Mechanical hall of shame thread!

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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 02:43 PM
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Mechanical hall of shame thread!

Have any of you's ever came across a mechanic that said, did, or recommended something that was just OFF THE WALL?

This didnt happen with my current TL, but with my 2000 Civic Ex. I pulled into a gas station to fill up. While filling up, i asked the station mechanic if he can add a quart of oil, being that i was low on oil. LOW AND BEHOLD, when i observe him putting in the oil, he was pouring it into my spark plug chamber! This idiot actually removed one of my spark plug wires, and started pouring the oil into where my spark plug was!!! As pissed as i was, i managed to die laughing for about 15minutes before speaking to his manager. As i would expect, the manager had one of his other workers take care of the problem.
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 02:53 PM
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A guy who set the tires at MAX pressure as indicated on the sidewall-
saying: If you want to lower it, its easier for the customer to do that,
than for them to add air.

I countered with: Perhaps SETTING them at the `correct pressure` would be more appropriate procedure.
He didnt get it- manager couldnt explain it----
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 02:56 PM
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^^ lol. nothing i can think off, but to the OP, how the fuck can they get that out w/o causing damage? some kind of vacuum pump? jesus that is a major retard move...
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 03:02 PM
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Originally Posted by MurdaZ
^^ lol. nothing i can think off, but to the OP, how the fuck can they get that out w/o causing damage? some kind of vacuum pump? jesus that is a major retard move...
Tell me about it. I was literally in tears from laughter. I didnt think anyone that stupid exsisted. I dont know what exactly they had to do, but when it was done, i checked, and it was oil free. Never had a problem after that.

You wanna hear something even crazier? We had this guy who worked for our company, and he was asked to move the company van. He ends up crashing into the bosses car. He comes in and says (and i shit u not) "the transmission on the van is bad. I put it in Ride, and it went backwards!!!! LMAO!!! He though the R on the shifter stood for RIDE!!!!
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 03:12 PM
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I remember way back when i had my 1991 Taurus SHO, i went into the the dealer to order a part, and had an argument with the counter guy because he swore that the only difference between a Taurus and a Taurus SHO, was that the SHO was equipped with a supercharger! LOL. The regular taurus had a ford engine. The SHO had a n/a Yamaha engine.
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 03:31 PM
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Originally Posted by deevel79
Tell me about it. I was literally in tears from laughter. I didnt think anyone that stupid exsisted. I dont know what exactly they had to do, but when it was done, i checked, and it was oil free. Never had a problem after that.

You wanna hear something even crazier? We had this guy who worked for our company, and he was asked to move the company van. He ends up crashing into the bosses car. He comes in and says (and i shit u not) "the transmission on the van is bad. I put it in Ride, and it went backwards!!!! LMAO!!! He though the R on the shifter stood for RIDE!!!!

You are cracking me up. This is sooo hilarious. He must have been riding horses.
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 03:36 PM
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Originally Posted by deevel79
Tell me about it. I was literally in tears from laughter. I didnt think anyone that stupid exsisted. I dont know what exactly they had to do, but when it was done, i checked, and it was oil free. Never had a problem after that.

You wanna hear something even crazier? We had this guy who worked for our company, and he was asked to move the company van. He ends up crashing into the bosses car. He comes in and says (and i shit u not) "the transmission on the van is bad. I put it in Ride, and it went backwards!!!! LMAO!!! He though the R on the shifter stood for RIDE!!!!
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 03:43 PM
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LOL@RIDE, that dumbass, dont u americans have to have licenced mechs? ie. having a certain amount of manned hours, then writing a test, then another test to become licenced?
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 03:49 PM
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america is ghetto like that Murdaz I guess, any idiot can say Hey let me fix your car I am good at it. and ppl let them.
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 03:59 PM
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LOL@RIDE, that dumbass, dont u americans have to have licenced mechs? ie. having a certain amount of manned hours, then writing a test, then another test to become licenced?
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 05:07 PM
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Mine was not laughable but sarcastic matter.

Pulled up to one of the station to take care of my oil change. Station guy said that I had a bad and worn out ball bearing on suspenstion and give me a 1000$ estimate.
He says it is evident from the way my tires are worn and chuckled that it is common problem in cities where roads are not good and unless fixed, wheel is gonna fall off in no time.
Being worried, I had a private mechanic really trusty one have looked at it and he just said i have nothing to say but 'screw what the station guy says'.

Later I found out that they overfilled my engine when changing the oil. (oil level was way above max). I dashed back to the station again and demanded to drain the excess oil. So instead of getting 1000$ false job they ended up draining my oil for doing bad job.

Needless to say, I drive for 2 years without my wheel falling off the car.
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 05:38 PM
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there's a LOT of dumbshit people out there. just cause i drive a TL and like too fiddle with my engine doesnt mean i can do a tranny swap. but my parents think i can because they know SQUAT about cars and is impressed by me talking about intakes O.o

i think it's the same for idiot america. they see a guy with a mechanic jacket and assume they know everything, idiot with the jacket plays the ego game and follows suit
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 05:41 PM
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in canada, if someone falsly offers a job on a car, and it doesnt need it, they can get charged up too 50000 grand i beleve and revoked of their licence, shop and other shit, its really a bad offense as a mech here in canada to pull a stunt like that, as soon as they write an estimate and show u the estimate, and u dont need that shit, they are in trouble...
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 06:32 PM
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Originally Posted by MurdaZ
in canada, if someone falsly offers a job on a car, and it doesnt need it, they can get charged up too 50000 grand i beleve and revoked of their licence, shop and other shit, its really a bad offense as a mech here in canada to pull a stunt like that, as soon as they write an estimate and show u the estimate, and u dont need that shit, they are in trouble...
It's the same here too. Most people just aren't aware that they do have recourse even if the shop denies any wrongdoing.
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 07:53 PM
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Originally Posted by MurdaZ
in canada, if someone falsly offers a job on a car, and it doesnt need it, they can get charged up too 50000 grand i beleve and revoked of their licence, shop and other shit, its really a bad offense as a mech here in canada to pull a stunt like that, as soon as they write an estimate and show u the estimate, and u dont need that shit, they are in trouble...
good info, i guess u re responding to my post. i didnt get it written estimate, if i do get i would pursue the matter.
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 08:51 PM
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Originally Posted by MurdaZ
in canada, if someone falsly offers a job on a car, and it doesnt need it, they can get charged up too 50000 grand i beleve and revoked of their licence, shop and other shit, its really a bad offense as a mech here in canada to pull a stunt like that, as soon as they write an estimate and show u the estimate, and u dont need that shit, they are in trouble...
Damn, that's a lot
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 11:06 PM
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damn, R stands for reverse?!?! i already turned all my seats backwards so my car drives correctly when i put it in Ride..
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 11:20 PM
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^^^hahahahahahahaha
me too
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Old Apr 25, 2008 | 11:49 PM
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haha
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Old Apr 26, 2008 | 09:56 AM
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Originally Posted by guyenacurazine
good info, i guess u re responding to my post. i didnt get it written estimate, if i do get i would pursue the matter.
yea, cause its basically fraud they are commiting, which is really bad in the auto trade up here....be4 the consumer could screw the mech, even with a minor error like the address or a number from a vin missing, the consumer can go to court, fight it claiming its not a legit estimate or work repairs done, and the consumer would win, now they changed it a bit to benefit the mech and make it fair game...but still 70% load is on the mech..
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Old Apr 26, 2008 | 09:58 AM
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Originally Posted by Gfaze
It's the same here too. Most people just aren't aware that they do have recourse even if the shop denies any wrongdoing.
thats true, lots of consumers here dont know how the law works, for us its call the CPA act, consumer protections act, to protect the consumer of fraud like this....im pretty positive ur law in the US is similar to ours, cause we most likely taken ur law and just rewrote it lol..
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Old Apr 27, 2008 | 09:06 PM
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Originally Posted by MurdaZ
thats true, lots of consumers here dont know how the law works, for us its call the CPA act, consumer protections act, to protect the consumer of fraud like this....im pretty positive ur law in the US is similar to ours, cause we most likely taken ur law and just rewrote it lol..
I dunno, sometimes I think you guys come up with the laws first. In the U.S., for instance, we can buy alcohol at a party store. Not a store run by the party! lol. But back to the original thread, I've seen two guys blow up batteries, and one guy prying a cylinder head off a v8 on an engine stand with a pry bar. Not too unusual till it bounced off the floor onto his foot! He wasn't seriously hurt.
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Old Apr 28, 2008 | 09:25 PM
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I ordered tires= Michelins at Sam's. Original replacement tires. They had the best price. I drop off the car around 5:30 head to the gym right up the road from Sam's Club and told them to leave my keys at the front desk since I was going be back later than 7Pm when the tire center closed. So I get back at 7:15 and low and behold they put the wrong size tire on the passenger front side. It was like a 55 or 50 Series tire. Didn't match the others and might have damaged my Tranny since it would be spinning at a different speed than the other drivers side tire. I fortunately saw that it was the wrong size and rotated it to the back. The store manager gave me a $200.00 Gift Cert. I went back to the store the next day and they apologized over and over to me and put the right size tire on. The bad thing was that one my way home the night of the mishap, a rock hit and cracked my windshield. Had I not had to have rotated the tires, that would not have happened.
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Old Apr 28, 2008 | 10:24 PM
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This is why I do All my own work... A couple of years back I took my car (at the time was a 95 Tahoe) in to a certain oil changing facility (rhymes with Diffy Tube) which also does other minor work to get my tires rotated. The jack ass walks back out to me after raising the car to tell me they don't have a socket to fit my lug nuts. I then tell the man that its a 21mm socket and if they don't have one theres one in the tool set in the back seat. I then watch them begin to hammer my socket onto the fake plastic lug nuts that are part of the center cap cover which cover the REAL lug nuts.... All of the Tahoe and Suburbans of that year had these center caps and it was REALLY obvious that they were just center caps with fake lugs. Needless to say I was pretty pissed yet I couldn't help but laugh at the guy...
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Old Apr 28, 2008 | 11:29 PM
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Originally Posted by BlakeTypeS
This is why I do All my own work... A couple of years back I took my car (at the time was a 95 Tahoe) in to a certain oil changing facility (rhymes with Diffy Tube) which also does other minor work to get my tires rotated. The jack ass walks back out to me after raising the car to tell me they don't have a socket to fit my lug nuts. I then tell the man that its a 21mm socket and if they don't have one theres one in the tool set in the back seat. I then watch them begin to hammer my socket onto the fake plastic lug nuts that are part of the center cap cover which cover the REAL lug nuts.... All of the Tahoe and Suburbans of that year had these center caps and it was REALLY obvious that they were just center caps with fake lugs. Needless to say I was pretty pissed yet I couldn't help but laugh at the guy...

It's amazing (but sad) that most of these people actually survive long enought to breed.
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Old Apr 29, 2008 | 05:43 AM
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i took my acura TL into this service center to have a basic tune up. oil change filter lube tire rotation..... anyways I live in canada where we get lots of snow. my front tires are worn down but the rear have good tread still on them. The main reason i went to these guys was to get my tires rotated and oil change. I go and pick up my car and the tires where not done. i asked them why and they told me the mechanic said that you need to have more tread on the back because other wise your back end will slid out around corners. ( Last time i checked our cars are front wheel drive) plus they overcharged me for oil cause i asked for synthetic oil and gave me this whole run around about how its more expensive for them you buy aftermarket oil then it is for me to bring it to them!

DO NOT DEAL WITH CERTIGARD!!!!!!!! EVER!
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Old Apr 29, 2008 | 03:25 PM
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Originally Posted by myron
america is ghetto like that Murdaz I guess, any idiot can say Hey let me fix your car I am good at it. and ppl let them.
I have Mexicans with a hundred holes drilled into their fenders and bondo applied with a spoon asking me if I want to fix my bodywork. Apparently they do it for a living and according to them, they're very good at it.

Originally Posted by Bearcat94
It's amazing (but sad) that most of these people actually survive long enought to breed.
Watch Idiocracy with Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph. I swear that movie's coming true. A great movie directed by Mike Judge that did NOT get the attention it deserves.

Originally Posted by TOTAL~LUSH
i asked them why and they told me the mechanic said that you need to have more tread on the back because other wise your back end will slid out around corners.
Uh, he's right. I spun out on 101, slid diagonally across facing the wrong direction and ended up sitting on the rail almost going off the overpass because of a donut mounted on the left rear slipping on a metal connecting plate. My speed going on the on-ramp? 40 MPH. The thing is, it's MUCH easier to control understeer than oversteer. NEVER MOUNT A DONUT ON THE LEFT REAR! If anything, swap it with the front. Going up ramps means turning right and accelerating. All the weight is being put on that little spare tire and it obviously can't take it.

~Cheers~
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Old Apr 29, 2008 | 04:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Go90go


Watch Idiocracy with Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph. I swear that movie's coming true. A great movie directed by Mike Judge that did NOT get the attention it deserves.

~Cheers~
No joke, I was going to tell him to watch that movie also. Great stuff, I see it happening in real life while I'm at work.
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Old Apr 29, 2008 | 08:49 PM
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Originally Posted by 01tl4tl
A guy who set the tires at MAX pressure as indicated on the sidewall-
saying: If you want to lower it, its easier for the customer to do that,
than for them to add air.

I countered with: Perhaps SETTING them at the `correct pressure` would be more appropriate procedure.
He didnt get it- manager couldnt explain it----
That happened to me on my old beater before the TL. I went right in and told them and they were like "your supposed to go by the sidewall not the door." "I'm like, "you guys are idiots, one of these days someone gonna blow up their tire that way or slide around a corner and your getting sued for it, since you don't understand how to set tire pressure correctly." It was at pepboys in Norristown, PA, those people are so dumb there.
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Old Apr 29, 2008 | 09:00 PM
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Originally Posted by TOTAL~LUSH
. I go and pick up my car and the tires where not done. i asked them why and they told me the mechanic said that you need to have more tread on the back because other wise your back end will slid out around corners. ( Last time i checked our cars are front wheel drive)
They were actually right about the tires, however they should of explained it first and definetly shouldn't have charged you for it. Plus you asked for a tire rotation, they should've given you one. I got charged for tire rotation during an inspection and complained that it should have been free since you had to remove the wheels to check the suspension and brakes during the inspection anyhow.
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Old Apr 30, 2008 | 04:05 AM
  #31  
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So can someone explain to me how badly worn tires on a front wheel drive car helps you with traction in 3 " of snow??
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Old Apr 30, 2008 | 04:21 AM
  #32  
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if your rear end starts to slide or spin out u could control that. but if your on the on ramp and its went and teh car doesnt want to tun well than their isnt much you could do other than to stop buy by now your going to fast. better tires on teh front.
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Old Apr 30, 2008 | 06:03 AM
  #33  
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^^ I agree. Also, you ever tried making a U turn from a stop with low tread on the front tires? They cannot catch traction.
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Old Apr 30, 2008 | 09:14 AM
  #34  
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Yeah, I agree...better tires on the front. If you don't have the tread to make the car go, then what's the point of having tires with tread on them in the back. They aren't doing any good if you can't get traction to move.
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Old Apr 30, 2008 | 09:17 AM
  #35  
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I don't know about you guys, but the biggest scam in VA is when people bring their car in for a state inspection and they charge $25 for a headlight adjustment...which seems to always be off, even in cars that are only 2 years old. Everyone I've ever talked to that gets VA state inspections (I'm military so I don't have to), they always fail for headlight adjustment.
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Old May 1, 2008 | 08:15 AM
  #36  
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My dad and I went to a local firestone in the middle of winter years back with my moms 91 corolla to get an oil change. This was our first time on any car that we were going ot have someone other than us do the oil change.

So we go there, get the oil change done. Pay the people and leave. When we get home (which is literally 4 blocks away at that time), my dad checks to see if everything was A-OK. He checks the oil level only to see that its a good inch and half over the full line. He was fuming mad. Especially after he saw that they didnt wipe up the oil off the heat shield and wat looked to be oil seeping between the valve cover and engine block (i was mechanically stupid back then (not that im not now. )....was only in junior high....this may not have been seepage, but rather just reminents of oil left behind when the douche was filling it with oil...i do however, remember my dads rage all too well, it was hilarious!)

So we head back to firestone in his car and talk to the lube dude guy The conversation goes something to the effect as the following.....

Dad: "How much oil did you put in my car?".
Oil Douche:"I dunno. I stopped at about 5 to 5.5 quarts. duuhhhhh".
Dad: Why would you do that. Its a 4 cylinder. Its capacity is nowhere near 5 quarts. It is ~3.5 quarts. And look at the mess under my hood that you left (shows guy the mess on exhaust manifold heat shield and suspect seepage).
Oil Douche: I didnt leave that mess. And you should have told me that the oil capacity is 3.5 quarts. This is not my problem


Conversation continues and all they do is drain the correct amount of oil. No apology no nothing. Dumbasses.
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Old May 1, 2008 | 08:57 AM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by ankur914

Dad: "How much oil did you put in my car?".
Oil Douche:"I dunno. I stopped at about 5 to 5.5 quarts. duuhhhhh".
Dad: Why would you do that. Its a 4 cylinder. Its capacity is nowhere near 5 quarts. It is ~3.5 quarts. And look at the mess under my hood that you left (shows guy the mess on exhaust manifold heat shield and suspect seepage).
Oil Douche: I didnt leave that mess. And you should have told me that the oil capacity is 3.5 quarts. This is not my problem


Conversation continues and all they do is drain the correct amount of oil. No apology no nothing. Dumbasses.

he obviously has shet for brains. wow come on... it's not rocket science. But then again I guess I'm thankful for people like him who have to do oil changes for the rest of their life (though I'd appreciate it more if they did it right). Somebodies gotta do the grunt work...
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