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I took my car to the Jiffy Lube on Lincoln Avenue in Cypress, CA because after 3400 miles in the last 10 days, I wanted to make sure everything was in good working order before venturing across the desert. I told the guy that I was taking the car back to Iowa, and I wanted everything to be checking, then I told him again when he asked me what kind of oil I wanted to use. You’d think they would have taken a little extra care to make sure it was done right, but that’s not what happened.
I got about 2 hours outside the LA area when my oil light started to flicker. Luckily, I was about 1 mile from Barstow, CA, because after that exit, I would have been stranded in the desert for a long, long time. I checked my oil level and it was dry. I don’t know much about cars, but I know that’s REALLY bad. I poured a quart of oil in and went across the street to the truck stop where they could get it up on blocks. The guy there said it was leaking really bad, but only having truck tools, he couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong. I poured another quart of oil in and drove to the Hampton Inn Barstow and waited for Monday morning to arrive.
I had my car towed to Barstow Midas, who called a few hours later with good news! It wasn’t the oil filter casing, but the O ring that you’re supposed to change when you change the oil, but he said that many quick lube places don’t and mine was damaged, which was causing the oil leak. Lesson learned….don’t get your oil changed at Jiffy Lube, use the better trained techs at Midas or the dealership!
Hopefully, me pulling off the highway right away will keep this from being a catastrophic engine failure, but rest assured Jiffy Lube, my bill for your crappy oil change, quarts of wasted oil, repeat oil change, hotel, dinner, and compensation for the 3 hour massage I will need to de-stress from this experience will be in the mail. Oh yeah, and you should make a donation to an environmental charity for the oil you just caused me to spill on the ground.
Our leisurely drive to KC just got a little more stressful, but I’m still hoping we can make the game. Wish us luck!
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