Took my car to Midas for an oil change now my radiator thermostat moves when I am sitting in traffic or idle (motorcycle, plugs)
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The bottom line is if I bring my car to you for a simple oil change or tune up and it comes out running worse than when it went in...then yes you did something to it!
The bottom line is if I bring my car to you for a simple oil change or tune up and it comes out running worse than when it went in...then yes you did something to it!
No, the bottom line is your cooling fan quit working. If it was worn out, it had to stop working sometime, The fact that it happened after your oil change has nothing to do with it. It could have just as easily quit on your way to get your oil changed. Or the week before. It's a ten year old car.
Why do people try to find someone to blame when things don't go their way?
I have a 2000 mitsubishi eclipse. I've had it for 5 years and love my baby it's never let me down
Well I decided to take her to Midas last week for an oil change. I wanted to go to a new place because I felt like my mechanic wasn't putting in enough oil all of a sudden 4 months after an oil change my oil light would come on (no leaks) and I would be completely out of oil. I usually put 10w40 in my car. Midas put 5w30 and now if I am sitting in traffic my thermostat idle will creep toward HOT but it doesn't sound like it's overheating and as soon as I begin moving it drops back down to below the half way point (where it use to always stay) between hot and cold. What does this mean?? What did they do to my baby??
One thing I would HIGHLY recommend is checking your oil at least once a week and topping it off as necessary. Letting the car run very low on oil is "hurting your baby" quite a bit. At 90,000 miles your car is definitely consuming oil so be aware of it.
lets be honest here. Midas is not *known* for top quality mechanical work and they sure as heck may have damaged the fan.. Dropping a wrench, ripping out wires with hands trying to get at oil filters etc surely may have happened. i have seen this sort of thing over and over happen to people. I would take it back to the garage, but its highly iunlikely they would ever admit fault and repair it,. I say its *highly unlikely* that the fan quits the exact same time a garage does work on the car. Fans generally last a lifetime on most cars that I have owned.. I may bee 100% wrong but no once really knows except the mechanic who did the work
The bottom line, I'm afraid, is that you have what appears to be no mechanical knowledge.
Your car has developed a fault, and you are looking for a cheap way out of paying for fixing it yourself.
The fact you seem to think you don't need to top up the oil inbetween changes is indication of that, perhaps Midas should use magical ever-replenishing oil ?
Your car is getting old, and has covered many miles. of course it's going to start using oil !
If you'd got a puncture on the way home, would that be Midas' fault ?
Neither, in my opinion is this.
Some people's kids, huh
Quote:
Originally Posted by frankgn87
lets be honest here. Midas is not *known* for top quality mechanical work and they sure as heck may have damaged the fan.. Dropping a wrench, ripping out wires with hands trying to get at oil filters etc surely may have happened. i have seen this sort of thing over and over happen to people. I would take it back to the garage, but its highly iunlikely they would ever admit fault and repair it,. I say its *highly unlikely* that the fan quits the exact same time a garage does work on the car. Fans generally last a lifetime on most cars that I have owned.. I may bee 100% wrong but no once really knows except the mechanic who did the work
I'm afraid you have no idea what you're talking about either.
Unless I'm very much mistaken, the Eclipse oil filter is reached quite easily from the underneath of the car, IIRC, it's on the right, near the wheel, and would be a simple replacement were the car on a lift, or even a jack. It would be nigh on impossible to reach from any other direction.
Why would ANY service centre try to reach the filter from above ?
They wouldn't even need to go near the radiator, never mind "rip out wires".
Ok, I accept, accidents happen, and, as you said, a dropped wrench could dislodge a wire, and, depending on the nature of the job, it is possible to forget to re-connect one.
I can assure you, there aren't many (if any) cars out there which would require anything electrical to be removed to change a filter.
However, in all my time as a mechanic, I have NEVER changed an oil filter from any other position than underneath the car.
Again, the OP is most likely making a link between two seperate incidents.
LOL this is a joke right?
Since when is Midas a pro shop?
Buy a Clymers Work shop manual, and read it. Keep it with the car too.
Just the way you write I can you have no idea how car systems work and or interact with one another or not.
If you read the work shop manual and see the pictures, maybe you can learn the language better. The guys helping you are forced to read thru the words you choose. I can tell about what you mean, too, but don't try to prove you know something about cars, because it is clear you don't.
With the engine dead stone cold, fir your own safety, removed the rad cap and see if the coolant is up to snuff. See if it is fill of crude too. Then start the engine once the coolant is topped off, and wait to see if the temp gauge shows signs of climing. The gage is a thermometer of sorts. With the engine at full warm feel the raditor with care... Feel from the bottom to the top to seek cold spots. The rad can be pretty hot at the top, so becarefull to not get burned.
If you find any colder spots low on the rad it is clogged with mung, and the system would then need a flush, and new coolant. If that fails the the rad needs to be rodded out, or replaced, depending on if this style rad can be opened up and a steel rod passed thru all the passages. That is a job for a pro, unless you have in-common skills soldering which I doubt. Probably this is a dixie cup rad in the first place and it can't be rodded out.
You have several un-related issues all combining at the same time. The AC has nothing to do with fans, or coolant. The AC system isn't related to any other engine systems.
My pet peeve is in say 10W - 40 that w means WINTER, there is no such thing as weight in terms of oil. However we do refer to viscosity in weight I guess, but I can't say why.
I am sure this post will be seen as upsetting, but it can't be helped of the truth is to be told.
And if oil changes and tune ups are so simple, why then don't you do it yourself?
1. Our 87 Camry has 220K, and maybe uses a quart of (garden-variety Castrol) per 7000+/- oil. And it has the typical distributor oil leak, I think most of the oil is going that way. The Subie has about 250K, hardly uses any of the same dino oil. So there is no definite reason to think the Mitsu uses significant oil between changes.
2 Awhile back, I changed the oil on the MG-B, and co-incidentally the gas gauge quit working. I have not got around to fixing this, but I really seriously doubt my oil change had anything to do with the gas gauge quitting.
All that said, chains like Midas are notorious for screwing things up, but it would take some doing for them to have screwed up the radiator fan wiring or switches, I'm not that familiar with this particular Mitsu, but it's rare that the oil filter is very close to any of that.
Again, as a temporary measure, keep the heater on and maybe open a window in traffic. That should minimize the coolant temp swings, which as I have noted before tend to wear out the head gasket, you don't want to get into that until you are employed again.
What a bunch of arrogant idiots. Thanks for all of you who offered your helpful opinions. To the rest of you with your nasty comments and "why don't you know how to do it yourself" you can shove it and then imagine having someone say that to your wife or daughter if they need their cars repaired and your holier than thou self is no where in sight! Bye fools and thanks again to those of you who offered your helpful suggestions.
What kind of way is that to talk to folks who are trying to help you ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by neekah18
What a bunch of arrogant idiots. Thanks for all of you who offered your helpful opinions. To the rest of you with your nasty comments and "why don't you know how to do it yourself" you can shove it and then imagine having someone say that to your wife or daughter if they need their cars repaired and your holier than thou self is no where in sight! Bye fools and thanks again to those of you who offered your helpful suggestions.
I have a 2000 mitsubishi eclipse. I've had it for 5 years and love my baby it's never let me down
Well I decided to take her to Midas last week for an oil change. I wanted to go to a new place because I felt like my mechanic wasn't putting in enough oil all of a sudden 4 months after an oil change my oil light would come on (no leaks)
I didn't point that out because I thought we were just trying to take care of a problem. But....come on. "All of a sudden...4 MONTHS LATER" ? LOL
Look, there is a simple process to eliminate or narrow down considerably what this could be. It was already pointed out. Most likely it is your fan not turning on, now why your fan is not turning on needs to be figured out. You can shotgun mantinance and guess (maybe even correctly) what it is or you can go through a step by step process and take most of the guessing out.
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Letting the car run very low on oil is "hurting your baby" quite a bit.
At 90,000 miles your car is definitely consuming oil so be aware of it. 
