A young service rep at Jiffy Lube finds oil in my anti-freeze and says my engine (GM 3.4L V-6) needs work. He immediately recommends Advance Auto nearby. He seems sincere and reasonably knowledgeable, so off I go to see "Ken" at Advance Auto at 750 Discovery St. near the Save-On Foods Arena in Victoria.
Ken says I need a new intake manifold gasket, about $1,000 all in. Even though the car has low mileage, it turns out he was probably right. A little research uncovers a technical bulletin from GM urging owners to replace this very gasket due to a factory defect. Of course, GM doesn't issue the bulletin until most warranties, including mine, have already expired.
Two days later, I get my car back from Ken. The bill is almost exactly what he had estimated. I pay it and drive home -- and that's where the horror story begins. I park my car, pop the hood, and instantly notice an improperly re-installed canister bobbing up and down, like it was on a spring, near the radiator on the passenger side.
I drive straight back to Advance Auto and, sure enough, somebody forgot a bolt. I'm thinking, no big deal, minor mistake. The next morning, however, there's a puddle of anti-freeze beneath my car in my garage. Sure the vehicle is 12 years old, but there's less than 70,000 kilometres on it. It's never spent a night outdoors. It's been meticulously maintained. And it has never leaked anything, not ever, not even once.
I call Ken right away. He eagerly informs me my car probably needs a new radiator. Geez, Ken, it didn't need a new rad before I took it to you. At this point, I'm not too keen on Ken or Advance Auto. The next day, I take my car to a different repair shop. They replace a worn out O ring leaking coolant from the radiator drain plug. Strange, it never leaked before.
A few days later, the "Service Engine Soon" light suddenly appears on my instrument cluster. Now what? I buy a diagnostic code reader on Amazon and discover an "Evap" emissions error. I also hear a new "thup thup thup" sound coming from beneath the hood.
The same techs who replaced the O ring on my radiator discover someone has actually used duct tape to mend a severed hard-plastic tube at the back of my engine. The duct tape failed, the component lost vacuum pressure and the Evap warning appeared.
The only shop to ever "repair" this engine -- prior to these costly failures -- is Advance Auto. This is the team that forgot to replace bolts, wanted so eagerly to "fix" my rad, used duct tape to mask their mistakes, and who happily took my $996.92 without a single word.
Would I recommend Advance Auto in Victoria? You bet. I heartily recommend you run screaming in the opposite direction, as far from Advance Auto as you can get.
As for Jiffy Lube, if a young man named Chris suggests you need engine work, you may want to inquire as to how much Ken is paying him. read more
