Maintenance Disaster Story

gio · 04-10-2009, 07:45 PM

I actually have 2 maintenance disaster stories to share.

First, was my brother's 128i. He just hit 5000 miles so he took it to Jiffy Lube to get the oil changed. Everything seemed fine until he was on his way home from work. The check engine light went on and the car began to shake when idling like it was about to stall. He also noticed that it idled lower than normal (5000 rpm) and rev'ed up and down. This morning he took it into BMW, they checked it out and found that Jiffy Lube had forgotten to put the oil cap back on (the top cap where you fill) and they found it sitting in the oil pan. The car didn't idle properly because there wasn't enough pressure in the system with the missing cap. He's already complained to jiffy lube and he is getting his money back for the oil change (at least, I think he should get a ton of coupons too).

Next story is about my 135i. I needed to get the summer tires put on and I figured I'd get my oil changed at the same time. I can't do it myself as I live in the city and don't even have a driveway and I'm not going to go to the dealer just to swap tires. I went to three different service stations, including a jiffy lube, and either they didn't have an oil filter or they were too busy. Jiffy Lube actually had me wait 45 minutes before they realized they didn't have the filter (and I'd gotten the oil changed at one before). I ended up buying a filter myself and going to Valvoline. After 3 hours of driving around I was happy to finally find a place to get this done. Valvoline is one of those places where you sit in your car as they work on it so you really don't get to see what they are doing.

Everything seemed fine until I was about 3 blocks away. I began to smelled a horrible burning smell and the car screeched and I could barely turn the wheel. I stopped the car, got out and immediately noticed what they had done wrong. They had put the rear tires on the front and the front tires on the rear. As any idiot should be able to tell, the rear wheels are much much wider and won't fit in the front. I slowly made a twelve-point turn (I couldn't really turn, obviously) and tried to get back to Valvoline. I didn't quite make it. The car began to shutter more and more, the smell got worse and eventually it wouldn't even move forward and could barely move backward. I couldn't push it in neutral either.

By this point I was in the Valvoline parking lot. I know many of you will say I shouldn't have driven it at all but it was literally only 3 blocks away, and I was in the middle of a very busy road.

I got the guy from Valvoline to come out and look at the car. He said he couldn't swap the wheels because he didn't have a jack or wrench that could be taken outside the shop. Fortunately, I did at home so I walked the mile back home to get it.

When he removed the front (rear) wheels I saw what had happened. The tire was actually fine, but the inside of the rim had been rubbing against the side of the shock absorber. It had actulaly edged a nasty gash all the way around the inside of the rim and the metal had been pushed and built up in a clump and that is why it was no longer able to move forward. I'd imagine that the rim is still structurally solid since the gash isn't much worse than the curb rash I've gotten on the outside of the rim from parallel parking daily in a crowded city. Still, I'm going to definitely have them get checked out and rebalanaced. And since it's on the inside of the rim, you can't see it either.

As for the shocks the rim had rubbed away the black coating on them. I imagine it is anodized or something and that is possibly to prevent corrosion? They seem llike they are ok, but I'm going to have them checked out anyways. If anything is actually wrong, believe me, I'm going to make sure Valvoline pays. They already gave me a very hard time for having to swap the tires again outside in the rain late on a Friday long after the shop should have closed. I told them I didn't care. I was already late to drive 200 miles to see my parents for the weekend.

Now, to those of you who will say that my brother and I should have gone to a BMW dealer instead and it was our own fault, well, dealers can be just as incompetent as you'll see in the following story.

Back when I had an Audi TT, my water pump died. The car was not even three years old and therefore still under warranty. Audi roadside assistance towed the car to the nearest dealer which wasn't the dealer I normally went to because I wasn't anywhere near home at the time. They spent a whole week diagnosing the problem and replacing the water pump.

Soon after I got the car back, the check engine light came on. I had a tool I could use to scan the error codes and clear them and I saw that it was a "intermittent timing failure". When I cleared the code, it would go away only to come back a day or two later. To make a long story short, it took a couple of months and 3 more trips back to the dealer (a different Audi dealer) before they were able to fix it. They even blamed it on my aftermarket diverter valve (and charged me for the diagnosis) the first time until I put the original valve in and showed them the problem still existed. The problem turned out to be that the timing belt was off by a notch. The dealer was pissed and said that the other dealer should have to pay for their mistake. I told them it didn't matter to me. The car was under warranty, I didn't care who paid for the repair, as long as it wasn't me.

warmtoes · 04-10-2009, 08:22 PM

Dealers can be as incompetent but if something really goes wrong you have BMW to hold the dealership accountable. Jiffy Lube, not so much.

1013mm · 04-10-2009, 08:39 PM

Jiffy lube was the problem. bringing any car to jiffy lube is just asking for horror stories.

Eazy-e · 04-10-2009, 09:25 PM

Kokanator135 · 04-10-2009, 11:12 PM

Wow, the same thing just happened to me, luckily on only one side of the car. The place I had gotten new tires and a fresh detail at switched my left front and rear rims. I felt like something was worng by looking at it, but couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. I turned out of the shop and realized what had happened, but had to make a large circle due to a highway divider on the road the shop was on. I wound up driving close to a mile to pull back in. Also, prior to my even driving off, I had noticed a couple little nicks in my rims from whatever machine they used to mount the tires.....these rims were spotless before, and I had changed out my winters not 2 wks prior, so I knew there was NO curb rash from me. The shop owner had already begun the process of arranging a guy to refurbish rims, to "make it right", as the tire mounting had apparently been farmed out to another shop.

So now I have 2 problems, and the wrong rim-mounting cost me another hour, during which I became late for work. The rims were refurbished, and you can't even tell there was anything wrong with the rims. Also, it's primarily a detail shop, so I'm hoping he gives me a good deal on 3 other cars (relatives' and friend's) that I can possibly bring him this season. It was a stupid mistake to make, but the shop owner impressed me by doing everything he could to fix it.

Now I have condensation in one headlight, with the result that the left headlight 1st looked cockeyed as the adaptive lights failed and the xenon bulb went out thereafter. We'll see if I have a dealer horror story to tell when I get this looked at next week.....

gio · 04-11-2009, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eazy-e

I'd really love to do it myself but you ever try and jack up a car parked on the side of the street while cars drive by? I'm not about to attempt to change my own oil unless I at least have a driveway to park it in.

gio · 04-11-2009, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by warmtoes

Dealers can be as incompetent but if something really goes wrong you have BMW to hold the dealership accountable. Jiffy Lube, not so much.

Yes, they are still accountable. My mom had her differential fluid changed at Jiffy Lube and the next day some light came on and she stopped the car and called them up. They told her not to drive the car and they called her a tow truck. It turned out that they hadn't put the cap on the differential and all the fluid had run out. They ended up paying over $3000 for a new rear differential.

btw, my car wasn't serviced at Jiffy Lube, it was Valvoline (my brother went to jiffy lube). I guess they are just as bad. Midas is pretty incompetent too.

imdanomite · 04-11-2009, 03:10 AM

i hate to say it, but you got what you paid for. why would you take it to jiffy lube? first off, the oil cap on the 128i doesn't come off, it's attached. you said it ended up below the engine...wtf. BMW techs are no where near a jiffy luber...don't say they could be just as bad. those oil changes and tire rotations aren't anything compared to a diagnostic problem, so your audi situation isn't a strong argument. like the above posters said, take it to the dealer. atleast if they fuck up, they are accountable.

Guildenstern · 04-11-2009, 08:36 AM

Also what car has a sensor in it's differential to tell you it's low on fluid?

Eazy-e · 04-11-2009, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gio

I'd really love to do it myself but you ever try and jack up a car parked on the side of the street while cars drive by? I'm not about to attempt to change my own oil unless I at least have a driveway to park it in.

Do you're friends have driveways or safe areas to work? Ask them if they can help you out...

InsaneSkippy · 04-11-2009, 01:20 PM

I couldn't take this seriously after reading that you said you wouldn't take it to a dealership because they can be as incompetent as Jiffy Lube... Dealerships are constantly trying to sell you cars, they will be much more willing to cater to your needs. I'm not saying you take your car in for service and sit down with a salesmen. What I'm saying is, they want to make sure you're happy so that you will remember the great service you had, and potentially purchase from there again.

The way I see it, your family has had bad luck with Jiffy Lube already (your mom's car). The whole "Fool me once, shame on you" thing kind of applies here. Even with Valvoline, it's still a quick-lube place, where most of the employees working there are kids fresh out of high school.

All in all, I think it was just a very expensive lesson to learn...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eazy-e

Do you're friends have driveways or safe areas to work? Ask them if they can help you out...

x2

1013mm · 04-11-2009, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InsaneSkippy

I couldn't take this seriously after reading that you said you wouldn't take it to a dealership because they can be as incompetent as Jiffy Lube... Dealerships are constantly trying to sell you cars, they will be much more willing to cater to your needs. I'm not saying you take your car in for service and sit down with a salesmen. What I'm saying is, they want to make sure you're happy so that you will remember the great service you had, and potentially purchase from there again.

The way I see it, your family has had bad luck with Jiffy Lube already (your mom's car). The whole "Fool me once, shame on you" thing kind of applies here. Even with Valvoline, it's still a quick-lube place, where most of the employees are working there are kids fresh out of high school.

All in all, I think it was just a very expensive lesson to learn...

x2

agreed.

04-10-2009, 07:45 PM	#1
gio Captain 50 Rep 628 Posts Drives: Join Date: Apr 2008 iTrader: (0)	Maintenance Disaster Story I actually have 2 maintenance disaster stories to share. First, was my brother's 128i. He just hit 5000 miles so he took it to Jiffy Lube to get the oil changed. Everything seemed fine until he was on his way home from work. The check engine light went on and the car began to shake when idling like it was about to stall. He also noticed that it idled lower than normal (5000 rpm) and rev'ed up and down. This morning he took it into BMW, they checked it out and found that Jiffy Lube had forgotten to put the oil cap back on (the top cap where you fill) and they found it sitting in the oil pan. The car didn't idle properly because there wasn't enough pressure in the system with the missing cap. He's already complained to jiffy lube and he is getting his money back for the oil change (at least, I think he should get a ton of coupons too). Next story is about my 135i. I needed to get the summer tires put on and I figured I'd get my oil changed at the same time. I can't do it myself as I live in the city and don't even have a driveway and I'm not going to go to the dealer just to swap tires. I went to three different service stations, including a jiffy lube, and either they didn't have an oil filter or they were too busy. Jiffy Lube actually had me wait 45 minutes before they realized they didn't have the filter (and I'd gotten the oil changed at one before). I ended up buying a filter myself and going to Valvoline. After 3 hours of driving around I was happy to finally find a place to get this done. Valvoline is one of those places where you sit in your car as they work on it so you really don't get to see what they are doing. Everything seemed fine until I was about 3 blocks away. I began to smelled a horrible burning smell and the car screeched and I could barely turn the wheel. I stopped the car, got out and immediately noticed what they had done wrong. They had put the rear tires on the front and the front tires on the rear. As any idiot should be able to tell, the rear wheels are much much wider and won't fit in the front. I slowly made a twelve-point turn (I couldn't really turn, obviously) and tried to get back to Valvoline. I didn't quite make it. The car began to shutter more and more, the smell got worse and eventually it wouldn't even move forward and could barely move backward. I couldn't push it in neutral either. By this point I was in the Valvoline parking lot. I know many of you will say I shouldn't have driven it at all but it was literally only 3 blocks away, and I was in the middle of a very busy road. I got the guy from Valvoline to come out and look at the car. He said he couldn't swap the wheels because he didn't have a jack or wrench that could be taken outside the shop. Fortunately, I did at home so I walked the mile back home to get it. When he removed the front (rear) wheels I saw what had happened. The tire was actually fine, but the inside of the rim had been rubbing against the side of the shock absorber. It had actulaly edged a nasty gash all the way around the inside of the rim and the metal had been pushed and built up in a clump and that is why it was no longer able to move forward. I'd imagine that the rim is still structurally solid since the gash isn't much worse than the curb rash I've gotten on the outside of the rim from parallel parking daily in a crowded city. Still, I'm going to definitely have them get checked out and rebalanaced. And since it's on the inside of the rim, you can't see it either. As for the shocks the rim had rubbed away the black coating on them. I imagine it is anodized or something and that is possibly to prevent corrosion? They seem llike they are ok, but I'm going to have them checked out anyways. If anything is actually wrong, believe me, I'm going to make sure Valvoline pays. They already gave me a very hard time for having to swap the tires again outside in the rain late on a Friday long after the shop should have closed. I told them I didn't care. I was already late to drive 200 miles to see my parents for the weekend. Now, to those of you who will say that my brother and I should have gone to a BMW dealer instead and it was our own fault, well, dealers can be just as incompetent as you'll see in the following story. Back when I had an Audi TT, my water pump died. The car was not even three years old and therefore still under warranty. Audi roadside assistance towed the car to the nearest dealer which wasn't the dealer I normally went to because I wasn't anywhere near home at the time. They spent a whole week diagnosing the problem and replacing the water pump. Soon after I got the car back, the check engine light came on. I had a tool I could use to scan the error codes and clear them and I saw that it was a "intermittent timing failure". When I cleared the code, it would go away only to come back a day or two later. To make a long story short, it took a couple of months and 3 more trips back to the dealer (a different Audi dealer) before they were able to fix it. They even blamed it on my aftermarket diverter valve (and charged me for the diagnosis) the first time until I put the original valve in and showed them the problem still existed. The problem turned out to be that the timing belt was off by a notch. The dealer was pissed and said that the other dealer should have to pay for their mistake. I told them it didn't matter to me. The car was under warranty, I didn't care who paid for the repair, as long as it wasn't me. __________________ Waiting on a 2015 M235
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04-10-2009, 08:22 PM	#2
warmtoes Lieutenant Colonel 31 Rep 1,917 Posts Drives: EBII 435i xDrive Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Vancouver iTrader: (1)	Dealers can be as incompetent but if something really goes wrong you have BMW to hold the dealership accountable. Jiffy Lube, not so much. __________________ *2014 EBII 435i xDrive M-sport* Gone: 2011 TiAg F25 X3 xDrive35i M-sport Gone: 2008 TiAg w/Coral Red E88 135i Cab M-sport
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04-10-2009, 08:39 PM	#3
1013mm aka 1013MM 1246 Rep 9,545 Posts Drives: pokingly flush Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Los Angeles / HK iTrader: (7) Garage List 2009 135i [8.26]	Jiffy lube was the problem. bringing any car to jiffy lube is just asking for horror stories. __________________ -John Project YOSHI Sale Thread
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04-10-2009, 09:25 PM	#4
Eazy-e Dope-like a pound or a key 10 Rep 238 Posts Drives: 09 e82 135i Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Diego of the San iTrader: (0)
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04-10-2009, 11:12 PM	#5
Kokanator135 Second Lieutenant 21 Rep 208 Posts Drives: seeking m240i Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Edgewater, MD iTrader: (0)	Wow, the same thing just happened to me, luckily on only one side of the car. The place I had gotten new tires and a fresh detail at switched my left front and rear rims. I felt like something was worng by looking at it, but couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. I turned out of the shop and realized what had happened, but had to make a large circle due to a highway divider on the road the shop was on. I wound up driving close to a mile to pull back in. Also, prior to my even driving off, I had noticed a couple little nicks in my rims from whatever machine they used to mount the tires.....these rims were spotless before, and I had changed out my winters not 2 wks prior, so I knew there was NO curb rash from me. The shop owner had already begun the process of arranging a guy to refurbish rims, to "make it right", as the tire mounting had apparently been farmed out to another shop. So now I have 2 problems, and the wrong rim-mounting cost me another hour, during which I became late for work. The rims were refurbished, and you can't even tell there was anything wrong with the rims. Also, it's primarily a detail shop, so I'm hoping he gives me a good deal on 3 other cars (relatives' and friend's) that I can possibly bring him this season. It was a stupid mistake to make, but the shop owner impressed me by doing everything he could to fix it. Now I have condensation in one headlight, with the result that the left headlight 1st looked cockeyed as the adaptive lights failed and the xenon bulb went out thereafter. We'll see if I have a dealer horror story to tell when I get this looked at next week.....
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04-11-2009, 03:10 AM	#8
imdanomite likes boobies ( o )( o ) 13 Rep 275 Posts Drives: 2009 BMW 135i Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: MD iTrader: (0)	i hate to say it, but you got what you paid for. why would you take it to jiffy lube? first off, the oil cap on the 128i doesn't come off, it's attached. you said it ended up below the engine...wtf. BMW techs are no where near a jiffy luber...don't say they could be just as bad. those oil changes and tire rotations aren't anything compared to a diagnostic problem, so your audi situation isn't a strong argument. like the above posters said, take it to the dealer. atleast if they fuck up, they are accountable.
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04-11-2009, 08:36 AM	#9
Guildenstern or Rosencrantz 11 Rep 455 Posts Drives: 2008 Montego Blue 128i Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cleveland, OH iTrader: (0) Garage List 2008 128i Coupe [0.00]	Also what car has a sensor in it's differential to tell you it's low on fluid?
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