Folks Of Interest Funny story - 20% oil left?

I stopped by Autozone to get a new thermostate and the guy ahead of me was talking to the guy behind the counter.

here is the conversation:

Customer: My car needs an oil change and I need to add some oil.
Autozone guy: Yeah you were here yesterday and bought some oil.
Customer: Yeah, the dash is still telling me I only have 20% oil left, so do you think 3 quarts is enough?
Autozone guy: No that is the oil life, not how much oil. You need to check your dipstick.
Customer: Do you think I should add some oil until I can get the oil changed?
Autozone guy: You need to check the dipstick.
Customer: Okay

 

Clueless customer is nothing surprising...counter guy with a clue is getting pretty rare, though!

 

suprised he knows were to add the oil after asking that

 

Future AutoZoo employee.

 

just find the cap that says 710 and add 80%

 

The guy probably came back in 10 min. later to ask where the dip stick was... or better yet, what's a dip stick ???

 

Funny, this reminds me of my "engineer" customer.....removed the special Volvo Battery clamp bolts( $15 bucks a piece!) because "the car didn't need them"

WTF do you really think that every car built just has those for shits and giggles.....

 

The smarter they are in their own field the dumber they are when they get out of it.
I've seen the results of guys pouring motor oil in the radiator more than once and luckily only had to flush out of one customer's car in the years I worked in shops.
I've also seen one car that was overfilled with oil quite a bit as the owner automatically put a quart of oil in the engine every time he filled the tank. His old car always took a quart of oil between fill ups so he automatically thought that they all did when he bought a new car.

 

Think with your dipstick, Jimmy!


sorry...couldn't help myself

 

he is the dipstick

 

Heres a good bet: ask someone to show you where the dipstick is on a new Mercedes. Tip: there ain't one...... Dashboard computer tells you how much oil you have.... Cool huh?

 

The dipstick is not under the bonnet, its on the customer side of the counter,...but then again I havnt always known everything

 

Hey now, not all of us engineers are idiots. Some of us think other engineers are idiots, well, we actually think most people are idiots.

 

How about that black cap.......whoops...that was the brake master cylinder.
That is expensive to fix......oil in brake fluid....OHHH, it won't stop.....

 

I've also seen the (unfortunate) result of someone mistaking the oil filler cap for the radiator cap and filling the sump with water. (Then driving the car until it started making funny 'clunking' sounds)

Cheers, Glen.

 

If you know nothing about cars, the % oil-life thing is right up there with quantum physics.

That is right up there when I told a lady I'd have to replace her tie rod sleeve since it was rusted up and frozen. She asked me if I could just defrost it...

Bob

 

I worked at a gas station back in the 60's. A customer had his F-85 Olds towed in, said it would not turn over. We were checking the obvious and found no problems when someone pulled the dipstick. Oil was up to the top of the dipstick. The engine had been completely filled with oil. Seems the customer had been out of town a few days and his 14 year old son had done some unauthorized joy riding. He decided to check things out on the car before dad got back. He removed the oil filler cap and could not see any oil so he filled it up. Seems like we drained about 20 quarts out.

 

I have encountered people who think the low oil pressure light is an add oil warning. In a way I guess it is.

When Ford went to a new plastic oil cap a number of years ago it originally had only a drawing of an old style oil can on it. After a lady thought the oil can was a watering can and added water to the crankcase they added the word "Oil" to the oil can figure.

 

Another fine example of the "dumbing down of America". When symbols replace words, things are open for interpretation.

Bob

 

Most people are Idiots ?

I guess it takes an Engineer to build a Rat Rod like the one in your Avitar.

Sorry Man, I have to Deal with Engineers everyday working in the Oil Fields .... None of them have EVER turned a wrench or got Dirty yet they know EVERYTHING about what I am doing .....

None of them do, They stand & watch like an Idiot while I do the Job.

 

I too work with engineers all day everyday in a gas plant! Like you DeSoto, my engineers like to stand around watching me work, at least 3 engineers for every tradesman. Fun times. They can all work out the phase angles of a flux capacitor gyro gehbopulator in their head , but couldn't workout how to unscrew a lefthand thread! Silly billies!

 

Yeah, try working on a modern car and tell me engineers know anything about turning a wrench. They know how to manulipate a keyboard and mouse really well. How else could you explain a starter mounted under the intake manifold. (fucking Lexus POS V8)

 

In the late 80's a customer came out to watch me change the oil in his car. A few months later he brings his car back and it smelled of burning oil. He tells me that he changed the oil himself and wasn't sure what he had done wrong. I pulled the dipstick and apparently he changed the filter and added 5 quarts without draining the old oil. I guess he thought he was getting a free oil change lesson but missed the part where I drained his old oil.

 

20 years are so ago I worked at "SEARS" Automotive. It was pretty common for us to get strange things coming in. We were the first auto repair shop off the interstate for people traveling from Chicago up into Michigan. One day a lady comes in with a new Honda. She said that her car was smoking really bad. The lady was alomost in tears over her new car having problems. While waiting to get her in the shop she was ranting about the car only having a couple thousand miles and it used up all its oil. I asked her why she thought that and she told me that she filled her gas tank in Chicago at a full-service station and the attendant said she was low on oil. Well, they charged twice as much for their oil so she saved a few bucks and got her own at a Kmart. Sure enough, the little Honda was seeping oil from every seal and gasket. We drained the car, all 9 or 10 quarts. I explained to her that the attendant meant she needed a little oil, maybe a 1/4 quart or a 1/2 because her car was still in the "break in period", not 5 quarts! She was pretty embarassed because she had read the manual and it said the car held 5 quarts so that is what she put in. I was really surprised after we got the car off the rack everything seemed to seal back up and as far as we could tell it stopped seeping.

 

I knew an engineer one time all he did was drive a train..... lol

 

Years ago when I was working at the Chevy Dealer, there was a car towed in that the owner said they forgot to keep up on the engine oil level. They filled the oil, but the engine would not turn over. So as it was comming off of the tow truck, we were thinking the same old "ran it low on oil and siezed the engine" deal. The thing had oil everywhere, and the dipstick showed the oil level was full. Let me say that again, FULL! We take the oil cap off of the valve cover and there was the oil level. Right at the bottom of the oil cap.

Drained the oil, removed the plugs and cleaned it out. Filled to the proper level and it ran fine after it got done smoking...

 

Funny thread, thanks for all the laughs. Guess we're all ignorant in some way or ways - its just that some are so entertaining showing it : )

 

The owners manual said the guy should treat his new Sebring convertible top rubbers and window seals with silicone every so often to prevent them from drying out.

Used almost the full tube!

We had to order new rubbers all around...and gave him a can of silicone SPRAY lube.

 

I work at a parts house. A couple of months ago this over confident guy from out of state came in and kept demanding an oil change deal. Of course he didn't want whatever was on special, which was Valvoline. Ended up buying like 5 quarts of quaker state and a filter.

Watched him walk outside, open his gas door, and pour an entire quart of oil in the gas tank. Brand new Ford Explorer. I can only imagine what kind've chaos happened when he got home to do the "oil change".