Using and Maintaining Your RV
A Simple Lube Job?
Russ and Tiņa De Maris

Plenty of RVers are mechanically inclined enough to handle their own oil changes. But there are times when it's just not practical to "do it yourself."  When we hang out on the desert outside of Quartzsite, it gets beyond practicality and into legality: Our "landlord," the Bureau of Land Management, forbids folks from changing oil on their Long Term Visitor Areas.

While "on the road," and traveling from one point to another, when the old "service interval" rolls up, there's not always a good place to pull out and do the change.  And so like other RVers, we often hire the job done.  A simple lube job, right?  Therein hangs the tale.

The 24 Quart - 10 Quart Oil Change
We call it our "24 Quart Oil Change."  That may not sound too far off, with the exception that our truck's crankcase and filter only holds less than 10 quarts. It all started in Las Vegas, when visiting family. It was high time for an oil change, so we hauled the faithful pickup to a nearby "big box store" that offered lube jobs. Russ took the truck in and advised the lube shop greeter that he wanted the "economy oil change." The greeter snorted and laughed, "On a diesel!"  Russ clarified that the truck only held 10 quarts of oil, the house brand would be fine, and was finally quoted $23.00 for the job.

After a couple of hours of browsing around in the store, the PA announced that our truck was ready. Since he had other things to purchase, Russ figured he might as well pay for the lube job at the front register--but instead of the $23 job quoted, the bill rang up to nearly $30.  After 15 minutes of haggling, the calling of managers, and the putting the cashier through the hoops of figuring out how to cancel the transaction, Russ was headed to the lube shop to straighten out the discrepancy.

The folks at the lube shop assured that the price was correct, so to prove the point a receipt from a previous oil change done by the same chain was produced. Twenty three dollars and change. Oops!  The store had forgotten to give credit for the five quarts of oil normally included in an "economy" oil change.  However (just to make sure dizziness was never relieved) they did have to charge for three gallons of oil, since the oil for the diesel could only be purchased in gallons.

A quick bit of arithmetic on the way to the truck said something didn't quite tally. Three gallons of oil, at four quarts per gallon equals twelve quarts. Since it took 10 quarts for the job, there must be a couple of quarts of oil in a gallon bottle sitting in the back of the truck.  Since he was running late, Russ didn't check that out until he got the truck back to camp.  No bottle of oil. Where were those two "missing" quarts? A quick check of the dip stick revealed they were stuffed into the crankcase.

Widow's Oil
Next morning, an apologetic "mechanic" rolled the truck into the bay to remove the "excess" oil. The shop manger politely refunded our money. Let's see, that's 12 quarts of oil so far. But we aren't done yet.

About an hour later, and some distance away from the lube shop, we found a few drops of oil under the truck. Leaving it parked, we came back another hour later, and those few drips had somehow multiplied like the Widow of Shunem's and we had a distinctly large puddle of oil.

This time a completely different "mechanic" came out to meet us.  By that time Russ had crawled under the truck and found the oil was dripping down from the drain plug, which was festooned with blue plastic goo. Looked to Russ like a coverup -- somebody must have stripped the threads on the oil pan and tried to get away with a bit of rubber gasket dope. But, no, this was simply a "tamper seal" to indicate whether the customer had goofed around with the oil plug.

The new mechanic again rolled the truck into the lube bay--and Russ swears he heard the engine let out a lengthy sigh as he did so--drained the oil pan, and hey presto! What do we have here?  Looks like the drain plug gasket was worn out. Newest mechanic calls in last mechanic, who confesses, yeah, he guesses he should have replaced that drain pan gasket last time the truck was in the bay.

So a new gasket, two fresh gallons of oil in the crankcase, and latest mechanic and Russ mutually check the dipstick. Half a quart low. The mechanic decides he'll give us a quart to top off with later, and sure enough, when he went looking for a quart, he could only find gallons. Russ drove out with a fresh gallon jug in the bed of the truck. Let's see, that's the first 12 quarts, plus 12 more quarts, for a grand total of 24 quarts of oil, all at no charge. This is "big box store" arithmetic.

Lessons Leared
So what's to be learned in all of this?  We''ll preface this by saying that at a Midwest store in this same chain, we had the oil changed a few months earlier. There it took 10 quarts--roughly--and no hanky panky at the cash register. However the next day while cooling down on the top of a big pass, we discovered a puddle of oil under the engine. In that instance, an inspection revealed not a leaky crankcase drain gasket, but something far worse: The "mechanic" there had failed to completely tighten the drain plug. On checking it was barely finger tight. Had the plug dropped out, the damage would have been catastrophic.

At first blush, the lesson would be, don't be an idiot, take your business elsewhere. Perhaps. However, we've used this same chain for many other oil changes, without mishap. We have also heard of other oil changing firms doing equally or more serious faux pas, so our new policy is this:

When we get the truck back from the lube bay, we check the dipstick before we ever start the engine. If the level is good, we then proceed to "downstairs," to ensure that the oil drain plug is tight. Yes, it is a hassle, but we carry an old air mattress in the tool box to roll out on the ground to protect from dirt.

Similar thinking could be applied to other mechanical work. If they "fix" your tail light, don't just take their word for it, check it out.  Check out anything you know how to check out, before you roll away from the shop.  You may save yourself from feeling like a big drip.  Or a puddle.






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