My wife had the day off and took the car to Jiffy Lube for an oil change, and was sold the Engine Flush. It is a 2002 Subaru Forester with about 144k miles. My question: what-are-the-odds/how-long-before my engine totally dies? Or will it?
Impossible to say. We don’t know the maintenance history or anything else about this car, and we don’t know the level of incompetence of the Jiffy Lube.
I will say that the flush is BS, wasn’t needed, and was a waste of money. Whether or not they messed something up while doing it, who knows?
Stop going to Jiffy Lube. They’re overpriced and undertrained.
Don’t worry too much about it. The “engine flush” may be beneficial to an extremely neglected engine, but for most people it is just a wallet flush. Money wasted, lesson learned.
And in some cases…the engine flush was NEVER DONE…Unless you watched them do it and know what was going on you’d never know it.
What is an engine flush? Before changing the oil they dump in a $5 can of solvent and run the engine a few minutes. Very few cars actually need this treatment. Money wasted, that’s all.
Your engine will quit 100 miles past any current extended warranty.
The term “Jiffy Lube Engine Flush” makes my skin crawl. I hope your engine is okay and that you have learned your lesson. Find a good independent mechanic and let your mind be at ease.
The only real damage is to your wallet and your wife’s self esteem. It was just a waste of money.
My vote is with everyone else. Your wife was sold something that was not necessary and don’t worry about your vehicle. As long as the engine oil is changed regularly it will be fine.
Since it’s an '02 with 144k miles I will mention the timing belt thing in case that particular job has never been performed.
“The only real damage is to your wallet and your wife’s self esteem.”
I disagree. About her self esteem, that is. She didn’t know any better, and now she does. If she lets them do it again, self esteem takes a big dip.
What I would worry about is whether or not the oil was refilled to the proper level (check it); that the drain plug was installed and tightened correctly (not cross-threaded and not over or under tightened); and that the oil filter was correct and installed correctly (though its not rocket science).
In other words, the “flush” probably won’t be the bad part if anything bad happens.
Drain plug is in place and holding. Oil level is just below the H dot. And I replaced the timing belt 26k miles ago. So far so good on the car. She hasn’t driven it to work yet, but I used it to pick up some food last night and it ran well.
Then I’d not worry about it. If it’s still got oil in it after this long, then the lubemonkeys managed to do it right.
But I still wouldn’t risk taking it back to them next time.
Actually an oil change is one of the few things I let the dealership do. Around here anyway they’re the same price (and sometimes cheaper) as the quickielube places, AND you get free coffee and cinnamon rolls while you wait in the lounge watching Top Gear on the HDTV. And they wash the car for you.
Worse than Jiffy Lube to me (I expect them to push unneeded stuff) was Motor Week’s mechanic (Goss) pushing engine flushes. He even said something to the effect that all cars need them routinely. What nonsense!
Motor Week has been a shill for BS products for a long time. I even remember them waxing poetic about that idiotic Tornado intake thing at one point. It’s little better than an infomercial.
Motor Week has been a shill for BS products for a long time.
Go back 30+ years…that’s about the only magazine you’d see Slick-50 advertised…What a bogus product that is…and Now it’s one of the top engine additives EVER.
Tornado intakes and Slick 50. Will we never learn?