One Star, I would do NO Stars, that’s right! Jiffy Lube 9235 S 700 E, Sandy, UT 84070.
I’ve taken my car to this location for years, for a full service. Thinking I had the piece of mind that they were performing the “full service”. Got it serviced in mid October 2013. Early December, 1000 miles after that service, the front differential was completely ruined. My reliable mechanic took a video, showing no oil coming out when they went to look at it. Jiffy Lube “experts” say that the seal broke and that they did service the differential. That the snow being wet made it so there were no signs of the oil leakage. REALLY?? So they denied any liability. The front end differential had to be replaced.
Needless to say, I will never take my cars to any Jiffy Lube again in the future. I should have wised up a few years ago, when they forgot to tighten the oil plug on my car. The clue, 1 quart of oil leaked out in my garage.
All you said here was “full service.” Did they ever service the differential? Did they service it in Oct 2013?
It’s possible that they did something wrong. Jiffy Lubes often do. But you could have something serviced one day and then have something fail the next day - just because it failed. You’re talking about 1,000 miles later and never even said if they ever touched your differential. Then, of course, there is the fact that you didn’t identify the vehicle - so no one would even know how the differential on this vehicle is serviced.
Are you even asking a question? If you want to file a complaint of some kind, this isn’t the place to do it.
Ya know I get this garbage everywhere, I have my guys, really good, and asked them about checking rear diff fluid, oh yea we pull the plug and dip test with our finger to make sure it is full, well my observation is the plug judging by corrosion on the nut has never been touched once. Sure at 155k that is on my list for this summer…
Around here you won’t hear many recommending quick lube places. Dealers or reliable independent repair shops yes, but not quick lubes. Not much to do at this point except suck it up. You could try the small claims route to recover some damages but you’d have to explain how it went the several months with no lube in it, and the judges like to split it down the middle a lot. Might be worth a shot though if you can get a deposition from the mechanic.
Before being overly quick to place blame, OP should understand there could be several reasons the differential doesn’t have any fluid in it: (1) The quick change place left the plug out or didn’t tighten it properly. But that would be clear upon inspection by the second shop. Doesn’t seem to be the case here. (2) The quick change place forget to refill with fresh fluid. This is possible with any shop. A mechanic could get a phone call in the middle of a job, then forget where he/she left off. If this is what happened, the quick change place would indeed be the cause. (3) The seal between the two case surfaces, or between the third member and the case could develop a leak, and the fluid gradually leak out, either from normal wear and tear, or more likely , the case was stressed at some point by running over something with not enough ground clearance. I’ve had this happen on my 4WD Ford truck, running over a log and the rear diff case got stuck on the log less than a minute until the front wheels pulled finally pulled it off, but that was enough to spring a small leak between the two halves of the case.
I guess the moral to all this is when the fluids in a car get changed, to be safe the owner should take a few minutes to verify the job was done correctly, checking the dipstick on oil changes, in the case of the differential removing the inspection plug, and looking with a flashlight under the car and on the parking surface for any signs of leaks.
A few years ago a friend of mine was telling me that his son worked at an “iffy Lube” one summer and a customer came in for a full service package. The tech working on the car couldn’t find a drain plug on the differential so he drilled a hole in the casing, drained the fluid, re-filled it and then plugged it with JB Weld! Needless to say, this just confirmed my decision never to go to these quick lube places.
What year/make/model? Heck, what drive configuration…FWD, 4WD, AWD? (Obv RWD is out.)
What service was the car brought in for? Oil change? Tranny service? Diff service?
I seriously doubt that diff fluid check…on a car that has a traditional “pumpkin”…is part of the oil service. You have to unscrew the filler plug to check. I also doubt that they would check the MT gear oil level on that premise. Pretty much they check everything that 1) is easily accessible and 2) they can upsell. Air filter, ATF, brake fluid, coolant, PS fluid come to mind. (They’re “supposed” to hit the zerks, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.)
I would hope that they would catch a badly leaking pumpkin (if indeed it actually was leaking…still facts not in evidence right now), but they really aren’t obligated to as part of the oil change.
Sorry, OP, but on the VERY limited data you’ve shared with us, there is insufficient grounds to support a claim of culpability on the part of Jiffy Lube. (My opinion is subject to change in light of sufficient supporting evidence.)
I briefly worked at a quick-lube place about a decade ago, and I can’t remember the “downstairs guy” ever opening up a diff on an oil change!
