Did they even change my oil?
 

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...ba06c70b5c.jpg

Question is, do you think they changed my oil or no?

This is supposed to be Mobil 1 5w-20 synthetic oil, after 10-15 miles.
I usually do my own oil change. This time with the rain and everything it was taking too long. I decided to take the Jeep to the shop for oil change. I brought my own 6 quarts of synthetic Mobil 1 5w-20 (same color as the Corvettes 5w-30 when new) and new Fram filter. I paid them $24 labor only to change my oil. After getting home I noticed they over filled the Jeep. So I drained a little oil and that is what you see in the picture. Basically it looks too dark to me. Like dark honey. Light will not pass thru if more than 1/2 inch.
I am going to examine the oil filter if it is the Fram I gave them. Previously I put Mopar in the Jeep. I will report. This Jeep has 50 Kmiles on it. The previous oil change before this one was at 40,000 miles. I go with the oil life monitoring system and since I switched to synthetic I feel OK. The Jeep has no leaking or burning issue.

Meanwhile can you guess what happened? Did the oil change place actually cheat?

Doesn't look like fresh oil to me...

No way that was new oil. How does the oil filter look?

Before I leave, I check the fluid level, check for leaks and check the oil life monitor. I know that can be a hassle if it's raining.

It's possible they didn't drain all the old oil.

Changed the filter and not the oil? Changed the oil and not the filter?

Pour some in a glass jar and look at it. It's hard to tell the translucency in a bucket.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...2ec059b27d.jpg

Updates:
The top stain is fresh Mobil 1 5w-20 off the jar. The bottom stain is Mobil 1 5w-20 oil extracted from the Jeep after oil change.
This weekend I changed the oil and filter again myself. The filter was the one I gave them. But I had to change the filter again anyway because of the black oil. No way they changed the oil in the Jeep. Not even partial. They might have added 1 qt bottle I gave them after changing the filter, and kept the 5 qt jar.
I checked the oil color again after changing the oil myself and putting 20 miles on the Jeep. Clear as new.
Oh well...

Any reason you're not posting who didn't do what you paid them for?

What are you going to do about it? I know a lot of people on the forum work on their on their own cars, but there times when you may need someone else to help you if you aren't feeling well, etc.

Or, return to the shop and complain to the manager?
Was this a dealership or a Jiffy Lube-type quickie shop?

I will be going to the shop with calm head and oil sample in hand. I will talk to the manager there. Depending on their re-action I will take the next steps.
They will get a review from me at the least. Next I might complain to BBB and their headquarter. I might send sample to testoil.com and go further if they deny. I will disclose what shop after this is over. This is one big franchise of auto care shops like Jiffy Lube type as indicated. Not dealer.

Thank you folks for listening to this story. I will report back what happens next. The bigger picture is, I used to hear stories like this, but none of them were happening in our area.

I once had an oil change (not the Corvette) and the shop shorted me two quarts of oil. And the shop was AAA approved! I complained, nothing happened.

A few thoughts:

1)

They obviously did not change your oil or did not do it properly.

2)

The primary remedy for this is to change your oil properly. You just take it back and say "fix it" and they do. Generally. Nobody has black oil 20 miles later if the oil was drained out.

3)

Unless the engine was damaged (highly unlikely if there was adequate oil), the only thing the shop owes you is to fix the issue, which means change the oil. In no way do they owe you more than that. They should give you an apology and they may give you some sort of coupon, or discount, but they don't owe you diddly unless there is further damage.

If the engine was overfilled for 20 miles, it's unlikely to have caused damage. Possible but unlikely.

If the engine was underfilled for 20 miles but maintained adequate fluid pressure, it's unlikely to have caused damage. Possible but unlikely.

If the engine was underfilled for 20 miles but did not maintain adequate fluid pressure, damage is likely to have occurred. You want to take your car somewhere else (a dealer works well for this), have an oil sample done, and if the oil sample indicates strongly accelerated wear, a teardown to confirm damage and a new engine. This is not particularly rare. The bill will be sent to the shop, who will generally have either their insurance pay for it or have an account to handle small things like engines etc (as opposed to big things, like the entire shop burning down) without involving insurance.

So for example, the_kid_C6, If you have (eg) a 5Q capacity and they put in 3Q of oil, your engine is probably fine. All it needs is adequate fluid pressure, and all that needs is for the oil pickup to always be, well, picking up oil. Three quarts circulating through the oil galleries, draining back down, and in the pan, is generally more than enough during street driving. It depends on the size and shape of the pan, the oil pump, the pickup geometry, etc etc etc, but two quarts of oil short is not particularly catastrophic. The shop really won't do much more for you than put in two more quarts and say whoops.

4)

Don't take your car to a chain. They suck. Nobody earns a living charging $19 to change oil, including oil and a filter ... they cut all corners they can, and some that they can't, and they upsell you to high heaven. Pay an adequate labor rate to a real mechanic and you generally won't have issues like this.

I take my other 2 cars to Jiffy Lube and i watch them change my oil. Never had an issue there.

I would do a little comparison for yourself before going to the manager. I think you'd be surprised what 'new' oil looks like after only a couple dozen miles. It's definitely possible it wasn't changed, but I've always been surprised what oil looks like after a short period of time.

:bigears :lurk:

Is the filter new? Depending on what place you went too, id find it hard to believe they didnt change your oil. At a place like that they they have 3-4 people changing the oil would be hard for them to miss. Things do happen though, but im with rich youd be suprised how dirty oil gets.

Have you looked at your oil before when you changed it after 20 min of driving? I am curious to find out what happened

Updates:

The following picture is current oil stain after I changed it myself and put 230 miles on the Jeep.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...b3af0bbc59.jpg

As you see in the picture, the current oil is as clear as new after 230 miles.

So I took a friend and went to the shop with the oil samples in hand. Both manager and the tech were there working and running around in heavy pour rain. As we were parking in the side way storm last week we noticed these folks were both wet and cold, I actually felt really bad.I wimped out and decided not to go in. I turned around to my friend and said lets go for supper. And that is what we did. I didn't have solid proof. Even if I did at that point after seeing how they were running around the parking lot wet and cold I did not have the heart to confront them anymore.

I go home and later on that evening I find out this shop in bay area is one of the 1,314 shops under investigation.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/loca...505679231.html

It seems like the State of California needs to be taking swifter action against these places. I think they probably didn't change the oil. Since it looks like all it cost you was some time, money and stress, is it worth taking further action?

I think I would detail what happened on Yelp. Maybe you could save someone else from going through what you went through or worse.