Walmart oil changes.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Once while traveling, I had to buy a battery at Wal-Mart.......I had to stand over the shoulder of this 18 year old girl and explain each step of the install........I was not allowed to touch a tool, but she couldn't have done it w/o me....

I was at a Subaru dealership recently to test drive a 997 that was on their lot. The battery was completely dead and wouldn't start. The sales kid went to grab a hand held jumper battery to connect to the 997. Now, granted, he wasn't a tech but he handed me the jumper battery to hook up as he didn't what to do with it.

[Por_sha911]

I had to stand over the shoulder of this 18 year old

That's the trick. If anyone does work for me (which is rarely) I want to watch. They hate that but tough. Their screw up will cost me a lot of time and money. When the customer watches they are a little more careful.

[Joe Bob]

Got home after 2700 miles. Decided to change the spark plugs.....10 minutes. Easy peasey.

Oil change not so easy. Little cockwankers used RTV on the drain plug. The filter was on so tight that I broke a Kragen/O'Reilly's Chinese made POS band wrench and took a 1/2 hour to get the MOFO off with a pair of Mongo channel locks.

Had to lift the whole front end up 14+ inches to get in there and get leverage. DBs at Walmart management still haven't called me back.

Never again. I'll take tools plus a jack and stands to do an oil change on a long trip. What a waste of money and time.

[wdfifteen]

I've had two bad experiences with NAPA (WIX) filters. Bad threads. They wouldn't screw on.
That's all I've got.
Fram - bad.
WIX - bad

What is a good brand of oil filter?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Funny, Wix is supposed to be one of the best out there in terms of filter construction. I recall this being debated quite heavily on a Chevy / GMC truck forum a few years ago (a "what's the best filter" discussion got very involved and technical). I'll see if I can dig up some info but IIRC the filters were extremely well made and would stop the finest (or some of the finest) particulate contaminants.

Maybe they cheaper out like everyone else now - dunno. I'm surprised to hear of Wix being problematic though. I used them religiously for years. I think the same or similar discussion came up in the 944 forum a while back too.

[Ziggythecat]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

Not sure I could locate the battery on a 997. I wouldn't know which end to start.

If you ever have to...in the trunk, hidden under a plastic cover, on the firewall, is the battery.
Problem is, the trunk opens electronicaly, so a dead battery prevents you from opening the trunk.
So, there is a fuse box, on drivers side that has a pull out mini terminal that you need to find, and put the positive jumper on , ground the other to the frame or door hinge, to get enough juice to open the trunk.....to get to the battery.

Even more ridiculous is the lack of a dipstick, which requires you to let the car sit for 5 minutes, hot engine, after driving, with the key in the ignition, engine off, in accessory position to get an oil level reading.
If you forget about it, and come down the next morning, dead battery...then see above.
Ask me how I know.

[Joe Bob]

After removal.....

[red-beard]

Joe Bob: In the old days, I used to use a Phillips screw driver right through their hearts!

[Joe Bob]

In the old days, so did I.....no freaking room.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

Never again. I'll take tools plus a jack and stands to do an oil change on a long trip. What a waste of money and time.

Get revenge. Buy what you need from Walmart, use it, then return it.

[Scott Douglas]

For a trip that long I'd change the oil before leaving and go the whole distance on it, round trip. Put good oil in and it shouldn't be a problem. Take a spare qt or two if it burns/leaks it, just for topping off.

BTW, my Accord's oil filter looked about like that when I first changed the oil in it. Used car bought it from the dealer. I won't trust them with an oil change either.

[Joe Bob]

I did the oil BEFORE I left, 1.7 motor.....figured the added protection was better.

[A930Rocket]

I did that once and tore the can off the base. Thought I was really hosed.

Stuck two pointed prybars in the holes of the base and used a third prybar to spin the base off.

Originally Posted by red-beard

Joe Bob: In the old days, I used to use a Phillips screw driver right through their hearts!

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

I did the oil BEFORE I left, 1.7 motor.....figured the added protection was better.

How many miles on the car?

Just curious as I'd trust a 150k mile 1.7 to do a 6k mile trip no problem, especially with good oil in it.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Ziggythecat

If you ever have to...in the trunk, hidden under a plastic cover, on the firewall, is the battery.
Problem is, the trunk opens electronicaly, so a dead battery prevents you from opening the trunk.
So, there is a fuse box, on drivers side that has a pull out mini terminal that you need to find, and put the positive jumper on , ground the other to the frame or door hinge, to get enough juice to open the trunk.....to get to the battery.

Even more ridiculous is the lack of a dipstick, which requires you to let the car sit for 5 minutes, hot engine, after driving, with the key in the ignition, engine off, in accessory position to get an oil level reading.
If you forget about it, and come down the next morning, dead battery...then see above.
Ask me how I know.

If the battery is too dead the jumper won't work either, in which case you have to remove the passenger side front wheel, remove the fender liner, and fish out the emergency release cable to open the frunk. Been there, not fun.

[Joe Bob]

97K. My first Honda....I know the limits on a 1.7 Type IV. I based my assumption on that.

[Scott Douglas]

If you've changed the timing belt and adjusted the valves you should be good to go for the next 50k miles with just gas and oil.

[Joe Bob]

Honda says 120K on the belt. Way ahead of ya.....

[Scott Douglas]

What year Honda is this?

[Joe Bob]

04......