3 quarts oil - is that bad?

[theaveng]

(1) I purchased a Purolator air filter. (2) I also purchased 3 quarts of Mobil 1 at Pep Boys and then asked them to perform the change. The idiot mechanic poured all three quarts in. When I asked why he said, "The computer doesn't show halves so it just rounds-up to 3." : -o I am hoping the extra half quart went into the new filter & causes no damage.

[jeff652]

A half quart over should be fine I would think

[freezin4]

Not as bad as when the Honda mechanics use 4+ qts like the Civics require, but hope the highly skilled and caring mechanic didn't also "just round up" on the torque specification of the drain plug.

If there is any possible way for you to do your own maintenance, you would be compensated with peace of mind and some $ savings.

[theaveng]

My apartment complex forbids it. So, no, not really possible. It makes you wonder why you're paying for mechanics if the mechanics are over-torquing the drain plug and/or spilling too much oil in the pan.

Probably didn't grease the edge of the air filter either, in order to get a good seal. I noticed the old K&N was never greased to give it a good seal. Also extremely filthy with bugs and bits of grass (I suspect the owner never changed it in 100,000 miles, just like he never cleaned the interior). As for saving some money, I have plenty of money and very little spare time. I prefer to hire someone else to do the job, because I want to use my weekends for catching-up to myself. Or watching TV shows or movies I missed during the week, not doing work on my car.

[freezin4]

I know what you mean about paying for oil changes etc. It's hard to argue that a $20 oil change special is not a great deal, and I also take most of my other cars to others for maintenance.

BUT, NOONE TOUCHES MY INSIGHT!

[Varak]

Originally Posted by theaveng

My apartment complex forbids it. So, no, not really possible.

Mine does as well, but I just pull onto the side street next to the complex and change it. Takes 30 minutes from start to finish.

[head-met]

The only thing I trust Pep Boys to do is to mess things up up. I've heard too many horror stories.

[davenm]

The HOA of the condo I rented for 6 years in grad school initially had the same "no wrenching on the grounds" policy. A group of us who wanted to be able to do minor maintenance in a back corner of the parking lot put together a plan and met with the HOA several times to address their concerns. We were finally able to do things like oil changes, tire rotations and under-hood work so long as full-sized drip pans and other common sense precautions were utilized.

No engine/tranny pulling, no firing an engine with open exhaust, no grinding or torch cutting, no radiator fluid draining (pets/ethylene glycol issue), no leaving a car/truck in the two "service spaces" for more than 24 hours, no auto parts/fluids in the dumpsters, etc. Any excess drippings or mess would have gotten the privilege pulled, but it was still in force when I graduated many years ago.

You might see if your apartment manager would consider something similar.

[Willie Williford]

Now that is the "common cents" way to solve the problem. Good Job.

Willie

[theaveng]

Originally Posted by davenm

met with the HOA several times to address their concerns.

I would move rather than live under the tyranny of that kind of government. HOAs also try to forbid people from erecting antennas on their homes, but fortunately the Congress has declared everybody has a right to access free TV using a rooftop antenna, so the HOA is just wasting time & hassling the citizens with pointless lawsuits.

The only time I got in trouble with my apartment landlord was when I had a dead battery and was exchanging it for a new one. When he made a fuss I released the brake, let the car roll into the middle of the apartment street, and said, "Now what would you like me to do? Block traffic until AAA showsup and gives me a jumpstart, or let me swap in the new battery in just give minutes?" He left me finish what I was doing & I put the car back in my spot. If someone is going to be a Jackass, then I'll just hold-up a mirror and reflect that attitude right back at them. I wasn't harming anybody by swapping the 12V under my car.

I also had an annoying apartment janitor give me crap because I had three cars (one in my spot, and 2 in the spare parking lot for overflow parking). After wasting an hour debating with him, and his threatening to tell the landlord to tow my cars to a junkyard, I hired a lawyer and sued the apartment complex for the stopped-up garbage disposal that I had called once-a-month for 2 years but was never fixed. The apartment complex responded by firing the janitor and fixing the disposal. That Jackass janitor never should have given me a hard time about my cars, while he himself was being derelict in his duties.

Now I'm in another lawsuit with Parker Hannifin Aerospace. I had worked about 16 weeks overtime, each 60 hours, and never got paid time-plus-half (neither have any of the other hourly workers). I don't know why these people think they can get away with not doing the work required by (a) their contract or (b) the law. Oh well. The government will slap them down and they'll pay a massive fine. (BTW the HOA that sued my coworker for having an antenna lost thousands of dollars; wiped-out their budget for the next two years. Idiots.)