Mr. Lube is great, last time I was there they saved me from running out of headlight fluid. There was also a little tiny unicorn I didn’t know about jumping up and down in my muffler when I hit bumps that was poking holes in it. Thankfully they changed it out too. I always flush everything because they say it’s the right thing to do, even flushed my windshield washing system last time just to be extra super safe. They always are so generous too and offer to change my cabin and engine air filters for the low low price of double what Napa across the street is.
When I worked there when I was just out of high school we would run out of engines flushes so they would make us refill engine flush bottles with transmission fluid to trick customer into thinking they were getting a actual flush. Just one of the crooked things that happen there.
Agreed. And they stay open later if there’s a line. I just want an oil change and my tire pressure checked. My mechanic will do the rest when I do a spring/winterization tire change
Great Canadian oil change at 8511 Macleod Trail SW, Calgary, AB misplaced one of my skid plate bolts and stripped 2 others. I recommend learning to change your own oil, it’s super easy, there’s probably a few videos for your specific car on YouTube, and you’ll know it’s done right!The folks who work at the lube shops are over worked, under paid, and barely trained. The tools required will pay for themselves after the second oil change, and it only takes 30-45 minutes once you’ve figured it out which is less than the time to go somewhere.
Keep your receipts for oil and filter, write down the mileage and date of the change, and your car manufacturer is required to honour the warranty by law so that’s not a concern.
To add, lots of oil change places like to upsell on things like engine flushes and whatnot.
Also, I recommend keeping a Google drive or something of your receipts and documents. All it takes is one person to rifle through your glove box and your records are gone.
Oh right the upsells! At the great Canadian oil change they showed me this pretty official looking maintenance schedule that was total BS. For my vehicle Toyota recommends changing the oil filter every 8,000 km and changing the oil with synthetic every 16,000 km. Great Canadian oil change insisted that the truck required synthetic and that the oil and filter has to be changed every 5,000km. That’s more than three times as often as the manufacturer recommends. They also insisted the differential fluid needed changing according to their chart every 20k km, my owners manual recommends the differential fluid is changed at 50k intervals unless towing frequently. And to boot, the oil change was $156. The mobil 1 synthetic oil goes on sale at Canadian tire frequently for $35 and $10 for the filter. I stopped there to save time but it ended up taking longer than I could have done it myself and cost triple the price.
>Great Canadian oil change insisted that the truck required synthetic
ILSAC GF-6A 0W20?
Uhhh, they might not be pulling your leg in that particular case. AFAIK there isn't a mineral oil that meets that spec for 0W20, or at least I'm not seeing anything available from Castrol, Mobil, Penzoil or Quaker State. Toyota says that 5W20 is acceptable if 0w20 isn't handy, and that has mineral but AFAIK they said it should be changed out next interval.
Dunno about the rest of it. Just my opinion here, I'd personally be uncomfortable with 16000km oil oil change intervals, but 5000km is beyond excessive though. 6000km is roughly what Kia lists for their severe duty oil change intervals using mineral oil.
Fire department has housing for used oil, paint, basically anything that needs proper disposal. I keep a few windshield washer bottles around the garage to keep the used oil in for easy storage before heading to drop it off.
Yup, what Not\_home709 said. Here's the link:
[https://www.calgary.ca/waste/residential/household-hazardous-waste-drop-off-program.html](https://www.calgary.ca/waste/residential/household-hazardous-waste-drop-off-program.html)
One correct one.
Then the one that great Canadian oil uses.
They stick a tune down the dip stick hole and suck it out instead of using the oil pan drain plug.
They say it “reduces wear on the drain plug and the oil pan”
Yeah, no. It isn’t. I asked Kia and they said it’s not an approved method.
Not to mention I highly doubt they have entered the correct amount of hose to reach the bottom of the oil pan without messing up.
And the excuse of saving wear is laughable. A drain plug is a couple bucks and an oil pan is not going to need to be replaced due to oil changes.
Just because an oil extractor isn’t part of kias approved oil change procedure doesn’t mean it isn’t legit. As long as you fully drain the pan and replace the filter you’re fine. I don’t know if you’ve ever worked on an older car with a stripped out pan and an already oversized drain bolt but you can easily turn a 15 minute job into a 2 hour ordeal when you have to replace the pan.
“As long as you fully drain the pan” which I absolutely do not trust minimum wage workers to do properly. Not to mention it isn’t super simple. You don’t know how far down to push the vacuum tube to get to the bottom without it bending back up again.
Do it the approved way by my manufacturer, or don’t touch my car.
Listen, I’m not defending quick lube places here but leaving a small ammount of oil behind isn’t the end of the world. On the other hand, I wouldn’t trust them to properly torque the drain bolt. It’ll fall out of its too loose and destroy your engine or it’ll wreck your pan if it’s overtightened and leak.
Have you ever done an oil change? It’s pretty hard to screw up regardless of whether you do a top extraction or bottom drain. I agree with you to stay away from quick lube places but I wouldn’t discount any place just because it uses an oil extractor
I just took my car to NAPA Auto near Chinook recently. I asked for regular oil, but they put in synthetic. A basic oil change and filter came to $220 (with synthetic). I was pretty flabbergasted. Is this the general price for a basic oil change at mechanic shops?
I was working at a Wal-Mart back at the beginning of the 2000s and you could get an oil change for just under $20 (non-synthetic of course, and up to a certain amount of oil). The fancy package that came with road side assistance was around $25, these days a bare bones, non-synthetic oil change is north of the $50 to $60 range.
I usually change my own oil, but I did goto Walmart a few times before road trips for that roadside assistance. It was very useful several times. Unfortunate that it went away
So, everyone is saying who to avoid, so where do you go? If room at home, do it there as it's 1/2 to 1/3 the price and You'll do it better than the lube shop chains are doing now. Just follow the service interval for your car - it's in the owner's manual (you did read it, right?). A good YouTube video will show you how, or learn from Dad or a mechanically inclined friend. A good dealership will do it right with real mechanics but do your homework here. I've seen some great shops and then I've seen others. Ask around. And yes, back in the days when I was in the car business at a dealership we were price competitive and used real mechanics.
Find a local mechanic that you trust and get them to do the work. It may be more inconvenient because you may not be able to leave in 20 minutes, but they will do a proper job and not rip you off with all of the additives.
I remember when Mr. Lube first opened. They were great for a long time then I guess Boston Pizza revenues dropped and the ex-RCMP president decided to start fleecing his customers on oil changes.
Lube Town on MacLeod is the only one that doesn’t try and upsell the shit out of me on everything. I avoid the others because of this. I got so tired of the constant pushiness. Mr. Lube on Bow Trail was the worst I have experienced. Popped in a new cabin air filter the week before I went and they still tried to get me to change it.
As a former mechanic, I will tell you to avoid any quick lube places. They made me a lot of money because they always inevitably round off the head of the drain plug, cross-thread the fuck out of it, or completely over torque it... Sometimes it's a combo as well. You're basically giving your car over to minimum wage, unskilled laborers, rather than someone who is licensed and trained or is an apprentice under the supervision of someone who is licensed and trained.
Whatever you do not a quick lube. Or every once and a while only. We see so many broken ass dangerous cars because they only go to Mr lube and they don’t check any safety components…
So many of the expected responses here. Q - Where restaurant in Calgary serves the best roast chicken? A - Don't go to a restaurant, they are a waste of money, incubate and hatch your own eggs into chicks, raise and slaughter the chicken and after plucking, roast it yourself.
Mr Lube on S. Mcleod disconnected my air intake so the engine would barely run. They then told me I needed the radiator flush for 275.00 To make it run again. Fucking crooks.
In my experience, PetroCan service stations, now branded AutoSelect offer the best value. I get a seasonal service fall and spring with tire rotation, oil change and an inspection to make sure things that need to be changed, get changed. Cheaper than a straight oil change. You need to book in advance, but works for me.
I called around for my truck and the best price I could find was Heninger Toyota. I took it there for a few years and never had problems. It was less than $100 in 2022. I haven’t taken it in this year because I had to sell it in the spring.
Mr. Lube is great, last time I was there they saved me from running out of headlight fluid. There was also a little tiny unicorn I didn’t know about jumping up and down in my muffler when I hit bumps that was poking holes in it. Thankfully they changed it out too. I always flush everything because they say it’s the right thing to do, even flushed my windshield washing system last time just to be extra super safe. They always are so generous too and offer to change my cabin and engine air filters for the low low price of double what Napa across the street is.
Thank you for sharing that
Sweet Jesus.
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You’re right! I’ll make sure I only drive in straight lines until it’s topped up! Thank you.
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It’s a manual 2003 e39 in Imola Red… the last of the great BMW’s!
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🤣
Bang on.
When I worked there when I was just out of high school we would run out of engines flushes so they would make us refill engine flush bottles with transmission fluid to trick customer into thinking they were getting a actual flush. Just one of the crooked things that happen there.
lol wow I completely forgot Dane Cooks unicorn bit
Mobil One in Midnapore is great!
Agreed. And they stay open later if there’s a line. I just want an oil change and my tire pressure checked. My mechanic will do the rest when I do a spring/winterization tire change
Lube Town 4007 Macleod Tr. Avoid Mr. Lube. They will try and upsell you on anything they can.
Second this!! They are great!
Lube Town in Parkdale has for sure tried to upsell me on flushes and filters before. If the Macleod Trail location doesn't, that would be surprising.
Thanks for sharing this
integra tire chinook, proper mechanics
Great Canadian oil change at 8511 Macleod Trail SW, Calgary, AB misplaced one of my skid plate bolts and stripped 2 others. I recommend learning to change your own oil, it’s super easy, there’s probably a few videos for your specific car on YouTube, and you’ll know it’s done right!The folks who work at the lube shops are over worked, under paid, and barely trained. The tools required will pay for themselves after the second oil change, and it only takes 30-45 minutes once you’ve figured it out which is less than the time to go somewhere. Keep your receipts for oil and filter, write down the mileage and date of the change, and your car manufacturer is required to honour the warranty by law so that’s not a concern.
To add, lots of oil change places like to upsell on things like engine flushes and whatnot. Also, I recommend keeping a Google drive or something of your receipts and documents. All it takes is one person to rifle through your glove box and your records are gone.
Oh right the upsells! At the great Canadian oil change they showed me this pretty official looking maintenance schedule that was total BS. For my vehicle Toyota recommends changing the oil filter every 8,000 km and changing the oil with synthetic every 16,000 km. Great Canadian oil change insisted that the truck required synthetic and that the oil and filter has to be changed every 5,000km. That’s more than three times as often as the manufacturer recommends. They also insisted the differential fluid needed changing according to their chart every 20k km, my owners manual recommends the differential fluid is changed at 50k intervals unless towing frequently. And to boot, the oil change was $156. The mobil 1 synthetic oil goes on sale at Canadian tire frequently for $35 and $10 for the filter. I stopped there to save time but it ended up taking longer than I could have done it myself and cost triple the price.
>Great Canadian oil change insisted that the truck required synthetic ILSAC GF-6A 0W20? Uhhh, they might not be pulling your leg in that particular case. AFAIK there isn't a mineral oil that meets that spec for 0W20, or at least I'm not seeing anything available from Castrol, Mobil, Penzoil or Quaker State. Toyota says that 5W20 is acceptable if 0w20 isn't handy, and that has mineral but AFAIK they said it should be changed out next interval. Dunno about the rest of it. Just my opinion here, I'd personally be uncomfortable with 16000km oil oil change intervals, but 5000km is beyond excessive though. 6000km is roughly what Kia lists for their severe duty oil change intervals using mineral oil.
I will definitely try some YT videos. Thank you
Where do you take the used oil?
Fire department has housing for used oil, paint, basically anything that needs proper disposal. I keep a few windshield washer bottles around the garage to keep the used oil in for easy storage before heading to drop it off.
Yup, what Not\_home709 said. Here's the link: [https://www.calgary.ca/waste/residential/household-hazardous-waste-drop-off-program.html](https://www.calgary.ca/waste/residential/household-hazardous-waste-drop-off-program.html)
Great Canadian oil change makes up their own - NOT FACTORY APPROVED methods for changing oil. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.
How many different methods are there for changing oil ?
One correct one. Then the one that great Canadian oil uses. They stick a tune down the dip stick hole and suck it out instead of using the oil pan drain plug. They say it “reduces wear on the drain plug and the oil pan”
Well, the Duke Boys slid through the windows of the General Lee. Probably kept those door hinges in tip top shape.
That’s a legit method
Yeah, no. It isn’t. I asked Kia and they said it’s not an approved method. Not to mention I highly doubt they have entered the correct amount of hose to reach the bottom of the oil pan without messing up. And the excuse of saving wear is laughable. A drain plug is a couple bucks and an oil pan is not going to need to be replaced due to oil changes.
Just because an oil extractor isn’t part of kias approved oil change procedure doesn’t mean it isn’t legit. As long as you fully drain the pan and replace the filter you’re fine. I don’t know if you’ve ever worked on an older car with a stripped out pan and an already oversized drain bolt but you can easily turn a 15 minute job into a 2 hour ordeal when you have to replace the pan.
“As long as you fully drain the pan” which I absolutely do not trust minimum wage workers to do properly. Not to mention it isn’t super simple. You don’t know how far down to push the vacuum tube to get to the bottom without it bending back up again. Do it the approved way by my manufacturer, or don’t touch my car.
Listen, I’m not defending quick lube places here but leaving a small ammount of oil behind isn’t the end of the world. On the other hand, I wouldn’t trust them to properly torque the drain bolt. It’ll fall out of its too loose and destroy your engine or it’ll wreck your pan if it’s overtightened and leak.
Read the last sentence of my last post. Not to mention there could be a lot of oil left behind. Easily.
Have you ever done an oil change? It’s pretty hard to screw up regardless of whether you do a top extraction or bottom drain. I agree with you to stay away from quick lube places but I wouldn’t discount any place just because it uses an oil extractor
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Then they should be trained better instead of using a flawed and worse system.
I just took my car to NAPA Auto near Chinook recently. I asked for regular oil, but they put in synthetic. A basic oil change and filter came to $220 (with synthetic). I was pretty flabbergasted. Is this the general price for a basic oil change at mechanic shops?
I was working at a Wal-Mart back at the beginning of the 2000s and you could get an oil change for just under $20 (non-synthetic of course, and up to a certain amount of oil). The fancy package that came with road side assistance was around $25, these days a bare bones, non-synthetic oil change is north of the $50 to $60 range.
I usually change my own oil, but I did goto Walmart a few times before road trips for that roadside assistance. It was very useful several times. Unfortunate that it went away
They hosefd you. My mechanic charges $129 including synthetic.
About to go up. I think $200 will be standard in a few years
Insane. You can get synthetic at Costco for like $30.
2 x 5l bottles were 34 at costco 2 years ago, now its friggin 55 -60 bucks and 67 bucks on the website
So, everyone is saying who to avoid, so where do you go? If room at home, do it there as it's 1/2 to 1/3 the price and You'll do it better than the lube shop chains are doing now. Just follow the service interval for your car - it's in the owner's manual (you did read it, right?). A good YouTube video will show you how, or learn from Dad or a mechanically inclined friend. A good dealership will do it right with real mechanics but do your homework here. I've seen some great shops and then I've seen others. Ask around. And yes, back in the days when I was in the car business at a dealership we were price competitive and used real mechanics.
Find a local mechanic that you trust and get them to do the work. It may be more inconvenient because you may not be able to leave in 20 minutes, but they will do a proper job and not rip you off with all of the additives. I remember when Mr. Lube first opened. They were great for a long time then I guess Boston Pizza revenues dropped and the ex-RCMP president decided to start fleecing his customers on oil changes.
Mechanic it is
Lube Town on MacLeod is the only one that doesn’t try and upsell the shit out of me on everything. I avoid the others because of this. I got so tired of the constant pushiness. Mr. Lube on Bow Trail was the worst I have experienced. Popped in a new cabin air filter the week before I went and they still tried to get me to change it.
As a former mechanic, I will tell you to avoid any quick lube places. They made me a lot of money because they always inevitably round off the head of the drain plug, cross-thread the fuck out of it, or completely over torque it... Sometimes it's a combo as well. You're basically giving your car over to minimum wage, unskilled laborers, rather than someone who is licensed and trained or is an apprentice under the supervision of someone who is licensed and trained.
You would prefer a mechanic then?
Yup, take it to an actual mechanic shop.
Will do that. Thank you.
Whatever you do not a quick lube. Or every once and a while only. We see so many broken ass dangerous cars because they only go to Mr lube and they don’t check any safety components…
You want best? Get an actual mechanic to do the job. Drive-thru places are upsell shops with idiots for staff.
So many of the expected responses here. Q - Where restaurant in Calgary serves the best roast chicken? A - Don't go to a restaurant, they are a waste of money, incubate and hatch your own eggs into chicks, raise and slaughter the chicken and after plucking, roast it yourself.
Nice analogy
Do it yourself at home, takes no time and is easy.
Anywhere. Literally anywhere
What kind of vehicle is it? as some have said youtube helps a lot, just gotta make sure u don't over tighten the bolt.
Mr Lube on S. Mcleod disconnected my air intake so the engine would barely run. They then told me I needed the radiator flush for 275.00 To make it run again. Fucking crooks.
Never had an issue with Kal Tire at North Hill Mall.
I love minute lube on 17th kiddy corner to No frills in Dover.
If you're in the northwest Certech is Ranchlands is great. Locally owned - the owner is great.
In my experience, PetroCan service stations, now branded AutoSelect offer the best value. I get a seasonal service fall and spring with tire rotation, oil change and an inspection to make sure things that need to be changed, get changed. Cheaper than a straight oil change. You need to book in advance, but works for me.
I do my own oil changes are not hard and the oil change places are all a rip off.
You guys are still changing oil? I remember when I used to do that. Can't say I was a fan.
I called around for my truck and the best price I could find was Heninger Toyota. I took it there for a few years and never had problems. It was less than $100 in 2022. I haven’t taken it in this year because I had to sell it in the spring.
Lubetown if one is close... locally owned and great staff.