certain oil change joint for it's first oil change. You'd think I'd taken a UFO in there -- no clue about the 5-W40 it's supposed to have. No filter. No IDEA about the filter. blah blah blah -- sent me over the edge, so I switched the entire fleet over to Amsoil and K&N filters and do it myself twice a year.

If you want something done right....

John

I remember taking my truck to one of those franchises to see about a brake job. They took one look at the truck, and said that they could not get the parts. I wound up going to a near by independent garage, and they did the job while I waited. They were able to get the parts in about 45 minutes, and had the job done in about 2 hours.

It seems that these franchises and places like Wal Mart, will not touch anything before 1970 or so. Maybe they are too COMPLICATED for those people!

John, you are right, nice to hear from you, I should Have known when I saw his shirt with Greeter on the back that I should had packed it up then,,, I mean, I could figure it out who he was and job title but it was nice to let everyone know, another thing was I asked him how come they had not moved the first car in the bay yet, said they had one left over from last night that when they took the drain plug out it just popped out without unscrewing it,,could not figure out how to get it back in,,waiting for someone to help them push it out,this was a very old beat up car and you could tell it had seen better days, I asked why they did not push it out of the way last night and then they could have started fresh this morning,, he then repeated what the problem was..... I usually change it my self but somehow my ramps got mis-placed, I dont have jack stands and I hate to work under it with it jacked up, you do have to raise it quite a bit to get my big butt under it, my wife made the best suggestion, why dont you just drive it to a local garage in the morning,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Fred

Hey Fred, this is what you need..Worked with a guy in Denver in 1970, he had a two car garage..He busted out the center, and put in a pit with concrete walls..This is the kicker, he broke a hole into his basement, and put in a door..He had a complete workshop in the basement that he could walk back and forth and walk under his car in the garage to work on it..Pretty sweet setup, Steve

Fred,i do a lot of business at WalMart,however I will not take a vehicle there for service.A few years ago I was in Florida,and was due for service on a late model pickup.Took it to Walmart,and had it done.You know convenience,in and out in about a half hour.Anyway got back home,after trip,took it to my regular shop for service,it was due again.The guy who serviced it asked me how long ago it was serviced.I told him about 3000 miles.He informed me the oil was awfully dirty,for 3000 miles.Now this guy knew my truck,had serviced it regularly.I believe WalMart did nothing but pull it in the shop and back it out again and charge me for doing nothing.Any more if I cant get to my regular shop,or do it myself,I take it to Sears.No problems with them yet.

I only use WalMart for tires on the wifes car.. they stand behind their extended warranty.. even replacing a tire free of charge that was driven on for 4 miles down a gravel road.

For oil changes, I have my own grease gun and am able to get under my trucks with no problem to change the oil (another benefit of NOT lowering them!)

I've heard alot of horror stories about just about every national "quickie lube" joint in the country. The few extra dollars and time I spend changing my oil is well worth the piece of mind knowing exactly what was done, and that it was done to my personal satisfaction.

I will agree with that.............Fred

WalMart sucks, plain and simple, need to deal w/ real people

we've got a "Minute Lube" here that loves to see my truck come in - I drive it in over the pit, they let me go down and look it over, they love all the dozens of grease fittings, they show me the old oil, check the trans and rear by default and tell me if the lube even looks dirty, ask permission before they get in to note the mileage and ask me to start it so they can check for leaks, and are tickled when I say go ahead

OTOH, when I feel like it, I do have an easy way to do it myself

Bill

Your biggest mistake WALMART... Cheap yes, but what do you get????? You have to remember, a good Ole steak isn't cheap and a cheap Ole steak isn't good.

They only deal with dipsticks, and you are having to deal with dipsticks. See the parallel?

Uh that didn't come out quite right, let me rephrase.

They only know how to deal with dipsticks, i.e. tranmission dipsticks, and you are dealing with dipsticks of another variety. Yup, that's better.

TRYING TO GET SOME INFO ON THE TRUCK I JUST GOT. THE TITLE IS 53, BUT THE GRILL AND BOX ARE 54. I WAS TOLD THE TRUCK WAS USED AT AN ARMY OR NAVY ORDINANCE (BOMB) CENTER TO HAUL AROUND BOMBS. IT HAS A LARGE BACK DECK ABOUT 2 FT LONG TO HOLD STUFF. VIN NUMBER CAME BACK AS A 53, 3600 COMM 3/4 TON. GUY SAID IT WAS A 3100. TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT A COMM IS IN THE INFO? WOULD APPRECIATE ANY HELP FROM YOU ALL. WAS ALSO TOLD THAT IT MIGHT BE A LATER 53 AND 54 PARTS WERE USED. DONT'T KNOW.

Well, come on - did you really expect any different?

It is a quick In & Out shop, made to service (relatively) new cars. I would not bring my wife's new Durango to Walmart either, however, due to (so aptly put above) "...a good Ole steak isn't cheap and a cheap Ole steak isn't good..."

Come to think of it, I wouldn't go to a drive-thru vasectomy either...

Try going to your local dealers, they are usually cheaper than the "cheap" jiffy lube joints. The dealer that I work at loses money on each oil change. We use our low prices to draw in the customers but right now, when we are busy, it's a real pain.
Scott

HEY WBE2716!! YOUR KEYBOARD HAS LOWER CASE letters, which are easier to read as well as not lookin like yer yellin

that cleared up, welcome to the garage, where you'll get some help if ya start a new thread in the General Truck Talk forum with a title that will let folks know yer lookin for info - ya didn't pick that truck up at WalMart did ya? if so no tellin what it is, just ask Joker!

note the "Post New Topic" at the top right and bottom left of the main page of each individual forum

Bill

These fast lube places advertise the job for so much and it sounds good. But they add taxes and environmental fees, so much to dispose of the oil, so much to dispose of the oil filter and so on. Those great savings you see up front are lost once you factor in the add-ons. If you can do it yourself try to. Stock height trucks for the most part don't need to be raised. Up here the law says that the people who sell you the oil over the counter must also take the old from you. Of course there is that dastardly environmental fee up front.

They recycle old motor oil at my local recycling center, and they don't charge me anything.

I worked at Monkey Wards for a while.. you would not believe some of the stupid stuff I had to fix that the monkeys messed up... empty engines, over full engines, empty transmissions, overfull transmissions... the best one was the car hanging off the hoist when I came in early one saturday...

The tire busters were either drunk, stoned or both.. what a hoot.

I always find a simple oil change at WalMart to take forever. My theory on this is that is their policy to waste time - the more time you spend in the store, the more opportunity you have to find something you just cannot live without. In other words, buy something, and increase profits for WalMart.

Ohhh Wal-mart! I wouldn't take my lawn mower there-they forgot to put the oil plug back into my father-in-laws car and low and behold burnt up the motor. Well it's my father-in-law so no tellin what kind of noises and smoke was coming out of it BEFORE he brought it there! This is a man that had the gas tank bungie corded on because it fell off! But still Wal-mart gets so busy I wouldn't trust them.

You can't trust anyone, and that includes Chevrolet service centers. Too full, not enough, stripped plug, no plug, charged but not done, etcetera. With stock springs you can almost fit a recliner under there to make it comfortable, and nothing could be easier than operating a grease gun.

I had a 74 Nova with 350 and A/C. I paid to have a tuneup at my caring local Chevrolet service center 3 times, including 8 plugs. The last time I couldn't afford to pay labor. After removing the A/C compressor I replaced 8 plugs for the first time, the one under the compressor was a factory plug!

Watched Jiffy Lube put 3 quarts in my buddy's S10 L4. Lucky for him I had the same engine that requires 4.5 quarts.

Another Quick Lube joint stripped the plug on my S10 when I was desperate to leave town for an emergency. Only time in 8 years that I did not do it myself.

And now for a confession: Walmart recycles oil for free. Just drop it off near the service bay door and drive off without asking any questions. It has worked for many years at several different Walmart stores.

50GMC253 is right. Do it Yourself. It might be a pain in the a$$, but then you know it's done right.

WalMart would be the last place I would take my truck.

It was,, did it myself last night after buying some rhino ramps...thanks for the comments....Fred

I got a buddy that took his 37 F@%d to a Kwik Lube Oil Change place here locally. When they finished doing what he asked them to do, one of the "techs" drove the car out the back of the bay where they have an open area, stomped the pedal as soon as he cleared the door, the pedal stuck and he went into a masonary wall that is across the back of their area. It messed up a beautiful 37 F$$d pretty bad!
:mad:
They, of course, fixed the car, but it will never be the same again.

Oh yes, they said they were sorry!

50GMC253,
I don't think it's fair to condemn all dealerships
because you've had a bad experience. I've been working for GM for 20yrs, and take pride in my work, like all the other guys in the shop. When we service a vehicle, all that experience goes into it. We have one of the highest CSI ratings in our zone. I get tired of hearing, "don't take your car to the dealer, they'll rip you off!" Case in point; A woman came into the shop with a box of brake parts. She said; "Midas told her another 10 minutes, and you'd be dead!" They replaced...get this...master cyl,calipers, rotors & brake pads!! This was on a 2003 Bonneville. She asked for the old parts. They refused to give her the hydraulic parts beacause of the core charge. She brought in the pads & rotors, and wanted to know "why they needed to be replaced?" Factory spec on a new GM rotor for that vehicle....1.258".
I measured the rotors.....you guessed it...1.258".
There was also 5/32 of bonded material left on the pads. Took this lady for a real ride. How does that guy sleep at night?!? Good Year also tried the same trick with my brother in law's van.
All I did was replace the pads. They told him he "overheated the whole system" and "all the hydraulics had to be replaced." I can't remember the last time I had to replace a caliper on any GM vehicle!! And by the way, we get $14.95 for a lube service by experienced, factory trained technicians. The same guys that do all the other vehicle repairs. We don't have "monkeys" in "lube suits"!!!!!

Rant over!!

Jim Sgrig

I'm with you Piewagn!
Fellow dealership tech,
Scott

Jim, you are right, it is still about people and what they do,, some folks can give others a bad rap because of what they do,, a bad cop can make a entire town look bad.. I just could not understand how one could have a policy that would allow you to check the diff but not a manuel transmission, either way you have to remove a plug............thanks for all the response,Fred

Right on Scott!!
These monkeys also trash dealerships shouting from the highest mountain!! I was reprimanded once when my Service Manager overheard me saying some not so nice things about these monkeys to a customer...."we'll have no more of that!".
Go figure!! It's frustrating to watch this crap happen, and then not being able to say something about it. I've had enough!!

JS

Fred,
You can't teach someone common sense!!

JS

Piewagn,

I could not resist, "We have one of the highest CSI ratings in our zone". You're not talking "Crime Scene Investigation" about what the car looks/runs like after they do work on it are you?

Just joking!

I'm sure it stands for Customer Service something or other.

Of course it is very unlikely that all Chevrolet dealerships are bad, but all 5 I've dealt with over the years are. It is the owner, manager, and the luck of the draw on which mechanic is assigned that makes the difference. That means at least 3 variables and I don't gamble when I have a choice. YOu 2 guys obviously have pride in your work; I wish Lansdale or Center Point were options for me.

Good one Modelman!!
CSI..Customer Satisfaction Index.

50GMC,
I'm sorry you had the experiences you had. Unfortunately, good experienced techs are hard to find. Some are just getting out of the business all together. You can't count on these kids today to take up the slack. Some service dept's throw these kids right to the high tech wolves, so to speak. If you can find a guy you can trust, be it at a dealer, or private garage, stick with him.
But, you must avoid those high pressure, high volume establishments at all costs!! i.e. Midas, Good Year, Meineke, etc.

JS

I love it when people bring us their cars after going to one of them "jiffy" type places. They end up being our customers for life. I've seen transmissions run empty until they seize and the engine 5 quarts over full. I've had cars towed to us with half the engine in the trunk. I've seen timing belts put on wrong, bending every valve in the heads. I've even repaired cars that other (same brand!) dealers couldn't. If a dealer can't fix it, no one can. I like these Wally World types, it's job security for me.
As Piewagn says, good experienced tech are getting scarce, it's hard to start out in such a fast paced profession and not many people are signing up to do it. If you think it's bad now, wait about ten years when all of the experience retires and all you have is the wanna-be's trying to figure out your car,
Scott

The sad ones are when a guy comes to our shop after spending 800 bucks, and the vehicle still isn't fixed!! Do ya think they'll give that poor soul back his 800 bucks?? Don't think so!! Then, he still has to pay us to fix it.
The all too common tune up...3 new plugs up front...3 old plugs in the rear. Had a guy take the 3 old plugs back to the place that supposedly put ALL new plugs in. Guess what they told him....."They're just trying to sell you something you don't need." Flat out denied only putting 3 plugs in a 6 cyl. Gotta love it!!
By the way, he had a miss fire that took the converter out!! Yeah, we were just trying to sell him a cat he didn't need. The thing wouldn't go over 25 mph!!
JS

i went to college for auto tech and spent 1 year in a private shop. i was sick of poor management and no challenges. brake jobs are good but not very challenging. went to 3 gm dealerships looking for a job and got the runaround. gmc didnt have any openings, chevy 1 had an opening but had 2-3 techs standind around so wasnt highering until busniess picked up(still hasnt), and chevy 2 tried to higher at $7 hourly not comissoned my responce was that i wasnt going to take that kind of pay cut. got up to leave and the rate changed to 7.50 but when i couldnt hear him from down the hall he was at $9, still short of my minnimum for job change.

shortly after that i had a falling out with private guy and quit after a month i got on with a major mfg. of const. equipment in prototype development. turned out to be the best job i could ever find.

i find it to be sad that the good techs from my class are not turning wrenches. 3 work for the for the mfg. that i work for, 1 is service writer for chevy 1, and for 2 are at private shops the other 5 i am not sure

managment was the problem at chevy 2 but i havnt heard much good about the service there. went to check why and found a drop out classmate doing cam replacement on a warranty car. they dont want good help


if there is a shortage of techs it isnt in my area

rh

So, what would you have accepted as your starting rate?? Don't expect to jump right in at "A" level wages. Explain to me how a speed density system works. Why is there a 24x & 7x crank shaft sensor? What is a serial data line? Why does the PCM need to communicate with the EBCM on a vehicle with traction control? What is the purpose of variable valve timing? What is the purpose of a yaw rate sensor? What vital information does it send to the PCM & EBCM, and how do they respond? What's the difference between Passkey II & Passkey III?
Which one uses fuel circuit shutoff? How are these systems reprogrammed? This is just a drop in the bucket. Employers need to see how fast you can pick up and retain these things, and base your wages accordingly. I admire your enthusiasm, but you've got to start somewhere. I agree, $9.00 is kind of low to start. But, don't expect $20.00 to start either. My education has been ongoing, and will continue throughout the rest of my automotive career. Like it or not, that's just the way it is.

JS

Fred,

Why doncha climb in Redryder and drive down to Jarrell for an oil change?

We'll go into Georgetown to Oil Exchange where the fellers know what to do with an old stovebolt, how to change oil, what to grease, do what you say "Do," and don't do what you say "Don't do."

It'll be a fun trip, we can go have a burger at Dale's Essenhaus or the Crossroads Cafe, and you'll be back on the road in no time!