-
I started using A & A All Pro Repair on Mercey Springs in Los Banos just over a year ago. I used them for oil changes and other things. But one day I decided to quit dropping $90+ bucks an oil change and found out some rather disappointing information about the work they had done on my truck.
-
A year ago I had asked my local Facebook groups where a good mechanic is. The responses were mostly even across the board for a few places but All Pro got the nod by a few extra votes.
So I took my truck to the big yellow business on Mercey Springs, asked for an oil change and got it.
The place is pretty busy so a lot of people do use the place. I mean, the few FB users that chimed in had been using the place for years and they love it. So there's that. And when I showed up, they were able to get me in and out fairly quickly. But then again, I show up when they open to get ahead of what ever influx of customers that might be coming in that day.
The place opened and I had a heck of a time finding the actual office until I asked someone inside. It's in the back. I asked for an oil change, she took my key, and disappeared. Within half-an-hour, she told me it was done, and I shovelled out the $90+ bucks for it.
Very little conversation occurred and I left. My experience was that it was quick but very little was told to me.
I went back three times in the next year, each time, it was quick and very little was exchanged between us each time. I even took to standing out front and keep an eye on my truck to make sure they were actually changing my oil!
But then one day I decided to change the oil myself, but I had all kinds of odd issues with it and ended up going to another mechanic to help with my problem. What we discovered was that I had...
Too Small of An Oil Filter
But here's the thing, one of the issues I had was how the oil filter wrench did not fit the oil filter. WTH?
And then the mechanic I had gone to showed me that the proper oil filter compared to the ones that A & A Pro were using were about 25-30% bigger.
A & A, apparently, in order to avoid the super tight fit that Ford had set up with their oil filter, that they used a white, much smaller, no-name brand filter on my engine. WTF???
So I have to wonder what damage or stress might have been done to my engine for using a filter that was too small?
-
The new mechanic was pretty cool, pretty up front about a few things, and now I"m going to use this guy. He instilled a sense of trust because he communicated, we learned about my issues together, and he didn't seem to over-charge for things.
-
What this experience has taught me was that I will never go back to the big yellow mechanic, and to always take a moment to double check people's work, no matter what everyone else says, because
Header photo via Google.
Comments
Post a Comment